EPCOT TRIP 1982
December 15 - 21, 1982
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1982. Bed at 11:30. Don't sleep. Avi goes to john at 4:35 and we're about at 5. Out at 6 to High Street and a passing "Train to the plane"---first starts at 57th at 5:07, second at 5:27, and we're on third which was starting at 5:47 at 6:32, late? Into station at 7, to Pan Am at 7:15, VERY poor directions. Halls loaded with luggage for IW. Onto shortish line. Onto plane at 8 am and off at 9, squalling babies and awfulness. Smooth flight but I still clutch till 11:05 landing. Off at 11:15, Avi claims luggage and I get front right seat on top of double-decker at 11:15. He says "Hotel is pretty, but far out, 48 miles from airport and 36 from park." Stay with Midge? Leave airport at 12:10. To hotel at 1:15! Awful! Call Midge, who suggests WEEKEND, which is good. To room to try to rent a car. Out at 2:25. To lobby to find guy who got HIS car from American Van Rental across from airport where we RESERVED one for $70/week and $5.50/day insurance. He volunteers to drive FOUR of us to pick up cars! He says he'll be back in 5 minutes to the lobby. To rental place by 3:50, after stopping at WRONG American International place and getting gas AND taking wrong road. Pay $121 for a car for a week. Sore legs from four in back seat. I pay $1.20 for tolls. Into EPCOT at 4:25 and RIGHT INTO Spaceship Earth to 5. Walk to 5:10, and into Universe of Energy for INCREDIBLE show to 5:55. Into GM at 6! To 6:35, good, too. Disney-ish and games and Bird and Robot and cars. Kodak Journey into Imagination at 6:45, NO lines! Great night colors, beautiful people. Music EVERYWHERE. Clean walks, all flowers in bloom, GREAT lighting effects. 3-D film to 7:05, GREAT! extraordinary games. To Kraft at 7:20. The Land shows plants and water ride to 7:45. Restaurant (the Good Turn) not ready for us and Avi insists we SIT till 8. Dinner of appetizer of cheese-stuffed mushrooms and mushroom, walnut and pastry balls, my good southern beef and pork loin with Kraft barbecue sauce, Avi's duck fat but good, and $5.75 rose carafe. Leave at 9:45. Mile 20974 to 10 pm, and back at 10:40, 28 miles. Move tomorrow! Bed at 11:15, Avi on phone, complaining.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16. Avi up at 7:30 to shower, I'm up at 7:45 to shower and we leave room at 8:40 and snack-breakfast in HoJo's and out at 9:15 to drive back, NOT so hot on moving. Into ENTRANCE at 9:50, and the TRAM starts at 10. Good! To France: dinners reserved from Earth Station at 8:30. Lunch at 1 pm reserved for us. Back to Earth Station and ITALY and France gone, Good Turn was last night, and we did Mexico for 8:30. Others are Japan, Germany (huge), and Great Britain. To bus at 10:45. Bus stops CHANGED. Reservation-method changed MONDAY. Around to Germany at 11, ONLY biergarten and shops, but VERY nicely done. Walk past expansion-place for Israel and Equatorial Africa and Spain and to China at 11:00 for 360 film at 11:20. LOVELY carpet and LOVELY guy. China at 11:25. Buddha of Li-Shan; Su-Jo is the Venice of the East. Wang Shan Mountains. Hsih Lin stone forest. Ti people. Out at 11:45 to drizzle. To Italy, shops and CROWDED restaurant. To US at 12, singers in "Williamsburg." Singers in LOVELY open cupola till 12:15, looking at "good phony oil" paintings and CLEAN walls. Photo #21 of the US hall of flags. At 12:25 into HUGE 650-seat theater. Rather tacky to 12:52, but GREAT "180 film EXPANSION PAST STATUES in skyline of liberty torch. To French restaurant at 1, GREAT Charcuterie platter for $6.25 of four patés, VERY good vol au vent and sweetbreads and LOVELY dumplings and croute. Avi with beef bourguignon good, dessert of profiterolles and meringue of vanilla and chocolate ice cream and same chocolate sauce. Interesting layered spinach-carrot-cauliflower tart and Avi's potatoes. Carafe of white. Out at 2:15, VERY pleased with place and Christof. 2:30 into "Impression de France," to 2:45, VERY great, moving, tears, fabulous, ending with Saint-Saens Third! Great Britain for Pearlie band and shops---VERY well after wine, and even a quiet SQUARE IN BACK. Canada at 3:15. To 3:35 VERY nice 360 film; walk to BOAT across to ITALY at 3:52! BUT boat goes to Germany: We ask INFORMATION for film and find it's only DISTANT. But Avi pushes for attendant who says film can be bought in GERMANY, at Bucherwurm! Fucking thing WORKS! 