Hello, World Travelers! We had another beautiful day weather-wise here in Florida, and were ready to find out what was new at EPCOT. Let’s get started!
The “Bubblegum Wall” has some competition now with this new addition to the World Discovery restrooms near Mouse Gear. Stripes of a gradient orange-red color make up this fun wall in between the men’s and women’s restrooms. A new “Restrooms” sign was also added at the top of the opening to match the theming of the other signage installed at the reopening of this location.
Construction is moving along at Future World East, with large portions of the building being removed. Almost all of the walls are gone now, making it possible to stand near the exit of Spaceship Earth and see through most of the building.
In the France Pavilion expansion, work continues on the hand painted murals. Today, painters had what appeared to be a reference image taped up to work from and smaller pieces of art nearby.
Also in the France Pavilion expansion, a new, newspaper stand-themed merchandise kiosk has appeared just around the corner from the entrance to Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. We’re excited to see how this comes together!
At The Land Pavilion, Thanksgiving crowds made themselves known in the form of the longest line we found in the park today. The line looped through the normal stroller parking area, crossed the bridge, and switch backed through the area beyond.
We found a stray piece of new merchandise today, a latecomer to the new beanie line that we found recently. This one, featuring the “Monsters University” logo, was found at Imageworks, and retails for $24.99
Speaking of latecomers, we found this mug featuring the new logo in the Canada Pavilion. Though it’s made to look like a classic enamel covered metal cup, it’s actually ceramic, perfect for holding your choice of hot beverage. It retails for $14.99.
Some new decorations popped up in the United Kingdom Pavilion in the gazebo, including this lovely Christmas tree. We’re loving the new festive look! While normally a performance space, this area is now just a nicely decorated area.
Over in the Morocco Pavilion, we saw the stage there uncovered for the first time since the park reopened. We hope this means that entertainment will be coming to the this stage once again!
While we were in the United Kingdom Pavilion, we noticed crowd barriers had been added along the street most likely to aid in keeping foot traffic out of the way of the Cavalcades as the went by. We didn’t see crowd barriers in any other locations.
Another change due to the holiday week was the extended hours of the Lotus Blossom Cafe. Usually only open on weekends, the Lotus Blossom Cafe will be open every day this week to accommodate the holiday crowds.
We found a new menu item added to a quick service food location. Sommerfest is now serving Bratwurst, as it did before the parks’ closure over the summer. During the Food & Wine Festival, guests were being directed to the Festival booth for Bratwurst, but now that the Festival has ended, guests can now get a full size Bratwurst from this quick service location.
As we walked the park we noticed several of the International Food & Wine Festival booths had already been removed. Flavors From Fire, close to Mouse Gear, had been removed.
The Alps booth had also been removed, in between the China Pavilion and the Refreshment Outpost.
The Africa booth had been removed, which was located in between the Refreshment Outpost and the Germany Pavilion.
Spain was the last booth that we saw that had been removed. The rest of the festival booths were starting to transition into International Festival of the Holiday booths, with a few exceptions. The Waffles booth has not been changed yet, as well as the Donut Box.
The Hawaii booth from the Food & Wine Festival will become the Mele Kalikimaka Holiday Kitchen.
Citrus Blossom from the Food & Wine Festival is staying with the same name for Festival of the Holidays.
Shimmering Sips from the Food & Wine Festival is becoming Holiday Sweets & Treats for the Festival of the Holidays.
The Mexico booth from the Food & Wine Festival is becoming the Las Posadas Holiday Kitchen for the Festival of the Holidays.
The China booth from the Food & Wine Festival is becoming the Shanghai Holiday Kitchen for the Festival of the Holidays.
All of the Festival Market booths around World Showcase have become Holiday Markets, and are beautifully decorated.
The Germany booth from the Food & Wine Festival is becoming the Bavaria Holiday Kitchen for the Festival of the Holidays.
The Italy booth from the Food & Wine Festival is becoming the Tuscany Holiday Kitchen for the Festival of the Holidays.
The Hops & Barley booth in American Adventure is becoming the American Holiday Table booth for the Festival of the Holidays.
The Japan booth from the Food & Wine Festival is becoming the Shi Wasu Holiday Kitchen for the Festival of the Holidays.
The Morocco booth from the Food & Wine Festival is becoming the Sapphire Holiday Kitchen for the Festival of the Holidays.
The Brazil booth from the Food & Wine Festival is becoming the L’Chaim! booth for the Festival of the Holidays.
The France booth from the Food & Wine Festival is becoming the March de Noel Holiday Kitchen for the Festival of the Holidays.
The Canada booth from the Food & Wine Festival is becoming the Yukon Holiday Kitchen for the Festival of the Holidays.
In addition to all the food booths making their transition from Food & Wine Festival to Festival of the Holidays, the decorations in the flower beds in front of and behind Spaceship Earth have made the leap from one Festival to the next. These fun photo opportunities feature some of our favorite characters getting ready for the holidays.
We had a great day at EPCOT, and we hope you enjoyed coming along with us. Have a magical day!