Vacationing in Florida: Day 6 (Epcot)

May 29th, 2017

Despite the extreme temperatures predicted for today, we headed out to Epcot bright and early in the morning. I was advised to bring my sunhat, and I'm really glad I did. The sun was beating down from 8 am until the moment we left.

We got there early and waited at the entrance to Epcot with about two hundred other people. I was really itching to get in by the time 8:50 rolled around and they finally gave us the OK to enter the park. As soon as they gave the signal and said "Don't run" everyone was off! I found out quickly that I had arrived on a day where they were having a garden festival, so I took some shots of all the flower and grass creations I saw!

A beautiful flower!!

The first ride we headed to was Soarin, a flight simulation ride.

A lot of other people had the same idea, and we ended up being part of a huge crowd that went straight for this ride. Even so, we ended up being one of the first ones on the ride! I thought it was a fun expierence but I'm really glad I did it first because it definitely isn't worth the 110 minute wait that lingered pretty much all day.

The interior of "The Land"

We headed to the Testrack ride next and waited about 30 minutes on the single rider line. The group rider line had a wait of almost an hour! The ride was pretty fun and went a lot faster than I thought it would. Also, I must have picked a really good car because it won #1 three times during my ride!

The most memorable ride of the day has to be when we rode "Living with the Land". 

It's a boat ride that starts with a little movie talking about food throughout the generations in the Americas. The ride then takes you to some scenes in different settings: a rainforest, a desert, a prairie, etc. Throughout the ride there is a narration talking about resources and taking care of the land!

The boat then exits into a greenhouse, and the narration talks about all the different types of plants that they grow! All the things they grow are used in their restaurants, and I thought that was so cool! I managed to get a few shots, but keep in mind the boat was moving so I couldn't get all of the amazing plants they had!!

They also had an area where they kept and breed fish, which they served in their restaurants as well. I wasn't a big fan of these fish farms.

poor lil catfish

This is a watering system Disney uses that I find so amazing! They grow all these lettuce heads with no soil at all! Amazingly efficient. If I remember correctly, they produce about 27,000 heads of lettuce a year using this method.

Here is an interesting contraption: The plants and the fish working together. The plants intake the nutrients and water from the fish waste and water, and the fish benefit from the plants above. The one thing I'm not so sure of is how much space exactly these fish have. It seemed tight in there :(

Warning: Marigold spam ahead

My best shot of the day!!!

After the ride, we still had a good amount of time before our next Fastpass, so we decided to get a snack at the cafeteria. We also were not ready to go brace that heat again, so we lingered a little at our table after eating our sweets.

This cake reminds me of my birthday cake from when I was in Japan

Of course I ended up getting it!!!!

This tasted amazing, I would eat this again in a heartbeat.

Our fastpass was for Journey Into Imagination, which was a cute ride. I really felt like they were trying to push the dragon, Figment, as a cool new character to sell merch for but I wasn't buying it.

Vincent made an interesting comment that Wizard Mickey has only been in one film and didn't even SPEAK in that film, but is iconic enough that everyone knows about him. He even has this little setup here! I also want to point out that the vines pouring out of the buckets are made to simulate water, like in Fantasia!!!

We briefly headed to Canada because we had a little time before our 1:35 lunch reservation! I thought Canada was super cool, and Vincent has always told me he wanted to move to Canada. I asked him "Have you ever been to Canada?" and he said no! I guess this is the next best thing lol.

This huuuuuge waterfall!

If you stand where that woman is standing you'll be sprayed by a refreshing cool mist. Much needed on this hot day.

This little Pooh Bear was in England~

From across the water I could see Japan!!!!

Our lunch reservation was at the Coral Reef Restaurant, which is right off the side of the Nemo ride. The unique thing about this place is they have huge tanks of fish swimming around that you can watch while you eat!

You can see Vincent in the corner of the photo! We had a great seat.

I ordered the (virgin) Pina Colada with Raspberry Puree.

Uncle Reggie got the crab cakes as an appetizer!

 I was determined to get a good shot of the fish, but most of them moved pretty fast!

There is a small shark in the tank as well that I got a few pictures of!!!

I ordered the Tuna Bowl, but I got the Tofu version!

Vincent got the same, but with Tuna

Aunt Debbie got the Shrimp Scampi

More shark photos!

Vincent pointed out it was kind of messed up to be serving fish right in front of a tank of live fish. They gave out a pamphlet in the beginning of the meal with some of the fish in the tank and stated these fish are not eaten. Even so, it's kind of weird.

Look! A diver!

For dessert Vincent had the turtle cheesecake. I have to say this tasted more like a ball of sugar and white chocolate and absolutely nothing like a cheesecake. I could only stomach one bite because it was too much.

Aunt Debbie got this mousse (I forget the name). 

After our big meal, we headed straight to Japan. 

We were not looking forward to leaving the restaurant because the heat was really getting unbearable. I told myself I would only go to France and Japan because it was miserable outside. 

We took the ferry to Japan, which leaves from Canada every 15 minutes.

We headed into the Japanese store to escape the heat, and they had so many things it was unbelieveable! I was interested in getting something (a book) when I realized that I would be able to buy all of these things in just a few months. I put the book back and just enjoyed the AC as I walked around.

They had a kimono and yukata store and so I went in to take a look. 

I used this time to speak to the woman working there (you can kind of see her in the photo) in Japanese and ask about all the stuff. We ended up having a 5 minute conversation about ourselves! 

She told me she was from Aichi and ended up advising me to instead purchase things from Japan instead of here. She told me it would be far cheaper and have a greater selection.

Vincent taking a photo of this statue!

We didn't stay in Japan long, but I felt a bit comforted while I was there. 

It's hard to explain but being surrounded by Japanese products and Japanese speakers was really such a comfortable expierence and reminded me of what's to come this fall. There's a certain feeling that hung in the air that just felt so familiar to me, I almost forgot I was in Florida.

We headed to France but unfortunately the menu they had at the food stand wasn't the one I thought it would be, so we didn't get anything there.

At this point, we knew it was time to go home. We were all dripping with sweat and weren't feeling well, and the temperature had risen to 100 degrees. 

Before we left, we stopped at Canada again and I ordered the Scallops which were GREAT. I thought the portion was a bit small for $7 of food, but the flavor was awesome. Unfortunately, we were on the move so I had to scarf these down as we walked.

 
After that, we were headed home!

So amazing! I couldn't capture the beauty properly in just one shot!!

Phineas and Ferb!

Donald duck! 

I thought all the grass sculptures were beautiful! I'm glad I caught the tail end of the garden festival! 

If there's anything I'll take away from Epcot, it's that I should come back on a cool day. 

I had fun, but I felt like I really didn't get to expierence the park because of the blazing heat. Even though we spent a good 8 hours in the park, the temperature made some of it feel like suffering. 

In the future, I would love to come back in the winter time and explore all of the world's!