4:05 Avi enters for film. 4:08, film bought, onto bus for Japan! HERE the gardens and museum aren't OPEN yet! 4:25 to AMAN: American Folk Ensemble to 4:45, rousingly good. Great guy watching to 5:15, but it's drizzling and the West African dance doesn't go on. Board BOAT at 5:25 to CENTER Showcase. Try Kodak again and finally figure you have to go THROUGH Communicore to get FROM anywhere TO almost anywhere in Future World. End up in Communicore and I suggest Futurecom and we enter about 5:45 and play information game with states and services and Bell calls, then GAMES of "computer pronounces what you spell," and "decode color to get right message," and "16-square 0's and 1's that you memorize (I get up to 47, but it's VERY nerve wracking), and a mouse directed by WORDS that won't work when I push start for English, only for ITALIAN, and I don't remember difference between SU and GIU! Then to "stop stuff from falling onto chip" which is old "left-right-fire" game I do poorly at---except for shield against electricity. Lots of addicts around and Avi and I "get at" each other. HE talks to people and enrages me and I pig out on the games and he sits sullenly till I ask what he wants. "Whatever you want." "Other Communicore." "It's 7 pm and I thought we were going to Mexico." "So you DO want something!" THEN he wants cigarettes and it's WAY back to Kodak, but he insists on going and so I sit and write and put on sweater and he's not back by 7:10; I have to propose a game to him: I CAN'T get mad at him and when HE gets mad at me, it's always MAXIMUM INTENSITY: like, "Do you want me to get on a plane and go home?" So I'll suggest we SAY intensity: I can suggest "intensity 1" so he doesn't feel I'm ORDERING, and he can SAY "intensity 5" if he really means it and WARNS me before he gets to "intensity 10" of "I'll never speak to you again!" Of course, I can only do that when he RETURNS! 7:15. Out at 10:05. To car at 10:40. Back at 11:20 and crap and get to bed at 11:40, leaving word for waking at 7 am.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 17. HA! Avi leaves word for 6:50, we agreed on 7, I said 7:15, SHE calls at 7:10 and Avi showers and I do a quick one and we leave at 7:45! PARK at 8:30. Onto line with OTHERS at 8:33. OFF at 8:48. Onto Monorail line at 8:52. Into NOSE of monorail at 8:56. GREAT seat to Polynesia by 9:05. Onto Magic Kingdom monorail at 9:08. To Magic Kingdom at 9:12; get free guide ONLY by asking; NO tickets needed for anything; have Danish and hot chocolate for $1.75 for Avi's coffee, and board RR at 9:50 in station! OFF train to Pirates, and I'd ENTERED at 9:55 and NO line through to 10:06! Onto TRAINS again at 10:11, IN station. Off at Main Street at 10:19. Onto horse cart up Main Street at 10:20. Onto Space Mountain line at 10:30 and ONTO ride at 10:40. Off at 10:43 and through RCA ads. Onto line SECOND time at 10:47! MORE of a line: off at 11:05. In to Circlevision ("4 minutes") at 11:15, and move into theater at 11:22. 1972 film over at 11:45. King Stephen's hall opens at 12, and we're third in at 11:55 for beef DINNER at $8.14, less tip. Beef is COLD but tasty but fatty, punch is ice-laced but you CAN have coffee and tea. Out at 1:10 and over to Haunted Mansion by 1:18, to a short line TOO, even in chilly afternoon. Out at 1:32. Not as good as I remembered, but big room is still big. Onto lines for Mountain RR at 1:41, longest line yet I note at 1:55, onto ride at 1:57. 