Tink
02-10-2011, 12:59 PM
Oh! My! GOSH!!!! Can you say busy??
We arrived at EPCOT before noon. The place was as busy as we've ever seen in on a non-Christmas season weekend. Jammed in Future World!
We stopped by the Festival Center in Future World before heading to the World Showcase. Nothing new, and nothing remarkable here this year.
Basic offerings of wine, cookbooks, and other festival related merchandise. If you've not been before, stop by and have a look. The poster this year is a low key three empty wine bottles...not exciting, but appropriate to the purpose. We liked the glass counter saver with the image better than the poster.
There is a little booth here where you can get some wine selections and light food selections.
We headed to the World Showcase and the queues were already pretty impressive! Donald and Daisy "greet" you on the crossover.
Today was just a nosey around day for us. We'll be returning the last weekend of October for our "official" stay.
We did sample some escargot from France. It was properly buttery and garlicy and luscious. Three for less than $5. We'll be back!
We also tried the Korean booth. Last year we loved the lettuce wraps. This year, not so much. :unsure: Herself liked them quite a bit, but I found them less tasty than last year. They have bulgogi this year (beef barbecue) instead of the short ribs. This is an improvement. It would have been nicer if it were served hot.
Italy FINALLY is offering something other than pizza. Nothing too remarkable, but at least it's a bit of a change from previous years.
The pulled pork from Hawaii smelled lovely. We'll try that at the official visit.
Germany was having beer problems. This is a serious issue! The usual large selection of beer on offer at the US pavilion is not there this year. Sam Adams seems to have completely pulled out. So, one of the two areas to get a good selection of beer options is Germany. They couldn't keep their kegs from kicking, and those that were up and running were not the beers that most people wanted. Also, the workers here seemed to be the most challenged of the festival. Extremely slow moving and completely uniformed as to their product. Guests were telling them how to pull a beer, and giving them information on what beer is which. "No, that's not an amber. An amber isn't black..." Those were the sorts of comments you heard.
I imagine all will be righted as the festival moves into full swing. There are always some problems to work out.
China was a very popular booth, as was Mexico.
Mostly we simply strolled and took it all in. It was a beautiful day with absolutely no humidity, full sunshine, breeze and about 80˚. Could not have asked for a better day.
The dessert booth didn't have anything too impressive. Mousse by any other name is still mousse (and boring as far as I'm concerned). Brazil has some interesting choices. :yes:
Greece finally has something to offer other than spanikopita and Greek salad! YAY!!!
All in all a good nosey around day. Stay tuned for a more complete report (and maybe some photos!) toward the end of this month.
We arrived at EPCOT before noon. The place was as busy as we've ever seen in on a non-Christmas season weekend. Jammed in Future World!
We stopped by the Festival Center in Future World before heading to the World Showcase. Nothing new, and nothing remarkable here this year.
Basic offerings of wine, cookbooks, and other festival related merchandise. If you've not been before, stop by and have a look. The poster this year is a low key three empty wine bottles...not exciting, but appropriate to the purpose. We liked the glass counter saver with the image better than the poster.
There is a little booth here where you can get some wine selections and light food selections.
We headed to the World Showcase and the queues were already pretty impressive! Donald and Daisy "greet" you on the crossover.
Today was just a nosey around day for us. We'll be returning the last weekend of October for our "official" stay.
We did sample some escargot from France. It was properly buttery and garlicy and luscious. Three for less than $5. We'll be back!
We also tried the Korean booth. Last year we loved the lettuce wraps. This year, not so much. :unsure: Herself liked them quite a bit, but I found them less tasty than last year. They have bulgogi this year (beef barbecue) instead of the short ribs. This is an improvement. It would have been nicer if it were served hot.
Italy FINALLY is offering something other than pizza. Nothing too remarkable, but at least it's a bit of a change from previous years.
The pulled pork from Hawaii smelled lovely. We'll try that at the official visit.
Germany was having beer problems. This is a serious issue! The usual large selection of beer on offer at the US pavilion is not there this year. Sam Adams seems to have completely pulled out. So, one of the two areas to get a good selection of beer options is Germany. They couldn't keep their kegs from kicking, and those that were up and running were not the beers that most people wanted. Also, the workers here seemed to be the most challenged of the festival. Extremely slow moving and completely uniformed as to their product. Guests were telling them how to pull a beer, and giving them information on what beer is which. "No, that's not an amber. An amber isn't black..." Those were the sorts of comments you heard.
I imagine all will be righted as the festival moves into full swing. There are always some problems to work out.
China was a very popular booth, as was Mexico.
Mostly we simply strolled and took it all in. It was a beautiful day with absolutely no humidity, full sunshine, breeze and about 80˚. Could not have asked for a better day.
The dessert booth didn't have anything too impressive. Mousse by any other name is still mousse (and boring as far as I'm concerned). Brazil has some interesting choices. :yes:
Greece finally has something to offer other than spanikopita and Greek salad! YAY!!!
All in all a good nosey around day. Stay tuned for a more complete report (and maybe some photos!) toward the end of this month.