While Magic Kingdom was all about revisiting past, EPCOT just does the opposite. It takes you to the future. A future that is imaginable, and a future that is beyond one's wildest dreams. But yet, some one saw it and some one is showing it to thousands every day!
EPCOT can be reached via a monorail from the entrance and is greeted by the structure of spaceship Earth, a massive ball made of steel, with triangles all over and supported by legs giving it an instant appearance of a spaceship. Inside is a journey into the history of mankind on this planet and its achievements since time immemorial. EPCOT is actually an ode to the human achievements. There are other rides and attractions also which highlight the same like Innoventions and Imagination. Of all the rides, I wanted to only try Soarin and Test Track. Soarin takes you on a 3-dimensional hand-glider ride of California and includes all of its beauty from Napa valley to deserts to Golden Gate Bridge and much more (Click on the link to find more yourselves. Not to mention, that you might wait for more than 2 hours in queue to see it and once you are in there, you do feel as if you are hanging in the air, which only adds to the excitement). It was our bad luck that day that the Test track was undergoing some maintenance and hence no ride on it (for starters, test track takes you on a simulated race track, and shows what happens before entering the race track and how after all the mechanical tests, drivers take off from 0 to 65 mph. It would have been my closest to the fanciest ride ever, but alas :()
A great feature of this theme park is a lot of empty space and parks and gardens around. We went to EPCOT just a week after the famous flower show and it still had a lot of flowers and gardens intact, making it a great experience to walk around.
The World Showcase - I will let the pictures do the talking here, as I really do not have much to explain. It is a pavilion with the showcase of the structures, architecture, food and culture of 11 countries of the world. I ended up seeing only 8 of them, but what I saw was well worth it! Begins with Mexico and goes around the world in a haphazard manner and ends with Canada. The best part of this showcase was that it had all the countries I ever want to go to.
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| Scenes from Mexico |
Norway also features a ride which is a mild one, but well worth going in it!
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Italy - A visit to this section only strengthened my quest to visit one of my favorite destinations of world someday!
Italy is followed by the American adventure, which I wanted to skip, only to proceed to Japan. While China bowled over my imagination, Japan was much feeble in it's comparison. I was hoping to see some sakuras or beautiful Japanese gardens, but what I saw was not exactly what I hoped for. Nevertheless, they say outside Japan is one of the best views of the fireworks of EPCOT.
Morocco - Of late, I have been noticing more and more prominence of Morocco in the world's famous travel lists. The streets, architecture and the shopping featured here are enough of a sampler to what actually lies in Morocco. The musicians outside Morocco do deserve a special mention for putting up a brilliant show every evening.
And my world ended with France. While it was already darkening outside and we were hungry after walking continuously for more than 4 hours, we just came to the perfect stop. The French showcase has a pastry / bakery shop, named Boulangerie Pâtisserie that must not be missed. Also, while you are there, get a caricature drawn from the French artists, they do a great job!
Illuminations - EPCOT fireworks - Again, like in Magic Kingdom, it is worth roaming all day long in the sun only to catch a show of illuminations, the EPCOT fireworks. While they do not feature a glorious castle in the background, they do have something special, like the moving globe which opens to have more fireworks coming from it's within.
