Ah cool the Flight of the Navigator ship next too the Snow Speeder and the skiff! Nice shots and trip report, I want more!

Day 8 Continued:

So, after a full day at Disney MGM Studio’s I headed back to the hotel to get ready for the late evening events. I heard from our pal Louis, who was going to meet me in Downtown Disney. I got fixed up and took the bus and met him at McDonalds. From there we went to the Adventurer’s Club, which I’ve heard a great deal about. Initially I was disappointed because it just seemed to be a bar. But after a few drinks and meeting up with some of the MC folks, the place came alive.

I didn’t get any pictures from the club, but it was really entertaining. The "Cast" of characters were just a riot and we sat thru 3 shows including the big finale, a swearing in as new members and a hysterical lounge act by the aging diva explorer - if that could describe her. This went on well after midnight with the big finale that closed the night.

Still energized from the Konga-Loosh (No idea how that’s spelled) drink (I think I had 4) which was a slushy type alcohol laced drink that was just awesome, the group made it’s way to Mannequin which was the hip dance club at Pleasure Island. It had a rotating dance floor, a wall of lights, a booming sound system and was populated that evening by the local gay and lesbian castmembers. (Louis had some explaining to do to his fellow castmembers, heheheh) Anyway, the group (or what was left of it) finished the evening there at 2am when the lights came on and the music ended. Not a place I’d like to spend many hours at but it was a real flashy club that I would never get into even in Los Angeles.



So, I made the trek back to the room and bed only to wake only a few hours later for a day at EPCOT and some tasting at the Food and Wine Festival.

That’s next...

Comedy Club warehouse and Adventurers club are my favorite PI clubs, The others are flashy and crowded and loud... esp Mannequins...

Comedy Club Warehouse is improv, complete improv with audience participation... think of it as Whose Line is it Anyway, live... but with the occasional adult subject thrown in...

and Adventurers Club is well... fun!

It's KUNGALOOSH!!! :cheers: :D

Kungalooooooooosh!!!:cheers:

Day 9 -

EPCOT & the Food and Wine Festival

The day started later than I’d hoped due to getting back to the hotel at 3am, but I got to EPCOT about 10pm and made a direct line to where you rent the ECV’s or "Meat-wagons." My feet were beyond raw and it was just way to difficult to walk around the whole day so this seemed to be the best way to go.

Today was going to be an all day journey here at EPCOT thanks to the Extra Magic Hours, so the park would be open until Midnight! I made my way to The Land pavilion where the group was meeting up to do a "Sip and Nibble" around the world. I got a score card and a little glass to sip from and the group headed to the first stand of the Food and Wine Festival.

"Champagne" was booth #1 where there was various wines to taste. I can’t tell you what one I tried but it was good, as was the wine from the 2nd booth, Chile. I’m not even anywhere near a wine expert, so I’m not one to judge anything beyond it being "good." hehe - Also in "Chile I tried what I believe was "Tomatican" with Manchego Cheese. I am guessing because I’m going from the guide the park was passing out that lists the foods served at the different venues.

Next was Argentina where I tried the "Spicy Beef Empanada" and the "Grilled Beef with Chimichirri Sauce." The Empanada was very good but not very spicy and the Beef strips with the "Chim-Chim-Cheerie" sauce was very salty.

I skipped eating at the Mexico pavilion, which had Quesadias and the such, and the group rode "The Grand Fiesta Tour" filling 2 boats. (No sinking, thank you)

Donald get’s wacked!

Ireland was next and they were sadly out of the "Baily’s Frozen Irish Coffee" so I got some "Chilled Potato Leek Soup with an Irish Cheddar Cheese Stick" which was basically cold soup. Spain was skipped over by me also but next in the China venue I had some excellent "Chicken Sha Che", "Pork Pot Stickers" and finished with some "Caramel Ginger Ice Cream." To drink I tried the "Green Tea Plum Wine Cooler" which was very refreshing. The Ice cream was good and the beef and chicken were tasty. In India I just tried the "Coconut Rice Pudding." I was actually getting full from the food, so I took a break and took some pictures.

Doppy in Germany!

Beautiful Flowers

I came across this awesome little display of model trains and villages in the German Pavilion.





Spaceship Earth from across the lake.

Italy

Lovely park in the UK Pavilion.

The only other stop made for the Food and Wine Festival was at the French pavilion at the behest of Louis after we parted ways from the Group. That was a small glass of "Coupe de Sorbet Champagne" which was a very tasty layered frozen sorbet. I wanted to try more, but I was just too stuffed and I wanted to save some room for an early dinner at Biergarten.

I wanted to spend some more time in Future World checking out the other pavilions I’d missed before, so we breezed by the Universe of Energy and the Wonder’s of Life Pavilion which was now transformed into an area used for the Food and Wine Festival.

Cool building


No Body Wars for me today!

We passed by Mission Space, which I rode later.


Not yet!

Along the way, we met up with Sadako and we went to a highlight of the day, which was the "EPCOT 25th Anniversary" exhibit, which was nicely tucked away in the Character greeting building. It wasn’t even listed on the map, but Louis knew where it was.

There is Louis! Can you spot him?

Louis taking a picture of his picture.

