7 Things You Don’t Want To Miss At EPCOT’s World Showcase

By: Alexandra Blazevich

Epcot’s World Showcase has recently become my favorite Walt Disney World destination. Between the food, entertainment, and general atmosphere that make it easy to travel the world in a day, it just cannot be beat. Here are a few of my favorite parts of world showcase that you and your family just won’t want to miss!

7) Agent P’s World Showcase adventure:

This “must do” was made for kids, but I’m not the one to judge for those adults who want to participate. Agent Perry (from Phineas and Ferb on television’s Disney Channel) has hit Epcot and is ready for an adventure. With an electronic mobile-phone type of device, he will guide you all around World Showcase. By searching for specific sites at each pavilion, you’ll unlock exciting secrets to each country! This adventure is wonderful for kids who complain that Epcot is “boring.” Now they can explore all the countries have to offer around World Showcase and see the pavilions in a whole new way!

6) Candlelight Processional:

Every winter around Christmastime, various celebrities are brought into Epcot at the America pavilion for the Candlelight Processional. This extra special event is not to be missed. Some of the celebrities who have spoken in past years include Whoopi Goldberg, Neil Patrick Harris, and Steven Curtis Chapman. These familiar faces, along with a large choir, tell the story of Christmas with music. It is truly a magical event you will love and want to keep coming back to each year. Dining packages are also offered in conjunction with this event, where special seating is saved in advance, and dining is discounted. Anyone can watch this event and it does not require extra admission fees.

5) International Food and Wine Festival:

Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival, held annually in the fall months around World Showcase, is one event you definitely won’t want to miss. During this several month-long festival, dishes from around the world, in addition to the eleven countries already a part of World Showcase, are sold a la carte for you to sample. Foods and beverages native to places as local as Florida, all the way across the world to Australia can be found here in this foodie festival. The best part of this event is that it’s included in your park admission! No extra fees are required to enjoy the park, and satisfy your stomach.

4) Flower and Garden Festival:

For those of you with a green thumb, or those who just love beauty, Epcot’s Flower and Garden Festival is for you! Each spring, Epcot blossoms with gardens, flowers, and topiaries that bring life throughout the entire park. My personal favorite view of this festival is from the bridge you walk on from Future World to World Showcase. While walking you take in the picturesque view of colorful fields of flowers that will, without a doubt, make your jaw drop. (I have to be honest… mine does every time.)

3) Canada Pavilion:

When you walk up to the Canada pavilion in World Showcase, you can’t look over the gorgeous walk-through gardens. Colorful flowers, trees, and grasses are planted along the landscape in a lovely fashion. They’re a beautiful recreation of the Butchart Gardens native to Victoria, Canada, along with many other aspects of the pavilion that make it purely Canadian.

2) Entertainment:

Each pavilion has its own set of performers, including musical, acrobatic, comedic acts. These acts are currently in a process of being changed, but as far as news goes, a lumberjack show is coming to Canada, and a new flag waving act in Italy. Part of walt Disney’s goal of world showcase was to immerse you in the culture and customs of far-off places, and getting to watch and participate in acts from these countries is just the way to do it!

1) The sunset/Illuminations:

My personal favorite part of a day in Epcot is watching the sunset. A Floridian sunset is hard to beat, and being in Disney World just makes it that much better. Picture this: you’ve just finished dinner at a restaurant in World Showcase and you grab a glass of wine from Italy or some ice cream from France and pop a squat on a park bench around the World Showcase Lagoon. As you sit there enjoying your dessert, you watch the sun fade into the horizon. Later, you watch the sky light up again with Illuminations: Reflections of Earth, Epcot’s firework spectacular. I can’t think of a better way to finish a Disney day.