Wednesday I got up in a little more leisurely manner, which may not have been the best choice since I was headed to Epcot. I did head over to the Dolphin to pick up my packet and cool canvas bag (with books!)
Since I was in the loose collection of Epcot resorts, I was able to take a water taxi. (Yes, I probably also could have walked, but the water taxi was fun and shady.) First, Wednesday was hotter and the sun was strong. And despite having been to Epcot before (although in a previous millennium) I had forgotten it’s complete lack of shade. If you weren’t pressed against a tree or building, there wasn’t any. But, that’s fine, Epcot has lots of shady air conditioned rides and exhibits. Well, yes, but guess where all those people who got there early, or arrived with me went? This was exacerbated by the fact that most of the international side didn’t open up at nine with the park, it opened at eleven or later.
All this meant the line for Soarin was estimated at a seventy minute wait, and the fast passes were for three or later and I knew I was already wilting, I was not going to still be here at three. So, I went to check and see if Test Track was better. Test Track was at about an eighty minute wait but fortunately had a single rider line that was at ten minutes. So I did that. Despite being a mini commercial for GM, it was totally fun. You do have to sort of trust the ride a bit, because - while you are on a track - they simulate doing car tests such as braking so you do twist and turn and then there is the collision test.
I also found an (indoor) exhibit where they put you in a video game which was pretty fun. Yes, they film you running, jumping and victory dancing and put that in the video game.
Then I wandered through the countries and stopped at China for lunch. The placemat had Chinese characters with a short history and a place to fill them in. My waitress gave me crayon, which both pleased me and made me wonder what about me said give me a crayon. (I did use it to practice my characters, and my waitress complimented them.) I had a light lunch of cucumber salad and dumplings (yes, I consider that light) and then wandered through the rest of the “countries” before heading back to the hotel for an afternoon siesta.
Then I headed over to the Dolphin for the literacy signing. I cannot stress how amazing these things are if you like books or talking to authors. Over 500 authors (not a typo) were there signing and chatting with readers and all the money raised from the sales at the signing goes to support literacy projects. I made a quick circuit - for authors I have been lucky enough to meet I will often say high, but if they have a line I usually move on since a - I may see them again throughout the conference and b - others should have their first shot. So, I knew that the little flags for the Young Adult authors chapter (YARWA) were hidden with various YARWAers who were signing. Tera Lynn Childs had a big line, but I did find the lovely Melissa Francis and she had flags! Yay! We had a nice chat before I went to say hi to the also lovely Rachael Herron. While chatting, Robin Kaye’s mom stopped by since Rachael’s book has knitting in the title (and the book) and mentioned that her daughter was a big knitter, weaver and spinner. I later stopped to say hi to Ms. Kaye and told her that we had met her mom and that her mom had not said anything embarrassing (Robin and I met at the WRW conference since we are both members of the Washington chapter). Then I stopped by to see the lovely fellow Cherry Corrina Lawson (who I met way back at Cherry Con) and she was signing her awesome book (now finished, very good alternative timeline historical romance).
After the signing Corrina and I hung out in her room and with her lovely roommates before heading to bed.
Rants About New (and old) Things
