Epcot: Most Educational & Stimulating Disney Theme Park

Did you know that before Walt Disney passed away in 1966, he had an idea - Epcot Center - a place that would serve as a center for American innovation and urban living?  But after his death, the idea was abandoned as the Disney company wasn't sure about maintaining an operating community because Walt Disney's original idea of the community included residential areas, churches, schools and mass transportation systems.

In 1982, Epcot in Florida was opened. Though it wasn't exactly how Walt Disney originally envisioned it to be, the park has a section that showcases modern innovation which is called Future World (at least, it has something that represents Walt Disney's original idea).

What's there to see and expect at Epcot?
Its promise is to Travel Around the Globe, Under the Sea, into Outer Space… and Beyond.  And it does deliver its promise.  I won't enumerate all the rides I tried coz some of them are really for little kids😅 but let me tell you which ones I really found fascinating.

When you enter Epcot, you'll see Epcot's iconic Spaceship Earth.  If the lines are long, you can just skip this and pass by it on your way out which is what I did.

Epcot's icon, Spaceship Earth

At The Seas with Nemo & Friends, catch Turtle Talk with Crush  an animated interactive live show with Finding Nemo's Crush.  

Crush, though just an animation, does a live show and is able to identify people from the audience - he directs the show assistant to whom she should hand the microphone to by describing what the person is wearing or where he/she is seated in the audience.   He sees everyone and is even able to identify people who are not participating.😜 Amazing, right?

I've seen this similar technology before at Universal Studios but haven't really figured out how the technology works. Apparently, the animated image is a computer graphic avatar controlled by a puppet which is operated by a backstage puppeteer actor, then the performance is digitized in real time. Yes, real time.😱 Wow. And how is the animated Crush able to see the audience? There are cameras mounted in the theater which allows the hidden puppeteer actor to see the audience. But hands down to the actor's quick wit. With kids, you can never really predict what they would say but the actor always had answers guaranteed to make the audience laugh every time. 

If you have time to spare, there are a lot of colorful fishes and other marine life at the The Seas with Nemo & Friends.  I just forgot to take photos except for these walruses.  

BTW, kids rule in theme parks.  Check out these rows of strollers in just one section of the theme park.😮  

Kids, someday when you can already talk and express yourselves well, please don't forget to say thank you to your parents for all the things they did for you including bringing you to a theme park. The logistics to take you around a theme park isn't easy, not to mention the high cost of tickets, food and merchandise which your parents worked hard for so you can enjoy such an experience.  Unfortunately, most of us only realize this once we start working and paying for our own expenses.😅

In The Land section, I enjoyed the Living with the Land Boat Tour, a ride that takes you through the history of agriculture and ends in Epcot's greenhouse, hydroponics and aquaponics labs.  

Dragonfruits growing inside Epcot's greenhouse

Researchers and scientists in Epcot are able to dramatically increase crop yields in low-soil environments.

Eggplants

The Epcot greenhouse doesn't just produce crops in the average size but some sizes are way off the charts like Epcot's lemons which are known for being huge at 9 lbs each!😱And I heard the record weight for their lemons is 15 lbs! 😱😱 

Oversized Gourd

The researchers and scientists at Epcot study how to grow crops not just with less soil, but also with less water, less fertilizer and less space. Look at the plants growing on the pillars below. So much space saved.

Mixed Vegetables

There are also crops that are grown via hydroponics like the lettuce below. This method allows a stream of nutrient-infused water to circulate past the plants’ exposed roots, providing what they get from soil. Amazingly, this enables them to grow quicker than in soil, uses less water and occupies less space (as it allows growers to put plants closer together).

Lettuce grown via hydroponics

But even more amazing is how scientists are able to grow crops without soil like this Butternut Squash.

Soil-less butternut squash. Grows via Aeroponics.

This technology is called Aeroponics - where plant roots dangle free in the air and are sprayed with a fine mist of atomized nutrients.  Sounds like an unthinkable idea once upon a time but already made possible by science today.  Aeroponics may also be the kind of technology that could be used in space and so Epcot and NASA have partnered to pioneer new ways of growing food aeroponically.  One day, who knows this is how man would grow crops on Mars. 😉  

I wasn't able to take photos of the aquaponics' section but aquaponics is a system that combines aquaculture (raising aquatic animals such as fishes and prawns in tanks) with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water) in a symbiotic environment.  Just imagine plants at the top section and a tank of fishes like tilapia at the bottom section - each feeding off each other.  How amazing is that?

The Epcot greenhouse and labs supply ingredients to restaurants in Disney parks.  The cute tomatoes and cucumbers in the shape of Mickey Mouse heads served in restaurants also come from the Epcot greenhouse. How do they make them? Via molds placed around the produce as they are growing.

If you have an extra hour to spare, you may want to consider taking the Behind the Seeds tour (for an extra fee) in the greenhouse which would allow you to go on an in-depth tour of the greenhouses and try some produce grown on-site.  Since I was pressed for time, I wasn't able to do this but had I known about this optional tour earlier, I would have planned my day better to include it.  

