Sunday 29 March 2009

Last Day in America : Disney Studios - EPCOT

Wednesday 14 July 1993. We had spent the previous day shopping in the malls and we went to see the movie Jurassic Park a few days before it opened in the UK. We thought, having been in some wonderful art-deco theatres inside the parks, that this would be a great place to see this much-hyped film but we ended up in a tiny cinema with a small screen set to the side so that we were looking across it rather than at it. Huge disappointment!

So for our last day we drove to Disney's Magic Kingdom, then left the car and got on the monorail to MGM Studios, where we - sorry where I - sang along to the background music...

Some Enchanted Evening...

We went on the rides again, quite good actually as the Great Movie Ride gave us a different set of tableaux as we were sitting towards the rear of the train and had been at the front the last time.

Around lunchtime we got back on the monorail, rapidly learning the Spanish for "Please mind the doors" and "For the safety and comfort of your fellow passengers, please, no smoking eating or flash photography"! We trundled along to EPCOT and walked round the World Showcase again. There was another fabulous tijuana band at the Mexican pyramid, really superb.

This is the Norway segment. Timber buildings and a ride that backed you almost over a waterfall. We had a troll round the shops too...

A view of the lagoon that separates the two halves of EPCOT.

Then we had an early thunder storm. "But it's not 4 o'clock yet!" Fran protested. We watched as Italy got wet then carried on as it brightened up again. But only for a few minutes then FLASH! BANG! we had another. But it was the third and most prolongued thunderstorm that set the tone for the rest of the day.

By now we had reached Morocco and we took shelter on a bench outside a building under an overhanging roof (with occasional forays into a souk where a bit of belly dancing was going on...) This was our 4:00pm thunderstorm. It had started at 1:30 and went on until 6:00pm!

The Canada segment. The rain, thunder and lightning was coming in vast quantities. The yellow plastic chickens started to make an appearance but we hadn't brought ours and in the end we just gave up and sallied forth and got wet. It was no worse than being on holiday in England after all... Around five o'clock we went back to the monorail - ah not quite, but almost got that Spanish phrase - something about minding doors and not falling over... and we headed for our third and final park of the day, Disney's Magic Kingdom. It will also lead to the final article in the Florida 1993 series.

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