Day Two - July 13, 2003 - Continued

Journey Into Imagination featured Figment. This attraction was closed our previous visit, so this was my first chance to see Figment inside an attraction.

When we were done relaxing a bit, we decided to head over to Epcot in the afternoon. More than any other place, a trip to Epcot confirms to me that we are at Walt Disney World. Foot traffic seemed fairly light and we got right on Spaceship Earth without any wait. We would then make our way over to Journey Into Imagination, since I had never had the chance to see Figment in an attraction before. Again, there was absolutely no wait, which surprised me seeing that this is a somewhat new version of the ride. It was cute but having no point of reference to any of the other versions, I didn't know if this was as good as the original or not. I did miss Billy Barty's voice from the old Walt Disney World CDs.

I had read on some of the Internet sites that Mission: Space usually tested after 4, allowing park guests the chance for a sneak peek. I asked Kathy if she'd be interested in seeing if it was open and told her that there was a chance she could get motion sick from it. She said that we should check it out. I was a bit surprised to find such a long line had already formed by the time we got there just before 4. We had only waited a few minutes before they opened up the plywood border that closed off the entrance to the attraction. We quickly made our way into the waiting area.

The line awaiting the 4 p.m. opening of Mission: Space extended from the attraction's opening past the monorail track.

Kathy and I were lucky enough to get on Rock 'n' Roller Coaster before it officially opened on our last visit in 1999. So we were pretty excited to get to ride Mission: Space early too. After waiting in line, we were broken into flight teams, given assignments and led off to the boarding area. I told Kathy to be sure to look straight ahead the whole time and to not turn her head, as I heard that people looking off to their side got sick more often. Kathy was nervous about pressing her button as part of her "assignment" at the right time. She thought that if she didn't perform it properly that our mission would somehow fail.

The blast-off was great -- definitely the best part. We were supposed to experience a bit of zero gravity but I didn't really feel it. My eyes could sense the motion of the capsule a bit when I looked at the video screen in front of me so I was nervous I might get a bit motion sick but I didn't have a problem. Most of the ride, to me anyway, seemed a bit like Star Tours. But instead of everyone looking at a movie-sized screen, each person had his or her own little TV-sized screen in front of them. I'm not as much of a "ride" person anymore so I'm not sure I'd search this attraction out again on my own but it was fun and I'm glad that I had the opportunity to preview it.

Ice Station Cool was just that ... cool.

We decided to do one more thing I had on my hit list in Future World -- Ice Station Cool. I had read about this fun little area where you can sample Coca-Cola products from around the world. Sure sounded "cool" to me. It was a fun little pavilion, though it was little more than some soda machines and Coca-Cola merchandise inside. I liked the version from Japan the best.

We would then head over to World Showcase, one of my favorite places. We headed right, to the Canadian pavilion first, to look around. It was a little busier here than in Future World. Kathy decided to go see O! Canada, which I hadn't seen before. We must have just missed the previous show because we were the only people hanging out in the waiting area. The placed filled pretty good over the next 15 minutes or so and there was a good crowd of people to watch the movie. I really like the Circle-Vision technology still and had a good time watching this rather dated film.

It was time to get something to eat. And as fun as it is to try new things, like Mission: Space and O! Canada, we had planned to eat somewhere we had enjoyed on our honeymoon trip. So we left Epcot via the International Gateway and headed down the Boardwalk to the Big River Grille. We happened upon it last trip and I loved the meat loaf so we decided to get that again. The Boardwalk was pretty busy for a Sunday night and we waited for about a half-hour to be seated. Our server asked if we'd been there before, which we responded that we had. I told him that we came back specifically because the meat loaf was so good the last time. He said that others have told him that too. Dinner was really good but the meat loaf wasn't quite as good as we remembered it being so we'll probably pass on Big River Grille our next visit and try something new.

Towel animals were holding our toothbrushes upon our return to our room at the Wilderness Lodge after our first day out and about.

It was pretty late by the time we finished dinner, so we hopped a bus from the Boardwalk to the Magic Kingdom and took the boat back to the Wilderness Lodge. Our room always felt like home and we were glad to be back after a long day. We were also pleasantly surprised to find that our toothbrushes were now in towel animal holders on the sink. A very cute touch that we really appreciated. Before calling it a night, we checked out the hotel a little more and even visited the Wilderness Lodge Villas next door so that we could get some pictures of the Iron Spike Room for Steve Burns. A fun, little, out-of-the-way place that was empty that evening. It would be a good place to relax after a day out and about.

Tomorrow was another early entry day for us, so we headed back to our room and got ready for another big day. Before going to bed, I had to update StartedByAMouse.com with Monday's update, which was already done, it just had to be made live. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring local access numbers for Florida to connect to the Internet. I only had my numbers from California. I didn't know what I was going to do. Despite the fact that it might cost me a bundle, I decided to dial in to my home access number. I uploaded the site, downloaded my email and got Florida numbers from my ISP's web site. The 10-minute call would cost me $16, not as bad as I was afraid it might be. Kathy had already gone to bed while I fretted with my decision. I was happy to go to bed as soon as I was done with the site.

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