PHOTO REPORT: Epcot 8/30/19 (Food & Wine Begins, Construction Updates, and a Touching Tribute to Buzzy!)

Iain

PHOTO REPORT: Epcot 8/30/19 (Food & Wine Begins, Construction Updates, and a Touching Tribute to Buzzy!)

It’s finally that special time of year at Epcot: that’s right, it’s the Food and Wine Festival! Let’s see what they have in store for us.

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Food and Wine

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If you’re an Annual Passholder, make sure you go and grab your AP magnet! It’s Minnie Mouse until the 15th of October, when they switch it over to Remy!

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There are a couple of locations you can grab your magnet. This one is next to The Electric Umbrella, and they also have a location in Port of Entry near World Showcase.

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The festival this year is sans Festival Center until the new one is built, so some of the old Food and Wine standbys have been scattered to the four winds. The Ghiradelli (free chocolate samples!) booth has been relocated to The Land.

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It’s on the top floor, where you used to enter for Circle of Life: An Environmental Fable.

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The wall carpet is in good shape!

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The Candy Sushi activity has returned this year as well, on the lower level.

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The Western Future World pathway has reopened, and it’s wonderful!

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The path is substantially wider now, which helps with the festival crowds (which arrive later in the day).

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New this year is The Apple Orchard, which takes the place of the former O’ Canada theater in the Canada pavilion while they prepare for the new film.

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It’s surprisingly nice inside, with cozy decorations. Not only that, but the whole place smells like apples! Click here to see our thoughts on all the food options.

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There’s a Maple Syrup company which has set up shop in here as well. They sell bourbon or brandy barrel-aged maple syrup!

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Until the Food and Wine booths open later in the morning, it’s pretty slow. I can’t remember the last time I saw The Seas this empty at the start of the day.

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Construction

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The pathway may be open, but the new restrooms near the Refreshment Port are still under construction.

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They will be much appreciated, as the old restrooms next door were just way too small.

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Just hold it.

Although they’ve already closed them, leaving no restrooms from The United Kingdom to Imagination.

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This pathway in Future World East will be closed for a while as they widen it. The restrooms over here are still open, thank goodness.

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They did finally start tearing out the old path. If you remember during Flower and Garden, this was where the Purple Martin nests were.

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Behind Mouse Gear they have equipment staged for more pathway demolition.

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Speaking of demolition, all of Innoventions West is due to be knocked down in the coming months. They’ve already cleared a ton of trees near The Seas.

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A good portion of this area will probably be taken by the new “Journey of Water” maze they announced at D23 Expo.

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Progress on Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is plodding along.

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They appear to be installing some sort of new wall along the back.

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They’re also placing new insulation of some sort across the entire roof to protect the concrete underneath. New solar panels should eventually be installed on those posts.

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The Odyssey is getting a new paint job! You can read all about it here.

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They’ve removed most of the concrete from the Eastern half of the entrance plaza. New planters will be installed in this area as part of the redesign.

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The fountain will remain, though with a new look.

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They’re finally kicking the International Gateway construction into high gear. The structures went vertical just the other day.

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These look to be a new security checkpoint as well as new turnstiles, probably in a similar style to the old ones, albeit with more space.

Et Cetera

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Look who was meeting at International Gateway today! Ariel! With legs!

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I also ran into Pocahontas at the same time. She said she wandered into Epcot because she and Meeko were chasing some deer.

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I’ll leave you with one last discovery I made today…

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Someone left a touching memorial for Buzzy at the former Wonders of Life pavilion. May his spirit live on forever.

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That’s it for today! We still have 85 days more of the 2019 Food and Wine Festival, with many more things left to taste. Stick with us!