MLB writer David O’ Brien is reporting that the Braves will relocate their Spring Training facilities to Sarasota in 2019, meaning either the 2017 or 2018 Spring Training will be the last for the Atlanta Braves at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.
Champion Stadium (formerly known as Cracker Jack Stadium) has been home to Braves Spring Training since the complex opened in 1997.
A long time ago, in a galaxy not too far away, LucasArts was working on a Darth Maul game. After about twelve months of development, Disney purchased Star Wars and, due to their acquisition of parent company Lucasfilm, a ton of interesting projects such as this one were canceled.
Today, we have some new concept photos of this untitled Darth Maul game to mourn over, thanks to artist Thomas A. Szakolczay, who posted the photos on his Instagram.
Little was known about the game, except that it was about a Darth Maul clone or descendant and Talon fighting against a Sith army. The game never made it past the prototyping stage of development, but rumor has it the ex-developeers of the game want to try and revive the canceled project, with the help of EA games.
Anyway, here’s a look at the concept art. Obviously, none of these pictures show any indication of how the game would have played, but the art sure it neat looking.
For 2017, Epcot has introduced a brand new park event: The Epcot International Festival of the Arts. The event is the third such event for the park as the Flower & Garden and Food & Wine Festivals have existed since the mid-1990’s. In more recent years, food booths were expanded to both the Flower and Garden Festival and the seasonal Holidays Around the World event at Epcot, and with the debut of this Arts festival, food booths, or “food studios”, are also a part of the fun.
This event also differs in many ways, offering a Disney on Broadway concert series, free & paid seminars, interactive art opportunities for guests, photo-ops, and live art performances throughout the park. The event is also only taking place on weekends, Friday through Monday, January 13th until February 20th, 2017.
This guide and review will hopefully provide you with all of the information you will need to tackle the rather large event should you be attending it.
First tip: pick these up. There is a lot happening at this festival, so the times guide and passport are important for even the most seasoned park veterans.
As you can see, the times guide is pretty big, detailing all of the entertainment, seminars, art workshops, and artist appearances for the weekend.
A selection from one of the Food Studios
Similar to other Epcot festivals, this one offers several temporary “food studios” (otherwise known as booths or kiosks) with special food & drink menus. We have reviews of each of the food studios for you, including pictures and our thoughts on every single food item & most of the alcoholic beverages:
Paid art workshops are available on event days and range from drawing to ink and paint classes, as well as things such as floral arrangement, watermelon carving, and more. Free versions of these events called seminars are also available, so be sure to check out the times guide each weekend. The workshops are hands-on experiences where guests can take something home, while the seminars are passive learning experiences.
Paid art workshops are available by calling 407-WDW-TOUR or by stopping by the Odyssey Festival Showplace where they are held. Tickets for seminars are distributed one hour prior to the event and are given out on a first-come, first serve basis.
The Japan pavilion also offers its own seminars during the festival, including origami and calligraphy.
The Epcot International Festival of the Arts is home to two art exhibits that celebrate two of the most famous and influential Disney artists of all-time, Mary Blair and Herbert Ryman.
The festival certainly has a lot of offerings which I would consider to be pandering to Disney fans, and art exhibits featuring these two artists certainly fit that bill. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am overjoyed to see the work of Blair and Ryman on display, but it almost feels like a desperate attempt to draw in more annual passholders at the inaugural Festival of the Arts, especially after seeing just how small the two exhibits are.
For as small as they are, I appreciate the effort, but I hope (should the festival return in 2018) that these types of exhibits will be expanded into a larger space next year. For now, they are relegated to rather small areas of the Odyssey Festival Showplace, on the left and right sides of the seminar area.
The exhibits are open Friday-Monday now through February 20th, 2017 as part of the Epcot International Festival of the Arts.
The Future World of Herbert Ryman focuses on his concept art for EPCOT Center, mostly of now gone attractions and ideas for the park/city.
South of the Border with Mary Blair is a celebration of her work on Salads Amigos and The Three Caballeros.
Disney Theatrical Productions is bringing an exciting new showcase of music and Broadway talent to the America Gardens Theatre stage. Throughout the six weekends of the festival, different pairings of Broadway artists will perform songs from some of Disney on Broadway’s award winning shows.
Here is the lineup for this series:
Performances will be 5:30 p.m., 6:45 p.m. and 8 p.m. Friday through Monday of each festival weekend.
We attended the very first show with Ashley Brown and Josh Strickland, which you can watch below:
If you wish to see this, keep in mind you should get there a little early just in case the theater should fill. The show won’t fill easily, but it won’t hurt to arrive 20-30 minutes before showtime, especially on Saturdays and Sundays.
The sets are about 30 minutes in length and the performance we went to that you see above was spectacular. Any fan of broadway will surely enjoy these concerts, a nice change of pace from the once-famous bands offered during the Flower and Garden & Food and Wine Festivals at Epcot. There is also a lot more Disney music in these shows since they are performing songs from Disney on Broadway shows, something more likely to appeal to Disney fans, such as those who read this site.
A dining package with seating for the last show of the night is available, but honestly, it is completely unnecessary for this event and better dining options are available throughout the park, including at the Food Studios.
Living statues happen intermittently in front of the Fountain of Nations stage between 10:55am and 5:40pm daily.
Animation Academy, formerly a Disney’s Hollywood Studios attraction inside of The Magic of Disney Animation, is available inside of Innoventions East in the former Vision House location on event days. The shows take place between 9:15am and 6:15 pm and you can check outside of the attraction for exact show times.
There are also community performances and various performance art pieces on the Fountain of Nations stage throughout the day. Please refer to a times guide for showtimes.
Guest may purchase maps and search for Figment hidden in artwork all around Epcot’s World Showcase in this family friendly scavenger hunt event. A full review of this offering can be found here.
The event offers a number of guest photo-ops where you can step into and become part of the artwork. The line for these can be lengthy, so if any of them are on your must-do list, I suggest you tackle them around 11am when World Showcase opens. The two photo-ops in Future World are best done at park open for the shortest wait.
Each of the World Showcase character meet and greets also has an added art easel with a piece inspired by the characters.
Glidden invites guests to pick up a paint brush and help paint an incredible EPCOT Center mural at the very front of World Showcase towards the Canada pavilion. Guests get to paint a few squares of the paint-by-numbers mural after waiting in what is usually a short line.
Guests may encounter a walking chalk art experience, or even Disney artists at work wheel they stroll around the World Showcase promenade on festival days.
A very 80’s EPCOT Center-stly mural is being painted in Future World over the course of the 6 weekends as well. You can watch the artists paint the mural live and in-person.
Being the first event ever of this kind, the merchandise selection is not nearly as massive as it is for the established festivals, but there is a nice selection featuring Figment.
An annual pass holder t-shirt is available as select locations. Warning: it is available in extremely limited quantities and the shirt runs very big (at least one size larger than advertised, compared to other Disney shirts sold at the parks).
Figment is even on the sleeve of this one.
Be sure to check a times guide as there are literally dozens of Disney and independent artists in the various tents around the World Showcase promenade daily. They will be signing their art, but also may be creating some while they are there. The tents are open beyond these hours selling art if you can’t make it while the artist is visiting.
Separately, Tom’s Shoes offers custom painted shoes at their booth.
Hopefully all of this information will help in enjoying the first annual Epcot International Festival of the Arts. Personally, I have been loving this eventthus far, enjoying the differences it offers from the other Epcot festivals, and the void it fills that was left by the Festival off the Masters once held at Downtown Disney. While it is the first year of the event and it isn’t quite perfect yet, it is a very strong foundation for the future.
With Main Street U.S.A. now opening earlier to guests (along with the new welcome show performed at Cinderella Castle instead of at the train station), Disney is taking this opportunity to expand breakfast offerings at many of the park’s eateries in the AM.
Casey’s Corner Hash Brown Hotdog, The Magic Kingdom
Casey’s Corner will be serving muffins, bagels and a croissant donut. Those searching for a more savory, brunch-like option can enjoy corn dog nuggets and the hash brown dog (pictured above).
Plaza Ice Cream Donut Sundae, The Magic Kingdom
Also on Main Street U.S.A., Plaza Ice Cream Parlor will serve Mickey waffles, Kelloggs cereal and donuts. For a sweet twist on breakfast, there is even a donut sundae: a donut topped with your favorite flavor of hand-scooped Edy’s ice cream, hot fudge, apple, whipped cream, peanut butter chips, chocolate chips and of course, a cherry.
Sleepy Hollow breakfast sandwich, The Magic Kingdom
Sleepy Hollow has a new egg, ham and tomato waffle sandwich which will arrive later this month. The fruit and chocolate-hazelnut waffle sandwich is also available, in case you prefer a sweet breakfast to a savory one.
