First stop is Spaceship Earth, which is housed in this giant golf ball looked thing (OK, a "geosphere") that is the main image I have of Epcot. It starts out as a ride, giving you a tour of technological milestones through the ages. Then you're asked a few questions about how you like to vacation – marketing data, anyone? – and are presented with a personalized account of what your future will look like, complete with a photo of you (well, your head pasted onto an animated body). It's cute, informative, and fun.

Before being dumped into a gift shop, you get to visit "Project Tomorrow: Inventing the World of Tomorrow" which is so cool that it makes you wonder why Disney doesn't make better video games. There's a 3D surgery simulation that's so nifty I might have gone to medical school if I'd seen it when I was younger, and a digital shuffleboard game that aims to teach you about energy conservation – push the wind power icon onto a town that has high power needs, that sort of thing. It's sponsored by Siemens, an engineering company.

Then we hit Innoventions, a nice indoor exhibit. The first stop is the Test The Limits Lab, sponsored by Underwriters Laboratory, or UL. What's that, you ask, and why does it sound so familiar? Well, it's on every piece of electronic equipment you own. UL is a non-profit organization that tests whether or not various products are safe. So basically it's an entire exhibit showcasing product safety testing. It, too, is really cool. Really.

Then it's time to learn about recycling, in an exhibit sponsored by Waste Management, another "hey, I've heard of them" company, although this time it's a tad more obvious what it is they do. Your "team" moves an extremely heavy wheelbarrow through ultra high-tech interactive exhibits that show you what can be done with your trash. Again, informative and trés cool.

A short line later and its time for Fantastic Plastics, where you design and name a robot, then run a race – literally running on a pad, with your speed matched by your on-screen creation. Afterwards everyone gets a plastic robot to assemble.

We also spend time at "The Seas With Nemo and Friends", which is basically a mini aquarium, and see Turtle Talk With Crush. The surfer-accented Finding Nemo character is animated and yet responds to audience questions, which is a nifty bit of "imagineering."