Pick the Orange Team

Mashed or Baked?

Black pair or Brown pair?

Coke or Pepsi? I drink neither, but pressed to pick one, my favorite is whichever brand produces the best SuperBowl commercial.

Most choices we make are actually personal preferences. Choosing one over the other is not a life-changing experience.

Exception: Green Team or Orange Team?

This choice requires more thought.

To ride Disney World’s Mission: Space at Epcot Center you must choose the Green or Orange Team. The popular attraction is a centrifugal motion simulator thrill ride. It simulates what an astronaut might experience aboard a spacecraft on a mission to Mars, from the higher g-force of liftoff to the speculative hypersleep.

I’d all but given up rides that go around and around, upside down, back and forth or propelled up and dropped down. Tower of Terror anyone?

I considered the choice to be a little brave and step out of my comfort zone in an effort to face my fear of throwing up in public.

You’re given several opportunities to choose from two levels of intensity while waiting your turn at Mission: Space. The Orange Team is the more intense experience, while the Green Team enjoys the same visual attraction but with less intensity. Of course “intense” is relative to your ability to handle motion sickness and scream “Mommy!” at the same time.

The Green Team experience is a motion simulator ride that does not spin. According to the warning signs, it’s less likely to cause motion sickness. Less likely.

The Orange Team experience uses a centrifuge (spins around and around). It further tilts (upside down, back and forth) to simulate speed and tremendous G-forces during launch and re-entry. I recalled the condition of my daughter’s doll after a spin in the washing machine. Never found the leg.

The wimps who opt-out are moved directly through to the gift shop, naturally.

I’m no wimp but I’m not adventurous either.  I over-interpreted every warning notice: More likely to blurt obscenities. Dizzy as a top. Black out. Become permanently disoriented. Crap in your pants.

I swore allegiance to the Green Team.

Until I got to the entrance.

The young attendant’s smug face, trained no doubt to analyze fear, certain I’d follow the older crowd. To his surprise, and mine, I picked the Orange Team.

I rode it out and exited a bit shaky but with all my limbs intact.

BE F-G AWESOME TODAY!

Awesome ADVENTURE

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