Couples’ Retreat: My Love Affair With Epcot
02-06-10
What I'm Reading Now: The Last Lecture, by Randy Pausch
It’s no secret that Epcot is my favorite park at Walt Disney World. It is one of my Big Time Great Wishes that I one day spend my birthday at Epcot. When we arrived at the gates that first morning, I was the proud owner of two vintage-style Epcot shirts and two Epcot tattoos - one each for Spaceship Earth and Horizons. I can assure you, they will not be the last of my Epcot ink.
Two things before we delve into narration: the first is why Epcot is my favorite park. A great, great deal of it has to do with everything that has gone before. There’s a sense of history at Epcot that is unlike the history elsewhere in the World - a tangible history. Everything that has happened in Epcot has happened in my lifetime - the creation of the park, the building and tearing down of Horizons, World of Motion, the original Journey Into Imagination, the many iterations of Spaceship Earth. Magic Kingdom puts magic in the name, but everything about Epcot - from Walt’s conception of it to my most recent experience with the Food and Wine Festival - is magical to me. Every time I step through those gates, I am reminded that this place has had a gigantic history, and it’s younger than me. That is fascinating to me.
Marty enjoys the hotel in Chucks.
Of course, it’s not discounting the new stuff. I like Test Track just fine, and I’m keenly interested in Soarin’, and I don’t dislike Mission: Space … all of which sounds like a lot of faint praise. But for me, Epcot is the only place in Walt Disney World that isn’t primarily about the rides and attractions. It’s about being there, and about absorbing it all. It’s the fiber-optics in the sidewalk and the fountain that dances with the orchestra music, and the countries with their rich, rich theming. It’s about how you could simply divide it into “science in the front, social studies in the back,” but that glosses over so much. There are Magic Kingdom-type parks in the world, and parks like Hollywood Studios, and even ones like Animal Kingdom … not that any of those other places is comparable, I’m just saying that they exist. To my knowledge, Epcot is the only park like it in the world. Not the World, the world. I dig its uniqueness. And man, do I love Spaceship Earth.
The second thing (wait, weren’t there already like eighteen second things?) is that because of all this, I wanted to take Marty and Barry here first. Almost every other time I come to WDW, I go for the Studios first. The Studios breaks people in easily, with its big thrill rides and stuff, but with the Disney attention to detail that gets people used to the immersion. But this time, I wanted to start off with my favorite thing. I think I needed it.
The boys (Marty and Barry, when referred to collectively, with heretofore be known as “the boys”) met up with us in the lobby of Pop and off to Epcot we sped. Just a sidebar - you guys, we had little to no issue with transportation on this trip. Only once did we have to wait a significant time for a bus. For anyone who’s ever used Disney transportation, you know how like heaven this is. Barry surprised me by arriving in a pair of Mickey ears; in response, I immediately donned my own. It’s always cool to have an ear-buddy. (Yes, cool!)
I won’t dwell on this, because I know I always do, but seriously. That first glimpse of Spaceship Earth over the roof of the monorail ramp just takes my breath away, every time. It’s how I know I’m really here. The morning was cool and I was in jeans at Epcot, and I had my ears on and my map out and my Touring Plans in my pocket. The sky was blue and that big silver ball glimmered in the early morning light. It…
Okay, I promised, I’m done.
(Spaceship EARTH!)
As I explained to the boys, Epcot is the only park that doesn’t have an elaborate opening show (more on opening shows later, because I have an awful beef with something that Animal Kingdom did recently and it’s not often that Disney Pisses Kev Off … but that’s like tomorrow). Interestingly, though, it didn’t seem to matter to them - they were happy as clams to see Mickey and Goofy and Donald and Pluto come out to say hello at the drop-line. This kept recurring to me during this trip: for those who watch me wax rhapsodic about Disney, you might think I think they can do nothing wrong. For me in reality, I hold Disney up to some excruciating standards. When I tried to soothe things by explaining to Shawn that Pop Century wasn’t really a “themed” hotel, he rolled his eyes and told me it was even more themed than Riverside.
See, I go here a lot. My standards are different. It’s like when Tracey goes with me to see a Springsteen show. She wants “Thunder Road,” she wants “The Rising,” she maybe wants “Dancing In the Dark.” These guys, even Shawn, want broad strokes, big gestures. They aren’t as interested in the minutiae of things. They just want to be entertained.
(Note to readers: I didn’t really get this until Day 3, so there may be some more of my internal anxieties coming up. Just flow with it. It breaks up the monotony of alla time fun!)
To my delight, the boys were more than willing to go along with my structures and plans. This eased my mind considerably. I dashed to Soarin’ with everyone’s park passes, grabbed our FastPasses, and We Were Off!
