Living with the Land

Okay, we have lunch ressies at the Garden Grill at 12:20 and Fastpasses for Soarin’ thereafter. Let’s see what we can do until then.

An obvious first choice is the Living with the Land boat ride, since it is close by. The Standby line shows a 20 minute wait. Works for us.

As we are waiting, it strikes me that each and every cast member we’ve encountered has been absolutely delightful. I try to keep track of special moments we have interacting with CMs so I can turn in specific compliments – they deserve so many and get so few – in a letter to Guest Services upon our return, but I can already tell that my letter will be lengthy. On the last trip we caught a few CM’s on an off-day, with a less than “Disney” demeanor, and I was expecting that maybe we’d find more like that at this busiest time of the year. Not so. Without exception, they’ve been cheerful, energetic, helpful and a joy to talk with.

Walt would be proud.

It takes only ten minutes until we load into a boat, not twenty. Yay!

I know I’ve been on this ride before, but it’s been quite a while – at least since my honeymoon, and maybe only in 1986 on my first trip. It’s not flashy or spectacular, but it is interesting and fun. It is pure early Epcot, embodying the idea of “edutainment,” where an attraction can be entertaining and educational at the same time.

Our boat floats past audioanimatronic scenes depicting different ecosystems and agricultural uses. These are pretty cool – and looking up, I can see the Garden Grill above us, looking over these same scenes. We’ll be seeing them again later, then.

The boats then wind through the various greenhouses and agricultural laboratories operated here. There’s traditional agricultural methods on display as well as fish farming, but the most interesting is the large hydroponic arrays. It’s just fascinating, and even cool, to see different fruits and vegetables growing in the air, without soil.

One such rack shows them growing Mickey-shaped pumpkins! The pumpkins have a clear mold placed around them when they are small and grow into the head-and-ears mouse shape. Pretty neat.