I do not own these characters or places…..Stephenie Meyer and Walt Disney do :(
Chapter 7: Epcot
Bella's POV
Renesmee emerged from the bedroom rubbing her eyes.
"Momma, why does Uncle Jasper look so upset?" Nessie asked pointing to the edge of the couch where jasper sat with his arms crossed over his chest.
"He's just upset that he lost our little card game, but it doesn't matter let's get you dressed," I said as I stood up, took her hand, and led her into the bedroom.
I dressed her in her Sleeping Beauty dress, and brushed her long bronze curls. Once everyone else was dressed we headed toward the elevators. Thankfully this time we didn't see the Newtons in the elevator, but we did spot them leaving the bakery. Alice went ahead of us into the bakery and came back a few minutes later with a fruit cup, a muffin, and orange juice for Nessie. We walked over to the edge of the boardwalk overlooking the water.
"OHHH take a picture of me and Jasper in this," Alice begged throwing Edward her camera and dragging Jasper over to the cardboard cutout of a woman and a man in a carriage.
Alice was too short to get her head through the hole, so Emmett went behind her and lifted her up. Edward took the picture and tossed the camera back to Alice.
"Now it's our turn," he said grabbing my hand and pulling me toward the cutout.
Alice snapped our picture, and I took the one of Carlisle and Esme.
"We can't forget us," Emmett yelled shoving Rosalie towards the cutout.
Of course, Emmett had to be Emmett and he stuffed his head into the hole with the woman's body leaving Rosalie to be the man.
"Daddy will you take a picture with me?" Nessie asked with round pleading eyes.
"Of course I will Nessie," Edward said unbuckling her from the stroller.
He carried her over to the cutout and held her so her head fit into the hole for the woman's body. She had the widest smile that matched Edwards as I snapped the picture. Once everyone had their turn taking pictures with Nessie in the cutout, we started walking the pathway towards Epcot. Edward, Renesmee, and I walked a few feet behind everyone. Emmett took Nessie's stroller and was running with it and making zooming noises. Edward and I held Nessie's hands and lifted her over every crack in the sidewalk. She giggled as she swung above the ground over each crack. We entered the park from the International Gateway, and turned left to make our way into the open area of Epcot. We would come back to the World Showcase later when it's open at 11:00. We turned to our right and headed over towards Test Track. Nessie actually wanted to go on this ride so no one had to entertain her while the rest of us went on.
We parked Nessie stroller, which was surprisingly unscathed after Emmett was through with it, and headed into the long line. We waited in the outside line for about ten minutes before entering into the cool air conditioned building. The inside of the building was made to look like a car garage. There were car parts, crash dummies, and lots and lots of tools. TV's played crash tests, informational videos, and how cars handle different weather conditions.
"This is so cool, if I wasn't a vampire I would want to live and work here," Rose whispered while spinning around trying to take in every detail.
We finally got all the way through the building and up the long ramp into a large carpeted room. After waiting in the room for a few minutes we were ushered into a slightly smaller room with TV screens on the front wall. The doors shut behind us and a man and woman came up on the screen. They told us that we were going to board our cars and we were going to be put through a variety of tests. After the short video we were once again ushered through the doors and out to wait in another line, this time shorter.
"I want to sit in between you and daddy," Nessie said grabbing our hands.
"That should be fine, and Alice, Jasper, and Esme can sit in our car with us as well," I told her.
"Rosalie, Emmett, and I will be in the car behind you," Carlisle said looking a little scared after realizing he would be sitting with Emmett.
We made it to the front of the line and into our cars quickly. The car pulled forward and stopped so the Disney employee could check our seat restraints. After they made sure we were secure we climbed up a long hill. Once at the top the real ride began. We raced down hill through hair-pin turns, across bumpy roads, and through banked curves. It wasn't too fast; I think we were at speeds about 60 miles per hour. We zoomed into the environmental chamber to endure the extreme heat and cold test. Our car was tested to see if it could withstand corrosion.
"AHHHHH!!!!" Nessie screamed as our car raced toward a crash barrier.
Just before contact, the doors swung open and we were hurdled down a small hill into the warm outdoors. We raced through the curves at high speeds before returning inside once again. Our car returned to the loading dock followed shortly by Emmett's car.
"Have a Magical Day," the friendly Disney employee said as we walked down the exit ramp.
"Thanks," we shouted as we disappeared around the corner into Rosalie's dream land.
At the end of the ramp was a huge carpeted display room filled with different models of cars. There was a loud rumble of thunder and a huge curtain opened on the stage in the front of the room.
