Part 8: More Disney Tidbits, EPCOT

I'm sorry it has been a couple of weeks since I have posted Tidbits, but here are some more on Epcot:

Did You Know?

• The Seas with Nemo and Friends:
• At Sea Base Alfa, look at the beams inside.  You will see a bunch of letters and numbers.  The people who worked on building it wanted to leave something, so the letters and numbers mean something special to each one who worked on the building   
• When you leave notice the overhang coming out is very large.  That is to give you eyes time to get readjusted to the sunlight. 
•  The Living Seas Pavilion measures 203’ in diameter, 27’ deep, and contains 5.7 million gallons of salt water.  The Aquarium is so large that Spaceship Earth (160’ in diameter) would fit inside with room to spare.
• A standard swimming pool holds 20,000 gallons of water.   One inch of water from the surface here can fill a standard swimming pool. 
• Nearly two tons of food is produced each week for the inhabitants of the Seas.  The dolphins dine on herring and capelin; the West Indian manatees eat lettuce, carrots, sprouts, and fruit.  Animal nutritionists at The Seas manufacture the coral out of dental plaster, mixing in ground fish and other food in the process.  Divers place about a dozen of these out each day, and the parrotfish and other coral crunchers eat them up.  
• If you emptied the water from the aquarium into one-gallon milk jugs and laid them side by side, they would stretch from here to New Orleans, Knoxville ,or Raleigh -- 540 miles, and the recipe for the artificial sea water called for 27 truckloads of sodium chloride or common table salt. 
• The windows in the Coral Reef restaurant in the Living Seas are 18’ high, 8” thick, and are made of acrylic.
• In Soarin' look for the Hidden Mickey in the Golf Ball and fireworks.
• The Land:
• Watch for the lab set up on the right near the end of the ride.  There is a bunch of green test tubes in the shape of Mickeys head in the test tube holder on the far right. 
• You can make cookies in the Nestle Junior Chef Program at the yellow bakery storefront near the Sunshine Season Food Pavilion.  Kids ages 3-10 can help make a batch of cookies.  They get a chef hat, a bag of chocolate chips, & 2 cookies for free!  No registration.  First come, 1st serve, 1/2 hr long. 
• Did you know that the 134'-long mural at the Land is made up of over 150,000 tiles?  They represent the layers of the Earth's soil.  Both sides of the mural are EXACTLY alike EXCEPT for one green tile on the right-hand mural which was placed there by the artist as her "signature."
• The buffalo and prairie dogs were originally conceived to be part of a ride called Western River Expedition that was going to be put at WDW instead of Pirates. The ride never made it to fruition but traces of its inspiration can be seen in several parks!
• If you're enjoying fresh vegetables at the Garden Grill, Sunshine Season Food Fair, or Coral Reef restaurants at Epcot, chances are they were grown right in the theme park.  Last year more than 30 tons of fruits and veggies were harvested from The Land pavilion's greenhouses.
• There are talking water fountains by the restrooms on the side of Innoventions facing The Land.  As you come through the center of the building walking towards The Land, make a quick left turn.  They are right there and outside Mousegear shop, behind Innoventions West, near the restroom between Innoventions and HISTA Pavilion, near the play fountain between Future World and World Showcase (left side of the big fountain in FW as you are walking toward WS).
• Innoventions:
• Innoventions West, at the IBM exhibit, you can email pictures of yourself.
• Innoventions East the ten-second video clip you can email. 
• Look for the solar-powered lawnmowers at EPCOT.

Part 7:Disney Tidbits, EPCOT!

We venture into a new park today, Epcot!  So let's get started!

Did You Know?