Welcome to a food studio review for the Epcot International Festival of the Arts, taking place in the park Friday-Monday from January 13th through February 20th, 2017. This review will cover the “E=AT^2” kiosk, which is located at the front of World Showcase, just off to the left side towards the Mexico pavilion.
Food:
Beverages:
Since we had eaten the very similar Mary Blair white chocolate art, there was no really good reason to order the Figment, but it is pretty cute.
This was my absolute favorite dish at entire Epcot International Festival of the Arts! Crack open the poached egg, dip the tender and juicy pork belly in it, and then nearly fall over from how good this is. There is very little bacon and lettuce here, and neither of them really add to the dish. I suggest you just push them aside and enjoy the pork and the egg together without any of the fluff of the dish.
I think I will be ordering this on every subsequent trip to Epcot over the next 5 weekends…
I am not a big Cobb Salad fan, but this was really good. The duck was flavorful and it went really nicely with the egg, blue cheese, and avocado mousse. I would order this again as well.
If you haven’t gotten it already, this is the best booth at the festival. I hate reuben sandwiches. Hell, I even hate Reuben Stoddard (kids, look it up). Regardless, this was fantastic. Everything in the plate was delicious, which shocked me. I couldn’t believe that I was having quality corned beef at Disney World, but I was and I did.
If I had to rank the three dishes here, I would put the “BLT’ as my number one, followed by the reuben, and then the cobb salad, but they are all good.
As much as we loved the food, we wanted so much more out of this drink. It sounded amazing. It wasn’t bad, the flavoring was just far more subdued that we had hoped for (and they went a little light on the bourbon).
Honestly, if you want just the breakfast flavors, save yourself some money and order this non-alcoholic version of the drink. It’s larger and cheaper, albeit without bourbon, but there wasn’t much alcohol in the other one anyway.
This is realistically just a slushy, but the kids should enjoy it. Personally, I would go get The American Dream at the Fife & Drum in the American Adventure (which mixes slushy with ice cream), but that’s me.
Welcome to a food studio review for the Epcot International Festival of the Arts, taking place in the park Friday-Monday from January 13th through February 20th, 2017. This review will cover “Cuisine Classique” kiosk, which is located near the Germany pavilion in World Showcase.
Food:
Beverages:
This dish was pretty solid, offering a well-cooked short rib over a parsnip puree, which blended well. I don’t know why there is so much balsamic on everything at this festival, but this probably could have done without it. Not a great dish, not a bad dish, just kind of middle-of-the-road. Otherwise, it tasted home cooked and the vegetables were quite good.
There’s nothing too crazy about this Red Snapper dish, but it was really good and a nice-sized portion (a fairly thick piece of fish) for the price. I would probably order this again, but I’m often partial to the festival seafood dishes.
The surprising winner here is this port wine poached pear. I honestly have maybe tried a pear once in my life, and I wasn’t crazy about it, but this pear was delicious. With the vanilla panna cotta and pistachio crumbs spread over it, you will be hard pressed to find a better non-chocolate treat at this event. You also get the entire pear with this dish, a rarity for an Epcot festival plate.
According to Josh of EasyWDW.com, this is the best beer flight you can get at the event, and I would have to agree. I LOVED the Duck-Rabbit Milk Stout and I will be ordering that in a single serving for sure the next time I visit this booth. The Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and the Bell’s Two Hearted American-style Indian Pale Ale were also enjoyable if you like such drinks. If all three might be of interest to you, you absolutely can not go wrong by ordering this flight.
If you are like me and prefer a dark beer, the milk stout is the way to go.
The Epcot International Festival of the Arts is home to two art exhibits that celebrate two of the most famous and influential Disney artists of all-time, Mary Blair and Herbert Ryman.
The festival certainly has a lot of offerings which I would consider to be pandering to Disney fans, and art exhibits featuring these two artists certainly fit that bill. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am overjoyed to see the work of Blair and Ryman on display, but it almost feels like a desperate attempt to draw in more annual passholders at the inaugural Festival of the Arts, especially after seeing just how small the two exhibits are.
For as small as they are, I appreciate the effort, but I hope (should the festival return in 2018) that these types of exhibits will be expanded into a larger space next year. For now, they are relegated to rather small areas of the Odyssey Festival Showplace, on the left and right sides of the seminar area.
The exhibits are open Friday-Monday now through February 20th, 2017 as part of the Epcot International Festival of the Arts.
