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Inaugural Epcot International Festival of the Arts


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Late in 2016, Disney announced that there would be a new festival celebrated at Epcot.

Initially, all we knew was that they were calling in the Epcot International Festival of the Arts, and that it would run for six weeks, on weekends only, from mid-January through late February.

Details eventually were provided, but, honestly, I didn't pay much attention to them.  This sounded like a lame cash-grab to me, and I wasn't all that interested.

Epcot is in a pretty sad state with several large empty buildings, some badly dated rides, and almost nothing left in either of the Innovention venues.  Plus, in my most humble opinion, they wrecked both Test Track and Soarin' with the "upgrades" they did on both.  It's next to impossible to ride the new Frozen ride unless you want to wait in a really long line, or you're able to book FP+'s 60 days out.  So, we haven't been to Epcot all that much lately. 

But, some aspects of this Art Festival were intriguing to me, and I wanted to see it with my own eyes.  Also, Disney offered reserved seating to the Disney on Broadway performances for passholders, and I was able to get a reservation for the 5:30 performance on Saturday, January 21.  The TCD twins were available for an afternoon visit that day, so we went.

We only planned to spend the afternoon and evening at Epcot.  No park hopping or resort visits on this trip.  So we parked in the Epcot parking lot, which we don't do very often.  They have a lot of the parking lot blocked off for the big tents and bleachers that they keep up for the Disney and Princess marathons, so we ended up being directed to park way in the back of the Explore lot- like almost in the last row.  It ended up not being a big deal, as they had a tram right there for us, and we were able to board and head to the entrance right away.

When we arrived at the tram drop off, they dropped us off in a new area, and we saw that they had added some new bag check tents and scanners.  Here, they had every single guest go through a metal detector, which is the first time I've seen that done at Epcot.  Based on how things were set up, it looks like that's how things will be done from now on.  The lines were a bit long here, but it wasn't too bad.

We were able to use the Passholder line to enter the park.  Since Twin #2 doesn't currently have a pass, she had to go in one of the regular lines.  She greeted Twin #1 and I as we made our way in to the park- the regular line was faster.  LOL.

We picked up one of the Festival passports, and headed on it.

Our first stop was to check on the animation class that they're holding in the old Vision House area of Innoventions.  That was also where they were distributing the stickers for the reserved seating for the Disney on Broadway performances, and I was able to pick up our stickers for that (only one person had to check in, so I got three stickers-one was supposed to be for my older DD, who is a passholder, but since she wasn't with us, Twin #2 was able to use it).  As far as I have been able to tell, there is no published schedule for the animation classes.  We stopped by there to find a long line, and learned that the next class was full. The class after that would be in about an hour from now.  The CM told us that the classes were scheduled for every 45 minutes, and he told us that if we arrived at about 20 minutes before the next class, we would probably be fine.

In case you're interested, here's what the admission stickers look like for the Broadway show:

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So, we had about an hour to kill.  Twin #1 wanted to try one of the fancy pop tarts they're selling, and both twins wanted to paint on the giant paint by numbers mural, so we headed off to find those.

We stopped for the photo op on the way in to the World Showcase:

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The Festival passport wasn't very useful in locating where the various activities and food items were located.  We didn't pick up an Epcot map, so maybe that information is on the map, but it's not in the passport.

We found the paint-by-numbers mural over by the walkway that goes toward the Imagination pavilion.

It's a simple set up- they have a giant paint by numbers mural set up, and supposedly it's going to look like the mural depicted in this banner when it's done:

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They did a good job making this simple and efficient.  You stand in a line, which moves quickly, and a CM gives you a small container of paint and a brush.  The paint container has a number on it, and you're turned loose to go paint four squares of that color:

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This was the second weekend of the Festival, and quite a bit of progress has been made already:

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I got yellow, and painted the squares next to the brown squares here:

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The twins got different colors, and painted other squares.

It only took a few minutes to participate, and it was strangely fun.

Here's a look back at the mural-you can see that guests are having fun with it- I'll bet it's going to be done by next weekend:

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I hope that they put the finished mural on display somewhere.  I am interested in seeing what it looks like in the end.  Somehow, I doubt it will look as good as the banner, but I think it will look OK.

The have two bins at the end to drop off your paint container and brush, and you get a free postcard showing a part of the mural artwork:

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There was another mural being painted across the lake- Twin #1 said this was being painted by a professional artist.  We meant to check on that later, but we ended up running out of time:

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I snapped a photo of the grass along the lake, because I know in a few weeks this will all be huge flower beds for the Flower and Garden Festival:

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The entry area to World Showcase is noticeably under-decorated.  There will no doubt be some giant topiaries in here for the Flower and Garden Festival:

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They were selling the pop tarts in the booth next to the World Showcase entrance, so we got a couple. These go for four bucks, which is about three bucks too high.   I thought they were real pop tarts, but they're actually a sugar cookie made to look like pop tarts.  They were good, but very, very sweet:

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We headed back to the animation class, and got there about 15 minutes before the next class was set to start.  That ended up being too late, and it meant that we had to wait another hour until the next class.  I suggested to the girls that we skip it, but they wanted to do it.  So, the new plan was to check out MouseGear for a bit, then come and wait for the next class.  And, that's what we did.

We came back about 45 minutes before the next class was set to start.  There were already 10-15 people in line, and I would guess that the class was full and the line cut by about 30 minutes before the class was going to start.  I am not sure if every day will be that busy, but it was on Saturday.

Here we go:

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We were big fans of the animation class when it was offered at Hollywood Studios.  Upon entering this room, it was obvious that this event was a less fancy version of that class.  In Hollywood Studios, they provided an 11 x 17 piece of paper and a fancy sketching pencil with no eraser.  Here, we got and 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper, and a number 2 pencil with the eraser pulled off:

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There were probably only 5 or 6 Castmember instructors who worked at the animation class in DHS, and we eventually got to know all of them.  We were hoping to see a familiar face here, but the instructor was not anyone we had seen before.  She was nice and friendly, though:

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Tabula rasa:

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The instructor wasn't like the instructors at the DHS animation class.  There were no helpful hints- we just dove right into drawing, and she went fast.  By the second or third step, I could see the train wreck coming:

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The instructor zipped through her drawing- telling us what to do along the way- again without any helpful hints:

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You can see the instructor's drawing up there on the screen- she drew a pretty good Daisy Duck:

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But I ended up with this:

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The twins didn't do as bad as I me.  Twin #1's is on the left, and Twin #2's is on the right in this photo:

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We all agreed that Twin #2 won this round.

The class was fun, and we probably try to do it again if we get the chance.  But, it's not as good as it was when it was offered at DHS.

Next on our agenda was a visit to the old Odyssey restaurant.  They are using it as the Festival headquarters, and there are some art exhibits in there that we wanted to see.

The first gallery of art we looked at in the Odyssey was about six or so paintings by Herbert Ryman.  You've probably seen his artwork around before- he's famous for creating a lot of the concept art for Epcot.  I'm pretty sure the mural that we had painted was based on one of his paintings.  The set-up for the gallery creates congestion,  and I wasn't able to get any good photos of the Ryman paintings.  But, there was more artwork on display inside the Odyssey, and this is art that you can buy. 

I don't know why, but I like to look at some of the expensive paintings that they have on display at these Festivals.  For example, here's one:

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Interesting, right?

But, I always wonder who would buy something like this, and where they would put it.  Especially when you look at the price tag:

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They have a poster that they're selling for the Festival.  I kind of like it.  But, it's $50 unframed:

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With Twin #2's 40% merchandise discount, it would only cost us $30 for one of those.  I thought about it, but I don't know where I'd display that if I had it.  So, we passed.  But, I still like it.