Now, not to get all meta, but at this point, I must explain that what I get out of my Trip Reports is the same thing I get out of my visits: where’s the new? What’s the bright and shiny? I could go attraction by attraction and tell you everything we did … but I’m not sure how constructive that would be. My aim from here on in is to give a sense of the enormity of this trip, and the wonder I tried to impart, and the joy of seeing all this stuff through their new eyes, and then detail the most important stuff. The big stuff. I think that works this time, and I have a feeling it’s the reason I’ve had some trouble continuing this report. I want all these reports to feel fresh and new, not retreads. Marty and Barry and Shawn deserve more than retreads.
So, I will say this: guys, we had a morning at Epcot. We got the E-ticket stuff under our belts in under an hour (Shawn, being contrary, refused to ride Soarin’ again, calling it “Borin’”. I then punched him in the sternum and he wasn’t contrary anymore. Ever.) (Okay, that didn’t happen. But later, when he complained that the Kim Possible Adventure was “only for tween girls!” - which, by the way, it’s not - I neglected to remind him that he collected Barbie dolls. I always miss the good comebacks until months later, like when he told me it was silly for me to have bought The Green Mile in monthly installments and I forgot he collected comics and I could have had a perfect comeback.) We tooled around, and I tried to explain some of the history of the place, focusing mainly on Horizons and why it was the best thing that has ever existed. I’m pretty sure they tuned me out after awhile. Also, no one fell for my Beverly trick at Club Cool, which Shawn kept calling Cool Port, for some reason. Maybe that reason is because Cool Port sounds boss.
Then, OMG, then Spaceship Earth lost Shawn’s and my end-of-ride picture! Which was mung because the pictures on the ride came out awesome and I think Shawn took it as a personal affront. I was just hurt that Spaceship Earth would do that to me. Come on, SE. I thought we were pals.
(Oh, by the by, I’m trying out mung as being an antonym of totes kick. Let’s see if it takes.)
And because it’s Epcot, and because Epcot is a two-day park, we didn’t spend nearly enough time in Future World before it was time to head on over to World Showcase for lunch in Germany. Ah, but here’s what I didn’t know then: we weren’t done with Future World just yet, not Future World or Epcot as a whole. Epcot had plenty of surprises left for us, and we’d only been here three hours. It was going to be a great big beautiful tomorrow.
Kev
What I'm Reading Now: The Last Lecture, by Randy Pausch
It’s no secret that Epcot is my favorite park at Walt Disney World. It is one of my Big Time Great Wishes that I one day spend my birthday at Epcot. When we arrived at the gates that first morning, I was the proud owner of two vintage-style Epcot shirts and two Epcot tattoos - one each for Spaceship Earth and Horizons. I can assure you, they will not be the last of my Epcot ink.
Two things before we delve into narration: the first is why Epcot is my favorite park. A great, great deal of it has to do with everything that has gone before. There’s a sense of history at Epcot that is unlike the history elsewhere in the World - a tangible history. Everything that has happened in Epcot has happened in my lifetime - the creation of the park, the building and tearing down of Horizons, World of Motion, the original Journey Into Imagination, the many iterations of Spaceship Earth. Magic Kingdom puts magic in the name, but everything about Epcot - from Walt’s conception of it to my most recent experience with the Food and Wine Festival - is magical to me. Every time I step through those gates, I am reminded that this place has had a gigantic history, and it’s younger than me. That is fascinating to me.
Marty enjoys the hotel in Chucks.
Of course, it’s not discounting the new stuff. I like Test Track just fine, and I’m keenly interested in Soarin’, and I don’t dislike Mission: Space … all of which sounds like a lot of faint praise. But for me, Epcot is the only place in Walt Disney World that isn’t primarily about the rides and attractions. It’s about being there, and about absorbing it all. It’s the fiber-optics in the sidewalk and the fountain that dances with the orchestra music, and the countries with their rich, rich theming. It’s about how you could simply divide it into “science in the front, social studies in the back,” but that glosses over so much. There are Magic Kingdom-type parks in the world, and parks like Hollywood Studios, and even ones like Animal Kingdom … not that any of those other places is comparable, I’m just saying that they exist. To my knowledge, Epcot is the only park like it in the world. Not the World, the world. I dig its uniqueness. And man, do I love Spaceship Earth.
The second thing (wait, weren’t there already like eighteen second things?) is that because of all this, I wanted to take Marty and Barry here first. Almost every other time I come to WDW, I go for the Studios first. The Studios breaks people in easily, with its big thrill rides and stuff, but with the Disney attention to detail that gets people used to the immersion. But this time, I wanted to start off with my favorite thing. I think I needed it.
