An environmental fable

All in all Living with the Land is still a cool ride, and it’s used up a half hour of our time. So… what next?

There is another attraction in the building, the Circle of Life theater, an “environmental fable” starring Timon & Pumbaa. Why not.

It’s slow going through the crowds just to make it to the up escalator. Just before we reach the escalator, a lady stops me with a question – yet another “CM Moment.”

“What’s Soarin’?”

It’s tempting to answer, “What, have you been living under a rock?” to a guest that seems never to have heard of one of Disney’s most popular and amazing attractions. It never fails to baffle me that people can come to Walt Disney World without taking the time to learn what there is to do here.

But I manage to stifle my sarcastic impulses and describe the attraction to her in glowing terms. Maybe I could do this job for real.

We head up the escalator. We can spy the entrance to the theater a short distance away, but… they roped off the direct route for crowd control. This pavilion wasn’t designed to handle the crowds that Soarin’ is bringing in, so the upper level is one-way all the way around. You come in the front entrance and circle down to the right, to the stairs and down escalator. At the top of the up escalator, on the back left of the pavilion, you can only circle up and out. So we head up the ramp, out the doors of the pavilion, make a U-turn and go right back in, then down the right side and to the Circle of Life theater.

We are able to enter the loading area for the theater immediately, and into the theater itself a few minutes later.

Wow, this is a big, nice theater. I’m trying to recall what used to be in here. Food Rocks, perhaps? I know Timon & Pumbaa weren’t around when Epcot opened.

The Circle of Life movie is cute, but preachy. I could shorten the script quite a bit if they’d let me. “Pollution: bad. Nature: good!”