With the Epcot Festival of the Arts coming to an end, I thought I would share my highlights and lowlights from my visits to the festival. This is an amazing festival and I still didn’t get to experience everything that I had hoped to do. There’s always next year…
Figment Annual Passholder Magnet
This might seem like a silly thing, but I was beyond excited when it was announced that Figment would grace this festival’s complimentary annual pass holder magnet. I could be wrong, but I believe this is the first character to be featured on an annual passholder magnet that was not part of the fab five. It’s a great souvenir and I hope Disney continues to offer this to passholders.
Live Entertainment
There really is a whole lot to see and no way to do it all. From live statues to Broadway musical performances, the Festival of the Arts has something for everyone’s taste. I particularly enjoyed watching the dynamic live painting and other artistic demonstration. I also enjoyed hearing music from one of my all time favorite musicals, Newsies.
Pixie Dust Graffiti Art
All around the World Showcase, someone decided to sprinkle the walls with a little bit of extra artistic pixie dust. You can look for Abu in Morocco, Pascal in Germany and Timon at the Outpost. Just to name a few… I’m a HUGE fan of scavenger hunts and since all of the paintings in Figment’s Brush with the Master’s were in the same spots again, this gave us another challenge as we made our way around the World Showcase.
Hands on Activities
Between the classes offered and the other activities (like the paint by numbers mural), we had plenty of opportunities to show off our artistic side. I only wish we had more time (and money) to do more of these offerings.
Art History and Photo Ops
One of the displays/galleries that I really enjoyed in the Odyssey Festival Showplace was about the different artists and artistic movements that inspired various Disney animation. It was interesting to learn how Disney pulled from German Expressionism in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and the Harlem Renaissance in the Princess and the Frog. And if learning about German Expressionism isn’t enough, you could always put yourself into Edvard Munch’s famous painting, The Scream.
Shopping
We found lots of great Disney and non-Disney inspired artwork up for sale. While the majority of it was way out of my price ranged, I still enjoyed going to the various booths and admiring the talent and skills. Many of the artists were there to talk about their artwork too. In addition to original and reproduction art, the festival also provided opportunities to design your own Festival of the Arts t-shirt, which I thought was pretty awesome.
Food and Drink
Lastly, the food booths (which have become standard fare at all of the Epcot festivals) were back for the Festival of the Arts. This was my least favorite part of the festival. I do appreciate the creativity involved in making these dishes. However, I think they could be doing a better job accommodating people with special dietary needs. One of the biggest issues that I noticed is that some items that appeared vegetarian lacked that “v” symbol telling me that an item was safe to eat. This meant that I had to wait in line just to see if it was okay for me to eat it. If the line was too long, I would just skip it because I had other things to see and do. I believe people on a gluten-free or vegan diet might be encountering some of these issues as well. It would be nice if Disney could provide a place where allergy friendly menus or passports were available to park goers who needed them.
Final Impressions
Overall, this is one of my favorite festivals. I think I like it because it isn’t just about the food. It’s packed with so much to see and do! I can’t wait for next year and highly recommend others to attend.