The boys (Marty and Barry, when referred to collectively, with heretofore be known as “the boys”) met up with us in the lobby of Pop and off to Epcot we sped. Just a sidebar - you guys, we had little to no issue with transportation on this trip. Only once did we have to wait a significant time for a bus. For anyone who’s ever used Disney transportation, you know how like heaven this is. Barry surprised me by arriving in a pair of Mickey ears; in response, I immediately donned my own. It’s always cool to have an ear-buddy. (Yes, cool!)
I won’t dwell on this, because I know I always do, but seriously. That first glimpse of Spaceship Earth over the roof of the monorail ramp just takes my breath away, every time. It’s how I know I’m really here. The morning was cool and I was in jeans at Epcot, and I had my ears on and my map out and my Touring Plans in my pocket. The sky was blue and that big silver ball glimmered in the early morning light. It…
Okay, I promised, I’m done.
(Spaceship EARTH!)
As I explained to the boys, Epcot is the only park that doesn’t have an elaborate opening show (more on opening shows later, because I have an awful beef with something that Animal Kingdom did recently and it’s not often that Disney Pisses Kev Off … but that’s like tomorrow). Interestingly, though, it didn’t seem to matter to them - they were happy as clams to see Mickey and Goofy and Donald and Pluto come out to say hello at the drop-line. This kept recurring to me during this trip: for those who watch me wax rhapsodic about Disney, you might think I think they can do nothing wrong. For me in reality, I hold Disney up to some excruciating standards. When I tried to soothe things by explaining to Shawn that Pop Century wasn’t really a “themed” hotel, he rolled his eyes and told me it was even more themed than Riverside.
See, I go here a lot. My standards are different. It’s like when Tracey goes with me to see a Springsteen show. She wants “Thunder Road,” she wants “The Rising,” she maybe wants “Dancing In the Dark.” These guys, even Shawn, want broad strokes, big gestures. They aren’t as interested in the minutiae of things. They just want to be entertained.
(Note to readers: I didn’t really get this until Day 3, so there may be some more of my internal anxieties coming up. Just flow with it. It breaks up the monotony of alla time fun!)
To my delight, the boys were more than willing to go along with my structures and plans. This eased my mind considerably. I dashed to Soarin’ with everyone’s park passes, grabbed our FastPasses, and We Were Off!
Now, not to get all meta, but at this point, I must explain that what I get out of my Trip Reports is the same thing I get out of my visits: where’s the new? What’s the bright and shiny? I could go attraction by attraction and tell you everything we did … but I’m not sure how constructive that would be. My aim from here on in is to give a sense of the enormity of this trip, and the wonder I tried to impart, and the joy of seeing all this stuff through their new eyes, and then detail the most important stuff. The big stuff. I think that works this time, and I have a feeling it’s the reason I’ve had some trouble continuing this report. I want all these reports to feel fresh and new, not retreads. Marty and Barry and Shawn deserve more than retreads.
So, I will say this: guys, we had a morning at Epcot. We got the E-ticket stuff under our belts in under an hour (Shawn, being contrary, refused to ride Soarin’ again, calling it “Borin’”. I then punched him in the sternum and he wasn’t contrary anymore. Ever.) (Okay, that didn’t happen. But later, when he complained that the Kim Possible Adventure was “only for tween girls!” - which, by the way, it’s not - I neglected to remind him that he collected Barbie dolls. I always miss the good comebacks until months later, like when he told me it was silly for me to have bought The Green Mile in monthly installments and I forgot he collected comics and I could have had a perfect comeback.) We tooled around, and I tried to explain some of the history of the place, focusing mainly on Horizons and why it was the best thing that has ever existed. I’m pretty sure they tuned me out after awhile. Also, no one fell for my Beverly trick at Club Cool, which Shawn kept calling Cool Port, for some reason. Maybe that reason is because Cool Port sounds boss.
Then, OMG, then Spaceship Earth lost Shawn’s and my end-of-ride picture! Which was mung because the pictures on the ride came out awesome and I think Shawn took it as a personal affront. I was just hurt that Spaceship Earth would do that to me. Come on, SE. I thought we were pals.
(Oh, by the by, I’m trying out mung as being an antonym of totes kick. Let’s see if it takes.)
And because it’s Epcot, and because Epcot is a two-day park, we didn’t spend nearly enough time in Future World before it was time to head on over to World Showcase for lunch in Germany. Ah, but here’s what I didn’t know then: we weren’t done with Future World just yet, not Future World or Epcot as a whole. Epcot had plenty of surprises left for us, and we’d only been here three hours. It was going to be a great big beautiful tomorrow.
Kev