Framing Spaceship Earth

One of my favorite things to do at Epcot, as my wife will attest, is to take pictures of Spaceship Earth. It truly is a guilty pleasure of mine. I love to try and frame the great icon with trees when possible as I just love the contrast of nature with the futuristic structure. This particular shot is taken on the walkway in World Showcase between Mexico and the bridge to Future World. I also enjoy trying to capture the monorail passing in front of Spaceship Earth, but this particular shot, as you can see, is missing the monorail.

Lights, Camera, Action...Almost

Thanks to the knowledgeable insight of Mr. Lou Mongello's WDW Radio Show I was interested to learn that the area located between The Land and the Imagination pavilion in Future World was once considered for a pavilion about movies. Of course, this pavilion never came into being and the idea was rolled into the genesis of the Disney-MGM Studios, now Disney's Hollywood Studios. It's interesting to note that the space considered is just a beautifully landscaped greenspace. The picture above was taken during the 2007 Flower & Garden Festival.

Shady Foliage

One of the many things I love about Spaceship Earth is the entrance to the attraction. Even on hot sunny days, it's cool and breezy underneath the geodesic sphere. It's a wonderful place to relax and just take in the sights and the people watching. I love the landscaping around the entrance as it truly is amazing that such large amounts of greenery thrive in the shady, breezy area. The plant life is unique to the area and a joy to photograph and just admire.

China Detail

Like all of the other pavilions in World Showcase, the China pavilion is richly themed and completely immersive. One of my favorite aspects of this immersion is the China background music. I have always loved this and love hearing the music played on sites like MouseWorld Radio. I took this picture back in October and this is from the vantage point of the back of the pavilion. Looking up at the buildings and all around (combined with the Florida humidity) one gets a great feeling of being away from their normal environs and whisked away to China. One other recommendation: try the newly renovated Nine Dragons. We have always loved the food (contrary to some people's feelings) and the renovation and new menu really made the restaurant truly exceptional.

Spaceship Earth Foliage

In an eariler post about Spaceship Earth and our trip in early October I had mentioned the change in trees near the icon. I took this picture to show just what that change entailed. As you can see on the left there are some new palm trees that still have bracing around them. In the past there were tall skinny palms in this spot that I thought complemented SSE beautifully. I'm not sure if these are even the same species of tree or not. If anyone has any information regarding this subject I'd greatly appreciate it. As my favorite area and attraction in all of WDW, even landscaping is a huge deal for me.