Let's look at a bit more art.  This is nice, right?:

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And, it's only $2900:

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I'm guessing that the Donald Duck in the British phone booth painting there on the end was painted by the same artist who painted the Goofy painting:

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Sorry, my photo of the price tag for the Donald painting is blurry, but I think it's also $6300:

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When we entered the Odyssey, there was a line of guests outside who were waiting for something.  They were all let in to be seated as we poked around inside:

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I am not sure how it works for these classes- whether you need to sign up ahead of time, or what.  I know at the Food and Wine and Flower and Garden Festival, there are a lot of classes that require payment and registration, but I'm not sure if this one did.  But, here's a free tip- you can see and hear everything from the back of the room if you want.

A little while after those guests were seated, a lady came out and welcomed them, and asked if they were ready to learn how to make chocolate fondue.  Cool, we all said to ourselves, we like chocolate fondue.  But, the lady was only making a joke, as she quickly corrected herself and said that she was there to teach everyone about aromatherapy.  That was nowhere near as interesting to us as chocolate fondue.

On the other side of the room from the Herbert Ryman display, they had a display of some of Mary Blair's artwork.  This was interesting to us all, as we've heard of her.  We know that she created the look of the Small World attraction, and that she designed the giant mural in the Grand Canyon Concourse of the Contemporary Resort.  But, none of us know much about who she was or how it was she came to work for Disney.

This sign at the beginning of the display tells a bit about her:

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I found this all very interesting.  Especially about how much Walt Disney liked her art.

It was the same deal in her gallery- very crowded.

And there was other art for sale on display near the Mary Blair gallery.

I liked this watercolor:

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But, I did not like the price:

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Twin #1 practically went nuts over this painting, as she does for any Jungle Cruise related item:

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I'd love to buy that painting for her, but the price is too rich for my blood:

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I thought that this wooden mosaic was cool:

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I failed in getting a photo of its price tag:

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Next on the agenda was to try one of the food items they were selling here at the Odyssey.  We didn't know this is where they were selling it, but there was one item that we had all agreed ahead of time that we were interesting in trying, and it was for sale here.  I have another batch of photos to share, so I'll share those in a new post, and start with the food item we got here.

TCD

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Late in 2016, Disney announced that there would be a new festival celebrated at Epcot. Initially, all we knew was that they were calling in the Epcot International Festival of the Arts, and that

Thanks for the trip report. We went to the festival on Monday, sunny and cool and uncrowded, a great day for walking around the World Showcase. We finally bought the David Doss print Fun at Fort Wilde

Do the Figment search, it's like the Easter Egg and Ratatouille but you have to go into the Pavilions/shops to find painting with Figment in them.  Takes longer then just walking thru the countries.

37 minutes ago, Seals said:

If you're going to talk about aromatherapy, why would you lead with chocolate fondue. You're just setting up your audience for a huge disappointment. 

I agree with Twin #1 about the Jungle Cruise painting. That's a lot of cute.

I'm sure all the people there knew that they were there for an aromatherapy presentation.  But, I didn't.  No one laughed at the aromatherapist's joke  But, she's an aromatherapist, not a comedian. 

I'll bet that artist sells prints of his watercolors.  I'm going to look into it for Twin #1.

26 minutes ago, Travisma said:

Are you hinting at the flight of Donuts?

Yes.

8 minutes ago, Beckers said:

I'm in!

Good!

By the way, I was wondering about the classes they offer in the Odyssey Center.  It turns out that they have a mixture of presentations- some are free, and some you pay a fee for.  The aromatherapy one was free.

Here's what was scheduled for Saturday:

Saturday, January 21, 2017

  • Watercolor Love
    Rachelle Eason, BoiLedBooks
    Odyssey Festival Showplace
    Workshop begins at 11:00 AM
    $39 per person plus tax
    Perfect blending techniques for watercolor painting.