Anyway, while in The Land, I also recommend Soarin' Around the World - an attraction that simulates a hang gliding flight that takes you to various regions of the world.  The effect is achieved through a 180-degree, 80-foot IMAX digital projection dome.  It felt super real - the only thing that occasionally reminded me that it wasn't real were the hanging feet of the riders above us. 😂

My next stop was at Imagination where I watched the Disney & Pixar Short Film Festival rendered in 4D.  There were 3 short films - around 5 minutes each  - and it's amazing how a short film can make you laugh, teach you lessons, nudge you to reflect about life and move you to tears - all in 5 minutes.  

On the way out, I chanced upon Wreck-it-Ralph and Vanellope.  😍

Wreck-it-Ralph and Vanellope

At the time of my visit, it was the International Food and Wine festival at Epcot and lucky me, Impossible Burger (which I've been wishing to taste) had a stall.  Impossible Burger has the same flavor and aroma of a beef burger except that its meat is made from plants.  It tastes so good that if it were served to me on a blind test, I don't think I would even realize that the patty is not made from meat. 🙈 

Impossible Burger Slider - how can a plant-based burger taste so good???

Since it was just a slider, I had to eat more and so I also tried the Impossible Cottage Pie - plant-based ground meat with carrots, mushrooms and peas topped with mashed cauliflower, white beans and mozzarella. Yum, yum!😋😋

Impossible Cottage Pie

I was tempted to order another Impossible slider and pie (they were that good!) but I had to get hold of my EQ so I could try more foods.  But I ended up eating another slider - ESPN College Gameday's The Steakhouse Blended Burger.  How can you resist this description?  Beef and Mushroom Slider with Brie Cheese Fondue, Arugula and a Truffle and Blue Cheese Potato Chip on a Brioche Bun. 😋

The Steakhhouse Blended Burger

I also tried the Chocolate Picante - Dark Chocolate Mousse with Cayenne Pepper, Paprika and Mango-Lime Compote. Sounds like a weird combination of ingredients but it tastes really yum!😋 

Chocolate Picante

After doing half of the Future World, the East section, I decided to go to the World Showcase which features various pavilions representing countries like Mexico, Norway, China, Japan, Italy, Germany, etc., totalling 11 pavilions.  

Here's the Mexico pavilion - everything is Mexican-themed including the ride/show, music, food, souvenirs, etc.  

Mexico pavilion

Inside the Mexico pavilion

Among the 11 pavilions, the most popular is Norway's because of the Frozen Ever After attraction which may take up to 2 to 3 hours of waiting time during peak season. 😱😱 This is where FastPass may come in handy (if you buy your tickets online from Disney World and download the Disney app on your phone, you'll be entitled up to 2 FastPass which you can dynamically change any time).  If you have kids, this is a must-see but if you're all adults and you can't get a Fastpass within your available time, I personally think you can skip this one unless you're crazy about Frozen.  In retrospect, I would have traded the time I've spent on Frozen Ever After for a Behind the Seeds Tour back at the greenhouse. 😆

Frozen Ever After in the Norway Pavilion

The pavilions also house educational exhibits. For example in Norway, there is a section that talks about the history of Vikings.  Then inside the Japan pavilion, there's an exhibit of Japanese pop culture items and kawaii stuff. 😍 

Inside the Japan pavilion - kawaii stuff

More kawaii stuff 😍

And if you super love Japanese stuff, for shopping, there's even a Mitsukoshi Department store in the Japan pavilion. 😆 

I actually didn't enter all the pavilions because there's not enough time but I enjoyed watching some of the street performers along the way like these - 

Spanish musicians 

A mime artist 

After going around the World Showcase, I went back to Future World, this time to explore the West section.  I headed to the Odyssey Events pavilion which features the Epcot Experience - a glimpse into the park's ground-breaking future.  Check out these various renditions of Epcot created by Disney Imagineers in a 360-degree presentation -

These are just some of the ones I was able to capture but there were a lot of other mesmerizing transformations. 😍

The popular spots I intentionally skipped at Epcot were the thrill rides - Mission Space and Test Track - coz I've never been a fan of thrill rides. I am scared of them. 😅  

My final stop was the iconic Spaceship Earth.  What's inside that iconic sphere?

It's a 15-minute ride in the dark which demonstrates how communication has evolved starting from prehistoric man's cave drawings, to the creation of the alphabet, to the invention of the printing press to today's modern communication technology.  

What's fascinating about the ride is at end of it, the touchscreen computer in your cabin will ask you some questions such as from which country are you from and what is your personal interest - health, career or travel.  After it processes your data, the screen would flash what could be your future life - with you starring in the video as the biggest surprise!😅 It's hilarious to watch yourself in an animated video.  But don't worry, most likely you'll have a smiling face coz I think earlier in the ride (which I can't quite remember), the voice-over would ask you to smile for the camera but which you may be tempted not to take seriously coz it's too dark to see. 😆 

Anyway, out of curiosity I took a quick look at the screen of the cabin in front of me to know if everyone has the same video but it looks like they were customized based on the personal interest you picked.  In my case, I chose Health.  What is the future of Health shown in the video?  You take a daily smart pill that could assess your body's condition and send your vital signs straight to your doctor, you'll have a robot trainer in your workouts and you'll have a wrist sensor that records everything about your health which could communicate with smart menu in restaurants to determine what food to serve you. 😅

The magic of Disney never seizes to entertain and amaze me.  But in all the Disney parks I have ever visited, I must say Epcot is the most educational, mind-stimulating and inspiring. 💚