Latest / Ear Scouts Podcast / Epcot Festival 101: Tips for Balancing Festival Fun with All Your Must-Do Rides, Shows & Experiences
Transcript
- Rob: In this episode of the Ear Scouts podcast, we're talking Epcot Festivals. We've just had the Food and Wine Festival kick off, and we have all the dates and information for a whole year of festivals to share. We got lots of tips and tricks to make sure that you're able to balance your festival time with your park time and still get all of your must-do's checked off your list. That's a lot of stuff to cover, so let's get to it. Hi ho, everybody. This is Rob with Ear Scouts coming to you from our makeshift studio here in Celebration, Florida. Also joining me here in Celebration is the other half of Ear Scouts, Eric. Hi ho, Eric. Erick: Hi ho everyone. Rob: Eric, as always, is going to be keeping up with the live chat over on Patreon. If you'd like to join us live as we record each and every episode of the Ear Scouts podcast, just head on over to patreon.com forward slash Ear Scouts. Also, be sure to stick around for the Patreon exclusive after party if you're joining us live. That is exclusive to our friends on Patreon, and we'd love to see you there. Also joining us from the great state. Of Indiana is our resonant Disney trivia guru, Quizmaster Craig. Hi ho, Craig. QMCraig: Hi ho, everybody. Rob: Also joining us from the great state of Connecticut is the host of Jessica Scraps on YouTube. Jessica, hi ho, Jessica. Jessica: Hi ho everyone. Rob: So Jessica, you just got back from a pretty long trip. You were here for about a week, right? Jessica: Week, yeah. Rob: Yeah. And so a whole lot of stuff to report. We're going to talk about some of it in the after party at the end. but why don't you tell us all a little bit about what went on in your trip? Jessica: Yeah, so for those of you that remember last year for my birthday, all I wanted was to go to Disneyland. And so this year it was John's birthday. And all he wanted to do was go and do the Epcot Festival And that was the deal. He didn't want to do Epcot Festival the way I wanted to do it. He wanted to do Epcot Festival his way. So we really focused on the festival food booths and the music that happens in the festival. So we went to Epcot, I would say, almost every single day we were there First and foremost, we brought some very specific Lorcana cards to get signed. So we took the Lorcana cards, which are the collectible trading card game cards, and we took them to the characters and we had them sign them. If you have issues with talking to characters, having those Lorcana cards, because most of the time the characters are in a fun outfit or they're doing something exciting or they're given a title. like Daisy was a champion. So I got to talk to her about being the sapphire champion. it really helped give the conversation starter for those characters. I will also say this is the first time in a long time that we've been when it was brutally hot. It was real feel 114 most days I go back and listen to our how to beat the heat episode, but It's really, really important to hydrate. It's really, really important to know yourself, to listen to yourself, listen to your body. The other thing that happened every day was intense rain. And and Craig, your poncho was very helpful. The frog tog that QMCraig: huh. Jessica: you gave me, it was used almost every day. I'm now a huge believer in those frog togs. reusable, super light, clipped onto my bag, easy to go. But what the rain did is it made a lot of the parks inaccessible. So it was not just rain, it was like three, four inches of water on the ground. So it just made it to where anywhere there was a space that wasn't flooded, there was a ton of people. It's more rain than I've seen in a while. So be prepared for that. John packed his flip-flops in his bag so he could change shoes. I mean, it was real and it was every day. Rob: Yeah. Jessica: we're gonna talk about the Halloween party and how it impacted that in the after party. But the Halloween party was our Halloween party was impacted by rain a lot. characters got canceled. parades got canceled and we were able to pivot, but one of the things I will say is not everybody was able to pivot as easily as we did because they weren't sure what the other options were. do want to give go ahead. Rob: there is something I want to talk about really quickly though about the Halloween party while we're in the show. this is the worst year since we've been here in terms of both heat and the the amount of rain. And what I'm hearing from folks who are doing the not so scary Halloween party is They're finding that the party is more overwhelmed with people than they've seen it in previous years. And I think what's happening when a party is miserable because of rain, when just everything gets canceled, which is happening a lot, what Disney will sometimes do is offer families the chance to come back later in their trip. But guess what? Those parties are sold out. So when they're giving families the chance to come back, they're essentially overselling the event. And then when that party is also rained out and there's limited things that people can do because the weather is what it is, it just makes it that much worse. So just a heads up. If you're coming to Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: the parties, I would say just prepare yourself for it to be busier than normal and for the weather to maybe not cooperate as much as you might hope. Jessica: I do want to give a quick shout out about the Halloween party to Lennon who is a listener