2 pm and get towed up THREE hills to 2:04. Off Africa boat at 2:20. Tree house to 2:31. Back to Boston U band parade for Tangerine Bowl tomorrow, and back to Mars, in at 2:40, boring "lecture" and "command center demo," and then I REMEMBER the circular main room and the "sinking" seats. Out at 3:01 and into Eastern at 3:03. Ride STOPS at 3:07. Off at 3:10. Onto Starjets at 3:13. Off at 3:20. Into GE line at 3:22 and they're FULL. Wait and they have TWO seats! As I tell Avi, "It's so understated it's soporific." Out at 3:45. People-mover to 3:59. Photo #33: Satellite Beach High School group in Tomorrowland theater. Awful singers 4-4:07, and onto skyway to Fantasyland from 4:08 to 4:16. To "It's a Small World" at 4:20. To a VERY cloying 4:32. Onto "Peter Pan's Flight" off at 4:44 NICE fantasy ride in AIR. Onto "20,000 Leagues" line at 4:47. Off at 5:08. LONG ride. Wander back via Main Street to monorail at 5:30, realizing Magic Kingdom closes at 6 pm! On car at 5:38. To Contemporary, Traffic, Polynesia, Magic Kingdom, Contemporary, and Traffic (!) by 6:03. Cold and dark by now, waiting for LAST monorail. On at 6:09. FINALLY piss and relax at Epcot at 6:26. To "Harvest Theater" at 6:35 to first row center, as lights dim, and a GREAT "Symposium," with great "start close in, fly back and LIFT" sequences, to 6:54. Into "Kitchen Kabaret" at 6:58. Out of CUTE catchy-tune-show at 7:11. To Mexico's "River of Time" by 7:21 and on INSTANTLY. To China, AGAIN, at 7:45, and film starts at 7:50, to 8:08. To Italy, tired, at 8:24, and "sign in." Seated at 8:32, order LOTS: mixed antipasto, fried zucchini, fettuccini Alfredo alla carbonara, and scaloppini di setti collini Romani (7 hills). SINGERS! $51 paid including tip, ending at 10:30. 10:38 into jitney going OTHER way. To entrance at 11 and chat with two women from Lon Gisland [Long Island, to non-natives] and travelers from Columbus Ohio who chat about Verona and Colmar with me. Back at 11:45, me driving 60-65, and crap and bed at 12:10, sleeping instantly.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 18. Wake at 6:40 and take a HUGE crap, feeling full STILL AFTERWARD and shower while Avi phones Robin and bicker about hair in tub and I write to 7:20 and prepare to make a list of "what's left at EPCOT." Avi bustles and sighs and grunts and we leave at 7:50. Actual ICE (MORE than frost) on windshield. Avi stops for breath mints and stays FOREVER, actually till 8. Need gas, into gate at 8:45, most crowded so far, but still NOT AT ALL. Onto food line at 8:55 and it's longer and slower than before. Back to see band in white uniforms (semi-see through) and into Energy at 9:30, starts at 9:33, who KNEEL on clean GROUND. 9:41 is end of STANDING performance. Out at 10:12, golly-goshing guys next to us just OVERWHELMED in corner front seats! Into Travelport at 10:15, get a seat at 10:34. African lodges: Treetops, Kilaguni, Amboseli, Mara Serena, and Keekorok. April to October good for Tahiti, SOME slides are too quick, others are not lined up perfectly: lots end with script only. Brazil doesn't work from BELOW---try ABOVE. Brazil ON next time!! Sex areas of world, about 4 places each, "only" 24 destinations. Avi pulls me out at 11. Kodak has "coming soon" for Dreamfinder and Avi "prefers" the 3-D film that starts at 11:12. But there's a "pre-show" (that we didn't see before), standing, that starts at 11:17-11:27. Film 11:30-11:45. Onto boat for Japan at 11:57. Land at 12. Into Japanese restaurant at 12:05 and out at 1:00 with $12 teppenyaki lunch of beef and chicken and marinated vegetables. Stop for a drink, but there's a dance SHOW on the pagoda, then the candy-animal maker absolutely CAPTIVATES till 12:40. To a LOVELY drink at 2:10 for $8.25 and pass Yakitori house, and out for French movie (again) at 2:50. Energy Exchange has cars to stadium and hospital (and quiz on energy efficiency and energy things) until 4:45, after spending time BACK at "memorize" and MOUSE IS being fixed. Flag and flight-loading then in Activenter (?) Computer. Computer-counters, too, to 5:35. Onto Starship Earth line at 5:37, and ON ride at 5:52, 15 minutes! Off at 6:11, a one-minute stop, and TWO pairs of men at points helping turn cars! Play FABULOUS color kaleidoscopes, bubble color, color-with-color-per-shape, pin boards, to 7:15. To Kitchen Kabinet at 7:25, in BACK this time, and at 7:32 it BREAKS and we have to clear out! At 7:47 into Spaceship Earth for the THIRD time. Out at 8:09, NO stop and only FINAL two guys helping turn. Now to France. Out at 10:30. Boat leaves, bus leaves, counterclockwise bus takes us at last at 10:45. Out of gate at 11 pm. Back at 11:55 and talk. At 3 am:
A: "I don't want to be told I'm boring."
