Yesterday my family ventured to my favorite park at Walt Disney World – Epcot. This enormous amusement park offers delicious cuisine from around the world, teaches children (and adults!) about other cultures through hands-on experiences, and offers a glimpse into the future. With one day to explore, we only had time to visit these attractions that we love the most.
World Showcase
While we didn’t get a chance to visit all 11 countries in the World Showcase, we did get to experience a few favorites. In France we sampled drinks (wine for the grown-ups and chocolate milk for the kids), in the United Kingdom we ran through a hedge maze and listened to a live performance by The British Invasion (a Beatles cover band), and in Japan we watched Taiko drummers energetically pounding drums in unison.
Food! Glorious Food!
At other parks you might want to skip sit-down meals in favor of squeezing in more 
time for rides and shows, but food is part of the fun in Epcot! Be sure to make reservations online or by phone with Disney Dining before leaving home since the most popular restaurants book up well in advance especially during the summer and other popular travel times. Our lunch at the San Angel Inn Restaurante in Mexico and dinner at Le Cellier Steakhouse in Canada left me with a full belly and a yearning to return.
Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros
This ride is similar to the Magic Kingdom’s It’s A Small World, with a Mexican flair. Both my preschooler son and kindergartner daughter begged to ride this again. Since there was no line, we were allowed to stay in our boat for another journey through Mexico.
The Seas with Nemo & Friends
This was my daughter’s favorite ride last year when we visited Epcot and it remained so on this trip. Take a journey with Nemo, Marlin, Dori and other familiar sea creatures on a clam shell through the ocean. Images from Finding Nemo are projected amongst real-live fish in a giant aquarium.
Club Cool
This little-known attraction isn’t even featured on the Epcot map, but is worth visiting for your fill of free unusual Coca-Cola beverages from around the world. My non-soda-drinking children aren’t fond of carbonation so their beverage of choice was the non-bubbly VegetaBeta from Japan. This fruity drink is supposedly supplemented with vitamins, so I let my fruit-and-veggie-hating son refill his mini cup several times.
Spaceship Earth
We had never ridden Spaceship Earth before but it is now a new family favorite! This is the attraction located inside the huge silver sphere for which Epcot is so famous. You travel through time, learning about how human civilization has evolved from cavemen to scholars, inventors, and space explorers. The animatronic characters were amazingly realistic. A little electronic questionnaire at the end results in a personalized video story about you and your travel mates with photos of your party taken aboard the ride!
Disclosure: My family received complimentary park hopper tickets from Walt Disney World. I always provide my honest opinion, no matter who’s paying!
Blogger Malise Terrell will visit Kissimmee next week! Want to share your Kissimmee story? 
We didn’t make it to Epcot last week. Next time! (I’m hungry reading this post….)
Kara – I’m already day dreaming about which Epcot restaurants to choose on our next trip!
Epcot is my favorite park at DisneyWorld. The casual air means less stress than the other parks. It’s great to see the rides they have added over the years. The little known “hidden” access to get on the Nemo ride was a fun discovery.
Epcot is my favorite park at DisneyWorld. The casual air means less stress than the other parks. The little known “hidden” access to get on the Nemo ride was a fun discovery.
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