It was a very small are with some display cases and pictures on the wall, as well as a short video clip of the opening day ceremonies. The room was maybe the size of the Model area of the 50th Exhibit at Disneyland. They had some nice stuff - models, merchandise, costumes and the such.


Costumes

Model of Spaceship Earth

Time marched on and it was time for the reservation at Biergarten. Both Louis and Sa dako joined me and we got a nice table practically in front of the stage. Most of the pictures came out blurry or dark, so I’ll spare you. One thing I learned is that I don’t like German food. Lots of Sausages and bland tasting meats - so sadly I’ll have to say this was the worst meal of the trip. The atmosphere was nice and we sat at a big table with another family and a CM and daughter. The CM was getting toasted, so that made for some interesting conversations. She was not very happy with her job, and wasn’t shy about telling us. The band showed up finally before our meal was just about over, so I got to see a bit of the "Om-Pa-pa" band. And there were no hot German chicks with their boobs hanging out - so that was a negative for me.

Afterward, Louis had to go meet some friends, so me and Sadako rode "Ellen’s Energy Adventure." I know this has gotten a lot of flak and it’s understandable. There’s a 20 min (or so it seems) presentation in the lobby featuring Ellen, Bill Nye and the Jeopardy guy that really goes on and on. Then we’re let into a large theater with the giant people movers. Minus Ellen, I thought it was a wonderful ride with the giant screens and the dinosaurs. I really got giddy when we started moving thru the pavilion. It was very, very cool and the Ellen animatronic made me laugh out loud. I would hate to see EPCOT loose this attraction and I hope it can remain but I would hope they would make some changes to the pre-show.
Now, it was finally time for a ride on Mission: Space!!

Oooh, pretty!

First, after hearing about the ride and the reported deaths, I thought it best to ride the easy "Green" side first to gauge how I would like the ride. First off, the building is just beautiful - especially lit up at night. The inside que area reminded me so much of Mission to Mars, it was a nice tribute to see. We lined up and I got to be part of a 3 man crew. (Sadako chose the Red side having been on this already) So, I was to do 2 duties. Gary Sinise and his bad toupee, which is worse that I’d seen gave us the drill and the anticipation was there. In other words, I’d wished I’d spent more time drinking before but I digress. The capsule had more room that I had anticipated, so I was glad I fit into the ride with no trouble at tall. The door closed and we went on our mission, which you’ll be glad to know, was a success. It was a thrilling ride that is hands down the best simulater I’ve been on. It was smooth and moved very well and I was very happy with the ride. The sensations were all there and everything worked great. So, now I was (somewhat) prepared for the Red side!!

To be Continued...

very WISE. :D

i really like the exhibit they made for the 25th . I wish they had the same at Disneyland Paris for the 15th aniversary .

Day 9 - Continued...

Ok - my memory is fading - The events happened as stated only BEFORE we rode Mission Space, we made our way over to the Japan Pavilion to was Illumination... so let’s pick it up there.

So, after The Universe of Energy we made our way to Japan on the way moving thru a typical crowd that gathers to see the display. The best part of moving thru the crowd on the ECV / Meat wagon was this woman grabbed her kid yanking him out of my way and screaming "Jesus Christ!" when I was no where near hitting the kid nor going an any kind of speed - she acted like I was in a flaming Dump truck barreling down on her child.

Paris at night.

So, we got a real nice spot in Japan right near where the large globe sits waiting for the show. All in all it was a nice show but not as great as I had hoped. The pyro was nice and seeing the fire etc. was well choreographed to the music, which was just ok. The other big downer was the globe, which was spinning around but it was just small enough and just far enough away where I couldn’t really make out what was on the globe. I saw people’s faces, which I guess is all that shows up. Also, I’m unsure whether I got the full show because it started drizzling and I overheard someone saying it was cut short. I loved the fire and the pylons around the lake and the glittering buildings but it was just ok for me.

So, THEN after that we headed to Mission Space where I rode the Green side. Then Louis and his friends from Paris met up with us and we rode the Orange extreme side of the attraction.

The ride is exactly the same as GREEN except for the intense spinning the little pod does. I"m not quite sure how it works but during the lift off there is this intense pressure you feel while you are launched into space. For me, initially it wasn’t that bad - it made the launch more realistic but it just didn’t stop and it got to a point where it was just way too much for me and I really started hating it. I didn’t feel nauseated but I did feel extremely lightheaded towards the end. That area of your temples where sometimes you get a headache felt like fingers pressing against it and it was very uncomfortable for me. I felt my eye start to cross so I doubt I will ever ride the Orange side again. It really, really worked for the launch but it just went on way longer that I thought it should to the point where I could say "Enough already!" I don’t think the green side is any worse for not having the spinning and I really enjoyed this ride.

So, after limping out of Mission Space, I saw the gang off, and went around capturing some night time pictures just before the park closed. Here are a few.




EPCOT is just a beautiful park at night with each pavilion lit up and the spectacular Spaceship Earth that was just eye tearing. No doubt it is my second favorite park at WDW and I really felt I didn’t come close to experiencing all that it had to offer. I could spend a whole week there with so many nooks left unexplored.


So, the night ended and I turned in the meat wagon and made my way back to my room. Tomorrow I’d be going home having only a few hours to spend at the Magic Kingdom..That experiance will be up next....