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This ride is a little bit rough at times. It really isn't that strenuous or violent, but it can rattle a few bones. Six passengers can fit in each car. I'm 6'6", 275 and I fit in this ride without inconveniencing whomever I might sit next to.

The first test is the suspension test whcih takes you over rough terrain. This is more annoying than anything. Then you are taken through the "hot" room, full of heat lamps. This is a cruel thing after walking around in the hot Florida sun and after just getting used to the air-conditioned confines of the ride. But not to worry, next is the "freeze" room which is just a wonderful relief for the few seconds you spend there.

Next up is the brake test. First, you test standard brakes and are shown how easy it is to lose control if you slam on the brakes. Next, they test the anti-lock brakes to show how much more beneficial they are because you maintain control through hard braking. Now for the crash test!

The car accelerates towards a wall at the end of the room and then the wall lifts out of the way. You accelerate to about 60mph as the car careens around the building and then comes to rest at the end.

Overall, this is a good ride with a nice thrill factor. Even the normally thrill-averse visitors to Epcot may like this ride.

One word of caution: This ride breaks down more often than others, so be prepared for the line to stop at any time, especially on busier days. Yet another reason to get fastpass for this ride.

The two main attractions here are the rides Body Wars and Cranium Command.Body Wars is a motion simulation ride in which you are taken inside the human body to help rescue a miniaturized scientist that got lost during a trip inside someone's body. This ride is quite active and you will get thrown forwards and backwards to a great degree in mimicry of the blood flow through the arteries and the heart. It is an interesting ride and worth the visit should you be free of back problems.

Cranium Command is a humorous treat that is often overlooked. And what a shame! The premise of this show is to highlight all of the human brains' responsibilities, from logical thought to adrenaline to hunger to breathing. You are taken on this journey by a "pilot" who is responsible for coordinating the brain functions so that the teenage boy you are riding with can get through the day. The movie has an all star cast including Charles Brodin, George Wendt, and Jon Lovitz. Young kids and adults are most likely to enjoy this show. It really is a cute show and it rarely shows at full capacity. If you get there near the beginning of a showtime, you are very likely to get in right away.

The preshow to this pavilion is much too long and always has been. The pre-show used to lead onto a moving path that gave guests a relaxing first view of the spacious aquarium. The path has been inoperative for many moons now. You are led from the pre-show to the "hydrolaters", which are glorified fake elevators. It is a neat trick really. Many first time guests really think that they are going underwater to Seabase Alpha. I remember as a child being so totally thrilled about this! The hydrolaters lead into the spacious aquarium. The aquarium is quite impressive with all manner of fish, sharks, dolphins and turtles. There is also a separate tank for a manatee which, if you've never seen one, is quite impressive. There are also different spots about the pavilion that educate about the living seas and there a few hands on activities as well. The aquarium is very well done and is especially captivating to children.

The Living Seas gets crowded even on slow days, so patience or avoidance are the orders of the day here, even more so if you are in wheelchairs or have strollers. (We had both during one trip and that was quite frustrating with the crowds). As in my earlier review of the Wonders of Life Pavilion, the Living Seas looks to be showing its age. It just feels rather out of date. Coupled with the moving path being out of commission, this once prestigious corner of Epcot had become a disappointment.

There is also a seafood restaurant here with a view of the aquarium. I have never eaten here but have heard many good things about it. Many visitors get reservations here months ahead of time so they won't miss it when they come to Disney.

The first thing to see is "An Environmental Fable," featuring animated characters from The Lion King. In the preshow area there are benches to sit on and television screens which continuosly display different environmental facts. Myself being a trivia junkie, I found the blurbs to be fascinating, like how many many millons of gallons of gasoline are used in idling cars per year. Some of the facts are simply startling.

The movie is a mixture of live action and animation. The point of the show is to educate us on how changes we make to the environment afect other members of the environment. Pumbaa decides he wants to build a resort upriver and builds a dam to create an artificial lake. Simba points out that downriver, the animals that depend on the river are dying. The movie goes on to show how mistakes have been made in the past and how humans have learned to change the environment without doing damage to the environment. The show is not very long and the theater is huge. It swallows crowds whole.

After the show, you'll find yourself in the central area again. From here you can see the Garden Grill Restaurant. I've reviewed this in a separate journal, but to summarize . . . This is a "served buffet"-type of meal. Everything is all-you-can-eat, typically consisting of teriyaki steak, fried catfish, mashed potatoes, mixed steamed veggies, bread, salad, and dessert. There is also a kids' menu. For dinner, this is a great place for a character dinner. Mickey and assorted pals circulate through the gently rotating (yes, rotating!) restaurant. This place is always fun to eat and is definitely a hit with the kids.