and I met Lennon in the line for Jack and Sally. they kind of shocked me because all of a sudden I heard Jessica and I was like and I turned around and it was someone but just a lovely family. Lennon if you're listening to this, I hope you guys got back up to your house. But thank you so much for taking the time to say hi to me. That was really exciting. I do want to talk about the animation experience as well. That's Rob: Mm-hmm. Jessica: the other kind of new thing that we did. in my opinion, it is one of the best additions I've seen Disney do ever. It is just, it's it is well themed, every detail is there. It has something for all ages. the drawing experience, the animation experience, everybody gets their own little desk that you can act like you're an animator. It's the Olaf animatronic, he's just adorable. and we drew the genie when we were there, but having someone who actually worked on the genie in the movie talk about the genie, talk about anecdotes, talk about Robin Williams, that meant more than to us than I think it would have to have somebody else come in and teach us how to draw the genie, Right now I think it's only four characters. Olaf, Mickey, Jeannie, nine. Okay. Rob: I read today there's gonna be nine. Yeah. Jessica: Nine. but it was just that experience, John and I both walked out saying, it's not the same. Our drawings didn't look as good as they did when we had the real animator in the room, right? It it's less about your ability to do the drawing than the experience of it in the room. Erick: Mm-hmm. Jessica: The Alice play area, we walked in, the kids Erick: Yeah. Jessica: were amazed. It's beautiful. there's a section just for little kids, babies, as well, And then finally, the character meet and greets has given what Hollywood Studios has needed forever, which is air conditioned meet and greets it was just a great experience think it is huge Rob: And what what I love about that area, what they did that's so smart, there's so many characters you can meet all at the same time. And unlike at Epcot, where you go through one long line to meet all of the characters that are in that indoor meet and greet Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: area, in this case, you get in the line for the character that you want to meet and it really spreads people out. So if you're just really excited about one particular character, you're gonna have a way shorter wait than you would Jessica: Right. Rob: you know, in some of these other configurations that that they've done. So I I think they did an amazing job with that. I agree. Jessica: I think it's amazing. But now let's talk about the question that started this whole thing, which is we did get a question from Genevieve Belleville. And she said, thank you for another great episode and for tackling a challenging the challenge of Philly overwhelmed at Disney Springs. Could you do a similar episode with simple strategies for navigating the festival and a few must-do food stops for families and non-drinkers? So basically a festival's one-on-one overview. And so that is what we're gonna do. And so I'm gonna turn it over to Craig and he can start us off. QMCraig: yeah. So I'm just gonna go through the the four festivals that happen in Epcot. And we actually have the dates for the one that's going on right now all the way through next year to the next flower and garden. So right now, as we said, we have the International Food and Wine Festival. it's not surprising, it is focused on food and beverages, et cetera. So and that is going right now until November twenty-first. on November twenty-seventh, we start the Epcot International Festival of the Holidays, which not surprisingly is about the holidays. you're going to see a lot of wonderful decorations, some great shows, the candlelight processional. We'll talk all about that as well. so for next year, we already have the dates for Festival of the Arts, and that is January fifteenth through March first, which is the longest it has ever been. And it's gonna feature Lorcana as well. They're co sponsoring it this year as they did last year's, which I had never done Lorcana until last year for at the Festival of the Arts, and I had a blast with that. Still don't know the game, but the cards were fun. and they also have the the Broadway concert series. and then last of all, in twenty twenty seven, so far that we know of is the Flower and Garden Festival. Which takes place from March 10th to May 31st, which might be a little shorter because they extended the Festival of the Arts. But Flower and Garden, it it's a nice long one anyway. you have beautiful topiaries, flower exhibits, that's a little more educational as well. Rob: I want to start with just some really general tips. Kind of Epcot Festival 101. And this stuff applies to every single festival, doesn't matter which one you come to. And the first thing I want to talk about because one of the things that they said, that the question that Jessica read was a longer question. And one of the things they said was that they're a big rides family. Like that's kind of usually their focus in the parks. And let's be honest. Most people coming to Walt Disney World, especially for the first time, rides and, you know, to some extent for some folks, shows and the stuff that's there all year round, that's a huge focus. That's the reason you're coming to Walt Disney World, probably. And so this festival is kind of on top of that. And my first really big tip, if if that's describing you, and you're in the very common situation, which is you have one Epcot day. And