"OMG!!!!!!" Rosalie screamed running up to the stage.
We all stood there confused, it was a cute car, but she already has a cute car.
"This is the 2009 Saturn Sky Redline," she said trying to remain in control so she didn't climb on stage and drive away.
"REALL Y?!?!" Emmett said in mock excitement causing Rosalie to smack him on the back of the head a little harder than normal.
It took us twenty minutes of begging and an unbreakable promise to buy Rosalie the car, to get her to leave the building. Once we were back outside, we walked about two feet to Mission Space.
Esme and Carlisle took Nessie on the Green team, the side of the ride that doesn't move, and the rest of us went in the Orange Team line, the side that moves. We walked through the building and into a representation of a futuristic International Space Training Center. Along one of the walls is a huge Gravity Wheel, and there are a number of flags hanging from the ceiling. There are also plaques and pictures of past and present shuttle occupants. When we entered the briefing area, we spilt-up into two groups, Rosalie, Emmett, Alice, and jasper, than me and Edward. We had to have four people in our simulation cabin, and of course with my luck Edward and I got stuck with Mike and Jessica, who I didn't even notice at first. There were numbered dots on the floor and we each stood on a number and waited for our briefing video.
"Lieutenant Dan, I got you some ice cream," Emmett shouted as Gary Sinise (Lt. Dan from Forrest Gump) came onto the screen.
The entire room erupted into hysterical laughter, everyone trying to keep quiet so they could hear the instructions. The video informed us that we would be taking the X-2 Deep Space Shuttle to Mars. Once the video was over we lined up along the wall in front of our simulator, I ended up having to sit next to Mike. The light flashed indicating that we could proceed to enter our simulator. We each had a job to do, we were either a navigator, pilot, commander, or engineer. When it was our turn to do our jobs we had to press the flashing yellow button. Once we were all seated and secure, our journey to space began. The "shuttle" leaned back as the countdown began, so we were facing a clear blue sky. With the deafening roar of the engines, we blast off into space, the G Forces having little effect on mine or Edward's skin. There is a brief moment of weightlessness as our leisurely flight continued. We rocketed past the moon, experienced a brief period of hypersleep, ran through some large space rocks, and nearly crashed on the surface of Mars all before blasting back to Earth. We made it safely back to Earth and swiftly exited our simulator. Edward and I followed the path to the Mission: SPACE Advance Training Lab, an interactive play space.
"Hi mommy," Nessie yelled from the play area.
"Did you have fun with Grandma and Grandpa?" I asked as she scrabbled her way down the slide and jumped into my arms.
"Yeah we got to see Outside Space, and go up in a space ship like aliens!!" she nearly screamed with excitement.
I took her hand and we walked over to where Emmett was playing with some sort of camera.
"What are you doing Uncle Em?" Nessie asked standing on her tippy toes trying to catch a peek.
"I'm taking my picture and putting my face inside a space suit so it looks like I'm an astronaut," he replied lifting her up so she could see.
After he took his picture he E-mailed it to himself, he then took some of Nessie and he E-mailed those as well.
We left Mission space and headed towards Spaceship Earth. The line was backed up all the way out into the sidewalk, but the wait would still be short because the ride was continuously moving. After about two minutes the line started moving and we ended up close to the front, but still not entirely inside the giant golf ball looking structure. After another ten minutes we had somehow managed to wind our way through the building, and into the front of the line. They only allowed two in a car so we sat in couples except for Rosalie and Nessie, and Emmett sat next to some stranger.
"I hope that guy makes it out alive," I whispered to Edward as I stole a quick glance at Emmett's car where he had his arm wrapped around the elderly man sitting next to him.
"Emmett, put your arm down or I swear I will break every X-Box game you have," Rosalie threatened at vampire speed causing Emmett to remove his hand quick as lightning.
We traveled through time and space and saw 20 audio-anamatronic show scenes that depicted the story of human connection and collaboration over 40,000 years, from the dawn of recorded time to the 21st century's internet age. We traveled back in time and witnessed prehistoric man's first words, and the hieroglyphics of the ancient Egyptians. We followed the advanced system of roads amidst Rome, and journeyed through the Industrial Revolution and the Age of Information. Our cars, or "time machines", were equipped with interactive touch screens that asked us how we would like to live, work, and play in the world of tomorrow. At the end of our journey we went to Project Tomorrow: Inventing the Wonders of the Future, an interactive play area. Edward and Carlisle went off to read the informative displays that showcased the latest technologies in medicine, transportation, and energy management. The rest of us goofed off with the games.
