Howdy! Today was a sweltering hot day in Orlando, FL, but that didn’t stop me from having all the fun in EPCOT. Pluto took over Pin Tuesday, the tiny village in the Germany pavilion has a plague affecting the entire village, and so much more fun across the park.
Test Track Finally Has Attraction Merchandise
This morning, I ran to Test Track in hopes that there might finally be some attraction-specific merchandise in the Gear Shop. Luckily, there were finally a few choices for guests to purchase. There was a pin featuring Mickey for $14.99, an adult shirt for $34.99, and a youth shirt for $26.99.
Let me know in the comments what you think of this Test Track collection. I hope there is more coming, but this is a nice start.
Pluto’s Pin Tuesday
After Test Track, I made my way over to Disney Traders to see what limited-edition pins were released this morning. I was stoked to find the two new Pluto pins celebrating Pluto’s 95th Birthday coming up this September.
Would that mean that Pluto is 665 in dog years? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
Canada Pavilion is Struggling
In the Canada Pavilion, I noticed that things weren’t really running the way they normally do. The Cast were still very polite, but the waterfall was still not on, the rocks around the garden’s pond were starting to go missing, and the shop smelled of paint so badly that not even the Cast were going inside.
Granted, they had to stand outside to tell guests they couldn’t, and I’ll be honest, you can smell the paint fumes from the bottom of the steps. Hopefully, this aired out by later in the day.
United Kingdom Pavilion and Pooh Bear
In the United Kingdom pavilion, Pooh Bear caught me peeking through his exit door. I always enjoy the impromptu character interactions the most. In the tea shop the little lamb door stoppers have been restocked.
France Pavilion Updates
In the France pavilion, Guerlain has debuted some new personalized lipstick cover designs. These three almost featherlike designs join the restock of the others released last year.
The bikes are still in a state of bad shape, as Disney would call it. Bad show just means it isn’t good enough to be seen by guests on stage. Linguini’s bike is still missing, and Collette’s bike still has a massive hole in the front tire.
Private Event in the Morocco Pavilion
In the Morocco pavilion, there was a private event hosted for Cast Members in Restaurant Marakesh. Remember, in a previous photo report, I mentioned that Restaurant Marakesh would never reopen because the renovations needed would be too costly to make sense for Disney.
I wonder if we will ever get the seat back in the Race Against the Sun museum display. It’s been months since the seat was removed.
Italy Pavilion Improvements
In the Italy pavilion, things are looking up. The construction walls and scrim have been entirely removed from the tower, and the algae have been swept away from the gondola spot at the front of the pavilion. It still doesn’t smell great in this space, but it is certainly better.
Germany Pavilion Tiny Town Plague
When passing by the Germany pavilion’s tiny village, I noticed that many of the villagers and the animals had fallen over. Could it simply be the rain over the passed few days, or is it something more sinister? Could it be a plague? Or could they be passing out from heat exhaustion? Let me tell you, this heat is NOT A JOKE.
If you are here or coming soon, please stay hydrated and drink water even when you don’t feel thirsty. That has to be how our tiny friend survives standing at the tallest tower in the tiny village.
Brown Stein NOW in Germany Pavilion
The silver plastic stein in the Germany pavilion has been redesigned in brown! Last year, Disney released this stein, but it was more silver. Now it’s brown. Nothing has changed other than the color, which begs the question, why change the color at all?
Mexico Pavilion Walkway Updates Continue
In the Mexico pavilion, concrete theming has been slowly taking place over the past few months. I think the new design is much more interesting, perhaps unnecessary on the World Showcase, but still nice. I will never knock a little extra theming in a company that seems to cut theming any chance they can nowadays.
I also appreciate how Disney is trying to be conscious of the guest flow during these updates. There haven’t been very many bottlenecks created during this process.
Just GIVE IT UP DISNEY – LET IT GO
I’m tired of this story. I’m tired of reporting it. I’m tired of reading about it. I’m tired of literally seeing this every trip to EPCOT. What the heck is this? I’m no handyman, but holy heck, I can certainly do something more appealing than this! What is this? There are SIX! SIX! holes in that one piece in the top right. There are broken pieces. There are screws in random places that aren’t anywhere near an edge, then painted white. There are empty holes where screws once were and then pulled out again.
This looks like a middle school project gone horribly horribly wrong. This is embarrassing, and I haven’t seen Disney struggle so publicly for so long on something so unnecessary. Just fill it in with glitter at this point. Obviously, Disney doesn’t care what this photo spot looks like. This is horrific. Thank you for reading that rant. I will go touch some grass later, I promise.
Let me know what your thoughts are on this lighting situation and my opinions in the comments below. I’m open to debate, but it would have to be a pretty good argument. SIX HOLES. Just saying.
The Seas
A palette cleanser after my rant. I do hope you enjoyed our day in EPCOT. I love seeing little Tanimura cuddling up with Mermaid. I love this space in general, and it’s a great place to cool down in the air conditioning.
I was sad to see that not only was the water feature outside still not working, but the seagulls were also struggling today. Details do matter, and I miss these features.
I hope you enjoyed our hot day in EPCOT. There are certainly ways to enjoy the parks and beat the heat at the same time. If I were staying in one of the Disney Resorts, I would be taking afternoon lunch breaks at the pool, taking a nap, rehydrating then going back to the park in the late afternoon.
Let me know if you have any tips or tricks for enjoying the park in such hot weather in the comments below.
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