B: 1) PERFECT communication
2) You're different from me.
3) HONESTY---you're being here
4) DISHONEST---if you don't say it, you ARE dishonest. CONTROL. Concern for person's feelings/honesty. 3:23 to sleep!
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 19. Wake at 8 to shit and we start talking again: MY main point being that Directness and Honesty are so RARE in this society-fucked "civil behavior" (filler" oriented world that I DO feel raised, superior, advanced onto a hilltop (NOT in being #1), and want to raise others to that hilltop to look at the view over the muck-shrouded valleys. With Avi I have to SHOUT to get through the muck he's brought onto my hillside. We talk AGAIN to 9:45 when Midge calls, saying she'd called EVERY day to say SHE had a car for us, and leave at 11 and drive north through lakes and Tavares to Midge's at 12:10. We drink and chat (Avi has coffee to start) till 1, then to Raffles for a HUGE lunch of omelet and the Tokeless Chocolate Creation, till 2:30, and then she drives us to Wekiva and we dress and return at 4 to canoe up to springs and back, watching ibis, raccoon, and anhinga with pleasure, to 6:10, and back to Midge's for more drinks and talk, and phone Rita, and eat 8:15-9:30, talking and drinking till 10:30, exhausted to bed.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 20. I wake at 7:50 and shit and shower and Avi's up at 8:20 saying he hasn't slept. I suggest an outdoors day and return to motel tonight. Write this and out with map at 8:45. Breakfast, show her her triple-timer, look at Peking Palace book, leave at 10:30 and drive to Silver Springs at 12:15. Onto glass-bottom boat 12:40-1:15, monochromatic fish, eelgrass, and 14 springs, 20-80 feet deep, millions of gallons/day, but sadly INCOLORFUL compared with SALT-water colors. Onto Jungle Cruise 1:40 to 2:05. Then to Deer Park and finally eat awful fish and chips at 3 and tour Antique Autos---quite a collection, until 4:45 when we get gas and travel south through glorious orange and purple sunset to motel at 6:30. I'm feeling SO tired I lay till 7:30 (and Avi accuses me of being ) and we search phonebook for movie and restaurants and check at desk to find nothing in neighborhood and drive to Claremont to find the Crown which is good, but because we'd take too long they deny us Bananas Foster. Out at 9:50 and to bed at 10:30, EXHAUSTED.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 21. Which has its advantages, because I SLEEP quickly and soundly, having a number of odd dreams (like Avi being Dennis's TWIN) and travel "memories," wake at 6:50, and up at 7:40 to shower and pack and check out by 8:30, being told the car rental agency (not IW) will take us to airport. So when I see Gatorland Zoo only 6 miles south, we go there at 9:15-11:15, seeing gators and other animals, taking the tour and swamp walk, but what a short time for $4.20 compared with $7.95 for 12:15-4:45 at Silver Springs yesterday, but NICE coincidence that I'd WANTED to add Gatorland to my list and there it WAS. Avi fusses about time and so we phone to verify departure at 12:40 and drive to auto rental to finish at 11:40 and jitney right to airport at 11:50. People in car say that ANY line in EPCOT on MONDAY was an hour long! Lines longer EACH DAY of the visit. Sit in hot lounge and write this at 12, hopefully ON GROUND in NYC in three hours. Lunch raw steak, two salads. Notes in back of book: board at 12:30 and ready to go! 12:45, "25 people show up." 1:10 pull out AGAIN and take off at 1:30. Land at 3:34, into terminal at 4 pm, to subway station at 4:30. To Jay Street at 5:05 and home at 5:25 to get message from Arnie and leave at 5:40 for Thalia at 6:15 and home at 9 for "Bill" to 11 and bed at 11:30 after COMING to glorious porno---mail not even LOOKED at! Noted on a separate card that the ad said $129.00 to which was added for tax and service on the ORIGINAL cost: 29.85 + departure tax of $6.80 = $165.65. I take $750.47 in cash and return with $434.50, spending $316 in cash plus $165.65 for $481 in 7 days, or $69/day, which isn't bad AT ALL.