 

  • Watermelon Carving
    Lisa Rios, Chef Assistant, Disney’s Park Event Operations
    Odyssey Festival Showplace
    Seminar starts at 1:30 PM
    Take away tips and tricks on artfully carving a watermelon!

 

  • Aromatherapy
    Jennifer Pressimone, JennScents
    Odyssey Festival Showplace
    Seminar starts at 4:30 PM
    Learn the art of blending essential oils with pro tips and techniques.

 

  • Origami Class
    Garden Deck at the Japan Pavilion, World Showcase
    Outdoor session starts at 1:30 PM
    Disney Cast Members teach origami and explain Japan’s cultural arts.

 

  • Anime Drawing Class
    Garden Deck at the Japan Pavilion, World Showcase
    Outdoor session starts at 2:30 PM
    Disney Cast Members teach anime-style drawing and explain Japan’s cultural arts.

 

  • Kagami Biraki
    Courtyard at the Japan Pavilion, World Showcase
    Outdoor sessions start at 4:30 PM
    Enjoy Iwaizake (celebratory sake) and learn about “breaking the barrel.”

 

  • Calligraphy
    Courtyard at the Japan Pavilion, World Showcase
    Outdoor sessions start at 4:45 PM
    Disney Cast Members teach Japanese calligraphy.

The schedule for the remaining weekends is here: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/epcot/epcot-international-festival-of-the-arts-seminars-workshops/

TCD

 

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8 minutes ago, Beckers said:

Did the person who taught the animation class tell you what their normal job was? It is a shame it wasn't as helpful as the old classes. Some people just aren't meant to be teaching.

No she didn't. She seemed to be a pretty good artist though.  I think they have an animation class that they offer at the Art of Animation Resort.  We figured that she might be from there.

She was very nice- but she just didn't offer the helpful hints that the instructors at DHS used to- like how to hold the pencil, and how to use your shoulder joint rather than your elbow to draw your initial circle, how to turn your pencil sideways to shade in the drawing- stuff like that. She just would say stuff like draw a circle, then draw an oval, then draw a half circle, etc.  No real help about where to locate the item, or how big/small to make it.  Like I said, it was fun, but not as fun as it was at DHS.

TCD

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2 hours ago, mmfancipher said:

I'm in!

 

Also, I have to admit that I like Test Track v2.  Haven't seen the new Soarin film.

 

Thanks for posting a comment!  It's always good to hear that people are reading along.

Out of curiosity, are you saying that you like TT 2.0 better than the original?  What is it about the new version that makes it better than the original, in your opinion?  Personally, I liked the original version much better.

1 hour ago, GaDawgFan.....Kelly said:

I'm in! And we're heading this this festival in a few weeks! I've heard that they're going to replace the mural with a new one every time it gets full. It's on my list of things to do. That and of course, EAT! 

It makes sense that they'll just slap up a new mural when needed.  I really want to see what a completed one looks like, though.  I have a hard time believing that it's going to look all that good.

We didn't eat a lot of the food- but what we did try was very good.  I am hoping to get back there for another visit before it ends.

38 minutes ago, Travisma said:

Do the Figment search, it's like the Easter Egg and Ratatouille but you have to go into the Pavilions/shops to find painting with Figment in them.  Takes longer then just walking thru the countries.

We have never paid for one of these hunts.  What is the "gift" they give for completing this one?

11 minutes ago, YJeepgirl32 said:

Wahoo I love reports!!! Helps the time pass for our trip which is only 177 days away and will be our first trip to the Fort!!! Thanks for sharing TCD- love your reports. 

Thanks.  I hope that the 177 days goes fast!

So that puts you in the middle of July?

I hope you're camping in something with a good air conditioner!

TCD

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7 minutes ago, momof3kids-Yvonne said:

I'm in. The animation class would stress me out. I wish I could take Jessica to this festival. She would love it. Food and art two of her favorite things.

