EPCOT Food & Wine Festival - 2009

Here's a photo from the 2006 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival that I took one day when I was there with my friends Rhonda and Michelle. I wasn't able to stay long, but I did manage to get about 50 shots before having to leave.



As you can see, even though we were there on a weekday it was still fairly crowded at the food and beverage locations,

This year The 14th Annual EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival begins in about 6 days on September 25 and runs through November 8. In addition to the excellent food and wine offerings, there will also be some excellent musical offerings during the Eat to the Beat Concert Series.

I don't know if I'll get to go this year, but it looks like another great time at the Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow.

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EMPTY Prototype Community Of Tomorrow

My step-son and his fiance are tying the knot in about 6 weeks and they asked if Cindy and I would get their photographers into EPCOT this past Saturday so they could take some pre-wedding photos. It has been quite a while since Cindy and I have had the opportunity to enjoy EPCOT (or ANY of the parks, for that matter) alone so we decided to stay and tour the World Showcase and enjoy a light lunch.

But we really had no idea HOW alone we would be. We have never seen so few people in EPCOT on a Saturday, not even after 9/11. I told Cindy instead of Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow it was EMPTY Prototype Community Of Tomorrow. Look at this sparse street scene in the normally crowded and bustling United Kingdom pavilion.



That was at 2pm in the afternoon, and it was almost like having the park to yourself. I'm NOT complaining as it made the visit much more enjoyable, but I AM stunned at just how few visitors there were that day, not only in the World Showcase but in the Future World area as well.

Here are a few more photos. First up are two picture I took with my BlackBerry and uploaded to TwitPic to share with my Twits who follow me on Twitter; here is Cindy at EPCOT and then me at EPCOT.

Then here is one I shot of Wendy, Jeremy and Cindy when we first arrived at the park before we went our separate ways.



Cindy with Spaceship Earth in the background across the lake.



Finally, just one of my "art" shots, lol.



I was not happy with almost all of my shots because a camera setting was wrong, but I may try to work on them in Photoshop and possibly upload the salvageable ones up to Flickr in the next few days.

We enjoyed a light lunch at Boulangerie Patisserie in the France Pavilion, a quick-service restaurant that dishes up a small assortment of sandwiches, quiches, French pastries and beverages. I had a turkey and cheese on baguette with an apple tart for dessert and Cindy had a ham and cheese croissant with a chocolate eclair for dessert. We sat on the stone planter in the courtyard and watched people (the few there were) walk past us.

It was while watching those people that I observed something I had not seen before and it left me somewhat confused. If you've ever seen what I'm about to describe, I'd be interested in hearing about it. A very attractive young woman and her, I assume, boyfriend, walked past. I could tell she was attractive because she was wearing tight jeans and a form-fitting, low-cut top. The confusing part was she was also wearing the traditional Muslim hijab, but with the front lower portion that would cover her chest thrown back across her shoulder which exposed her cleavage. It was a true clash of values or views or however you'd like to phrase it. The casualness of most Western attire with the symbol of modesty (in this case, almost modesty since the front was thrown back) required of Middle Eastern females appearing in public. Very difficult to reconcile, for me.

Anyone else ever witnessed this or something similar?

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Photowalking Disney World's EPCOT

This past Tuesday morning we needed to get all the legal papers signed and notarized for the North Carolina property deal so we could Next Day Air them back to the attorney. One of Cindy's co-workers is a notary public and agreed to notarize everything for us first thing in the morning so we could get them shipped back ASAP for the Wednesday closing.

Since she had to witness both our signatures, I drove Cindy to work and after we finished up with all the legal necessities I dropped the package off at a nearby UPS store. Rather than drive home and then back at the end of the day (a 50 mile round trip) to pick her up from work, I decided to save gas and spend the day in the area. I headed over to EPCOT to do a Photowalk and to see 3 parts of EPCOT that I have not had a chance to see.



It was a great day to visit EPCOT; the crowds were very sparse and the morning was less humid than Monday was at Animal Kingdom. Since the World Showcase was not scheduled to open until 11am, I made my way straight over to The Land to see how long the wait was to ride Soarin', which I have never been on before because the wait has always been 90 to 120 minutes. Thankfully the wait on Tuesday morning was only 45 minutes and I was actually on the ride within 25 minutes.

Soarin' is a GREAT ride! There are only 2 things I would have wished were different; that riders could lie on their stomachs so I could pretend to be Superman as we flew over various California landmarks, lol, and that there was a way to block out the disembodied feet of riders in the car in front of you that dangle in the upper field of your view. If you're in the first car you don't see that, but since you're assigned a car it's hit or miss on where you'll sit.

Then I walked over to another part of The Land, the Circle of Life show. It's a simple film about the environment starring Simba, Timon and Pumbaa, all characters from "The Lion King." It's an important message that is directed toward the kids who will be the next generation to deal with our environmental mess, but I did find it ironic that when you walk out of the show you walk right into a fast food area of The Land that is full of plastic dinnerware, cups, dishes, etc.

By the time I left The Land it was almost time for the World Showcase to open. Cindy had suggested I go see the new "O Canada" circlevision experience featuring Martin Short. I'm glad I did. Canada is a beautiful land and the 360 degree film narrated by Short lets you view almost all of our northern neighbor's country in about 14 minutes.



Afterward, I walked around the rest of the World Showcase taking pictures until I arrived back at the front of the park. One more highlight was arriving at the bridge into the France pavilion just as the Space Shuttle "Discovery" was being launched and getting a couple of pictures from that excellent location. Granted it's just a bright light against the blue sky but...

If you're interested, there are 102 other photos of EPCOT. Just click on the Flickr badge in the right column and look for the EPCOT set.

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