I'd only been to Disney's Animal Kingdom once before, and I was interested to see how my perception of the park matched the reality of the park. You know how sometimes after you leave a park or a movie, or put down a book, you mull it over and come up with a different opinion? Well, I wondered how the Animal Kingdom would fare in my mind.

See, last time I was both disappointed and pleased at the same time. Disappointed in that the park didn't have a whole lot to do, and the stuff that we did was just warmed over old school attractions - "It's Tough to be a Bug" is just another 3D movie, "Countdown to Extinction" was just a darker, lamer Indy from Disneyland. Granted, "Kali River Rapids" was great, although short.

I did, however, love the atmosphere of the park. They really nailed that. Everything from the costumes to the pavement to the stores worked in perfect harmony. It was really cool looking. Sure, it seemed tough to get around, and was really spread out, but not every park is perfect.

This time I felt the same way, but just a little bit more upset. They really ruined a great idea with "Countdown to Extinction" (now renamed "Dinosaur" after the innovatively titled film of the same name). It's just so very boringly dark in there that you're not scared. You just say, "Why's it so dark in here? Didn't they want to spend money on, oh, say audio-animatronic dinosaurs to, you know, scare me?" The whole Camp Minnie Mickey thing bugs me too, no part of the park should be exclusive for one age group, young or old. It's Walt's way. See, instantly a quarter of the park is not interesting to me. That cuts down on what I want to do, and it really cuts down on my perceived value. Since I'm not going to 1/4 of the park, shouldn't I only pay 3/4 of the ticket price?

Needless to say, that's why there aren't any photos. The Animal Kingdom holds nothing for me, except a nicely themed walk.

Thus, I was all geared up for Epcot. I really like Epcot. I like the idea of Epcot. I like the space of Epcot. I like Epcot. (You can see where this is coming from a mile away, can't you?)

We came in over the Internation Gateway from Boardwalk and went right to France. And that's when things went wrong. One of the projectors wasn't working on the four screen movie, so they kicked us out. Test Track was on-again off-again broken all day. Journey into Imagination has been replaced with the stupidest thing ever thought up be the mind of men, and that's quite a feat when you look at the competition: Pokemon, the Carrot Top movie "Chairman of the Board", and Disneyland's Rocket Rods.

But nay, I do not hate everything at that park. I can't stop talking about my favorite thing at Epcot (well, after American Adventure and El Rio de Tiempo) - Coca-Cola's Ice Station Cool. It's over by that train wreck of Innoventions, and all that it is is just Coke machines with different colas from around the world. Mexico has a neat apple beverage, and Japan has a fruity orange Tang-like drink that I enjoy.

And we saw the whole new Millennium Village, with all of the reject countries who don't merit their own pavillion. Who wants a whole land when you can get a 4 x 8 space in a large smelly room? All Peru had was a table in one of the (many) shops. =(

(see this picture at a big 600x400 resolution)

Coca-Cola's Ice Station Cool is the best new thing at Epcot. I'm not lying.
I know I like sarcasm more than the next guy, but damn,
do I like Ice Station Cool. For real.

(see this picture at a big 600x400 resolution)

Here Dan drinks some Mexican Chungo. Mmmm-warm.

(see this picture at a big 600x400 resolution)

I personally think that they invented some of the countries in the Millennium Village.
I mean, who ever heard of The Fantastical Tiki Island of the Great Lakes?

(see this picture at a big 600x400 resolution)

My new camera rocks. This photo took something like two or three
seconds to expose. Came out cool, though.

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Last Updated on: July 9, 2000

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