Millennium Village Trip Report – A Kid’s Eye View

Feature Article

This article appeared in the October 21, 1999, Issue #6 of ALL EARS® (ISSN: 1533-0753)

The Millennium Village at Epcot is the centerpiece of the WDW Millennium Celebration. The village is a multi-faceted pavilion that celebrates the diverse cultures of the world. The theme of the village is "What is Your Gift to the World?". I visited 4 times during my stay (which is why it is taking me so long to write about it). There are lots of interactive activities for children, adults and families, as well as a theatre with live shows, an ethnic food court, and much more.

My report is still being written and should be ready, with photos, next week. However since I sometimes hear folks say Epcot is not for kids, I asked Disney fans Wendy and her son Greg, whom I met at the Millennium Village on October 1, if they would write a:

Millennium Village Trip Report – A Kid's Eye View by Greg Shear (with some help from mom)

My mom wanted me to see the new exhibit at Epcot so we waited on line. The colors of the building were very bright. We went into this big room and I tried the computers, but they were just information from some companies who ran them…The World Bank, History Channel, British Airways, and the United Nations. The lights went out and all the people from different countries said "Hello" in their language.

After that we went inside. We heard all these people cheering from the Brazil exhibit so we went there first. It was really cool! You get a stick that is green on one side and yellow on the other. You have to guide a boat down the Amazon River by showing the right color. Then there is a soccer game. They call it football. The jaguars play against the toucans (we were on the jaguars). You have to show the right color to make the goalie block the ball. It was a lot of fun but we lost anyway.

After that we went to Scotland and played miniature golf. It was okay but Brazil was more fun. Then we went to Saudi Arabia. I wanted to be the rope puller on the flying carpet storybook but they just picked adults. All the computers were taken at the Saudi Scrapbook so we waited on line at the tent for Spirit Oasis. Inside you see a film about the country. The cool part was trying to catch the Arab letters with the light beam. The words changed into English.

Then we went on this big dome type thing. We had to get the ball around the outside into a hole. It was hard to do with just 2 of us, so the guy running the thing jumped on and helped us.

After that we went to see Sweden. We walked up the stairs to these egg things. The snowman was really cool…cold! It was real snow! We came down the stairs and mom wanted to see a country I never heard of. It is called Eritrea. She had coffee there and she liked it a lot.

We ate at the food court. My mom had some strange stuff but I had a sandwich.

Then we got on line for Israel. This was the longest line. We stopped by a map and some guy was talking but I could not hear him. We went into the building and saw a movie about the city Jerusalem. The ghost guy was cool. I thought the movie was it but then we went into a theater. It was a motion simulator like Akhbar at Busch Gardens but the seats were better. You put on headphones and hold on. It was a good show. After that my mom made me get an autograph from one of the Israel people in Hebrew. She said it will help me study for my bar mitzvah.

Thent we went to a really cool place. It was the Village Green. This was a fun place because you get to do neat stuff with colored plastic balls. You pick up the balls and separate them by color. They go up these tubes and into 5 different places. The first place you have to make the green balls go through a furniture maze. The second place you have to turn a wheel to take the yellow ball through building supplies. Then you pedal a bicycle to get the red balls through a car. The best place was where you throw all the colored balls at targets and they go up into this windmill. The windmill turns when you shine a mirror on the blades. I really liked this Village Green!

We saw some more booths but they were selling things from Peru, Venezuela, Greece, Egypt, Thailand and Lebanon. My mom and I played the World Culture Game and we came in second place. The guy who won was reallysmart.

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Many thanks to Wendy and Greg for their report.

If you and your child would like to submit a report for possible inclusion on AllEarsNet® or in the WDWIG_EZine, please email it to Deb at [email protected]

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Editor's Note: This story/information was accurate when it was published. Please be sure to confirm all current rates, information and other details before planning your trip.