[mousepod]

Illuminations is the best Disney show I've seen (in America. Ask NA and €uro about BraviSEAmo).

Since you've never done EPCOT, the best way to really appreciate and enjoy Illuminations is to spend the whole day at the park, from opening to closing. Be at Future World as soon as the park opens - get your fast pass for Mission:Space right away and do your single rider Test Track. Enjoy the Kodak-sponsored show in their pavilion (the live one, of course) and dig on Nemo in The Living Seas. Have a light but healthy lunch in The Land. Once you've done all of Future World, head into World Showcase and don't look back. Pick one side and explore the park in an orderly fashion. When you're halfway done, you'll be exhausted - so it's a perfect time to get refreshed in the air-conditioned patriotism of The American Adventure (you'll be so raw by that time that you might need to hide your tears at the sappy but effective theme music). You can graze through World Showcase or pick a nice place for dinner (plenty of good suggestions already in this thread) - but make sure you're outside at least 30 minutes before Illuminations. If you follow these directions, you'll have had at least a dozen hours of the not-so-subtle messages of EPCOT being drilled into your head: a message of national pride and international friendship and cooperation, a message that with a global vision, anything is possible. At this point, you'll be primed for Illuminations. It's the perfect punctuation to the message. And when it ends and you slowly make your way back through Future World, past the shining sphere that is Spaceship Earth, you will understand why EPCOT is the best American Disney park.