AT&T Archives has uploaded footage from 1982 of the dedication of Spaceship Earth at EPCOT Center. AT&T President William Ellinghaus gives a speech, there’s some great promotional footage, footage of “futurecom” that I’ve never seen, and Card Walker (Chair of Walt Disney Productions at the… Read More »Spaceship Earth Dedication
The 2012 EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival will begin blooming soon. In just over a month the park will roll out its 19th festival and the third with HGTV as a sponsor. I think it’s been a great partnership and look forward to seeing what the combined forces can bring this year.
One of the highlights promises to be the Sorcerer Mickey topiary that’s part of the largest-ever Disney front-entrance topiary. There will be a stellar cast of HGTV design celebrities and a great line up of artists at the Flower Power concert series.
Here’s a sneak peek of this year’s festival news:
The front-entrance floral spectacle will welcome guests to a festival packed with new gardens and displays, featured speakers and hands-on fun for all ages, including daily gardening workshops with take-home projects for all who participate.
Thirty million blooms, 240 floating mini-gardens on two ponds, 700 container gardens of flowers, herbs, plants and vegetables, dozens of Disney character topiaries, 30 “flower towers” of impatiens and sweeping beds of original floral designs create a new tapestry of brilliant color across the 260-acre Epcot landscape. It takes more than one year and 400 Walt Disney World horticulturists to plan and prepare for the 75-day festival.
Halfway through the festival, Disney gardeners remove the cold-hardy blossoms that thrive in March and early April to plant a new crop of flowers that flourish in spring’s warmer temperatures. And throughout the event, dozens of gardening experts meet guests daily with fresh landscape ideas for 2012. Daily workshops at the Festival Center let guests dig into projects they can take home at the end of the day.
Don’t Miss!
Join us below the fold for some topiary trivia:
The Flower Power concert series always brings an element of nostalgic fun to the yearly Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival. Not only do the original fans of the band get to relive fond memories, but new younger audiences are introduced to these talented performers.… Read More »EPCOT Flower & Garden 2012 Concert Lineup Announced
Katsura Grill is the name of the remodeled Yakitori House. The quick service location inside the Japan Pavilion in EPCOT has been open for a few weeks, but was officially dedicated on the 17th. The grounds outside feature gardens modeled after the historic Katsura Imperial Villa near Kyoto, Japan. While the inside features a new modern look and seating for a variety of party sizes.
The ceremony was attended by Erin Youngs, vice president of Epcot; and Hideaki Morooka, general manager International Business Operations for Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd., partners with Disney in the Japan Pavilion. (Pictured at above.)
Read More »Disney Dedicates Katsura Grill in EPCOT’s Japan Pavilion
EPCOT’s popular Test Track attraction will be getting an updated theme to go with a new sponsor. Rather than General Motors sponsoring the ride, it will change to Chevrolet. Chevy is, of course, a GM brand, but the company wanted to focus the new experience on just one brand.
Plans call for closing the current GM Test Track in April 2012, with an anticipated opening of Test Track Presented by Chevrolet scheduled for fall 2012. A few months ago updated cars were spotted testing on the track, they’ve obviously been working on this for a while already.
With the credit crisis of 2007-08 sending GM into bankruptcy, there was a question if the 10 year #10 million sponsorship would continue. But Disney and GM worked out a series of arrangements that allowed them to keep their name on the ride until finances could be lined up to renew the arrangement.
The new theme reminds me a little of how the ‘Sum of all Thrills’ attraction works. But the execution will have to be different to keep the capacity of the attraction moving at a quick enough clip.
Eastman Kodak, longtime sponsor of Disney’s domestic theme parks, is reportedly considering bankruptcy any day now. It’s not clear what this means for the parks, Kodak is still the sponsor of the guidemaps that 1o’s of thousands of guests pick up and use every day… Read More »Polaroid Disney World
EPCOT has recently been rolling out some world showcase country specific merchandise, most specifically mickey ear hats and t-shirts. They also have a great tradition of a new EPCOT Food & Wine Festival t-shirt every year. But this is the first pair of shirts related… Read More »EPCOT Foodie Shirts
Due to popular demand, I’m back with another photo update featuring some of the latest merchandise to hit the shelves at Walt Disney World. In addition to all the great new items, I’ve also noticed that the emporium style stores are really working on organization and flow. There are fewer big displays blocking views across the store and a lot more signage to help guests find exactly what they’re looking for. Great job there.
Alright then, on with the show!
New Year’s Eve merch is starting to show up.
A terrific pair of Mickey Mouse Ears for New Year’s Eve.
Plenty more below the jump, come along: