Walt Disney World Epcot Discussion Thread

[Nrthwnd]

Random Blue Sky Request:

 

Please bring Alice in Wonderland (the original DL attraction) eventually to the UK Pavilion, Disney.

And NOT in the form of a hedge maze, etc. A triple threat (3 level) dark ride with a GI-normous hedge

in back of the current pavilion set-up, covering a huge show building. And it could be on a single rail,

for a retro change, instead of new trackless vehicle, etc.

And still, it would be awesome!

[p-sychiatrist]

As much as I love that ride I feel like it would be kinda uncreative and backwards to clone a classic Fantasyland ride in Epcot of all places. I like the idea of a trackless Alice In Wonderland ride in the pavillion though. Come to think of it, does WDW have any trackless rides yet?

Also if Guardians has onboard audio ala Rip Ride Rockit and ELO is an option the ride will be perfect!!!

[cookiex]

Come to think of it, does WDW have any trackless rides yet?

Ratatouille is going to be trackless since it's based on the Paris version.

[trainplane3]

As much as I love that ride I feel like it would be kinda uncreative and backwards to clone a classic Fantasyland ride in Epcot of all places. I like the idea of a trackless Alice In Wonderland ride in the pavillion though. Come to think of it, does WDW have any trackless rides yet?

Also if Guardians has onboard audio ala Rip Ride Rockit and ELO is an option the ride will be perfect!!!

UK ride is rumored as Mary Poppins currently but it's in flux like Coco to the Mexico pavilion. From the sounds of it, it would be equal to a C ticket. So basically, Alice in DL.

[bert425]

Watched your live stream this morning from Flower and Garden. . and oh my, those Chicken Dumplings from China looked so amazing that I ended up blowing my diet and ordering potstickers from the local Asian restaurant for lunch!

 

I'm sure they weren't near as good as the one's y'all got.. . but cheating on my "Salad only" day because the Dumplings at EPCOT looked so good?

 

 

TOTALLY worth it

 

 

 

 

(and so sorry about the A-holes making idiotic comments.. I was literally dumbfounded by some of the comments, and was actively looking for a way to reply to one of them (the only option visible on my side was "like". . .and I didn't want to do that, or repeat what he said in order to call him out). . . but then you responded perfectly. I really do not know what is wrong with some people

[Zero One]

GotG construction. It's going to be hard to hide that building.

[Nrthwnd]

^ Well, besides this show building and the one for Ratatouille, I'm sure Disney has figured out "something".

Could be fake skies, a massive mural or maybe ....smoke & mirrors?

[A.J.]

Took a spin around Epcot today.

 

Despite the summer weekend crowds, I was able to experience every "rideable" attraction once, and have an enjoyable lunch, in less than seven hours. Two planned FastPasses (Soarin' Around the World and Spaceship Earth), one spontaneous FastPass (Journey Into Imagination), one single rider line (Test Track), one run at rope drop (Frozen Ever After), and the rest standby (Mission Space Green, The Seas, Living with the Land, Gran Fiesta Tour).

 

I feel like it would be tough for a family to do everything they wanted, including extended shows like the American Adventure, in one day, even if they went at rope drop. I feel like it's going to be even tougher once that Guardians of the Galaxy attraction opens in a few years.

[Nrthwnd]

^ It seems to me, that the larger and larger each WDW park becomes with attractions, "one-day-per-park" is crazy.

Even going solo that way feels nuts to me. My take on it, is definitely two days per park, with an extra day's visit

to a fave one of the four. Or two.

[A.J.]

^ It seems to me, that the larger and larger each WDW park becomes with attractions, "one-day-per-park" is crazy.

Even going solo that way feels nuts to me. My take on it, is definitely two days per park, with an extra day's visit

to a fave one of the four. Or two.

Fair argument, but most working people only take a vacation for a single week, meaning five days (MAYBE six or seven) for parks. It's something I'm dealing with in regard to my own trip planning for next year.

 

This isn't only Disney's problem - because destination theme parks are so huge and expensive now, it's less about -wanting- to stay an extra day to get more out of the park, and more about being forced to stay an extra day so you don't miss anything, because you might not get another chance to go later in your life.

