It was time to head over to the Imagination! pavilion and ride Journey Into Imagination with Figment. The ride has changed many times over the years, and I believe the last time I rode, Figment was not part of the attraction. I remember the ride going through multiple scenes, each showing the importance of our senses. When I rode this trip, Figment was there to ruin that trip about half-way through. So, we approached the double pyramid shaped building, and saw the line for the attraction being 5 minutes. Not even. We walked through the decent sized queue with no other person in sight. The queue is nicely themed as the "Imagination Institute", and holds the offices for each of the professors who work inside, one of which we are about to meet. We finally reached the entry ramp and saw there there were people actually riding the attraction! Wow! Anyway, it was no time before we entered out red car part of three in a train. We pulled out, and entered the the first stage of the attraction. Here, Dr. Nigel Channing introduces himself, wants us to discover how our five senses can help develop our imagination. Figment, the little purple dragon comes around, and wants to go along for the journey. Dr. Channing rejects, but Figment doesn't take no as an answer. The ride advances through multiple scenes, each showcasing a human sense. We go through each lab, sight, sound, smell...and Figment is there to ruin the prof's tests each time. After the dragon stinks up a storm in the Scent Lab, the professor calls off the tour. However, Figment invites us all to his house for an open house, and shows us how important our imagination really is. We glide through his house, but there has to be something wrong...it's all upside-down! This is when the professor comes to the realization that imagination is your world turned upside-down. After a ride through Figment's place, we return to the Imagination Institute. After we arrive in the final scene, the prof comes into agreement with Figment at last. We are left with Figment shouting "Imagination's a Blast!", and then get hit in the face with a strong wind, which I took as extremely unexpected. The ride ends with Figment's imagination taking over, showing him doing things only his imagination would let him. As the prof and Figment sing the "Imagination" song, our red vehicle comes to a half in front of the exit doors. We get off, and head into the "What If" Labs after this one crazy, wacky ride.
My opinion on this crazy adventure through the world of imagination? It's a fun, witty ride, but is it one of the best in EPCOT? No. It's a fun ride that rarely will have a line, and it's a good ride to do while waiting for a FastPass to be ready. It's not a must-hit at EPCOT, but it can be a fun ride for the kids. I'd like to see something better come out of this attraction, however. Imagination! is one of the least popular pavilions in EPCOT. I think it's about time they update not only the attraction, but the pavilion as a whole. Anyway, last word on Figment? It's a fun ride, but has a lot more potential. And my expert advice on this attraction? It's an attraction the whole family can ride, but some of the effects might be frightening for the little ones. Anyway, moving on, we spend some times in the Kodak "What If?" Labs, which were all right, but these could use a nice updating as well. After about 5 minutes, we left, and decided to head back over to the Land, as our Living with the Land Surprise FastPass was just about ready. We made the quick walk over and re-entered the Land for the second time that day. We made our way to the bottom level, which was again packed with people. They seriously need something to control foot traffic down there. Soarin' wasn't ready just yet, so we went to the other side of the lower level and Living with the Land. Since regular FastPass was not available LwtL today, we were lucky to get that surprise FastPass. We showed our passes the the Cast Member, and entered the FastPass queue. It was only about 5 minutes until we got inside our boat, and note that this is before they replaced Cast Members with recordings. With that, we made our journey into the ride's first scene.
The first half of the ride is just an educational look at different areas of the Land that we live on. First we'll make go through a rainforest, which has a terrible storm going through. The recording (this part of the ride has always been a recording) informs us about how important the rainforest is for our planet, especially with the amount of oxygen it produces. It's saddening to see rainforests being cut down across the globe...they are such an important part of our lives, and by cut them down, cut are only hurting ourselves. In the next area, we encounter a scorching desert. With the little water available, everything that lives in the desert has to make due with what they have. It's interesting to see how wildlife lives in the desert, it's something you would think is impossible. The next scene is a showing of the American farm. Obviously, the land has a huge effect on how farming works, or doesn't work. You need good land to work with, and needs the right indegrients for things to grow. After the prairie scene, we enter a barn-like building with many picture screens, and learn how large human effect on the land is. We can definitely take the land for advantage, and must learn how to "live with the land", doing things to benefit human beings and the environment itself. After this scene, it's time to head in the research lab to discover how they are working to live with the land.
