Getting into the Holiday spirit at Epcot!

Happy Holidays! 

We are fortunate enough to have Disney World in our backyard and luckily Epcot has so many different ways to get into the Christmas Spirit! On a random Tuesday in December, we all decided to head there to see what we can see! 

Combining our love of travel, along with our love of learning, the World Showcase at Epcot is awesome! Many of the pavilions have some version of "Santa" coming out to tell their story and take pictures. I love it! 

We found the stage where Père Noël will be appearing just a few minutes before he arrived. 

We heard his voice before we saw him coming. 

Hello Père Noël! 

He told us the story of how a girl in a village wrote to him, and how she set up a Nativity scene along with figures of people from her town. 

Afterwards, Père Noël had time to take pictures with just a few parties before it was time to go. I'm glad we were near the front so we could get our photo with him. 

And after the disappointment of the Epcot Cookie Stroll on previous years, we've decided to bring our own cookies, leftover from the Pepperidge Farm taste test we had earlier. All these were so much better than what we've bought previously. Which cookie says "France" to you? 

Next it was something that Theresa absolutely did not want to miss. The Voices of Liberty! It was the only thing she wanted to make sure she did today. We arrived early enough to get a front spot on the floor, where they sound the best. 

Right on time they all came out in their holiday finest. 

So good it gives you chills. Theresa is loving it. 

Ian and I played a game where you try to pick out one person and hear their voice amongst all the others. 

And chatting with the choir afterwards. She encouraged Alli and Ian to keep doing piano (and drums when she gets there for Alli). 

Amazing. 

For our Pepperidge Farm cookie, we picked a gingerbread man. 

Our next stop is in Italy where we meet La Befana, who actually predates Santa by centuries. 

La Befana tell her story how she was visited by the Three Wise Men as they traveled to see Gesu Bambino (baby Jesus). She waited to follow them, but when she arrived in Bethlehem, Gesu Bambino has already gone. Now, this good-natured witch travels the land, going down chimneys bringing gifts to the good children and leaving coal for the naughty ones. That does sound familiar, doesn't it. 

As a witch, she had an amazing cackle! It was fun to hear her story. 

Thank you for sharing it with us! 

Afterwards, we found a bench nearby for more cookies. Which cookie reminds you of Italy? Pepperidge Farm Milano of course! 

Next we traveled to the United Kingdom where we found Father Christmas! 

We heard him before we saw him, singing Christmas Carols and ringing his bell. He said we gather to toll the devil's knell, one ring for every year since the birth of Christ. 61, 62, 63... What year is it now? 2023! We'll get to this a bit later! 

Father Christmas chose a child from the audience to help him ring a lot of bells. 

Every time he would say "Jingle Bells" the child would have to ring it loudly! Then he led us all in a carol that we could sing together! 

Father Christmas - What song should we sing? 

Crowd - Jingle Bells!

Father Christmas - Yes! Wait. No no no. That song wasn't written in the United Kingdom. It from New Jersey or something like that. We'll sing Deck the Halls! 

I love singing carols together (just like I love singing together in the Tiki Room). I loved it! 

Thank you Father Christmas! 

What's a UK Christmas cookie? We chose the citrus flavored snowball. 

Santas are coming out all over the World Showcase, but only at set times. With a long time before the next one, we decided to head to see Living with the Land and their Glimmering Greenhouses. We love coming here in the first place. Add Christmas to it and it's even better! 

Excited!

And I love how even in the decorations they've added fruits and vegetables. 

Star anise eyes, vanilla bean mouth? 

Love the ornaments!

I wonder if they sell these somewhere. 

Seeing the holiday foods some of these spices go into. Who doesn't like chocolate. 

The giant Mickey bougainvillea.  

And we certainly enjoy our coffee. 

Looks like a cozy place to sit and relax. 

Today was also a very special day for Epcot because after years and years of walls along the central corridor, they have finally come down! I love the big open space again! Even better, we can walk from The Land directly over to Mission Space without having to take a big detour. 

The popular spot today though is the new statue of Walt Disney, titled "Walt the Dreamer" 

Walt looks over Epcot with a feeling of accomplishment. 

Seeing as how it's the first day, there's quite a line-up to get a picture alongside the new statue. 

Not quite as many flavors at the World of Coca-Cola, but we do love being back at Club Cool. 

That's going to be it for us today. 

 

I had hoped that we'd be able to get back to Epcot before we were blocked out for the season to hear all the rest of the Storytellers, but things got busy and it just didn't happen. 

We loved visiting Epcot and hearing new stories and seeing new things!