I think anyone who has a love of art would love this festival!  They are calling it the inaugural festival, and based on how attendance has been for the first two weekends, it looks like they may have a hit on their hands with this one.  If they do it again, you should try and figure out a way to get your daughter there!

TCD

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17 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

I think anyone who has a love of art would love this festival!  They are calling it the inaugural festival, and based on how attendance has been for the first two weekends, it looks like they may have a hit on their hands with this one.  If they do it again, you should try and figure out a way to get your daughter there!

TCD

And they are being generous with their weekend definition.  They include Friday and Monday.

Go a Lucite framed painting, about 2X4 size, like a big refrigerator magnet.

 

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I've got a few more photos to share from our afternoon visit to the festival, and that will be it for now.  I hope to get back there before it ends, though.

We left off with us checking out the galleries in the Odyssey building, and hearing the beginning of the aromatherapy presentation.  Had we wanted to, we could have stood in the back and listened to the presentation, but it wasn't something that we were particularly interested in.

I hadn't looked at the schedule for the presentations they're doing in the Odyssey Center, but I wouldn't mind attending some of them.  The watermelon carving one was probably interesting.  It's cool that they are including such a big variety of presentations, and that most of them appear to be free.  The Odyssey Center location is much more convenient to visit than the old Wonders of Life pavilion that they use as the headquarters for the Food and Wine and Flower and Garden Festivals.  Plus, it's always interesting to me to get to visit a space that is normally off limits to guests.

We had done a bit of research about the food being offered at the festival, and we all agreed that we were interested in the cronut trio.  Again, we weren't sure where it was being served, but we saw people with them at the Odyssey pavilion, so we figured this must be the place.  We were right, here's the menu for what they were serving here:

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A closer look:

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I think guests have been uncertain about what's being served at each location.  I noticed that they had samples on display at some of the food booths, and they had samples out here too:

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That's the cronuts, flatbread, the dessert palette, and another one of those fake pop tarts.  I didn't know they had the fake pop tarts at more than one booth.

We tried the cronuts- I don't have a photo of ours, but our serving looked exactly like the sample.  We were all surprised by how much we liked  all of them!  It's an expensive item, but we all got a couple of bites out of each cronut, so it wasn't as skimpy a serving as it appears.  We also tried the strawberry beer, since it's from a brewery near us.  I didn't notice the Neapolitan beer flight on the menu until after we ordered our single beer.  It would have been fun to try all three of those beers together, and we all thought it was a clever collection of beers.  However, the strawberry beer didn't have any detectible strawberry taste (or even smell), so maybe it wouldn't have been so fun after all.

On this trip, the only festival food we sampled was the fake pop tarts and the cronuts.  We liked what we had.  If you want to know more about all of the food offerings, you should check out the Disney Food Blog- they have photos and descriptions of everything: http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2017-epcot-international-festival-of-the-arts/

My general observation about the food is that it is all more expensive than what they've served at the Food and Wine and Flower and Garden Festivals, but the servings are a bit larger, and they are definitely fancier offerings.

We were told to show up at the America stage for the Broadway show 15 minutes before show time.  So, it was already time for us to start heading that way.  We exited the Odyssey pavilion, and started around the World Showcase the Mexico way.

It was a beautiful Florida winter afternoon- the temperature was in the high 70's, and it was breezy.  I really enjoy walking around Epcot on days like that.

Since this was a Saturday, and a Festival was going on, we expected to see some drunk groups with matching t-shirts.  But, we only saw two.  Both were groups of women.  One group was camped off to the side of the China pavilion, and they looked whipped.  And it wasn't even 5 o'clock yet.  The other group must have started later. They had t-shirts with a Disney font that said "Just Drunk."  We didn't get it.  I thought it might be a bridal party, and the "Just Drunk" was a play on "Just Married," but the twins didn't think so.  They didn't have another explanation for what the shirts were supposed to mean.  Does anyone?

There was a very large group of Brazilians in Epcot that afternoon. But, it was older Brazilians, and they were spread out in smaller groups.  We heard no chanting.

