Last night’s descent into Orlando went without incident. Aaron [McKee] drove us back to the Carib Royale where Ron and I, after having acclimated to the nicest resort accommodations I’ve ever experienced, had a pizza, a sandwich, and two drinks for about $30. Aaron convinced us to go with his family and him to Epcot today instead of the Kennedy Space Center to which I had full intentions of going.
Until about 3:00pm, I hated him for that. The rides, while quite stimulating, were not by any means educational to a science geek like me. However, after half the crew went home and we remaining troupers began walking the ethnic half of Epcot, I flip-flopped my position like the Democrat I am.
While part of Epcot is dedicated to be a technology smörgåsbord brought to you by the likes of Kodak, Nestle, HP, and GM, the northern half is an ethnic tour of several countries. It’s arranged in a large circle around a lake, and in the center of the lake, several black and burned barges sit, ready to astound the passers by and the onlookers as soon as the sky darkens.
We hit the United Kingdom for an appetizer and a beer sampler, France for some real wine, Morocco for me to take a picture with a weird hat next to a camel, Japan for some Sake, and we got as far as the German beer before the sky rendered us awestruck. The entire park was wired for sound, with large, two-story pillars of speakers and can lights spread equidistantly around the perimeter of the lake. Through these speakers played the soundtrack to the fireworks. The pyrotechnics were larger and more awe inspiring than anything I’ve ever seen in the Midwest, and they, along with spotlights, building lights around the lake, and the three story tall globe video screen, were synchronized to the music playing through all the speaker towers. I can’t imagine the engineering behind the show. All I know is that I’m a little shell-shocked from the events of today.
It’s 2:51am EDT and I’ve about had enough. I have to be in class tomorrow at 8:00am, so I’ll just slip away.
