Walking into EPCOT still has a big game feel. Spaceship Earth is so iconic that it can transport you to a time when the park was the hot new thing. Even if I had left my millennial legacy at the front of the park, I’m not sure I would be paying attention to it. The geosphere summons you the way Cinderella’s Castle does, the way The Great Movie Ride did, and (sadly) not the way The Tree of Life does.
It has been a long time since Mouse Gear was called Centorium, and yet this was the first time it really hit me that it was no longer such. In a previous blog I related the shop to the Magic Kingdom’s Emporium. On this trip I rated my favorite ‘character’ shops 1) Mouse Gear, 2) World of Disney, 3) Emporium. This was the first time the Emporium was not in the first spot (when applicable). The Mouse Gear taking that top spot reminded me just how good of a retail store it was, thus making me wish it was still called by the Centorium name.
Mission: Space is one of my wife’s favorites (I’m not sure there are many of you out there that can say that). And, though, I did not feel the angst of riding with all its intensity this time, I passed and let her fly solo. I felt the old dehydrated headache coming on and riding through the red planet would have me holding cold beers on my head rather than drinking them before I even the Food & Wining had commenced.
We took a stop in Club Cool. Lots of the usual beverages were unavailable. Thankfully the Italian form of Brontican was available. If you know me, you know why it’s worse for me than all the others who wince in taste.
We would hit the updated Test Track on the way out of the park, but first it was time to eat and drink around the world!
Well, after a stop and the fountain!
NEXT BLOG: Food and Wine and Food and… More Wine!
Brother Dillo