you're gonna try to do the festival and you're gonna try to do all the things you wanna do in Epcot. it's a common problem. And that is my first tip is that lightning lane is absolutely essential for your Epcot day if you're trying to do both, because the time that you are gonna save by not waiting in lines for some of these most popular attractions, that's what's gonna give you the time back in your day. To be able to enjoy the festival, to be able to enjoy the world showcase in Epcot. A lot of folks will say, Epcot, there's only a few rides that have really crazy long lines. Do you really need Lightning Lane? If you're trying to do it all and you're trying to do the festival, I say absolutely. And the second part of that tip that I'd like to say is when you're using Lightning Lane. Try to get at least two, if not three, of your must-do attractions done in the morning before 11:30 or so, because that's when all those food booths for the festivals typically are gonna open. So you can't really do a lot of festival stuff first thing in the morning anyway. And that's the great time. A lot of those biggest attractions that are gonna have the longest waits, thankfully, they're right there at the front of the park. For you. You've got Test Track, you've got Guardians of the Galaxy. there's, you know, Mission Space that can also sometimes have a longer wait, but there's there's some attractions right there in the front of the park that are probably going to be at the top of a lot of people's must-do list. Knock those out if you can before the festival even gets going. And that's going to give you a great head start on your Epcot day. Jessica, what is your first tip? Jessica: So my first tip is just kind of like what you were saying, things you should do before you show up to a festival is research that festival. there's gonna be a lot of videos that have come out, a lot of overviews. The other thing that we do is there is an app called Food and Wine App. It's free. It's food and wine, but it is every festival at Epcot. you open it up and it will tell you all of the food that is in each booth, and then we'll also tell you how much it costs. And it will also provide you a crowdsourced rating of that food based on the other people's rankings of the food. it'll have real pictures from that year of what the food looks like. So not the Disney pictures, not the pictures that Disney puts on the menu. But an actual picture from a human being who snapped it and uploaded it to the app so you can see what the food looks like. So anyway, that's my tip is to do some pre-research. Rob: Quick plug, we do have for the current Food and Wine Festival we have our own reviews with Eric's amazing photos. Eric is pretty famous for taking some beautiful food and wine photos, Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: so you can find all of that at earscouts.com forward slash food. F-O-O-D, and that's live right now. Plus, we are gonna have by the time this podcast airs, a food and wine video on the main channel. Craig, what is your first tip for folks who are coming to any of the festivals, not just food and wine? QMCraig: Okay, so this is kind of continuing with our suggestion to do some pre-planning. And that is just double check to see what time the festival booths opened and closed. it's generally consistent, but up until I think it was Flower and Garden, they the festivals open or the booths opened at eleven o'clock. And then they just changed it to eleven thirty. And it people didn't really realize until they got there and then the word kind of got Jessica: Mm-hmm. QMCraig: out. so it's always worth it. Even though you're 100% positive it's going to the same, it might change. and I hear this isn't as prevalent now as it has been in the past, but the closing times, like some of them are going to close early. this happened to me once a few years ago at the Festival of the Holidays. All I wanted was a Linzer cookie. And I was in Japan getting ready to watch Opening Night of Luminous, actually. And I was like, I Jessica: Mm. QMCraig: bet I have time. And I knew I had time. And I ran over there and it was still before nine. And they had closed. So just don't be disappointed. Do your homework. Rob: Yep, absolutely. And my next tip is the first thing you should do when you walk into Epcot, grab the festival passport. And if you're doing like we said earlier and you're getting in line for an attraction first thing, because you're going to do some of those rides before the festival starts. That time that you're in line is the perfect time. Look through that passport. It's basically a little, a little guidebook. It's gonna have every menu if you haven't already looked through the menus. But more importantly, it's gonna have details about all the other stuff that's happening at that particular festival. And so you're gonna find out probably some things that you didn't even know were happening that might be something you're really excited to do. Look at that first thing just so that you can work it into your day and you're not trying to backtrack at the last minute when you discover, gosh, this is a cool thing that's happening. I wish I knew about. and the other thing that's important is all of these festivals are going to have kind of a food scavenger hunt. You purchase select food items at select booths, and they're going to give you a stamp. There's a different theme for each of the different festivals, but The worst thing is to go to your first food booth and order something that you would have gotten a stamp for and realizing you didn't