Our next stop was The Sea's with Nemo and Friends, but we got a little sidetracked on our way there. As we passed an ice cream shop, Nessie saw a character greeting right next door. We spent the next hour and a half waiting in line to get pictures and autographs from Pluto, Goofy, Chip 'n' Dale, Snow White, Ariel, Belle and Beast, Aladdin and Jasmine, Mary Poppins, Donald Duck, and Daisy Duck. Once that fiasco was finished we headed to our previous destination.
We quickly found the building we were looking for, the large rocks and shiny sculptures of the Finding Nemo characters helped a lot. The inside of the building was elaborately decorated to make it feel as though we were underwater. At the front of the line we boarded clamobiles and gently descended below the waves into a colorful underwater world. We met Nemo and his friends while exploring colorful tropical reefs, and ancient shipwrecks. We helped Marlin and Dory search for Nemo during a playful game. The characters were frolicking among real-life fish in a 5.7 million gallon salt-water tank. After Nemo has been found and the ride complete we made our way over to see Turtle Talk with Crush.
We entered into a large theater with a huge "window to the ocean world". After finding our seats, Crush lazily swam in from his ocean home to take questions and chat with the audience. He talked to us about saving the ocean and keeping his home clean. Crush answered questions from the audience while he swam around.
"Umm…Mr. Crush, did you know my grandpa's older then you?" Nessie asked after crush answered another kids question about how old he was.
We all got a little worried after that, but the entire room laughed it off thinking that she was unintentionally insulting her grandfather. After a few more questions about the ocean, the show was over and we headed over to The Land.
Inside The Land, there were a couple of activities. While Nessie finished her lunch a woman dressed as a chef came out and announced that Mickey would be coming to have a cooking class and that all kids were welcome to come and cook with him.
Nessie's eyes lit up, "please can I go mommy?" she asked clasping her hands together and begging.
"Sure, go ahead, but make sure you wash your hands," I said as she walked toward the little kitchen.
A few freshly baked cookies later, we were in line for Soarin'. While waiting in line for Soarin' we got to play games, and answer questions on a giant screen. We got into lines like in Mission Space while in the front of the line for our briefing. After we learned how to fasten our seatbelts and remain seated, we shuffled into the huge IMAX Theater. The screen wrapped 180 degrees around the seats so it felt as though we were really in the movie. We swooped and soared over San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge, Redwood Creek, Napa Valley, Monterey, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite National Park, Camarillo, Anaza-Borrego Desert State Park, San Diego, Malibu, and Los Angeles. We saw a skiing and snowboarding exhibition. We floated over cowboys on horseback as they raced through the wilderness.
"Kicked ya in the face," Emmett and jasper said swinging their feet towards a couple of golfers making it look as though they were kicking them.
The wind ruffled our hair as we soared over orange groves, evergreens, and clear blue seas. With our feet dangling free, it was if we could dip our toes into the Pacific Ocean as we ducked down close to its crashing waves. We returned to the darkened sky over Disney Land as fireworks burst all around us in the fantastic finale.
"That was beautiful," Esme said as we exited The Land and headed towards the Imagination Pavilion.
We headed into the line for Journey into Imagination with Figment. We entered into what appeared to be an office building with different labs inside. We boarded the long red train of cars and headed into the Institute for an open house. We went to five different labs based on sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. Dr. Nigel Channing and Figment accompanied us on our journey. Figment reminded me a lot of Emmett, always causing trouble. While in the sight laboratory, figment scrambled up the vision chart to prove that there is more to imagination than meets the eye. Figment turns into a smelly skunk in the scent lab and sprayed out his foul odor. In the sight laboratory, we enjoyed a symphony of sounds and melodies as Figment showed us how thoughts can appear by way of the ear. Dr. Channing got frustrated with Figment's antics and gave up, leaving Figment to finish the open house.
"Wow this is so cool!!" Nessie said as our car ventured down a neon pathway into Figments upside-down house.
His house was upside-down to show us how imagination can really come "home" when we look at things from a different perspective. By the end Dr. Channing realized he was wrong about Figment and that imagination should be set free. After our open house, we followed Figment's footprints into The Kodak "What If" Labs to play. We waved our arms between two poles and Figment appeared on screen and played music. The faster we moved our arms, the faster Figment played.
By the time we finished playing we realized that the World Showcase would be open. I was excited to see what types of activities the world had in store for us.