Month: January 2018

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – A post today on the Disney Parks Blog announced that the very popular Easter Egg Hunt is returning to Epcot for the last two weeks of March.

As reported in the blog: “…Our popular Egg-stravaganza scavenger hunt is coming back to the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival and we have first details on this springtime egg-sperience as well as an ALL-NEW Spike the Honey Bee scavenger hunt. 

From March 16 through April 1, guests visiting the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival can participate in our Egg-stravaganza scavenger hunt – hunting high and low in World Showcase for “eggs” that portray favorite Disney characters.

As you find the hidden Disney Character-themed “eggs” in the park, you record your discoveries by placing a corresponding sticker on a specially themed Egg-stravaganza map. Maps and stickers can be purchased for $5.99, plus tax at the following parks and locations:

• Disney Trader
• Pin Central
• World Traveler

When you find all of the “eggs” and complete your scavenger hunt map, you then return it to Disney Traders for a sp-egg-tacular surprise.

Also, along with our egg-cellent adventure, we’re featuring a new springtime scavenger hunt called Spike’s Pollen Nation Exploration. In this hunt, Disney’s favorite honey bee, Spike, has been pollinating his way around the festival, giving gardeners of any age the chance to follow his pollination trail around World Showcase at Epcot.

It’s easy to start this new scavenger hunt. Just pick up a garden map and stickers at Port of Entry. Then, it’s time to look for Spike!

As you explore the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival, be on the lookout for Spike as he pollinates Epcot’s gardens. In each garden, you’ll have to search for the plant Spike has pollinated, identifiable by Spike himself and a Spike’s Pollen Nation Exploration plant stake. Once you find him, add the corresponding sticker to your map.

After your journey is complete, return your map for a springtime surprise.

Maps and stickers for Spike’s Pollen Nation Exploration can be purchased for $5.99, plus tax at Port of Entry.

Remember, when planning for your next Disney Vacation, Griswold’s Magical Memories offers the lowest prices available on rental of Deluxe Disney Vacation Club Villas at savings that are often more than 50% less than booking directly through Disney Central Reservations. Take a look at examples of actual savings our Vacationers have enjoyed, and then submit your Free, No Obligation Reservation Request Form today!

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Expanding on its 2017 debut, the 2018 Epcot International Festival of the Arts at Walt Disney World Resort is presenting a daily, multifaceted celebration of art in many forms now through Feb. 19.

Five new Food Studios have debuted at the festival this year, giving park guests an expanded selection of creative and delicious new tastes to savor at a total of 13 Food Studios around the World Showcase promenade.

The 2018 festival, growing from last year’s long-weekend event schedule, will expand to seven days a week, with the popular Disney on Broadway Concert Series returning Fridays through Mondays. Also back by popular demand will be the festival’s artful cuisine, exhibits, seminars, workshops, performance art and interactive fun ranging from innovative photo ops and hands-on mural painting to drawing and food-styling classes.

As Epcot guests explore the world of talent surrounding them, they also can tempt their palates with culinary work-of-art creations at the festival’s Food Studios. Enticing tastes at stops around the World Showcase promenade will include photo-worthy fan favorites like pan-seared scallops with chorizo and roasted red pepper coulis at The Artist’s Table; wild mushroom risotto from Masterpiece Kitchen; a trio of savory doughnuts from The Painter’s Palate; plus decadent dessert delights and beverage standouts like the Pomegranate Mule featuring Van Gogh Vodka.

New Studios this year will be located at the following areas: France (“L’Art de la Cuisine Française” or “The Art of French Cooking”), Morocco (“Mosaic Canteen”), Japan (“Takumi Table”), Italy (“L’Arte di Mangiare” or “The Art of Eating”) and China (“The Painted Panda”).  A complete list of Food Studios and menus are at The Culinary Arts: Food Studios.

Daily events will include complimentary seminars at the Odyssey Festival Showplace such as “Trailblazing Ladies of Disney Animation,” and interactive workshops ($39) like “Sculpting a Mixed Media Action Figure.”

Each Friday through Monday, the hottest show at Epcot – Disney on Broadway Concert Series – will showcase the stellar talents of performers from award-winning Disney on Broadway musicals. Here’s the lineup:

• January 22: Jenn Gambatese Kara Lindsay (NEW!) and Kevin Massey Jan. 22, who will perform songs from “Tarzan,” “Aladdin,” “Newsies” and “Frozen.”
• January 26-29 and February 2-5: Kissy Simmons and Alton Fitzgerald White will perform songs from “Tarzan,” “The Lion King,” “Aida,” “Aladdin” and “The Little Mermaid.”
• February 9-12 and 16-19: Ashley Brown and Josh Strickland will perform songs from “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Tarzan,” “Mary Poppins,” “Newsies” and “Frozen.”

