Disney World Pics Of The Day--Day 1

Here's our favorite photos from our first day at Epcot. Keep in mind that we were fried from the red eye flight, and were running on caffeine and "Wonder of Disney" magic. We were entranced by everything from "Spaceship Earth," where you ride a vehicle gently through the history of human communication, to "Universe of Energy," where Ellen DeGeneres takes you into her Jeopardy! nightmare and back to learn all about various global sources of energy and how humans are developing and improving them. (I was very impressed that Disney didn't fall into the "all energy is evil" trap. The presentation acknowledged pros and cons of each type of power source that we use, but also looked at some of the ways scientists are working to overcome the drawbacks. Humans weren't treated as the bad guy. It was cool.) There was so much to see and do that we didn't even make it through half of the park, but we loved it all, so we'll be heading back to explore the rest today. We decided we weren't up to any of the more thrilling rides yesterday; we were just too tired to enjoy speed and hurtling through space and the like, so we we have that to look forward to for the rest of the week. Whee!!

So here you go--here are our "pics of the day." Some of the photos will give you a bigger version if you click on them, and some will not. I don't know what the problem is with the uncooperative ones, but I don't have time to find out--we're on vacation!!

Ked and I are such total geeks. With all the really cool stuff we saw and did yesterday, our favorite part was the "Living with the Land" exhibit. We road a boat through an experimental garden, where Disney scientists are working to improve food yields and develop new ways to grow crops in difficult environments. The picture above is a "tomato tree." It's literally a tree, which lives much longer than the average tomato plant, and produces enormous crops for consumption in Disney's restaurants. A disembodied voice followed us throughout our ride through The Land, and seemed to know everything there was to know about the botanical experiments we observed, informed us that the oldest tomato tree they had grown lived to be 16 months, and had produced over thirty thousand tomatoes. Wow!! I want one.

Disney is also experimenting with some new ways to grow other forms of produce. These pumpkins and winter melons are suspended overhead to let air circulate around the stem and leaves, making for healthier plants. There's nothing in the photo to show you scale, but those pumpkins are a couple of feet wide, and yet there they dangle. You can see why they have used rope supports to keep the pumpkins from plunging to their splattery deaths!!

These lemons were pretty impressive--that big one weighs nine pounds!! The all-knowing voice said that one lemon would make a whole gallon of lemonade. Mmmm...lemonade...

The Mouse likes to make his presence known here at Disney World. He even likes to see pumpkins made in his image. I speak from experience; being formed into the image of a Higher Being can be a painful, but rewarding, process. I wonder how the pumpkin feels about it?

Ked was very, very tired. The lack of sleep dogged him all day, but he wasn't so tired that he couldn't hold up the wall of this Mexican temple. He's a tough one, my Kedley!!

Most of you know Bruce from the movie Finding Nemo, and so you'll be aware that Bruce the shark is on the wagon, as far as fish go, but maybe you're not aware that the editors from Nemo cut out part of his twelve-step pledge when they put together the final version of the film. What Bruce really said was, "Fish are friends, not food, but Kats are delicious!!" Someday I'll have to tell you the hair-raising tale of how I escaped. I don't have time right now, though, because we're off to have more fun!! Catch y'all later.