There were display tents all along the walkway around the World Showcase.  We kind of looked at them as we walked around.  It seemed like everything on display was Disney related art.  It would be fun to stop and look at some of the tents, but we didn't have time for that at the moment. 

Near Germany, we came across this random artist creating with chalk:

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We watched her for a couple of minutes.  It was interesting to watch her go.

We didn't see any other artists in action that day, but I imagine they were around.  I also should have mentioned that there were performers on the stage behind the big fountain on the main walkway, and we also saw some "living statues" on display there.  I thought it was great that these small displays of various art forms were scattered around Epcot for guests to stumble upon.

I took this photo just to show what a beautiful day it was:

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Just before we reached the America pavilion, we encountered one of the Festival photo ops.  I don't remember them having anything like this for the other Epcot Festivals, so this was fun, and none of them had long lines:

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This is great for passholders since we get "free" photopass photos:

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We knew that there was a photopass backdrop like this one that depicts the painting of Washington crossing the Delaware, and we figured it must be right around the America pavilion.  We were going to look for that before reporting to be seated for the 5:30 show, but as we approached the stage at 5, we could see that they had already begun seating guests, and it looked like all the seats were taken!

Not cool.

We were told to not show up until 5:15, and our tickets said we had guaranteed seating.

But, it looked like we were too late.

We headed to where we were supposed to report- on the Japan side of the theater- and there was a CM there checking for those with reserved seating stickers.  But, it looked like we were out of luck:

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It turns out I was worried for no reason.  There was a large section right in the middle of the theater that they were holding for us.  These were probably the best seats we have had for anything in this theater:

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We were in front of those dumb trees they have in the seating area, so our view was unobstructed, except for the fat head of the guy in front of me.  We had a nice breeze here, and it was very pleasant to sit and look at our view of the stage and World Showcase:

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I guess this would be a good time for me to disclose that I am an uncultured swine.  I hadn't actually paid attention to who it was that we were going to see perform today, and even if I had, it wouldn't have made any difference to me, since I don't know anything about Broadway.  I've been to New York City many times, but I've never attended the theater there.  Over the years, Mrs. TCD has dragged me to our local performing arts centers to see some touring productions of various plays, but it's not my thing, and I have avoided that kind of thing as much as possible.  Some of you may recall an incident which has become a family legend when I took my oldest DD to see Les Mis when we were in London, and I thought that the play was over and that we could leave when it was really only the intermission. 

I was only here because all of the TCD girls take after their mother, and are pretty classy.  I don't know why, but the twins love Broadway, especially when it's Disney related.  Still, since I was about to see a show, I figured I'd take a look at the program.

As you can see, the way this is set up, they have the same performers for two weekends, and we would be listening to Ashley Brown and Josh Strickland:

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I had never heard of either of them.

The show started right at 5:30 with a live ensemble.  Ashley and Josh came right out, introduced themselves, and launched right into singing two songs from Beauty and the Beast.  The first song was the title song.  The second song, I had never heard before.  After it was finished, Josh and Ashley explained a bit about how Alan Menken, the original composer, had written several new songs for the Broadway production, and how Beauty and the Beast was Disney's first Broadway play, and ran successfully on Broadway for 13 years.  I didn't know that.

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In between songs, the singers told us about how Alan Menken had been hired to write the music for the Little Mermaid, and started what is now known as the Disney Renaissance- he also worked on Aladdin, Hunchback, and a lot more Disney movies and plays.

After Beauty and the Beast, Josh sang some songs from Tarzan.  He was the original actor who played Tarzan on Broadway.  He was a great singer.

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Then we heard a couple of songs from the Little Mermaid.

Next, Josh told us that Ashley was the original Mary Poppins on Broadway, and she sang a couple of songs from that play:

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To my surprise, I really enjoyed all of this.  It was cool that we got to hear the original actors from the Broadway productions perform their songs.  They were both great singers, and the band was very good too.  It is enjoyable to listen to people with such talent.