get the stamp. Now you can Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: usually, if you have the receipt, you can usually bring it back to the booth and they'll oftentimes give you the stamp. they won't always, but but sometimes they'll do that for you. But you get something free. free is probably not the right word. You're paying, you're paying for a lot of food to get this specific item, but you're gonna get something in the end if you get five of those stamps. So get your passport early and make sure as you're ordering food, just keep that passport in your pocket. So it's easy to grab and check to see if you're going to get a stamp for whatever it is that you're ordering. Jessica, what's your next tip? Jessica: like Rob was saying, you may only have one day at Epcot. And my suggestion is to make a priority list. You know how I love a good spreadsheet. You probably don't have time to eat every piece of food that looks good to you. So Prioritize the two or three things that you think I really, really want to have and eat those first. And one of the things that that John and I'll do is we will divide and conquer, and I'll get something from one booth and he'll get something from another booth, and we'll meet in the middle and eat there. there's no rule that says you have to sit at the table right next to the booth you got the food from. You know, I I know people tend to to think that, but prioritize, get the drink from this booth and the dessert from this booth and the mane from another booth. Make a little hodgepodge cafeteria meal for yourself. But prioritize and don't get sucked in to buy everything at every booth, or particularly if you only have one day, you'll never get all the things you really want. Rob: Yep, absolutely. Craig, tell us what's your tip for festivals? QMCraig: that's yeah, and it's using gift cards. And one thing, it's a great way to budget. you'd be surprised at how quickly the things can add up at these festivals when you're stopping at a booth and you want to try this. there's just a little thing. it's only seven bucks. Come on. It adds up quicker than you might expect. So if you have a budget, that's a great way of sticking with it. especially for the festivals, they have these like mini gift cards and they put on those like coiled, stretchy bracelets. So you Rob: Mm-hmm. QMCraig: c always have it handy. yeah, and it's it's just a a easy, fun way to, get some budgeting in there. And they're very convenient as well. Rob: And they're cool little souvenirs. So they're those little wristlets. I mean, they have a different design for each of the festivals each year that changes from year to year. And it's a small little thing that's easy to have a whole bunch of them after you've done a bunch of festivals. And it's just a nice way to remember the the Epcot visits you've had. QMCraig: Mm-hmm. And yeah, and at least the cards themselves don't cost anything extra. Rob: Right. Yeah. There is a minimum that you have to put on the card, but it's not that much. And basically you're getting the souvenir for free. Eric, do we have any other tips coming in just generally before we get into the specific festival tips later? Erick: just adding up to what you guys were saying about the gift cards is just be mindful. A lot of the boots now have become like cashless. So having those gift cards are very useful as well. She growed some of my favorite foods, for example, shrimp from Australia with wine fly pairing. are not featured in a lot of videos, so have an open mind and try the fruits you are most interested in. Rob: Yep, absolutely. And I want to just tack on what Eric said. If you've got cash with you at the festival, if that's how you're planning to pay, Eric's absolutely right. Turn a portion of that cash into a gift card right away. Cause it's not just these food booths, more and more things in the parks, even little souvenir stands and things, so many things are going cashless. So that's a really great tip, Eric. Thank you for sharing that. And that if you're if you're a cash person, that's key. And especially for folks who are visiting us internationally, in many cases, you know, that's how they prefer to pay for things is with cash. You know, they exchange currency when they arrive and that's how they budget. They have a certain amount of cash. gift cards are your friend for sure in in this current Disney environment. my next tip is kind of a a Playing off of what Jessica said, which was to prioritize things that you're most excited about. But the thing I'm going to add to that is to make sure you pace yourself. And what I like to do is I like to go ahead and have, I'll have, you know, a round of food booths, like Jessica said. Maybe, you know, Eric and I might split up and he'll go get something from one and I'll get something from another. But then rather than heading straight to another booth, I like to have something that kind of breaks it up. maybe we're gonna go do a ride, maybe we're gonna go see a show, maybe we're gonna explore some areas of the world showcase. But by breaking up all those food booths, number one, you prevent yourself from getting overly full, which can kind of put a kibosh on your enjoyment of the festival. And you're like, I just don't want to eat another bite, and you don't even want to think about the the food booths. So take your time, pace yourself. And the other thing is this is gonna play in. perfectly to what we talked about at the beginning, which is balancing the festival with, you know, your must-do list. this is gonna gonna basically help you do both