All Disney on Broadway shows are included in theme park admission and will take place Fridays through Mondays at 5:30, 6:45 and 8 p.m. Broadway fans can book dining packages that include guaranteed seating for one of the three evening shows.

Throughout the festival, guests can get their art on by:

• Joining in the fun of “Figment’s Brush with the Masters” Scavenger Hunt
• Popping into the frame of a masterpiece for a cleverly artful photo op (think DaVinci’s “Mona Lisa,” Leutze’s “Washington Crossing the Delaware” or new this year, Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus”!)
• Watching new gravity-defying feats of strength and acrobatics featured among the festival’s scheduled performing arts
• Discovering authentic cultural artifacts along the World Showcase Art Walk – look for the Art Palette near each highlighted work of art at each country represented
• Marveling at exhibits showcasing works by iconic Disney artists, the new Chalk Gallery, the American Heritage Gallery and more
• Viewing some of 50-plus visiting artists at work and taking a drawing class at the Animation Academy
• Wielding a paintbrush to put their mark on the Hands-on-Wall Mural at World Showcase Plaza

The Disney on Broadway Concert Series Dining Packages, available at five participating Epcot restaurants, can be booked now online at Disneyworld.com or by calling (407) WDW-DINE or (407) 939-7463.

To book a seminar or workshop, guests can call (407) WDW-TOUR or visit the Odyssey Festival Showplace during the festival.

 

Remember, when planning for your next Disney Vacation, Griswold’s Magical Memories offers the lowest prices available on rental of Deluxe Disney Vacation Club Villas at savings that are often more than 50% less than booking directly through Disney Central Reservations. Take a look at examples of actual savings our Vacationers have enjoyed, and then submit your Free, No Obligation Reservation Request Form today!

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Disney guests will be working their way back through five decades of hit tunes slated to rock the 25^th Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival between March 2 and May 28 during the Garden Rocks Concert Series.  The festival, which runs 90 days from Feb. 28-May 28, 2018, will showcase performers every Friday through Monday.

Fan favorites Night Ranger (“Sister Christian”) will open the series March 2-5, and The Spinners, known for “Working My Way Back To You,” will wrap the concert schedule May 25-28.  Several new bands will perform at Epcot for the first time: Foghat (“Slow Ride”); Smash Mouth (“All Star”); Lonestar (“Amazed”); and Don Felder, formerly of The Eagles (“Hotel California”). Other bands new to the Garden Rocks series will be Rick Springfield (“Jessie’s Girl”), Survivor (“Eye of the Tiger”) and Jo Dee Messina (“Stand Beside Me”).

Guests can dance in their seats each festival weekend to classic tunes at the park’s outdoor America Gardens Theatre overlooking the World Showcase Lagoon.  An eclectic mix of fan favorites includes 1960s icons Herman’s Hermits starring Peter Noone, ’70s-’80s chart-toppers The Village People and new-millennium hit-makers Simple Plan.

Performances are at America Gardens Theatre at 5:30, 6:45 and 8 p.m. every Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday of the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival and are included with Epcot admission. Here is this year’s lineup (subject to change without notice):

March 2-5                    Night Ranger “Sister Christian”

March 9-12                  STARSHIP starring Mickey Thomas “We Built This City”

March 16-19                Simple Plan “Welcome to My Life”

March 23-26                Little River Band “Reminiscing”

March 30-April 2        The Orchestra starring members of ELO “Evil Woman”

April 6-7                      Foghat (NEW!) “Slow Ride”

April 8-9                      Survivor (NEW to Garden Rocks!) “Eye of the Tiger”

April 13-14                  Smash Mouth (NEW to Garden Rocks!) “All Star”

April 15-16                  Rick Springfield (NEW to Garden Rocks!) “Jessie’s Girl”

April 20-21                  Jo Dee Messina (NEW!) “Stand Beside Me”

April 22-23                  Lonestar (NEW!) “Amazed”

April 27-30                  Blood, Sweat and Tears featuring Bo Bice “Spinning Wheel”

May 4-7                       Herman’s Hermits w/Peter Noone “I’m Henry VIII, I Am”

May 11-12                   Village People “Y.M.C.A.”

May 13-14                   Don Felder of The Eagles (NEW!) “Hotel California”

May 18-21                   The Guess Who “American Woman”

May 25-28                   The Spinners “Working My Way Back to You”

 

Remember, when planning for your next Disney Vacation, Griswold’s Magical Memories offers the lowest prices available on rental of Deluxe Disney Vacation Club Villas at savings that are often more than 50% less than booking directly through Disney Central Reservations. Take a look at examples of actual savings our Vacationers have enjoyed, and then submit your Free, No Obligation Reservation Request Form today!