Orlando 2002: Disney's Epcot & Animal Kingdom

Even as the day started, the cloud cover was rolling in. Confident we had survived the last two days by outlasting the rain and working around the lightening, we were sure this day would be the same. Unfortunately, the rain got the best of us and though we made it to both parks, we only got a small glimpse of Animal Kingdom as the rain truly washed us out."

Though it appears we are about to enter the park, we are delayed when Brannon and Greg have to run all the way back to the car to get some forgotten items. The good news was this allowed them to move the car closer to the front which would prove important later in the day as we race for the car in the rain.	Space Ship Earth, the "golf ball", welcomes guests as they enter Epcot. Like most first-time visitors, Bodie and Shelby can't wait to go inside the "golf ball".
Inside Space Ship Earth, you are carried through the inside and taught how man's communication has evolved over hundreds of years. Here, the adults get tired of the kids and let them have their own car to take them through the adventure.	The Wonders of Life pavillion lets you experience a lot of things about the body and how it works. Here, Bodie has to keep the pedals moving in order to see the TV. Also located in Wonders of Life is rode Body Wars which is a simulation ride where we were injected into a human body and rode through all the blood vessels to attack a splinter and rescue a researcher.
Although you can't see it here as it blends into the cloud cover, behind the kids is a huge water fountain which shoots out streams of water choreographed to music every 15 minutes. As they stand in front of the fountain, the rain begins as does the wettest day we've ever experienced in Florida.	A lot of the rides we wanted to do, like Test Track, closed down at Epcot . We decided to take a bus ride to Animal Kingdom and see if the storm would pass over us. Unfortunately, it just followed us. In the background is the Tree of Life which has over 400 different animals carved into it. Because it started to rain so hard and for so long, our video and pictures opportunities dwindled as it was more important to stay dry.
"It's Tough to be a Bug" was a dry activity since it is located underneath the Tree of Life. It seems everyone else had the same plan though as the line was over 45 minutes long. Here, the villian of the presentation appears.	All audience members wear 3-D glasses to experience the full effect of "It's Tough to be a Bug". Some of the other effects include a stink bug actually letting out a stink and a bee stings you're sure actually stings you in the back--Ouch!
	Shortly before this shot, we took the safari adventure ride to see all the animals. However, because of the hard rain, many of the animals were hiding. We soon began to realize that the storm was not going to pass. Our 10 hour day soon was cut short to 5 hours and we just decided to go back to the condo and rest! On the way home, we were surprised at how flooded all the streets were. Everywhere we drove, it was like driving on a lake.

Although our day was rained on, we knew that we had a great time over the past few days. We also enjoyed time off back at the time share. We hoped that tomorrow would be dry. Being our last day, we wanted to have a lot of fun. Our wishes came true as Islands of Adventure was the best day yet!