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If forced to pick my least favorite park...Epcot would be it, least favorite to navigate with a 7 year old boy anyway..
Don't get me wrong, we had a great time there...Epcot is laid out like an "8" - the circle of Showcase of Nations laid out atop the circle of "Future World" - in terms of geographic area, but FAR the largest of the parks, and the most walking, but easy to navigate - I always intuitively could feel exactly where I was in the park.
The Future World section is all about science and technology..home to the iconographic structure in this park the white "golf ball" sphere of space ship earth...and also the "rides" of the park, Soarin', Test Track, Mission Space, et al.
G was all about this stuff, as he is a science dork como yo...so there was plenty to do there...even if it was a bit too spread apart IMO...with too much time spent walking back and forth from one side to the other...
The parts of the Innoventions pavilions we looked at were weak and turned out to be a waste of time, but live and learn.
There were two hidden gems, IMO - in future world...one was completely lost on G - the architecture...wonderfully evocative of the 70's - all rounded corners and trapezoids, and rhomboids and sinusoidal curves, even the landscaping had that great futuristic 70's feel to it. This was what everything was SUPPOSED to look like in the 2000 era...until the architectural wave of uplighting and creek rock and Georgian red brick came in with the tide...
Still, it reminded me of a trip to "Ontario Place" back in about 1977...sort of a similar (weak though) Canadian knock off of Epcot up in Toronto...I recall driving up there with the fam, all of our shaggy haircuts - I had hair then - piled into the VW station wagon...
When we got there, it LOOKED very cool and futuristic and exciting...and it was not until about an hour later it dawned on my sister April and I - "there is NOTHING to freaking DO here!"
Interactive fountains and sculptures and playgrounds are, when you come right down to it...incredibly BO-RING! It was only an unexpected free evening concert by Chuck Mangioine (remember HIM? Feels SO Good!) with the cool breeze blowing in off Lake Ontario which made that expedition memorable...
Epcot has a LOT more going for it than Ontario Place did, to be sure...but somehow it was much less thematically "dense" than the other parks...the interesting details and diversions had to be sought out, as opposed to jumping on you and competing for your imagination at every glance, like in the other DW parks...
The other hidden gem was the "Living with the Land" ride...no line, not too popular, and kinda boring at first, truth be told, but as a gardener I found incredibly fascinating the section of the (slow and NOT intended to be "thrilling" ride where they toured you through the experimental and hydroponic garden - growing all sorts of exotic vegetable and fruit hybrids on startling dirt free frames and such...G was very interested in this as well...
Also fun in Epcot was the cool (literally) little "shop" run by Coca Cola - where they had free soda dispensers, and you could help yourself to samples of 8 different soft drinks from around the world...as many as you wanted..
My fave was the sparkling Italian aperitif "Beverly" kind of like a clear alcohol free Campari, if you know what that is...the worst was some vile watermelon flavored pink goo from China...blech...at first visit, G did not like this area, as they did not offer his fave - Diet Coke..but later he begged me to go back, and we quaffed enough samples and tastes to put us in the rest room every 45 minutes for the next 3 hours!! Haha
We skipped entirely the "Universe of Energy" Pavilion - nothing against Ellen Degeneres, the star there...even though she is a main-stream media doll, I DO find Ellen both likeable AND funny...and besides, she has GREAT taste in female guests...we just ran out of time is all...I wanted to get over to check out the World Showcase section of the park, and it was already going on 5..
WS is the more interesting and engaging section of the park, IMO - Pavilions representing Japan, China, USA (the American Experience, sadly, we had to skip that one, also due to time contraints) UK, France Morroco, Canada (least interesting IMO, maybe cause I grew up within sight of Canada - literally - been there, done THAT to death...) Mexico, Norway and Italy...whew!
We missed Norway entirely, and spent very little time in Mexico - cause even though the Park is advertised to be open till 11:00 pm-after the 9:00 fireworks and laser show, everything closed down rapidly...we should not have wasted any time on the O Canada movie, narrated by the not as funny as he thinks he is, and not NEARLY as funny as Mike Myers....Mr. Martin Short...
World Showcase is a romantic place more in the sexual/relationship romantic sense as compared to the nostalgic/historical sense which holds sway at most of the parks in DW...
it would be an awesome place to spend a honeymoon, a romantic getaway, or even - if you live in Central Florida...a great Sunday afternoon date...lots of nooks and crannies and atmosphere, and restaurants and pubs and shops and architecture and music and culture to explore...you can't go to the top of the Eiffel Tower or actually RIDE in a gondola like you can in Paris or Venice (G asked me if we could do both...sorry G - someday...) - but it is the next best thing, and the proximity and convenience of having all of those "places" steps away from each other is a magical selling point in itself...
I would like to go back to World Showcase someday with some sharp and brilliant lady...we can drop the kids off at the Disney mini-golf course for that day...what do you say??..LOL
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