• The sidewalks twinkle at night.  Take the right-hand path after the Epcot ball.  You'll come upon them. 
• The distance around the World Showcase, from China to Canada, is 1.2.5 miles.  
•  World Showcase park entrance--there is an upside down classic Mickey in the clock.  
• The concrete paths around the lagoon are red to make the grass appear greener.
• A great, uncrowded place to visit characters is the bench near the rail past the International Gateway.  It's on your right if you're coming form the BC.  It might be across from that first clothing store when you get in. 
•  There is a butterfly garden behind Mouse Gears. 
•  Enter EPCOT for FREE!  If you're anywhere near the International Gateway around 9pm, the CMs will open the gates and allow you in to watch Illuminations.  This is a great way to start your trip with some extra magic, especially if you're staying at one of the Boardwalk area resorts and had an afternoon or evening arrival.
• The fountain at Epcot Innoventions Plaza can shoot water 150 feet in the air -- within 30 feet of the top of Spaceship Earth.  If all of the shooters were fired at once, there would be 2,000 gallons of water in the air.
• Club Cool-Used to be called Ice Station Cool, but now it's "Club Cool."  If you are walking towards the WS from FW, it is on the right-hand side of the large fountain.  If you walk past the fountain, you have gone too far. When you go into the Coke station, get a little of the "Italy-Beverly" flavor and act like you are drinking it; then tell everyone how delicious it is.  They will all take a big gulp and gag!!!  It is disgusting! 
• Mission Space:
• In the gift store, look at the ceiling.  Double Hidden Mickey.  I think I can make out both a classic and a profile hidden Mickey in the same scene.  
• When you are in the gift shop of Mission Space, look at the walls.   It looks like electrical boxes and wiring.  Some of these boxes are Mickeys heads. 
• If you can peel your head forward while on Mission Space, try all the knobs...they ALL work!  Some make noises within the cabin, others flash lights, but the different switches, etc. are there for more than decorations!  
• If you DO start flipping all of the switches and turning the dials and stuff, "Lt. Dan" comes over your speaker and tells you not to touch them. 
• The Horizons logo is dead center in the middle of the spinning space station in Mission Space.  A tribute to the attraction that was demolished in order to make way for Mission Space.  It is also below the gift shops’s cash register mural , on the front of the register counter. 
• When you're in the corridor alongside Mission Control, watch the small monitors on the workstation behind the glass. You may spot footage of an albatross coming in for a rough landing. It's a clip once used for comic effect during the pre-show of the Mission to Mars attraction in the Magic Kingdom (1975-1993). 
• Spaceship Earth:
• In Spaceship Earth, there is a scene with a monk sleeping on a book he is writing.  There is a HM in the book as well as names of the Imagineers.
•  The entrance to Spaceship Earth with the two shops actually created a Wind tunnel, and they had to make adjustments after it was built.  Still gets windy down there. 
• There is a lift machine at the top of Spaceship earth.  It is in the room where the moon is shown and the vehicle turns backwards to go down.  It is used to get Mickey through a hatch and on top of the attraction for commercials.  
• In the scene of "The Renaissance," there is a little table to the left of the scene.  This is where the painter keeps some of his supplies.  There is a HM made from paint rings, like the painter set his cup down three times and it coincidentally made that certain shape!  
•  There are two figures that used to be in the Hall of Presidents:  the sleeping monk used to be Woodrow Wilson & the large bald slave in the Egyptian scene was William Taft. 
• Weighs 16 million pounds -- more than three times that of a Space Shuttle fully fueled and ready for launch.  The outer "skin" is made up of 11,324 aluminum and plastic-alloy triangles.  Also, did you know that rainwater never falls off the sphere?  It's absorbed into the ball and funneled away.  
• Test Track:
• Test Track vehicles have three on-board computers that have more processing power than the space shuttle. 
• Test Track is the fastest ride in WDW, at 65 mph. 
• When you leave Test Track, you walk into a room that looks like a factory with lots of motorized carts overhead moving around and conveyer belts moving parts.  It looks like a HUGE room, but if you walk over to the wall on the right side and stand at the right angle, you can see that the room is actually pretty small and that they use mirrors to give the illusion that you're standing in a section of a huge warehouse/factory!  
•  It takes 8.8 seconds to accelerate from 0-65 for the High Speed Test.
• Each vehicle was designed to last for approximately one million miles and travels about 50,000 miles in any given year.
•  There are 32 vehicles in total, but only 25-26 are on the track at any one time.
•  Each car as a total of 22 wheels, although only 4 are seen by the guests.
•  There are 6 braking systems on each car.
• Each vehicle completes 34 turns during the ride.
• The roadway that runs alongside of the building is banked at 50 degrees. 
• There are 85 road signs along the route.
• The ride lasts approximately five and a half minutes.