The Cast Member now takes over as our trip through the labs begin. In the first lab, we get a look at the many tropical plants growing inside. You'll see many different types of plants and fruits in here, including bananas, the java apple, the blue pumpkin, and many different types of spices. It's always interesting to see what they're growing inside this lab. Chances are there will be something different every time you ride. In the next area, we get a look at some of the fish living inside a heated lab area. There's a ton of different kinds of fish in there, and you'll even find the good old American Alligator. Luckily, they are all safely secured in a tank! We move on through the fish area and into the next lab. Here we get a look at some of the more innovative crops growing inside the labs, such as the giant (these things are huge!) pumpkins and the nine-pound lemon! Moving along, we'll get some more truly unique ways to grow crops, like the tomato tree and one of the coolest things you'll see while in the labs, the Mickey Mouse shaped pumpkin, which is grown through a certain molding! After this, we move on into the final area of the many labs, which features plants grow through aerial environments. It's truly amazing how they come up with these ideas, and how well they work. I always love this area of the attraction, it shows how innovative we can be with crops. Some of the things growing in there are truly special, especially that Mickey shaped pumpkin. Anyway, we move back inside to finish our adventure on Living with the Land. The ride ends with many pictures of people living with the land, which is what this attraction is all about. After the short sequence, we're back at the platform inside the pavilion and get off our boat when it finally comes to a complete stop. Living with the Land is always one of my favorite attractions at EPCOT. It's an extremely educational attraction, plus you get a look at something that is truly REAL and going on right now. The dark ride area of the ride is a great lead-in into the labs, which is definitely the highlight. This is an attraction that you can't miss at EPCOT, it's one of the few educational attractions left! My expert advice for this attraction? Put this one on your hit-list, especially if you're looking for an educational experience. This is also an attraction that anyone can ride, so you have no excuse for missing out on this ride!
After a great Living with the Land ride, it was time to move on over to the other side of the lower Land area. This is one of the attractions I was most looking forward to, and now the time was here. Soarin', here I come!
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Chapter 16:Communication, Sea, and Pixar
We climbed aboard our blue train and made a journey through the classic Spaceship Earth. It's one of those rides that is always enjoyable to ride, and it's also one where you'll walk out learning something. The ride takes you through the world of communications, from beginning to end, and beyond. We start off in the stone age, where language was first being developed. The ride continues to take you through numerous scenes illustrated through Audio-Animatronic figures, until we reach the likes of today. Once you reach the top of the sphere, you rotate backwards to return to the station. This is where you'll get a glimpse of what the future of communication has in store. Overall, this attraction is a classic and always one of my favorites. It's educational, relaxing, enjoyable, and fun. It's one of those attraction that I could never see Disney touching, or at least I hope so. I think the ride itself could use a nice rehab, it's due for one. Fixing up some of the AA's and fixing the special effects would be excellent for this attraction. Anyway, my expert advice for this attraction? Next time you're at EPCOT, you must give this ride a whirl. It's one of the few educational theme park attractions in existence, and the fact that you can walk out of the attraction having learned something is refreshing. The attraction is slow-moving and tame, so just about everyone has the chance to experience this classic ride. Once again, this is a MUST HIT on your next trip. Anyway, after the ride, we walked down the ramp and saw that they were doing work on the post-show area. I remember some really cool things being in the post-area on my last visit, so I hope they can bring that area back to life again. I believe it will re-open this spring at EPCOT.
Moving on, we all enter the central hub of EPCOT at last. The Tip Board is straight ahead, so we decide to check it out. Lines are moderate, only Soarin' seemed to have much of a line. Since Soarin' was an attraction everyone was going to go on, we decided to head over to the Land pavilion and pick up a FastPass. So we made a right and headed towards the Land, situated between the new Seas and the Imagination! pavilions. I always felt like the Land needed a big attraction...and Soarin' delivers. That's for later, however. Anyway, I entered the Land for the first time in 3 years. The place looked pretty different, as they changed things around a bit when Soarin' opened. The lower area looked all different to me...they re-did the entire eating area, adding new theming, put in a new sign for Living with the Land, and the area itself looked nicer. Anyway, we had to go downstairs for our FastPass, so we went down and into the new Soarin' area, previously occupied by Food Rocks. The area is now themed to an airline terminal, complete with a ticket counter and ticket machines near-by, aka the FastPass machines. We went over to one, and inserted all 5 of our Park Hoppers. Then...SURPRISE! We got a surprise FastPass for Living with the Land! This was excellent for us, as all of us were going to do that attraction as well. Well after that, it was time to leave the Land. Our LwtL and Soarin' times weren't until later, so we decided to check something else out before returning back to the Land. Overall, the Land looked quite impressive, but there were a TON of people in there. On our way back up, there was a QUEUE for the ESCALATOR! I just went along and walked up the stairs...wow people. Anyway, we made our way back out, and decided what would be next on our agenda. We decided to check out the Seas with Nemo and Friends, which was going through a current transformation when we were at the park. A certain new attraction to spring up there, Turtle Talk with Crush, would be next on our hit list.