During their presentation, Josh and Ashley made a point about how this is the first time Disney has hosted a Festival of the Arts like this- where the focus is on visual, culinary and performing arts.  It was here that I finally understood what this Festival was all about.  Before then, it seemed like a lot of random things, but now I see where they're going with this- it's about celebrating all forms of art.

Over the course of the half hour, Josh and Ashley did a pretty good job of providing the history of Disney on Broadway.  That led in to a discussion of the next big production: Frozen.  And, they couldn't leave without singing that song:

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You know what?

I didn't hate it.

I have been over Frozen for a long time now.  It's not that I hate it- it's just that there's too much of it in the parks at the expense of other great Disney franchises. 

But, I think this will be a huge success on Broadway.

That whole presentation lasted just a half an hour.  Which was just right for me.

There are four weeks left of the Festival now, and there will be two different performers next weekend, and then two new ones the weekend after that.

I wish I could see them all.

But, I'll be glad if I can get back one more time.

We will have to do standby though.

After the show, it was time for dinner.

We had agreed earlier to just do the Japan quick serve, and that's what we did.

We saw a drunk Viking and Canadian inside:

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  It was a nice night to sit outside, and we got a nice table on the deck in the gardens.  It was very nice.

After dinner, we proceeded around the World Showcase, and ran into a familiar face at one of the booths.  The man seated on the left was one of the CM's who worked in the Animation Academy at DHS- Brian- he was working here on personalized signs:

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As we walked along here, we saw all kinds of other booths with art- there was a whole David Doss tent, and a tent full of Star Wars art.  We definitely could have spent some more time looking at everything they had on display.  I hope to get back to do that.

On our way through France, we stopped and took care of something that I had promised the girls years ago- I told them that when they turned 21, I would buy them their first Grand Mariner slushee in France.  They turned 21 in May, and we have been to Epcot since then, but there has always been such a long line at the slushee booth.  There was a long line tonight, but we waited on it, and finally checked that off the list.  The bad news for me is that they really liked them!

From there, we continued our walk around the World Showcase.  At the base of the bridge near France, we ran into a friendly CM who was guarding one of the private VIP viewing areas.  He saw our stickers and asked how we liked the Broadway show.  We chatted with him a bit and told him how much we liked it.  He then told us if we were staying for Illuminations, we should come back and see him, and he would allow us into the VIP area.  Unfortunately, we were planning to get out of Epcot ahead of the mobs, so we had to decline.

Our last stop was the Land, where we cashed in our Soarin' FP's that I had made us the night before.  One good thing about the Frozen ride is that both TT and Soarin' FP's seem to be more available than they used to be.

For the first time, we sat in one of the side sections for Soarin, and personally got to see the distortion of the Eiffel Tower.  Boy, did someone goof on that .

We headed on out, and got out of Epcot ahead of the mobs.

Twin #2 headed to her apartment, and Twin #1 arrived back home by 10 pm.

It was a fun afternoon.

This Festival of the Arts was more fun for us than the Food and Wine or Flower and Garden Festivals.  The Food and Wine has gotten too wild and crowded, and the food offerings haven't changed much lately.  The Flower and Garden Festival is nice, but after a while, it gets boring looking at flowers and topiaries. The food there is too focused on including plants and flowers, and also hasn't changed much since they started it.  The Art Festival has a lot more interesting things to see and do, and the food offerings are very unique. 

The bottom line is that was all enjoyed the Art Festival way more than any of us expected to.

Hopefully, I'll have some more photos and content to add to this report before the Festival is over.

TCD

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3 hours ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Thanks for posting a comment!  It's always good to hear that people are reading along.

Out of curiosity, are you saying that you like TT 2.0 better than the original?  What is it about the new version that makes it better than the original, in your opinion?  Personally, I liked the original version much better.

