Back around the world

Around the World (Showcase) we go on our long walk. We pass by the Italy pavilion. As we approach Germany, I start to feel a few sprinkles on my face. I’m apparently not the only one who has felt the light rain, because Bob and Linda are pulling off to one side of the walkway to get their jackets from their satchel. At last a reason to wear the windbreakers in this otherwise moderate weather!

The place we stop has a fenced-off area with a miniature village and scale trains running. It’s fun to watch. This is how I picture the train setup I would have had as a kid, if we’d ever actually gotten around to building it. (We did have a very large, nice wooden table built by my dad for that purpose taking up one end of our rec room for much of my childhood. It was eventually put to another use by my brother Greg, who created elaborate WWII dioramas on it with the multitude of plastic models he’d built over the years. My mom and aunt had to learn not to dust the table, lest they disturb the tank tread tracks that Greg had meticulously created in the “dirt.” But I digress.)

As soon as Bob has his jacket on, the sprinkles stop.

Onward we go. We pass by China. We know that the Circlevision movie is new since our last vacation, but none of us feels like standing for it.

As we reach Norway, the pavilion looks packed. Brandon and I volunteer to plunge in to check the Maelstrom wait time.

The Standby line is 60 minutes. Not happening.

Onward to Mexico. For variety, we follow the path to the side handicap-accessible entrance into the Mayan pyramid.

The interior of the Mexico pavilion is one of my favorite places, although there’s never much reason to hang around for long unless you’re eating there. Which I never have. There’s too many really good (and much cheaper) Mexican restaurants at home. Still, I love the atmosphere, and the lava flowing down the volcanic mountainside in the distance is one of my favorite effects.

I do want to check the wait time for the boat ride, the new Gran Fiesta tour starring the Three Cabelleros. This pavilion is teeming with people also, and I can’t even make it down to where I can see a Standby time sign. That’s when I realize that the people I’m worming my way around are probably in line for it. Even without a specific number on for the wait time, that’s good enough for us to say “adios.”

So we’re out of the pavilion and headed for Future World. The giant “icon Christmas tree” of Epcot is ahead of us, fully lit. It becomes more impressive the closer we get.

The Lights of Winter are on the Future World side of the tree. They pulse and change with music nearby, but in a much more subdued manner than the videos we’ve seen of the Osborne Lights over at the Studios. I like them – they’re very pretty and elegant.

Spaceship Earth is open (it’s officially in a “soft opening” period since its recent renovation, meaning it can open and close without notice). But… there’s a significant line here, and I think we’re close enough to the exit now that we’re just ready to go find our rooms.

We make our way through the Leave a Legacy slabs and find an exit. We’re out of Epcot just after 7:00, a full seven hours after we arrived. That’s a pretty full day in the park, especially for us.