We left the Land and made our way over to the Seas, which when we were there, had the big blue wall around the entrance. To get inside, we needed to use the back door. We went around back and came inside the big blue pavilion that is the Seas. Once we walked in, mostly all of what we saw was a huge queue line in the middle of the pavilion floor. We checked out the scene, and realized it was for the pavilion's current big hit, Turtle Talk with Crush. I was interested to do this attraction, as I have heard very good reviews of it, and it seemed to be a great interactive, educational attraction. So, we decided to check it out first. We got in the queue, which was totally out of place. Fortunately, the queue and attraction have now moved to a new area, so the main floor is queue-free! Anyway, the queue was pretty crowded, but it only took about 10-15 minutes to get inside the theatre. Inside, there are many long benches to sit on, and an area up front for the little ones who want to talk to Crush. The theatre isn't large at all, but it ended up packing in a decent amount of people. Everyone took a seat around the large screen of the sea, and soon the show began. Crush comes over to us and introduces himself to us. He wants to find out information about the human world for his son Squirt, and in return he will tell us about life in the sea. The fun-filled show lasts about 15 minutes, and is full of jokes from Crush, tidbits of information, and interaction with the guests. It's hilarious when Crush talks to the little kids! I really enjoyed this attraction. You will definitely be entertained throughout the entire show. The information Crush reveals about the sea is interesting, and the interaction factor is hilarious. Overall, it's a good rounded show, and very entertaining to say the least. I still love how this technology works and how it is put to use in this attraction. My expert advice for this attraction? Sea it! This is a show everyone in the family can enjoy. It's not drawn out, or too short to feel ripped off. It's a great enjoyable experience, and a definite hit in the new Seas pavilion. It's very popular, so this could be the pavilion to hit in the morning hours, especially with no FastPasses available.
After Crush, we made our way back out into the pavilion. Since the main attraction of the pavilion was still being worked on when we were there, we decided to go upstairs and discover the exhibits the Seas has to offer. We went over to the manatee exhibit first. They're always enjoyable to watch, and we were fortunate to catch them at feeding time. Since these creatures are endangered, it was nice to sit back and watch them for a couple of minutes. After that, we checked out the other fish exhibits the pavilion had to offer, which were great as well. I then began thinking about how well the movie was used throughout the pavilion. It was used where it could be used to their advantage. Turtle Talk is an excellent attraction with the perfect character, and the many sea life exhibits are brought to life through "Finding Nemo" theming and educational films. I was disappointed I didn't get to go on the Undersea Adventure, but it'll have to wait. I'm concerned with the Pixar overload inside WDW, but to me, this was a great addition to re-brand this dying pavilion. This is an example of how WDW used their Pixar characters to their advantage, and it is obviously working. Turtle Talk, in fact, had one of the biggest queues for our entire time in EPCOT, for a pavilion which was basically half-open. The pavilion at full capacity should be a huge success for the park. Anyway, after viewing the exhibits, we made a quick bathroom break and headed out. Once again, I really like this what WDW did with this attraction. They've just got to learn where to use Pixar and where not to use Pixar.
Well, after a great time in the Seas, we stopped outside, found a bench, and enjoyed the beautiful Florida day. That sun was so strong that day, I remember chugging a water bottle as we all sat. After some nice relaxation, our FastPasses weren't just ready yet. So, for our next attraction, we decided to journey into our imagination, with a certain purple dragon. After that, it's time for Land, Land, and more Land...with Living with the Land and one of my stand-out attractions of the trip, Soarin'.
Moving on, we all enter the central hub of EPCOT at last. The Tip Board is straight ahead, so we decide to check it out. Lines are moderate, only Soarin' seemed to have much of a line. Since Soarin' was an attraction everyone was going to go on, we decided to head over to the Land pavilion and pick up a FastPass. So we made a right and headed towards the Land, situated between the new Seas and the Imagination! pavilions. I always felt like the Land needed a big attraction...and Soarin' delivers. That's for later, however. Anyway, I entered the Land for the first time in 3 years. The place looked pretty different, as they changed things around a bit when Soarin' opened. The lower area looked all different to me...they re-did the entire eating area, adding new theming, put in a new sign for Living with the Land, and the area itself looked nicer. Anyway, we had to go downstairs for our FastPass, so we went down and into the new Soarin' area, previously occupied by Food Rocks. The area is now themed to an airline terminal, complete with a ticket counter and ticket machines near-by, aka the FastPass machines. We went over to one, and inserted all 5 of our Park Hoppers. Then...SURPRISE! We got a surprise FastPass for Living with the Land! This was excellent for us, as all of us were going to do that attraction as well. Well after that, it was time to leave the Land. Our LwtL and Soarin' times weren't until later, so we decided to check something else out before returning back to the Land. Overall, the Land looked quite impressive, but there were a TON of people in there. On our way back up, there was a QUEUE for the ESCALATOR! I just went along and walked up the stairs...wow people. Anyway, we made our way back out, and decided what would be next on our agenda. We decided to check out the Seas with Nemo and Friends, which was going through a current transformation when we were at the park. A certain new attraction to spring up there, Turtle Talk with Crush, would be next on our hit list.
