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Disney World - Fans, Tips and News: Epcot News and Info

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International Food and Wine Festival

Posted by jeffgn on Monday, September 29 @ 08:06:09 EDT (580 reads)

The International Food and Wine Festival started this weekend at EPCOT.   Throughout World Showcase you could experience the food and wine from many nations around the world.   There are booths setup bringing food and drink from countries other than the ones that are normally at EPCOT.

Expect long lines on the weekends at EPCOT.    For those who love food and wine your not alone.    The lines for these events are fairly long and the crowds are pretty big.    So plan for a whole day to really take in the sites and smells of the event.

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy kicked of the concert series in the American Gardens Pavilion across from the American Adventure.    BBVD packed the pavilion for just about every show.    People were swing dancing all over. Terrific group to kick of a great event at EPCOT.

In my opinion this is not a great event for young children to attend or if your easily offended by people drinking.   Each booth sells wine and spirits.   The smell of alcohol is in the air. It is a great EPCOT event but for a little bit older crowd.

On a down note.   Pleasure Island closed this last weekend to huge crowds.    Not sure if there was an over flow from the International Food and Wine Festival.   EPCOT closed at 9pm and I can't see the party ending there.

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StormStruck at Innoventions Opens

Posted by jeffgn on Thursday, August 14 @ 08:33:10 EDT (523 reads)

StormStruck at Innoventions in Epcot opened a few days ago.   It is still in tweak mode before the official open so some things are going to change.    Here is a brief explanation of the show:

1) You enter the preshow area. It can hold two shows worth.   The group closest to the entrance will get 3-d glasses like you would wear at any other 3-d show.

2) A few minutes before the inside show begins you see a brief preshow on a screen above the entrance door. There is also another screen at the back of the line.   The volume was a little low so I couldn't hear what they were saying. But the idea was about a storm machine that tested building material to see what would work during a major storm.

3) You enter the show room.   I think they could have explained this a little better, but your sitting in a room in a house with a couple big windows.     The windows are actually 3-d screens.   The are 4 rows of benches with each seat on the bench having a screen and two buttons.

4) The show starts with you looking out the windows at a garage and a neighbors house. The storm starts. Wind blowing trees falling and the roofs tearing off.   The glass breaks and you get spray in your face..(The part I hated the most is that it kept spraying me in the mouth. I could have lived without the spray). Of course the storm destroys everything.

5) You now get a quiz of questions about what building material is the best against storms.   You get to choose A or B for each one. The computer build a house on your choices (popular vote wins).

6) The show then runs with your choices and you see how it works out.

7) The host then tells you what the right answers were and why.

8) You exit to the post show area.

The post show area shows a machine that simulates wind.   There are some other displays.

Overall right now I would say its a B on the scale of Innoventions shows.    It could get to an A with tweaking. I think its a good fit for epcot. It can no way be compared to the Twister at Universal.

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Space Ship Earth Soft Opening

Posted by jeffgn on Wednesday, December 19 @ 10:32:13 EST (509 reads)

Space Ship Earth has been closed for several months for a rehab to upgrade many of its systems. The offical opening is scheduled for early next year, but our friends at Disney World have decided to allow the attraction to be soft opened.

What is a soft opening? 99% of the attraction rehab is done. The Imagineers allow the attraction to reopen for a few hours a day to see how the public responds to the changes and to test the ride systems. Some days it may not be open at all, but if your one of the lucky ones you'll get a great preview of Space Ship Earth.

What do people have to say about the upgrades? Its a mixed back. The first part of the attraction is stunning. New improved animatronics have replaced the old models so their movement is very life like. A new score and new narration has been added along with video touch screens to each car. Several scenes have been changed and a couple new ones added. Most notably the computer room at the top and the garage where Apple Computer started. From there the critics have been out in full force. The decent from the top of Space Ship Earth has been changed. It is completely dark on the return trip. The touch screens come to life and ask you a set of questions then play a pretty non-disney looking cartoon. The question seems more like a survey than anything else. SSE fans are pretty much down on the last half of the attraction. People that could have never rode it before or just once or twice probably wouldn't notice the change or care that it changed.

Will the ending change? Hard to tell. We are in the soft opening stage of the attraction. Somethings may not be working yet. Attractions have been known to be changed as a result of the soft openings. Alien Encounters preshow was redone as a result of testing. Also, the Laugh Floor also went through joke and graphic improvements during the soft opening phase.

The best thing to do is ride it yourself and be the judge. Look for the attraction to be open on and off for the next couple months until the offical open date listed on the Disney World web site.

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El Rio Del Tiempo Reopens As Gran Fiesta Tour

Posted by jeffgn on Saturday, April 07 @ 20:08:33 EDT (512 reads)

Gran Fiesta Tour has opened in the Mexico Pavilion in Epcot. So long to the old El Rio Del Tiempo and hello to Donald Duck.

The new ride is the same except the movies have been changed along with the last scene has been changed.

I'll say the attraction needed up dating, but I'm not sure this is a good update. Seems imagineering could have done more with it. I'm sure there was a budget and they probably used all of it. Wish there had been a tad bit more on it.

Update: Yesterday was the first actual time that I was able to ride the Gran Fiesta Tour in Epcot for myself. I'll have to say that it was an good ride and shouldn't be missed. It's a much faster pace due to the up beat music so the ride seems faster than it really is. More could have been done with the Donald Duck overlay, but all in all I have to say that it is in improvement.

It does split from the original view of the Mexico attraction, so this will appeal to a different Disney World crowd for sure. It will pump a little life into an older Disney movie franchise and add's another attraction that pumps more Disney characters into Epcot.

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El Rio Del Tiempo Rehab

Posted by jeffgn on Monday, February 12 @ 10:44:57 EST (476 reads)

El Rio Del Tiempo Rehab at Epcot appears to be moving forward. This attraction has been in place and mostly untouched since Epcot's opening. El Rio will be having the moving images replaced during the first part of the attraction. This update will include Donald and some of his friends. It is fitting and does pay tribute to Walt's Three Caballeros movie which was inspired by Walt Disney's trip to the region. While the change of another of Epcot's original attraction is sad, this improvement should be appropriate.

El Rio Del Tiempo is a boat ride attraction in the Mexican Pavillion in the World Showcase in Epcot.

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Living with the Land Reopens

Posted by jeffgn on Friday, September 22 @ 12:17:59 EDT (409 reads)

Living with the Land repopened this week from a some what lengthy rehab. The real visible change is the lack of a cast member on each boat. There is now a record voice that narrates the green house portion of the ride. Originally cast members would have to learn and do the spiel live. This should increase the capacity of the ride. The old version was limited at times because of the limited amount of cast members that knew the spiel. As a result fastpass may be removed from this attraction. Living with the Land is a great attraction and should not be missed.

This is an attraction not to be missed and a credit to Disney World.

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Orange and Green versions of Mission Space now Open

Posted by jeffgn on Saturday, May 20 @ 11:10:57 EDT (516 reads)

As was thought the new version of Mission Space is now open! They offer an orange version of the ride which is the original spinning version. They also over a green non spinning version. Mission Space should get a lot more visitors because of this change. It was pretty intense for younger and older riders. The new version doesn't have any spinning and offers the same in-flight video with changes to the preshow.

>(Read More... | Score: 4)

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