I’m still on a high from Epic October 2010 at Walt Disney World this past weekend but I wanted to share some pictures with you. This had to be one of the coolest things I did in my EPIC five day romp at “the World”.  Thanks to my dear friend Lynne Ronemous, I was able to access a secret room inside of the Mission Space attraction at Epcot…the HP Lounge!

Some of you may know that each attraction in Epcot has a sponsor. Mission Space is no exception and is sponsored by HP. HP has a lounge located on the 2nd floor of the Mission Space building that overlooks the indoor queue line on one side and the Advanced Training Lab on the other.  HP employees are invited to take advantage of the lounge Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm.  I asked our host how many guests passed through the lounge on any given day and was told that the average during the busy season is about 50.  I have also been told that the lounges inside of each attraction are utilized by the children that visit Walt Disney World via the “Make a Wish” Foundation so that they can take a rest throughout the day.

Let’s start the tour shall we?….

Recognize this area? This is what you see when you first enter the exterior area of the attraction after the cast member asks you if you want to ride on the Orange or Green side.

You enter the lounge on the first floor. The entry is decorated with construction photos and concept art along with a case of special merchandise for purchase.

There is also a special backdoor entrance onto the ride…oh la la! Too bad we were pressed for time and couldn’t take advantage of the VIP access! =\

We headed upstairs to check out the lounge. Here’s the view looking downstairs

This little guy used to be used in the attraction exhibit area. I was told by our host that they no longer had the remote for it so it was mainly there as a decoration…too bad…I wanted to see what it could do

The lounge is equipped with several comfy places to sit and chill for a while and get out of the sweltering Florida heat. We were offered an array of beverages including soda, iced tea, coffee and bottled water. (all free of charge)

This seating area overlooked the indoor queue area. I asked if the guests could see us through the windows and was told that they could but I couldn’t get anyone to look up where we were. I shoulda’ pulled out my moon walk. Also not shown in the picture was a LARGE touch screen computer we could have used to access the internet.

Our view looking down from the floor to cieling windows. Recognize it? See if you can spot anyone in the lounge on your next wait at Mission Space.

Here was another laptop at our disposal. There was also a printer that we could have used to print four photos from our digital cameras if the camera was equipped with WiFi!!!

Down the hall near the restroom exit was a large map of the globe where guests had printed out pictures of themselves and put a pin on the map to mark where they had come from.

Token bathroom shot…look ma’ NO LINE!

This was a cool game that you could play where you tilted the digital board to complete tasks. Sadly…we were pressed for time and could not give it a whirl. Next time….

That box sticking out is a private booth where you can make a digital postcard and email it home to loved ones…

Here’s a view looking down from the other side of the lounge at the ride exit and Advanced Training Lab. Next time you make a Postcard from Space you may have an audience! =) …I always feel like, somebodys watching me….and I have no privacy…woah oh oh

Another view from above at the Mission Space Race in the Advanced Training lab area…

After this amazing experience I will never look at Mission Space the same way again! See if you can spot anyone in the HP Lounge windows on your next trip to Epcot!

Tags: backdoor entrance, concept art, Epcot, HP, hp employees, HP Lounge, lounges, mission space, Mission Space HP Lounge, queue line, walt disney, Walt Disney World

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 5th, 2010 at 10:06 pm and is filed under Epcot. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.