Epcot's 30's anniversary! On October 1, 2012!

Well, the anniversary was on October and it is April 30, but who's really counting.  So happy 30 1/2 year Epcot.  

I visited in June 2012 as well which I did not feature on my blog as I was taking time off from it. So here you go.
Brave came out in the summer time and before the film came out they had Highland Games at the entrance to the World showcase.  You could be separated into clans and earn badges (a button) once you completed the games.  The most impressive thing was a huge sand sculpture.  Merida is sand, with all that hair, very impressive!

Then onto characters.  Surprisingly Merida was not in Epcot, but the Magic Kingdom, but there were plenty of other characters to see.  We stumbled upon a character explosion next to the American Adventure and found Mr. Smee and Max!  If only we had made it there about 20 minutes early.  There were about 12 characters out all at the same time.  Why doesn't this happen every visit?

To close out one evening we ate at the Rose and Crown in the British Pavilion.  We enjoyed the dinner on the patio, the side unfortunately.  But I had read that they have a Illuminations viewing patio so we asked and we were let in.  I'll have to say that Illuminations is a not my favorite show.  I fell it's kinda boring, low fireworks, fire, low fireworks, turning globe, low fireworks, then everything together.  Meh.

Now I'm back to September 2012!  In April 2013!

But the real reason why I spent the most time in Epcot than I ever had before was the Food and Wine Festival.  I tried going in 2011 but it didn't work out so I was very happy to make it in 2012.  

All the food comes in tapas form.  Usually about $3-4 you can easily eat your way around the world.

I found Jiminy Cricket and Stitch!  Two unusual characters to me that I had to see.  I was the last one to see Jiminy for the day.  For the win!  Rachel finally found out what my love of characters was all about and had a hilarious game of charades with Chip and Dale.  One of my best memories of the trip for sure!

It was the last day of my trip to WDW that also happened to be the 30th Anniversary of Epcot.  They gave out cool maps that showed the changes over the years to Epcot and a button.  Rachel could not make it into the park because of work so I got her a set too!  I love free buttons!  I wasn't able to make it to any of the presentations because I was occupied by eating around the world and having to fly out at 6pm.

I would love to go back to Epcot during the food and wine festival.  The food, in the restaurants or pavilions  is the real reason to visit Epcot at any time of the year.  But there is nothing really like eating around the world with a friend during the food and wine festival.
Up next, Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

The Epcot Food Revue!

I went on my last Walt Disney World adventure while working for the Walt Disney Company with my mom last week.   We got a great deal on our visit for our hotel and also got a great deal on the Disney Dining Plan too.  I will tell you right now that dining plan is dangerous.  So much food every day!

I think the easiest way to organize all the photos is by park and food.  There was a lot of food!

Our first food adventure was after a day at the Magic Kingdom was over at the Fort Wilderness Campgrounds.  They have a great dinner show called the Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue - see washboard below!

A traveling road show of six entertainers come on stage once everyone is settled with some salad and cornbread with a little sangria on the side.  

Ok, more than a little sangria!

After introducing the players the next round of food came out and all of it was fantastic.  Fried chicken, ribs, corn, beans and mashed potatoes.

Parts of the show have the actors come into the audience.  We were in the balcony of the theater so we didn't see as many characters as those did downstairs.  We did get a visit from Six-Pence Slockum, the actor on the left in the picture below.  He was our favorite character from the show

 As you can see, big smiles full of sangria, food and fun.

The Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue was a great experience but I think it was a one and done.  It was very expensive, costing extra points with our dining plan.  We had a great time but there are many other experiences that I would like to have besides the Revue again.

Now an experience we would do again is Le Cellier

It was our first food adventure in Epcot.  I had heard so many good things about the restaurant that I had to try it for myself.

All of those raving reviews were justified!  Wow, some of the best food I have ever had!  My mom and I got the same items.  Some "Canadian" bread to start, the fantastic filet with mushroom risotto and maple creme brulee.  

We even had our own Canadian for the day.  Kim was a fantastic waitress from Vancouver who is a huge Disneyland fan.  When I told her I was a skipper in California she about freaked out!  Apparently I was the hit of Le Cellier this morning with a couple other cast members stopping by to ask questions.  Le Cellier would be a place that I would 

A couple days later we came back to Epcot for more eating.  We got there for our reservation too early... oops.  The park was not even open yet and there was a 5K run going through the park.  They let us in between the runners and into the park with nobody else in it.  Our reservation was supposed to be 30 minutes before the park opened but we got there about 45 minutes before our reservation.  

 We had a princess breakfast at Akershus in Norway.  The food was nothing really to write home about and some of the princesses obviously hadn't woken up yet and the same goes for my mom.

 The restaurant was nice and our server was easy on the eyes.  Lots of kids misbehaving, crying and yelling.  Not the most ideal way to start the day.

 Would we go back... nope...  Certainly nothing to write home about.

 Now into the park we went.  We saw a couple characters around the World Showcase and added them to my autograph book.  I plan on making pillows with the autographs on them.  

On our final day we had many snack credits left and there is no better place to stuff yourself than Epcot.  

We stopped by the France Pavilion and got a fantastic Napoleon at the Patisserie.  Delicious!

We did get some Caramel popcorn in Germany and it was so good I forgot to take a picture of it!  Oh well. I guess we will have to go back for that one.

I think this post is sufficiently long enough now so another day for more Disney adventures.  

- Bryn