Smart Traveller

In the next posts in our series about Orlando’s Walt Disney World Resort, we’ll be taking a look at the Epcot theme park.

The name Epcot stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow and the theme park, which opened in 1982, was originally designed to showcase the possible future development of technology. Although Epcot doesn’t look particularly futuristic today, it’s still a great place to visit. It covers a huge area and is packed with attractions, so ideally you should plan to spend at least a day, possibly two days there if you want to explore it properly.

Epcot is divided into two main sections: Future World and World Showcase. Future World is the first section of the park that you’ll see if you go into the park using the main entrance, and it is here that you will find the rides and attractions based on technology and science.

The Future World area of the park is divided into a number of “pavilions”, including the Mission: Space Pavilion, the Land Pavilion and the Spaceship Earth Pavilion (the large golf-ball style structure which dominates the park). Popular rides within the Future World section of Epcot include Mission: Space, Test Track, Soarin’ and The Seas with Nemo and Friends.

The second part of Epcot, World Showcase, is set around the huge lake and features eleven “pavilions”, each of which is themed on a different country: the Mexico Pavilion, the Norway Pavilion, the China Pavilion, the Germany Pavilion, the Italy Pavilion, the American Adventure Pavilion, the Japan Pavilion, the Morocco Pavilion, the France Pavilion, the United Kingdom Pavilion and the Canada Pavilion. These pavilions feature restaurants, gift shops and attractions based on the culture of the countries upon which they are themed.

There is a large car park outside of the main entrance to Epcot, so if you are travelling by hire car, you can park there. If you are staying in one of the resort’s hotels, you can take a shuttle bus to the park and Epcot is also accessible by boat from several of the hotels, Disney’s BoardWalk and Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park, and by monorail from the Magic Kingdom. However, Disney transportation can be very busy during peak hours, so travelling by rental car may be the easiest option.

Make sure that you pick up a park map as you enter Epcot, as the theme park is huge and can be disorientating.

In the next post in this series, we will take a closer look at some of the attractions that you can see in the Future World section of Epcot.

Image: Quinn Norton

U.K. supermarket chain Morrisons has got together with food manufacturer Amoy to launch a competition in which you could win a holiday to New York’s Chinatown.

The prize includes: return economy flights from London to New York for four people ( two adults and two children aged 16 or under); 6 nights’ accommodation in a 3-star hotel; a family meal in an authentic Chinese restaurant; and $500 spending money.

The prize winner must be able to take the holiday before the 31 August 2010 (it can’t be taken over a Bank Holiday weekend).

You can enter the competition via the Morrisons website. Just answer the simple question, complete the online form and submit it. Entries must be received before 11.59p.m. on 14th February 2010.

The Walt Disney World Resort is probably the most famous attraction in Orlando, in Florida, and attracts millions of visitors each year. In this, the first of a series of posts about the resort, we will give you a brief overview of the attractions there and some tips to help you to plan your holiday.

The Walt Disney World Resort covers a huge area and consists of four theme parks, two water parks and a number of other attractions. It’s located in Lake Buena Vista, which is about 30 minutes’ drive from Orlando International Airport and about an hour’s drive from Orlando Sanford International Airport.

The resort’s theme parks are as follows:

• The Magic Kingdom - the home of the iconic Cinderella Castle, this park offers many attractions for young children, including rides such as Peter Pan’s Flight and the Mad Tea Party.
• Epcot - this theme park is set around a large lake and can be divided into two sections: the science-based area, which includes rides such as Mission: Space, and the pavillions, where you can get a taste of different parts of the world.
• Disney’s Hollywood Studios - this theme park is packed with attractions based on the silver screen and world of television. It has thrill rides, such as the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, and live shows, such as the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular.
• Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park - part zoo, part theme park, Disney’s Animal Kingdom includes attractions such as the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail and the Expedition Everest thrill ride.

The Walt Disney World Resort’s water parks are as follows:

• Disney’s Blizzard Beach - this water park has a ski resort theme and rides include the Summit Plummet freefall body slide, the Runoff Rapids and a chairlift.
• Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon - attractions in this water park include the Mayday Falls, Castaway Creek and the Crush ‘n’ Gusher water coaster.

The resort also includes two shopping and entertainment areas:

• Downtown Disney - this section of the resort contains a wide range of shops and restaurants, as well as being home to entertainment venues such as the House of Blues and Cirque du Soleil’s Orlando show.
• Disney’s BoardWalk -this waterside shopping and entertainment area is the perfect place for a stroll during the day or evening, and there are also a number of restaurants here.

Other attractions within the Walt Disney World Resort include Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex and a number of golf courses. There are also many hotels within the resort.

A number of airlines operate flights between the U.K. and Orlando. Once in Orlando, car hire is a must. Although many of the hotels provide free shuttle bus services to the parks, these can be extremely busy and usually travel by a relatively indirect route, so the journey can be frustrating after a long day in the parks.

Luckily, many car hire operators, including easyCar, provide cheap Orlando car hire deals, and you can book your hire car online before you fly and pick it up at the airport.

It’s also a good idea to buy your Disney theme park tickets in advance. You can often get good deals online and buy tickets which are valid for a set number of days and allow you to visit all of the parks as and when you choose. This means that you can visit more than one park in a day or choose to spend an extra day in a particular park if you don’t manage to see everything that you want to in one day.

In future posts in this series, we’ll be looking at each of the parks and shopping areas in more detail, providing you with information about some of the hotels within the Walt Disney World Resort, and providing you with some hints and tips to help you to make the most of your trip to Orlando.

Image: The GreatGlobetrotter