It makes sense that they'll just slap up a new mural when needed.  I really want to see what a completed one looks like, though.  I have a hard time believing that it's going to look all that good.

We didn't eat a lot of the food- but what we did try was very good.  I am hoping to get back there for another visit before it ends.

We have never paid for one of these hunts.  What is the "gift" they give for completing this one?

Thanks.  I hope that the 177 days goes fast!

So that puts you in the middle of July?

I hope you're camping in something with a good air conditioner!

TCD

I liked the designing a car part.  Making it as unrealistic as we could and then having the competition with me and my son on one team and my brother-in-law and daughter on 

the other team to see which car was "better".  It was fun.

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9 minutes ago, mmfancipher said:

I liked the designing a car part.  Making it as unrealistic as we could and then having the competition with me and my son on one team and my brother-in-law and daughter on 

the other team to see which car was "better".  It was fun.

Thanks for explaining that.  My girls like the designing a car part too.  I think it's a waste of time.

Seeing how the designs do against each other is fun- if it works.  Our experience is that it doesn't work a lot more than it does.  So, I say phooey to that.

I liked the old ride- with the brakes going whacky, the acid room, the frozen room, etc.

TCD

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4 hours ago, Travisma said:

And they are being generous with their weekend definition.  They include Friday and Monday.

Go a Lucite framed painting, about 2X4 size, like a big refrigerator magnet.

 

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Good job with the photo.

How many of those did you get?

Figment must have a new agent! He's all over the place at this Festival.

TCD

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On 1/24/2017 at 10:59 AM, Tri-Circle-D said:

Since this was a Saturday, and a Festival was going on, we expected to see some drunk groups with matching t-shirts.  But, we only saw two.  Both were groups of women.  One group was camped off to the side of the China pavilion, and they looked whipped.  And it wasn't even 5 o'clock yet.  The other group must have started later. They had t-shirts with a Disney font that said "Just Drunk."  We didn't get it.  I thought it might be a bridal party, and the "Just Drunk" was a play on "Just Married," but the twins didn't think so.  They didn't have another explanation for what the shirts were supposed to mean.  Does anyone?

TCD

Having been a lot of marriages lately I can answer the "Just Drunk" shirts.  The bride should have been wearing a shirt that said "Drunk In Love" then all of the bridesmaids wear "Just Drunk" pretty funny but I guess you have to see all the shirts for it to make sense.  

 

Great trip report as always TCD, thank you for posting, I'm glad to hear the festival is a hit, I for one like the idea of different festivals through out the year.

Please keep posting there are definitely people reading them!

WBI

 

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On ‎1‎/‎24‎/‎2017 at 2:50 PM, GaDawgFan.....Kelly said:

Now I'm even more excited about the festival!

I hope that you have a great time!

Make sure to catch the Broadway show.

23 hours ago, Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie said:

Great report!  I am very disappointed we had to cancel our trip and miss this event, I was really looking forward to it. Thanks for sharing your take and photos. I love enjoying Disney through your eyes.

I'm sorry you had to cancel your trip, too.  I hope that you get back to the Fort soon!

17 hours ago, WannaBeImagineer said:

Having been a lot of marriages lately I can answer the "Just Drunk" shirts.  The bride should have been wearing a shirt that said "Drunk In Love" then all of the bridesmaids wear "Just Drunk" pretty funny but I guess you have to see all the shirts for it to make sense.  

Great trip report as always TCD, thank you for posting, I'm glad to hear the festival is a hit, I for one like the idea of different festivals through out the year.

Please keep posting there are definitely people reading them!

WBI

Thanks, Nick.  I think that's exactly what those ladies were doing.

In fact, I found a seller on etsy who sells those shirts:

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It would have made more sense to me if the Bride was with them!  All I saw was a bunch of women with "Just Drunk" shirts, and I was clueless.

I was against these added festivals, but I liked what they did for the Christmas holiday, and I like this one too!

I hope that you will be able to make it to one.

TCD

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