[AdventuresinAirtime]

^ It seems to me, that the larger and larger each WDW park becomes with attractions, "one-day-per-park" is crazy.

Even going solo that way feels nuts to me. My take on it, is definitely two days per park, with an extra day's visit

to a fave one of the four. Or two.

 

Tbh, I visit from the UK with huge gaps between visits usually. We go for 2 weeks, we usually spend 1 day in each park:

 

Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, Blizzard Beach, Islands of Adventure, Universal Studios, Sea World, Busch Gardens. Then a second day in Magic Kingdom near the end. That's 10 full days of parks. Then sometimes we'll go to Aquatica as well, and sometimes a second day in Busch Gardens - you quickly eat up a 14 day holiday, and that's more than the average person will want to do on their holiday.

 

If you spend 2 days per park it would take 18 - 20 days to do them all! Plus there's more to do locally in Orlando/Florida than just the full theme park stuff.

 

Not sure what i'm going to do if they add more parks or if it becomes impossible to do *most* of a park in one day.

[Hilltopper39]

Fair argument, but most working people only take a vacation for a single week, meaning five days (MAYBE six or seven) for parks. It's something I'm dealing with in regard to my own trip planning for next year.

 

This isn't only Disney's problem - because destination theme parks are so huge and expensive now, it's less about -wanting- to stay an extra day to get more out of the park, and more about being forced to stay an extra day so you don't miss anything, because you might not get another chance to go later in your life.

 

That and with Disney (and Universal to some extent) you really get more bang for your buck the longer you stay. The difference between a 4 day park hopper and a 7 day park hopper is like $45 or something, so $45 for 3 more days. My family and I never take full week long vacations, and for Disney park we're close enough that we just do a day here and there, but as they continue to grow and get more expensive we may just have to hold off and do a full 5-6 days on property eventually.

 

Also to the comments about 1 day not being enough, I'm not entirely sure that's true yet for anywhere except Magic Kingdom. A few weeks ago I went to Epcot on a a busy summer Saturday with my 5 y/o, and in like 4.5 hours we did Frozen, met Ana & Elsa, Test Track, Spaceship Earth, Soarin, Nemo, took a lap around the Showcase, watched the Circle vision movie in China and had lunch in Morocco. She backed out of Mission Space at the pre-show or else we would have gotten on that, and we had a fastpass for a 2nd lap on Test Track but it went down for weather so we left around 1. I mean if we had stayed for 8 more hours we til close we could have easily done all of the rides and and probably most of the shows. Yeah you might not be able to see every single show/exhibit/character but at Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Studios a full 10+ hours day (to me) is enough time to do just about everything.

[trainplane3]

Small update on the Guardians coaster, it looks like the track from Vekoma is inbound based off of these publicly available documents:

https://panjiva.com/Walt-Disney-Imagineering/10302364

The installation permit (click "I Acknowledge" to view the permit):

http://or.occompt.com/recorder/eagleweb/downloads/20180406836.pdf?parent=DOC2421S6651

Adena is the company that "installed" Slinky and Saucers at DHS.

 

We should see the coaster itself go vertical soon.

[robbalvey]

Our favorite time of the year at Epcot... Food & Wine Festival... is BACK August 30th - November 2nd and we can't wait! In fact, Walt Disney World knew we couldn't wait so they invited us out for a preview of some of the new offerings coming to the event this year! Check out some of the photos (especially the food... OMG! THE. FOOD!!!) and videos from this fun sneak peek event!

 

[fbvideonew]

[/fbvideonew]

 

Good morning from Walt Disney World Epcot! We are here for a preview of this year’s Food & Wine Festival! How many of you are fans of this event?

 

We arrived at the event venue and were immediately given drinks...

 

And food!

 

And dessert!!! This is going to be a great event!

 

Here is a sample of theee beers you can get at the “Light Lab” from local Florida brewers!

 

Here's the list of the drinks from Light Lab. Great to see the park featuring local breweries!

 

Next up trying something new from "Flavors of Fire!"

