Greetings, World Travelers! It was an overcast day, with blustery rain showers throughout, but that didn’t keep us from taking in the sights around EPCOT, and finding all the new fun things here to show you. Let’s get started!
We checked on the couple of construction projects that we’ve been tracking first thing today, and found that La Creperie de Paris in the France Pavilion expansion is in the process of having awnings installed. We love the blue of the awning fabric against the white of the building, it makes for a very crisp look.
Over at Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, there were construction workers present on the roof for the first time in several weeks. Though no solar panels were installed today, we have renewed hope that we’ll see them soon.
Though not running yet, the Friendship Boats providing service from the resorts to EPCOT have been testing and are present at the dock at International Gateway. A Cast Member told us that they don’t have a timeline for when they will be available to guests.
We noticed a few changes at the Festival Markets around World Showcase. This booth, located in the Canada Pavilion, now contains pins instead of the Figment line of International Food & Wine Festival merchandise.
This Festival Market booth in between the Germany Pavilion and the Refreshment Outpost, which was selling third party garden items available from the International Flower & Garden Festival 2020, is now selling Germany Pavilion merchandise at full price.
We found another change in routine at Block & Hans in American Adventure, which is usually only open Friday through Sunday. We found it open today, and have been finding it open on seemingly random days recently.
Generally this early in the week, entrance to the Mexico Pavilion is not being managed beyond a Cast Member keeping count at the door inside. Today we found not only the queue set up, but quite full for a weekday. The wait to enter the Pavilion was only a few minutes, but it was surprising to see any wait at all.
Another favorite snack has made a triumphant return to Karamell Kuche—the Caramel Apple Oatmeal Cookie with Pecan. Fans of this particular cookie will notice that the iconic caramel drizzle topping is sadly missing the cookie now, but we’re just happy it’s back.
A fountain drink cup caught our eye today for a special reason—it seems that unused Halloween cups from Disneyland have made their way here to Walt Disney World. Sadly it sounds like it will still be a long time before Disneyland can reopen. We hope terms can be reached soon!
We found some fun new merchandise today, starting with this Baby Groot shoulder pet who has been given a holiday makeover. We love his little Christmas lights!
We got a closer look at these redesigned Mickey and Minnie spatulas today, which match the aprons which were redesigned for the character apron collection that came out over the summer. These spatulas come in a set, and are available at Mouse Gear for $19.99.
Inside the Annual Passholder Pop-Up Shop in the Germany Pavilion, we found a new Christmas Passholder shirt that matched one of the magnets we found. There was a very limited supply of these shirts and they sold out almost immediately, but a Cast Member told us they should be restocked soon. This shirt retails for $29.99.
We also found this Rose & Crown beer mat, which qualifies for the 50% Off World Showcase Merchandise promotion.
It seems that new pins are flooding into the parks these days, and we found several more today. We found this Elsa from Frozen II Open Edition pin at Mouse Gear for $12.99.
We also found this Olaf from Frozen II Open Edition pin at Mouse Gear for $9.99.
We found this Star Wars The Mandalorian Open Edition pin set also at Mouse Gear for $27.99.
Even with Halloween still two weeks away, thoughts of Christmas are creeping in. These four new Christmas pins were found at Test Track Simposium today, and all retail for $9.99 each. Just look at that gingerbread Millennium Falcon!
On our way out of the park, we took a moment to watch the manatees play, rolling themselves over in the water. We love getting to see these wonderful animals at The Seas Pavilion! We had a wonderful day at EPCOT today, and we hope you enjoyed coming along with us. Have a magical day!