Walt Disney’s Epcot Center – Feb 1998

This narrative is the sequel to my KSC experiences. A visit to Disney World’s Epcot Center was on our itinerary for the next day (15 th February). The exhaustion of the previous day took it’s toll and we could leave only by late noon. The sky was overcast with thick water-laden clouds when we started. Towards the end of the day, we were to realize our folly of not paying due attention to this obvious warning of heavy rains, but the realization would dawn a little too late (After we got drenched from head to foot !) Epcot center is one of the three parks of Disney World, and mainly concentrates on exhibits of science and technology. EPCOT is an abbreviated form of ‘Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow’. Though this park is devoid of all those spine-chilling roller-coaster rides, it nevertheless doesn’t inhibit the flow of visitors in any manner. After spending a few minutes at the ticket counter (for my uncle to get tickets…remember, I had a seasonal pass !) we proceeded straight on to the attraction labelled ‘Spaceship Earth’. Since me and my friend had already visited Epcot once, my uncle was leaning on our guidance for the best attractions.

Spaceship Earth is a slow-moving ride through a gigantic globe structure (This also happens to one of the conspicuous landmarks of Epcot) depicting the development of human communication through the ages. Through colourful animated exhibits (which seems to be the hallmark of the Disney world parks), this ride took us through the communication evolution starting from the cave writings of the pre-historic man to the latest fibre-optic technology of the modern age.

We then proceeded on to The Living Seas, an attraction that escaped our previous visit. True to it’s name, this attraction housed exhibits of rare and common species under the sea. Of special mention are the huge, colorful Corals, gigantic sea mammals like the Dolphin, Manatee (I hope I got the name right !) and the Sea Turtle, strange species of fishes like the lionfish, and also common ones like the shark, sea anemones, star fish etc. A variety of aquatic plants were also on display. Immensely satisfied with these exhibits, we then marched on to ‘The Land’.

The Land comprised of a boat ride and a film show titled ‘The Circle of Life’. The film was based on Disney’s animation classic The Lion King, and explained how mankind has systematically wiped out many living species from the face of the earth, to fulfill his greed and need. The film concluded with Simba’s plea to man, to save all the living creatures on earth and preserve the wonderful circle of life. There was an agonisingly long wait for the boat ride but we decided to take the ride. The boat started off by showing us the contrast between the colorful flora and fauna of Africa’s rain forest and the gruelling heat of the vast African desert. After another breathtakingly superb film (though, a short one) of the evolution of life on earth, the ride culminated by showing the artificial breeding of marine life and the growth of a variety of plants in a controlled environment within a Green House, undertaken at Epcot by NASA and the Agricultural Dept of the US. It is quite amazing how people in the US generate revenue and enlighten the common man, while at the same time isolating their research from the eyes of curious onlookers.

We then proceeded on to the best attraction in Epcot – Honey, I shrunk the audience. There was a big queue for this show, which was to be expected. After a 15 minutes wait, we were ushered into the theatre with our 3D goggles…Yes, you guessed it right ! This was indeed a 3D show and an extraordinary one at that. The film was about the annual presentation ceremony organized by the Imagination Institute, for the most imaginative scientist of the year. (The Imagination Institute, a fictitious organization, aimed to foster the rich imagination in every one of us – A series of crisp one-liners related to the imagination, were displayed prior to the 3D show. One of them : “The first rule of imagination – There are no rules” particularly stood out among the rest. The presentation ceremony centered around the work of a brilliant genius Prof. Zulenski, who had invented a unique shrinking machine. The havoc created by this shrinking & restoring machine was demonstrated effectively ( a bit scary, too) through the use of 3D techniques. The 3D sequences firmly entrenched in my memory include those of a boy’s pet python acquiring gigantic proportions and threatening to lick us with it’s huge tongues, transformation of a seemingly tame cat into a ferocious lion, the multitude of rats trying to nibble our toes and flying shrapnel of broken glass aiming at our eyes. We all acknowledged after the show that this was the best 3D film we ever saw.

Our plans of visiting all the attractions was beginning to go astray, thanks to the mild drizzle outside threatening to turn into a heavy downpour. The prospect of heavy rain didn’t deter us however, and we proceeded to a cluster of attractions called the World Showcase Lagoon. This had a series of locations, each dedicated to the attractions of a particular country. We first visited Canada. There was a circle vision film on Canada titled ‘O Canada !’. A circle vision film is screened in a circular theatre with 9 giant size screens around the theatre, giving you the feeling of being part of the film. Such films are particularly effective for panoramic shots of nature’s beauty. ‘O Canada’ fully made use of this effect by exhibiting the grandeur of nature that is abundant in Canada.

The attractions of UK, France, Germany, Morocco, Japan, China & Mexico followed next in order. It is amazing how these attractions exhibit the greatness of their respective countries, in such a small area allotted to them. A stroll through each attraction actually gave us the feeling of visiting that country. The entire attraction in each ‘country’ was totally managed by the people of that land. France’s predominant exhibit was the miniature Eiffel Tower while Japan and Morocco displayed important places of worship in their country. Though the long stroll through the park left us famished, we moved on and on, in the vain hope that we would find some decent vegetarian food at the Mexican restaurant. Meanwhile, the rain started pouring cats and dogs, while we pondered why we didn’t heed the weather forecast. China also had a circle vision film and we wasted no time in rushing to the comforts of the theatre to escape from the treacherous downpour. We managed to get to the land of Mexico at 8pm, driven more by our hunger than the urge to see the place. Mexico did not let us down, since we found a restaurant that offered some decent veg food. An umbrella in the vicinity of the hotel offered us shelter from the relentless rain, while we greedily pounced on the food.

A magnificent laser show, called Illuminations, one of the highlights of the Epcot Center, was scheduled to begin at 9pm. The venue of this show was the central lake in Epcot. Despite the heavy rain, people had flocked the umbrellas all around the lake as early as 8pm, for a vantage view of the show. So, we had to be content with the view from our umbrella. The laser show started promptly at 9pm. The sky was lit with a plethora of dazzling fireworks amidst the criss-crossing of powerful green laser beams across the lake. The entire display was beautifully synchronized with the background music. The enormity of the fireworks rendered the rain insignificant. After the grand finale of ‘Illuminations’, we soon worked our way out of the park, but not before the rain had the last laugh in drenching us from head to toe. We reached home at about 10.30pm, struggling through the traffic moving at a snail’s pace in the heavy downpour.

By and large, it was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend, with all our plans successful, notwithstanding some minor interference from mother nature