Day 3

Despite having a plan for the day, we wandered around aimlessly, not quite knowing what to do next. The sun was shining and the heat was quite unbearable, and after wandering between the Innoventions buildings trying to avoid the sun, and also avoiding the Cast Members selling the huge blow up balls, we decided to head indoors to The Land pavilion. In an attempt to cool down we bought ice cream and pastries and ate them by the fountain in the food court. Beth enjoyed having ice cream for breakfast.

After that we went on the Living with the Land boat ride expecting a horticultural bore, but we were really impressed by the experiments being done in the greenhouse. (Especially the one with plants growing without soil, whilst suspended in the air, just being squirted occasionally with water. The roots on them were enormous). We came off this ride feeling quite refreshed and knowledgeable.

We then visited Food Rocks, which was cool! The parodies of Sting and Peter Gabriel were great but lost on the kids in the audience. Still, I enjoyed it! After that, we went to the Circle of Life, which appeared to be a show all about tree-felling and bin lorries, promoted through the characters of the Lion King. (At the time it makes you think 'Yes I must recycle`, etc, but the mood soon passes!)

We eventually left The Land, and after discovering a talking water fountain, and applying lots more sun-cream, we decided to check out The Living Seas. This is probably the coolest place in Epcot, which made for welcome escape from the scorching heat. As we descended a whole inch in the hydrolator, we appeared to be going down fathoms. The eerie darkness added to the atmosphere as we came face to face with creatures of the deep, which included dolphins and beluga whales. This had a profound effect on Beth because she instantly needed the toilet again, (all the water I expect!).

After spending at least half an hour under the sea we decided to head for the World Showcase. As we emerged from the cool Living Seas the heat was unbearable and we walked along trying stay in the shade of the trees, filling our water bottles at each tap to empty over our heads. (How glamorous!) In the end we bought a fan spray from a Cast Member at a hand- cart for $15.00 in an attempt to combat the searing heat. This is my one and only grumble about Disney Staff; when we bought a second spray later on in the day, it became apparent that the first one we had bought was actually broken. The cast Member that sold us the broken one had tricked us by tying a knot around the neck of the bottle as the harness had snapped off, and actually gave us the one that she was squirting passers-by with, so we did not think to check it….. Buyers Beware!

This was soon remedied though, by insisting that another Cast Member swapped the offending item for a brand new one, straight from the box and filled with ice from a drink cart.

We then continued on our way around the Lagoon, past the English pub to the American Gardens Theatre to catch Disney's International Songbook. Whilst we waited for the show to start we got one of those groovy Mickey shaped choc-ices. It was so hot that the chocolate was melting just as quickly as the ice cream. The Songbook show was a good opportunity to see lots of Disney characters including:- Mickey, Minnie, Chip and Dale, Goofy, Pluto, Pinnochio and Gepeto, Belle and the Beast, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet. This was definitely the place to be to see the characters, but I don't know how they performed in those bulky costumes in such heated conditions.

We wanted to stay in the vicinity of the American Garden Theatre, so we went into the Liberty Inn at the American pavilion. After chomping down burgers and several free refills of coke, we could tell from the increasing crowds outside that it was time to queue for The Lord of the Dance show. This was the main reason for our visit to Epcot, and we were not disappointed. The ankle-breaking, toe-tapping show was excellent, but we were surprised to hear that the tapping was a backing tape, is this true? Anyway the dancers were very good at miming and we were pleased that they performed the Pot of Gold routine, and Beth's favourite - the Pixie dance.

After clapping our way through the half-hour show it was definitely time to return to our hotel to cool off in the pool, so we tapped our way out of Epcot on a high note, but with sore feet. Those of you who have visited Epcot will know that we were as far away from the exit as we could have possibly been. I must admit we didn't take much notice of the rest of World Showcase as we made our long, hot journey out of the park. As we approached Spaceship Earth I noticed that the queue board said 'Wait 0 minutes', so I asked the rest of the family if we should take this opportunity to ride whilst it was empty. The look of horror on their faces that I'd even had the cheek to ask them was sufficient that no reply was necessary! Later on the trip I was pleased that we hadn't decided to do the ride then because when we finally did it was the most disappointing ride in Florida.

When we arrived back at the van the temperature gauge read 110 degrees, (that's one hundred and ten!). I knew it wasn't my imagination it really was bloody hot! Our decision to leave early and go for a dip in the hotel pool to cool down proved to be a good one. Illuminations would be there to enjoy another day when we weren't so tired.

Later on that night, we decided to walk along International Drive to Goodings Supermarket. The receptionist at the hotel desk told us it would only take ten minutes, we didn't realise that she meant by car, but it was a nice warm night and Beth fell asleep in her pram as we walked along.
One thing we learned that night was if you want to pay by credit card at Goodings you must have your passport with you as they copy your passport number onto your receipt. We then returned to the Quality Inn Plaza to mellow out on Budweiser and Doritos.

Tomorrow:- Shopping at Beltz/Magic Kingdom