The Future Worlds of Herbert Ryman – Epcot International Festival of the Arts
The Future Worlds of Herbert Ryman – Epcot International Festival of the Arts
The Future Worlds of Herbert Ryman – Epcot International Festival of the Arts
The Future Worlds of Herbert Ryman – Epcot International Festival of the Arts
The Future Worlds of Herbert Ryman – Epcot International Festival of the Arts
The Future Worlds of Herbert Ryman – Epcot International Festival of the Arts
The Future Worlds of Herbert Ryman – Epcot International Festival of the Arts
The Future Worlds of Herbert Ryman – Epcot International Festival of the Arts
South of the Border with Mary Blair – Epcot International Festival of the Arts
South of the Border with Mary Blair – Epcot International Festival of the Arts
South of the Border with Mary Blair – Epcot International Festival of the Arts
South of the Border with Mary Blair – Epcot International Festival of the Arts
South of the Border with Mary Blair – Epcot International Festival of the Arts
South of the Border with Mary Blair – Epcot International Festival of the Arts
South of the Border with Mary Blair – Epcot International Festival of the Arts
South of the Border with Mary Blair – Epcot International Festival of the Arts
South of the Border with Mary Blair – Epcot International Festival of the Arts
Welcome to a food studio review for the Epcot International Festival of the Arts, taking place in the park Friday-Monday from January 13th through February 20th, 2017. This review will cover the “Decadent Delights” kiosk, which is located at the front of World Showcase, just off to the right side towards the Canada pavilion.
Food:
Beverages:
This was, far and away, the strangest dessert I have ever had at Walt Disney World. I think this is what astronauts eat for dessert. It’s made from this strange, gelatinous, purple mousse that tastes like sweet potato pie, but the texture is very much like toothpaste (and no, I don’t eat toothpaste). The flavor wasn’t bad, but I’m not sure I could deal with the texture of it again. Can I order just a bourbon-soaked cake?
The S’mores dish was solid and a good option if you enjoy dark chocolate over marshmallow. It wasn’t the greatest S’mores dessert I have ever had, but it was rather enjoyable.
There’s nothing really crazy about it, it’s just a dark chocolate dome and cake, with marshmallow and a graham cracker crust, but enjoyable nonetheless.
My personal favorite from this booth was the Chocolate Mousse Bar, and not just because it looked like something from Tiffins. The mousse bar itself was perfect (rich, chocolate flavor), and the various accompaniments all paired well with a with of the bar.
I was thoroughly surprised by how good this cookie was, but also the time that went into making it is impressive. When we got the cookie, the “paint puddles” were not all dripping down the cookie, but carefully placed by a chef at the booth upon ordering. Every item at this festival requires some time to prepare for perfect presentation, and even this jumbo chocolate chip cookie is no exception. If you are in the mood for a chocolate chip cookie, this will hit the spot.
I have seen my fair share of outrageous guests at Disney World in the 28 years I have been visiting. I have seen inappropriate t-shirts, scantily clad women, grownups in full blown character costumes, and even a woman with a “service” squirrel dining with her at Katsura Grill, but nothing may have been stranger than the lady who brought a monkey in a diaper (traveling in a stroller) to Epcot this weekend.
A pet monkey, not part of the Epcot International Festival of the Arts I think…
Not only was this monkey being wheeled around in a stroller and wearing a diaper, but the monkey got to meet Pluto while at Epcot.
Now, since I posted pictures and videos of the incident, we have been bombarded with angry feedback from guests who are upset that a service or therapy monkey was allowed into a Walt Disney World theme park. Technically, per the rules of theme park entry, this type of creature is not allowed in the Walt Disney World theme parks, even if they have certification for it. A monkey qualifies as a wild creature and for the safety of surrounding guests, simply should not be allowed in.
Now, I did not try to get an answer from Disney on the situation (I doubt they would talk to me anyway), but it seems that the monkey shouldn’t have been allowed in, but some sort of special exception was made. I highly doubt that a monkey was smuggled into Epcot, especially with security procedures as they are now.
What do you think? Should the monkey have been allowed in?
This international poster from Portugal is a slightly different version from the official domestic poster for “Beauty And The Beast”. As you can see below, Belle has a different pose and the human characters have been replaced with castle architecture in order to focus on Belle entering the castle for the first time and being greeted by Lumuiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts and Chip (in a small change of positions). The castle has also switched sides to now be on Belle’s side.
“Beauty And The Beast” opens March 17th.