On the lower level of the land is the Sunshine Season Food Fair. This is a very large conglomeration of different food stands. If you have many and varied tastes for lunch in your family, this place is likely to accommodate it. There is also a fun food station for kids. Make your own cookies! Kids get to mix, bake, and eat their own cookies here. It is pretty neat and the kids get a real kick out of it. (Cont'd on part II)

The ride, built nearly twenty years ago, highlights how humans have communicated in the past, how we have continually mastered and expanded communication, and shows what the future of communication may look like. It starts on a long ascent into the dome. The cavemen of our ancient past are shown and how they communicated important moments in their lives with cave paintings. Years later, the Egyptian civilization inscripts hieroglyphs on papyrus as the first written language. Both of these scenes are gorgeously illustrated. The Phoenicians popularized and spread their own alphabet, from which most languages today derive themselves. The Greeks and Romans are shown furthuring communication with chariots, allowing information to pass more quickly over distances.

Then the dark ages hit, and Disney does an incredible, if a bit too intense, job of creating that burning stone and wood smell. The Arab world is then featured as the carriers of communication and knowledge during the dark ages, which leads into the efforts of the monestaries of the times that diligently translated and illustrated the Bible. The scenes here get more gorgeous and detailed as they go. It is quite an impressive sight.

Art becomes a focus as the Rennaissance begins, with a recreation of the painting of the Sistine Chapel.

Then there is a jump in time to the Industrial revolution. The printing press is invented and the cacaphony of it and other more modern communication, television, radio, telephone and movies, overwhelm the area.

Then we are shown the present time with a view of the Earth from space. If you look around at the walls in this dark planetarium shaped area, you should notice the geodesic latticework. You're at the top of the Great Big Ball!

(continued on part II)

Overall, I still love this ride. It's long and dark and gorgeously built in almost every scene. Even if you can not appreciate the future the ride presents, the past is brought vividly to life through the sets and animitronics.

The ride lets you off in the Global Neighborhood. This was originally an extension of what the future held and is sorely in need of an update. The only places we stop here are in the family phone booths where you can use your calling card to call whomever you like from Epcot. We pile our crew into one of these rooms and contact home.

There are other interactive activities there, but their future is passed and I am unsure anymore of what they really did.

Rumor has it that Spaceship Earth is due for updating, possibly a MAJOR multi-year remodeling which would change the entire ride. It may even become a roller coaster of some sort which would take it out of the dome and around Future World. Though the possible changes are exciting, and welcome, I am sure I'll miss the Spaceship Earth I grew up with used in quite the same way we use it today.

The showcase ride of The Land is Living With the Land. This is a boat ride through the workings of Disneys agricultural experiments. It begins by taking you through some of the different climates across the world and illustrates how different regions have different forms of agricultural life.

Next, you are shown how we learned the lessons from the past when over-farming and inefficient methods did damage to the land. Notably featuring the Dust Bowl when the Great Plains went barren.

Then you are taken into their state of the art facilities where they axperiment with growing plants in sand, of all places. They show us innovative ways to save space and to conserve resources. The hydroponics were pretty interesting. The plants aren't planted at all. They are suspended i mid-air and given all of their nutrients through occasional water treatment. It's a pretty neat ride, though not thrilling. It is more of an educational experience than it is enthralling. Still, I never miss this ride when I go to Disney.

PS Many of the vegetables you see grown here are served in the Garden Grill restaurant right upstairs!

The show begins with Ellen having a nightmare that she is on Jeopardy! against Jamie Lee Curtis and Albert Einstein, and all of the categories are about energy. Poor Ellen is left in the dust when Bill Nye comes to the rescue.

The preshow is kinda funny and even if you walk in late, you still get a funny chiding (and summary) from Ellen Degeneres before entering the ride. The presentation begins at the Big Bang when Bill Nye takes Ellen back to the beginning of time to show here where energy came from. Caution: the explosion is VERY loud and may frighten small children.

Bill and Ellen land during the age of the dinosaurs. After short discourse about energy in the dinosaur's world, the ride begins. The first part of the ride takes you through an elaborate recreation of prehistoric Earth, when the dinosaurs roamed. It is quite a spectacle and it may frighten very young children. There is nothing especially threatening here, but the dinos are very big and can scare kids.

At the end of the ride is a movie about energy and what the future of energy looks like. This is done on a LARGE screen which can cause motion sickness in the faint of stomach. After this, you return to Ellen's nightmare where she suddenly has all the answers about energy and wins the game.