|
11/5/2020 Part 5: EPCOT - October 12, 2020 Day three of the wedding celebration was EPCOT's day, which would have a bit of a later start, and be at a bit more relaxed of a pace, in part because of all the work going on at the park right now to update it. It's really hard not to notice the MASSIVE building for the new Guardians of the Galaxy coaster being built as you enter, but then again, it's hard not to notice all of the construction period. In many respects though, this update felt much needed, as I remember back when I first came to EPCOT in 2010, the entrance area made me feel a bit like we had gone back in time into the 80's, which would be appropriate given that the park opened in 1982. While I know there are those of the "Disney Purists" mindset who prefer things stay the same, I am looking forward to some of the changes coming to the park as it will give it some new life. With our later arrival, our first attraction of the day was Test Track, which is going to lead me to contradict myself a bit because the re-imagined version of test track doesn't quite do it for me the same way that the original one did. It's still the same general idea but with a more futuristic setting as you test the different aspects of the car through the course, the braking, agility, aerodynamics and speed at the end, but I was a bit more of a fan of the older style where it felt a bit more current than the futuristic one, but it is what it is. We also took a spin on Frozen Ever After, which was one of the attractions that utilizes the newer generation of animatronics that Disney has been utilizing with the facial projections, and it is really well done for this ride. While I've certainly had my fill of hearing "Let It Go" while I worked for Disney, there's something kind of grand about the section of the ride that features it as you float into the ice palace of Elsa that I can get into. And that was pretty much the bulk of our attractions experience for the day, because most of the day was focused on enjoying the Food & Wine Festival, one of my favorite things about EPCOT.  Although, to be honest, this year I treated less like food and wine, and treated it more like the Beer & More Beer Festival. If the country pavilion had a beer to try, then I had one! This led to trying some from other parts of the world I hadn't had before, like the Tusker Lager out of Kenya. But my favorite from the festival this year had to be the Weisse beer from the German booth. Absolutely fantastic!
There came a point where everyone split off into different directions, and I kind of lost track of who went where (I promise, I wasn't drunk, just having an easy going day compared to the previous two), so I decided to enjoy the Mariachi show that was being offered at the America Gardens Theatre. Unfortunately because of the pandemic, the usual touring acts that would perform during Food & Wine were not part of this years festivities, but this was still a fun show to watch and sit back for a bit. This would also be a time where I just kind of took in the views of the lagoon, enjoying the color of the setting sun while appreciating the park and some of its decorations. The front of the park will have a completely different feel once they have finished all of the projects going on there.    There came a point where I made it to the France pavilion, which I had not been since they announced the addition of the Ratatouille attraction, so it was fascinating to see the changes coming to the area in preparation for the new ride there. I also got a kick out of the use of Remy from the movie as the sort of mascot for this year's Food & Wine Festival, since cooking was a big part of his story, he seemed like a perfect "spokesman" if you will for the event.    For the day's last stop, our group had plans for dinner together, so I caught back up with everyone at the Biergarten back in the Germany plaza. This was my first time ever eating here, and as a bit of a modification from the normal buffet style arrangement, they changed it to family style dining where they would bring the different food items out to your table. Sausages, potatoes, sauerkraut, and a variety of other traditional German items were on hand to enjoy, plus, to continue with my Beer & More Beer Festival trend, I got the liter mug of beer, this one being the König Ludwig Weissbier. Between the beer and all the food though, it made walking back to the front of the park really difficult, but it was so tasty! I also appreciated that they still had the performance on stage of traditional German Oompa music and drinking chants. It gave a bit of an Oktoberfest feel to the meal.
 And that was the day at EPCOT. Definitely didn't do a ton of attractions on this day, but it was nice to have a more leisurely day to just kind of take the atmosphere in, and to try a different restaurant I hadn't dined at before. I feel like once the updates to the park are completed, and some of the new attractions have been opened, there will be a reason to do more in a future visit. From here, it was on to the last day for the Disney portion of our wedding celebration, which would also be to one of the most popular parks in the world. |