We left the Land and made our way over to the Seas, which when we were there, had the big blue wall around the entrance. To get inside, we needed to use the back door. We went around back and came inside the big blue pavilion that is the Seas. Once we walked in, mostly all of what we saw was a huge queue line in the middle of the pavilion floor. We checked out the scene, and realized it was for the pavilion's current big hit, Turtle Talk with Crush. I was interested to do this attraction, as I have heard very good reviews of it, and it seemed to be a great interactive, educational attraction. So, we decided to check it out first. We got in the queue, which was totally out of place. Fortunately, the queue and attraction have now moved to a new area, so the main floor is queue-free! Anyway, the queue was pretty crowded, but it only took about 10-15 minutes to get inside the theatre. Inside, there are many long benches to sit on, and an area up front for the little ones who want to talk to Crush. The theatre isn't large at all, but it ended up packing in a decent amount of people. Everyone took a seat around the large screen of the sea, and soon the show began. Crush comes over to us and introduces himself to us. He wants to find out information about the human world for his son Squirt, and in return he will tell us about life in the sea. The fun-filled show lasts about 15 minutes, and is full of jokes from Crush, tidbits of information, and interaction with the guests. It's hilarious when Crush talks to the little kids! I really enjoyed this attraction. You will definitely be entertained throughout the entire show. The information Crush reveals about the sea is interesting, and the interaction factor is hilarious. Overall, it's a good rounded show, and very entertaining to say the least. I still love how this technology works and how it is put to use in this attraction. My expert advice for this attraction? Sea it! This is a show everyone in the family can enjoy. It's not drawn out, or too short to feel ripped off. It's a great enjoyable experience, and a definite hit in the new Seas pavilion. It's very popular, so this could be the pavilion to hit in the morning hours, especially with no FastPasses available.
After Crush, we made our way back out into the pavilion. Since the main attraction of the pavilion was still being worked on when we were there, we decided to go upstairs and discover the exhibits the Seas has to offer. We went over to the manatee exhibit first. They're always enjoyable to watch, and we were fortunate to catch them at feeding time. Since these creatures are endangered, it was nice to sit back and watch them for a couple of minutes. After that, we checked out the other fish exhibits the pavilion had to offer, which were great as well. I then began thinking about how well the movie was used throughout the pavilion. It was used where it could be used to their advantage. Turtle Talk is an excellent attraction with the perfect character, and the many sea life exhibits are brought to life through "Finding Nemo" theming and educational films. I was disappointed I didn't get to go on the Undersea Adventure, but it'll have to wait. I'm concerned with the Pixar overload inside WDW, but to me, this was a great addition to re-brand this dying pavilion. This is an example of how WDW used their Pixar characters to their advantage, and it is obviously working. Turtle Talk, in fact, had one of the biggest queues for our entire time in EPCOT, for a pavilion which was basically half-open. The pavilion at full capacity should be a huge success for the park. Anyway, after viewing the exhibits, we made a quick bathroom break and headed out. Once again, I really like this what WDW did with this attraction. They've just got to learn where to use Pixar and where not to use Pixar.
Well, after a great time in the Seas, we stopped outside, found a bench, and enjoyed the beautiful Florida day. That sun was so strong that day, I remember chugging a water bottle as we all sat. After some nice relaxation, our FastPasses weren't just ready yet. So, for our next attraction, we decided to journey into our imagination, with a certain purple dragon. After that, it's time for Land, Land, and more Land...with Living with the Land and one of my stand-out attractions of the trip, Soarin'.
Friday, February 02, 2007
We're back...
Hello all, I hope you've been enjoying the on-going WDW Trip Report. I've decided to merge my two projects into one here at GSTP. You'll continue to have continuous updates with the longest trip report ever created, along with the news, info, and reviews from the Game Show and Theme Park world. Well, that's about it. I'll try to keep continuous updates of anything and everything in the game show/theme park world, so get ready to ride.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
