Attractions at Epcot Future World

Like Magic Kingdom, I will split my post on attractions at Epcot into two parts, beginning with the attractions in Future World.

Future World East

Spaceship Earth - This is one of the few remaining original attractions from EPCOT Centre. It's had a few updates over the years but the core of it remains the same. I think it does a great job of being educational and entertaining at the same time. There used to be times when the wait time was pretty short, but since FastPass Plus the standby wait always seems to be fairy long. Fortunately, it's a second tier FPP, so it's pretty much a no-brainer to get one. There are a bunch of games in the post-show area, some of which are quite fun. The post-show area can also be accessed without going on the ride.

Ellen's Energy Adventure - I like the dinosaur animatronics here, but the rest of the attraction is pretty boring, and including the pre-show it can take up to 45 minutes to experience. At least it's air-conditioned.

Mission: SPACE - This ride simulates a trip to Mars. There are two options - Orange, more intense, and Green, less intense. The Orange version spins to simulate the G forces involved whereas the Green version is more of a traditional simulator ride. I tried both on this trip and found that the Green version actually does a pretty good job of tricking you into thinking you are moving, and the Orange version made me quite motion sick. I think in the future I would choose Green. Neither version had very long waits.

Advanced Training Lab - This is the post-show area for Mission: SPACE. It is also easily accessible without going on the ride. There are a few different activities here, including a play area for kids who are too short to go on the ride. We played the game called Mission: SPACE Race. This was a fun game but it really needs at least 5-10 people on each team. We had to wait about 10 minutes until there were enough people interested to play the game and even then we suffered from a lack of players. If you are interested in playing this game I would recommend going on a busy day.

Test Track - This is the first time I have visited since Test Track was updated. For the most part the actual ride is the same but the sets are brand new. Also new is the fact that you design your own car before the ride, and throughout the ride it is scored on various factors such as efficiency and power. I think the new ride is an improvement mainly because it gets rid of the corny narration of the old version, although the car design component was also fun. I rode once at the beginning of morning EMH and was able to walk straight through to the design station. I rode again at about 10 the same day using FastPass Plus and actually waited longer because the merge point is before the design stations. I never tried Single Rider but I think it would have actually been faster than using FastPass because the Single Rider line has separate design stations. There are a few post-show activities, which can also be accessed through the shop.

Inventions - The number of attractions in Innoventions is gradually getting lower and lower. Apart from The Sum of All Thrills (see below), the only remaining attractions when we visited were StormStruck and Habit Heroes. We tried StormStruck on our last trip, but Habit Heroes was new for us. This was a fun series of interactive activities completed in a large group with the theme of healthy habits (drinking water, eating healthily, being active). In keeping with those themes, some of the activities involved quite a lot of running around. I hope that Innoventions is just in a bit of a lull at the moment and will expand again in the future.

The Sum of All Thrills - This attraction is a little hidden away within Innoventions, although it is listed separately on the park map. It lets you design your own ride - either a bobsled, rollercoaster or jet plane, and then ride it in a simulator on a Kuka arm. The pre-show is pretty corny and there isn't much time at the design station (it's supposed to be teaching you about physics but there is barely enough time to design the ride, let alone look at the equations), but the ride is a lot of fun. You have a lot of control over how intense the ride is as well. The only problem is the ride capacity is really low, there is no FastPass available, and it's not open for Extra Magic Hours. So there's not really any choice but to wait at least 15-20 minutes.

Future World West

The Seas with Nemo & Friends - This attraction really has two completely separate sections - a short ride and an aquarium. The ride is cute and the effect when the Finding Nemo characters are projected into the aquarium tanks is very well done. I remember when we visited in 2006 the queues for the ride were insane, but now it's practically a walk on most of the time. The aquarium is mostly the same as any other aquarium, although the manatees are a fairly unique offering.

Soarin' - This is one of my favourite Disney rides - like I said in my Disneyland post, I think it's something about the scents that just completes the experience for me. The quality of the video definitely needs improving here though. I had booked a FastPass Plus for this ride but I made it over before the end of morning Extra Magic Hours so I rode standby (less than 10 minutes wait) and changed my FastPass to Test Track instead. The wait during evening Extra Magic Hours was about 15 minutes.

Living with the Land - This boat ride goes past some dioramas about different environments and then through a series of greenhouses showing different ways to grow plants. It's very informative and the boat ride is quite relaxing. The wait never seems to be long but it saves a lot of walking to see it at the same time as Soarin' and/or when visiting Sunshine Seasons. The ride had a short refurb while I was there - I rode it both before and after the refurb but there weren't any noticeable changes.

Journey Into Imagination with Figment - When I was little, before I ever went to Disney World, my sister had a stuffed Figment, so I've always had a soft spot for him. It's not the most exciting of rides, but I still think it's fun. Mid-morning this ride was a walk on.

ImageWorks - This is the post-show area for Journey Into Imagination, with a few interactive activities (mostly themed to Figment). The activities could really do with an update. It might be a bit of fun for kids but there wasn't anything exciting as an adult.

Captain EO - I had seen this 4D movie before in Japan but at the time was so exhausted that I fell asleep, so this was the first time I watched the whole thing. All in all it's a very strange movie - it has the most bizarre plot ever and I'm not sure that it fits that well with the Imagination pavilion. At least it's a cool place to rest, as long as you don't mind sitting on the floor while waiting for the next showtime and then standing for the pre-show.