Race Around World Showcase

We are creatures of habit – we really like routine.  OK, I really like routine – others tolerate me.  Every Saturday morning we are available we go out to breakfast. The group size can vary but the majority of the time it is Walter, Kate, Calvin, Nora and I.  After breakfast, Walter heads to the dog track while the other four of us typically go to Epcot for a walk.  These walks have gotten longer and recently we’ve been going 2 1/4 or more hours non-stop (7+ miles easily).  It is good exercise and there are always things (or people) to see and talk about.

One Saturday in April we accidentally discovered that there was a special event ongoing.  It was the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival “Disney PIXAR Cars 2 Race Around World Showcase”.

Great – a small change (I can handle a small change to my normal routine).  Not to worry though this was designed for kids so even I could handle it.  Unfortunately it did make us stop many more times on our walk (well, the first lap anyway).  But the first lap went fast…Kate is competitive so we raced ahead of Nora and Calvin to do this race.

We had to gather six stamps from various locations.  The first stamp was given at the starting checkpoint – bummer I got 6th place for “Carla Veloso” who represents Brazil.

We then “started” the race counter-clockwise and hit the UK pavilion next. There were no clues as to where to get your stamp.  As I recall I figured out that the check-points were at the “Kidcot” stations.  Advantage Nick?  Nope, Kate and I were sharing info so we lined up together.  The Kidcot stations are for well, kids… So Kate and I probably looked pretty funny running up to each one to get our stamps! 🙂

Here is the map they gave us to use and there was no indication that we were looking for the Kidcot stations….

In order as we raced I received:

2nd place at UK for “Nigel Gearsley” (cute reference to Nigel Mansel, a real F1 champion).

5th place at France for “Raoul CaRoule” (why didn’t France finish last?).

4th place at Japan for “Shu Todoroki” (maybe Shu is in respect of Michael Schumacher – F1 champ extraordinaire?).

1st place in USA for “Lightning McQueen” (you saw that coming didn’t you…and McQueen for Steve McQueen – a true American gearhead!!!!)

3rd place in Italy for “Francesco Bernoulii” (ok, that name has no meaning except maybe the Bernoulii principle – if you are not an engineer, try Wikipedia to learn about the Bernoulii principle).

OK, if you don’t know where Italy is at World Showcase look at the check-point map above.  We had to race all the way back to the beginning now…

A dead heat, virtual tie, no winner can be called between Kate and Nick.  But we both got buttons for “winning”!

Was this goofy? Yes!  Did Kate and I grin while doing the race? Yes!  Don’t just dismiss things out of hand – you might have fun “playing at racing” even if you are not a kid…

nick