 

I love at these events watching them prepare the dishes right in front of you!

 

This is the Chimichurri Skirt Steak and it has a LOT of flavor! Delicious!!!

 

Dessert anyone? This is the Chocolate Picante, Bourbon Cheesecake, Pancake Milkshake, and Baileys! Yum!

 

Here comes lots of food pictures! Get hungry!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The above 8 items are all "new" this year! I suggest trying them all!

 

New Epcot Food & Wine Minnie Ears! What do you think? Do you love them?

 

Here's a look at some of the new merchandise for this year's event.

 

I always love the trash can salt & pepper shakers!

 

Nice to see Chef Mickey make a return to some of the merchandise! (Don't worry there is still plenty of Remy and Figment merch, too!)

 

Speaking of Remy... look who showed up to the preview event!

 

2018's Epcot Food & Wine Festival starts August 30th and we cannot say enough how much we love and recommend this event!

 

On a side note, we also spent some time at Epcot hanging out the following day...

 

Good morning AGAIN from Epcot! Kristen started school today so it’s time to start our “drop the child off at school and run to Epcot for lunch” visits! Our favorite time of year!

 

Our first food stop today will be in China...

 

...for some Potstickers! (Bet you didn't see that one coming!)

 

Thoughts on the iridescent Minnie ears? Love? Hate? Tell us!

 

Our next stop on our “dropped the kid off at school and came to Epcot for lunch” tour is Italy!

 

Some of our all-time favorite restaurants at #WaltDisneyWorld are in Italy ...

 

Tutto Italia - for some fantastic sit-down Italian Food!

 

Tutto Gusto - aka the "Wine Bar" where you can get some amazing drinks, cheeses, and small plate entrees.

 

And of course Via Napoli - One of my top favorite restaurants at Walt Disney World and one of my all-time favorite pizzas!

 

Today's choice in Italy is Tutto Gusto! It’s the “wine bar” in between Via Napoli and Tutto Italia!

 

The cheese in here is amazing! As are the pasta dishes! And the atmosphere is some of our favorite! Relaxing and cool! We love it!

 

Burrata Ravioli and Meatballs Parmesan! So much love on these two plates!

 

The skyline of Epcot is changing with Guardians of the Galaxy! I love this change and can’t wait for this new attraction to open!

 

If you're looking for dessert, the ice cream shop or the bakery in France is the place to be!

 

For those of you wondering... yes there is still plenty of the “retro” #Epcot merchandise still available!

 

Food & Wine booths are all up around World Showcase! The festival starts August 30th! We can’t wait!

 

Time to go pick up the child from school thus ending our “parents escape” visit to Epcot! Was a great afternoon! We will be back very soon!

 

Be sure to comment below!

[bert425]

was following along on Twitter too, and love to see all the pics on one place, so very happy to see this report pop up today!

 

that Caribbean Jerk Chicken Lolipop looks absolutely incredible, and makes me want to book a trip to Orlando just for Food & Wine this year.

 

great pics, and looks like y'all had a gorgeous day to enjoy everything as well.

[Satans Hockey]

Everything looks so fantastic, those frozen drinks look absolutely awesome. I wish I could sneak in a trip down for this but got too many trips planned at the moment.

[Nrthwnd]

 

All - that - food.

 

Great report of your tasting visit, Robb. Yum!

[cfc]

I'm so looking forward to visiting next month. Well, each year, really!

[robbalvey]

Epcot's Food & Wine Festival is an event that needs no introduction. It's been running for years now and it is not only a fan-favorite event at Epcot but also a park staple through the late summer and fall months. This years event runs August 30 - November 12, 2018, and oh look what today's date is? That's right, it's OPENING DAY of Food & Wine and of course we wouldn't miss it! This is our favorite fall theme park event and quite possibly maybe hands down our favorite theme park event of all-time. It's THAT good!

 

Let's share a few photos with you all...

 

Yay! This is pretty much the event at Epcot we wait all year for. As much as we really DO like Flower & Garden and even the new Art Festival was AMAZING, when Food & Wine is going on at Epcot, everything just seems right in the world.

