Epcot Guide
Walt’s original idea for Epcot was
for it to be an Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow, a city of the future,
but he didn’t live long enough to make it come to life. Instead Epcot the park
was designed as a permanent World’s Fair, an exposition of technology and world
cultures. The two aspects can be seen in the two areas of the park, Future
World and World Showcase.
 |
| Fountain of Nations in front of Spaceship Earth |
Future World
Future World is where you’ll find
most of the attractions in Epcot, but also where you’ll find the most empty
spaces. My top three here are Spaceship Earth, Test Track, Soarin’. I’ll do a
more in depth look at all of the rides in my next post. Future World also has
Innoventions which used to be a cool pavilion with interactive exhibits to
showcase technology and stuff, but now it’s mostly empty with only a couple
interactive presentations. Future World is currently down one attraction with
the closing of the Universe of Energy Pavilion to make way for a Guardians of
the Galaxy roller coaster. Over at Club Cool, you can taste different Coca Cola
products from around the world for free. Another thing to see is the Fountain
of Nations in the center of Future World. Every 15 minutes, the fountain puts
on a water show set to music and at night its lit up in color. For more water
fun, behind the Imagination Pavilion are leapfrog fountains with jumping water
that are really fun to play in (or watch kids play in and get soaked).
World Showcase
The other half of Epcot is World
Showcase, which as the name implies, showcases cultures of the world. Eleven
countries are represented here, each with its own pavilion. Clockwise around
World Showcase they are: Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, the American
Adventure, Japan, Morocco, France, United Kingdom, and Canada. Each pavilion
has restaurants and shops where you can find food and souvenirs from that
country. China, the American Adventure, France, and Canada have movies that run
throughout the day. Norway and Mexico are the only two countries that currently
have rides. I’ll go more in depth with the shows and rides in the next post,
but here’s a quick look at the countries.
Mexico
The Mexico pavilion doesn’t seem
all that interesting as you walk by, but once you walk inside the temple it’s a
different story. The inside is themed to be an outdoor market at night, with
carts filled with souvenirs, shops along the sides, and a restaurant along a
“river”. The river is actually the Gran Fiesta Tour boat ride, similar to it’s
a small world. Mexico has two table service restaurants and one quick service.
The quick service and one table service sit on World Showcase lagoon and offer
good views of the nightly fireworks if you can get a table. The other
restaurant is inside the temple.
 |
| Inside the Mexico Pavilion |
Norway
 |
| Norway Pavilion |
China
 |
| China Pavilion |
Germany
Germany has a similar layout to
Norway and has a bunch of shops and restaurants. One shop is full of cute toys
and another has amazing wooden cuckoo clocks. The pavilion is famous for its
Biergarten restaurant, which is a buffet style dinner show. There are also a
couple quick service windows where you can grab food and beverages. Next to the
pavilion is a really cool miniature train set up that runs all day.
 |
| Germany Pavilion |
Italy
Apart from the shops and
restaurants (two table service and one pizza window) there isn’t a whole lot to
see here. The plaza and fountain are pretty, but it can be very hot but worth
bearing if one of the performers is out. The pavilion also has a plaza area
down near the water complete with gondolas (which you can’t get to, sadly).
 |
| Italy Pavilion |
The American Adventure
In comparison to the other
pavilions, the American Adventure feels a little bare. There’s really only one
big building, which houses a quick service restaurant, small gift shop, and the
American Adventure show (which is actually a really good show). Other than that,
there is a small amphitheater sitting on the lagoon which often has concerts at
night during the many festivals.
 |
| American Adventure Pavilion |
Japan
For its imposing exterior, there’s
not a whole lot to see inside this pavilion. Towards the front of the pavilion
is a garden area with cascading waterfalls and paths that lead up to the quick
service restaurant. On the opposite side of the pavilion is a big department
store that you can easily get lost in. Towards the back, inside the castle
gates is a museum with displays of more modern aspects of Japanese culture.
There’s also two table service restaurants in this pavilion.
 |
| Japan Pavilion |
Morocco
With its winding passageways and
courtyards, Morocco has many places that go overlooked by most Guests, but they
are worth an explore. There are two table service restaurants and one quick
service, but they never seem too popular. The pavilion is the only one to be
sponsored by the government of the country is represents and Moroccan artists
came to help with the design and construction to make it as authentic as
possible.
 |
| Morocco Pavilion |
France
France is one of my favorite
pavilions at Epcot because of its charm and beauty. It has two streets that
goes far back into the pavilion. Towards the back you’ll find the Impressions
de France film, which while it looks old, it is still beautiful. There is also
a little cafe with good food (but a lack of seating) and also an ice cream
shop. This pavilion features two (expensive) table service restaurants and a
few shops. I love the gardens in this pavilion and the fountain.
 |
| France Pavilion |
United Kingdom
Another one of my favorites, the
United Kingdom features many cute shops and streets, including a courtyard in
the back made to look like the street from Mary Poppins. As you might expect,
there is a tea shop in addition to the souvenir shops. This pavilion is a
little lacking in food with only one table service restaurant and a quick
service counter, but the table service restaurant is very popular around
fireworks time because of the good views.
 |
| United Kingdom Pavilion |
Canada
Now this is my absolute favorite
pavilion. It has a beautiful sprawling garden, path through a canyon complete
with waterfalls, and a cool back plaza area. Inside the canyon is a circle
vision show hosted by Martin Short. There is only one place to eat here and
it’s a table service restaurant that is incredibly hard to get reservations
for. This pavilion only has one shop but does have a small stage with
performers at points throughout the day.
 |
| Canada Pavilion |
IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth
IllumiNations is the nightly
fireworks spectacular that takes place in World Showcase Lagoon and is my favorite nighttime show. Not only are there
fireworks set to an incredible soundtrack, but there are fountains of water,
bursts of flames, lasers and a giant spinning globe wrapped in a screen telling
the story of Earth. It is truly amazing, and I highly recommend seeing it if
you can. The best spot in my opinion is the FastPass viewing area if you can
get a FastPass, but if not, there are plenty of spots around World Showcase
Lagoon. My rule of thumb is if you can see the center of the lagoon and across
to the opposite side, it will be a good viewing location, but get there as soon
as you can because people start snagging the best spots early.
 |
| IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth |
Comments
Post a Comment