 

We've got our passport in hand...

 

We are here right at the opening of the event...

 

And we're ready to try some old favorites and new items!

 

Elissa's first stop was in China. I'm sure none of you are shocked by that!

 

The "Potstickers" that have been around Food & Wine as long as we can remember have a new name and a slightly different presentation this year....

 

But Elissa is happy to report that they are the same delicious potstickers, now known as dumplings, as previous years but with a little bit of extra on top!

 

For me, I have started the last several Food & Wine events with a Pork Slider from Hawaii. Why break tradition?

 

The Hops & Barley menu has a few new items on it this year...

 

Dallas is trying out the Brunswick Slider.

 

This was absoultely amazing! And yes, those are jalapeños and they were wonderful!

 

Lobster Roll, anyone?

 

Remi's scavenger hunt is back again this year and it's great for kids to do while the adults...um.... DRINK!

 

Find all the locations where Remi is hiding around the park!

 

Here's a quick look at several of the menus from Food & Wine!

(I told you it would be quick!)

 

Just a little bit of the merchandise this year...

 

One of the T-Shirts...

 

And of course there is a Magic Band!

 

Morocco is another of our personal favorites...

 

The "Hummus Fries" showed up at Food & Wine a few years ago now and we are happy they have stayed! Another one of our "must have" foods of the event!

 

ProTip! You can also get them year round at Spice Road Table in Epcot!

 

The "Light Lab" is like Bill Nye meets culinary and alcohol experts! Some interesting stuff happens in here...

 

These beakers are really cool!

 

I guess there is a science behind Boba Pearls!

 

Only way to make Disney food even better? Make cute plushies out of it!

 

Africa has another item on our "must have" list year after year...

 

The Beef Tenderloin Tips is another returning favorite! Full of flavor and a bit of spice!

 

We did make sure to stop into the Festival Center to get our "Passholder Magnet!" It has Chef Mickey this year!

 

While the event is called "Food & Wine" we seem to more often pair it as "Food & Beer!" (And yes that is another Pork Slider!)

 

Mmm.... Wild Mushroom Filet Mignon from Canada!

 

There there was quite a lot of "food" to be had today!

 

And maybe even a bit of trying on some new clothes (Minnie Ears count as clothes, right???)

 

One of Sarah's favorites in the Cheese Bread in Brazil!

 

Japan had a new "Chicken Bun" this year, and we recommend because... JAPAN!

 

And that wraps up our first day at Food & Wine! Don't worry... we'll have many, many, MANY more days back at this event and lots of pictures to post!

 

Be sure to also follow along on our Twitter and Instagram/InstaStory as that is where we do a lot of our live updates from Orlando parks!

 

Thanks for reading everyone! (Now post your comments!)

Calico System.nltrack

[bert425]

that Remy shirt is adorable. . but the shoulder ruffles mark it as a ladies shirt only . . do they have it in Men's too?

 

as usual, the food all looks delicious!

 

and it looks like a beautiful day (tho I do see the raindrops and umbrellas in the background of some pics. . but it IS Florida), so y'all appear to have had a great time.

 

thanks for the pics.

[Dombot]

Can't wait to head over to the park this weekend. Best time of the year to visit. Dumplings, here I come!

[Philrad71]

Those hummus fries look incredible...but then again, so does all of the other food.

 

Thanks for sharing, Robb!

 

I find this time of year to be bittersweet as the area that I live in is winding down the summer and theme park season (f%ck winter - lol). But at the same time, all of the new ride announcements are coming out for 2019...and Food & Wine reports are here!

Edited September 1, 2018 by Philrad71

[cfc]

I'm going there with a group of Virginia friends later this month, and they're most intrigued by the Belgium booth--must be the waffles!

[JordyC]

Great report! Thanks for sharing.

 

I'm going there with a group of Virginia friends later this month, and they're most intrigued by the Belgium booth--must be the waffles!

 

Who wouldn't be?

 

I am curious to know if they are just as good as the original ones we have over here. Guess I'll have to find out myself in a few years time.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Everything looks so good, just like it does every year!