of those things by just do one and then to the other and then come back to a food after that. Jessica, what's your next tip for general festival tips? Jessica: So it's a good reminder that Locals love the festivals. So they're gonna be there after work on the weekdays, Epcot is never more full than the weekends of festivals. It's just lots of people are there and they're in the lines for the food or they're there for the music, whatever it is. And if you are coming on a trip that's a longer trip. And you can figure out how to do Epcot during the weekdays, particularly that 11 to 5, when the festival is going on, but other people are still at work or at school. That's your sweet spot. But festivals are are still around and they're still going because they are so popular. But locals, particularly locals with annual passes, they're gonna be there and weekends and weeknights are gonna be when you're gonna see it flood the park and you're gonna notice the difference. Rob: Yep. And if you're planning your visit, you know, partly around a festival, if you come on that first week or two of the festival, what Jessica's talking about is gonna be times 10 because lots of locals they want to go right when the festival's new. They want to experience everything that's brand new at the park. But give it a few weeks. We'll talk a little bit more about that later. But but if you can plan it, don't come right at the beginning. Give it a little bit of time. QMCraig: Yeah. Yeah, and and guess who just found out that I'm gonna be their opening day of Festival of the Arts. Rob: Mm-hmm. QMCraig: I just found out great, that's opening day. Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: Yeah. Well, what's your next general tip for festivals? QMCraig: So I want to talk little bit about the shows. I'm just gonna talk about the the big shows that they have at the festivals at the American Gardens Theater. it's an outdoor amphitheater, bench seating. but they get some really pretty big ads. I mean, you could say they're B list, but you know, they what I'm trying to think of Earth, Wind and Fire. Of course I'm having a blank now that I have to come and think of them. Hansen has been there. Tiffany, yes. So Jessica: Tiffany Hansen. Rob: Hence Boys to Men is a big one. Le these yeah. Jessica: Boys to men is a big one. QMCraig: Right. Jessica: Joey Fatone and Friend, Beach Boys. QMCraig: Right. Yeah. So yeah. So yeah, lot lots of, you know, big names are there. So check accordingly, look at the list, see who's gonna be there while you're there. and plan on getting there for that. Also, if you see a big act and you plan on being there and hoping it's gonna be a light day, think again because those do Bring in the people. We're talking for the candlelight processional for the festival of the holidays when they got big names coming in there like Whoopi Goldberg, Neopatrick Harris, crazy. so just be aware of all that stuff. and also look into dining packages. If there's an act you really want to see and you want a great seat, that's a great way to make sure you get a decent seat for whatever act you really want to see. Jessica: I will just say th the flip side of that is if you're one of these concerts and there's not a dining package, it probably means it's it's a good day to go because it's a local band. And sometimes those local bands are just as good. But if you notice, hey, there's no dining packages for the day that I'm going, that's a super cool cue to say, maybe it'll be less crowded. Just that's what I've noticed. QMCraig: Yes, good point. Rob: Well, my next tip, and this applies to all the festivals, and this is something we say in our videos where we review food food items. I always try to mention this consistency is an issue. And so I have ordered the exact same thing, sometimes on the same day, just a different time of the day. And one time it's one of the most delicious things I've had, and the other time I'm like, is this the same food item? Consistency is an issue, but there are some things that you can do to improve your chances of having a better item. Number one, if the food booth is dead and there's not been anyone there for a while, you can walk by and usually see there's sometimes a big line of pre-made dishes sitting under a heat lamp. That is not the moment to order food QMCraig: Mm-hmm. Rob: from that food booth. Because that's the food you're gonna get. And it's been, you know, it's been sitting for a while. Not ideal. The other thing that I've noticed as someone who lives here and ends up eating festival food throughout the duration of the festival, the first day or two things can be a little squirrely just because folks are figuring stuff out, right? Sometimes you get something and you're like, hmm, the menu says it has this, but it has something completely different on it today. It's because they're still kind of working things out. But after that first day or two, there's this kind of golden period for I would say a few weeks at least, where Disney's paying pretty close attention to make sure that everything's being served correctly, that everything's being done the way it should be done. And what happens is after that golden few weeks, they kind of like, okay, things are going now, and they kind of take their foot off the gas. And the the tail end of these festivals, things get a little rough again. I mean, you know, new folks come in to start working at the booths, you know, who weren't there at the beginning, and it quality sometimes suffers. So now obviously, if you don't live here, you have to go when you have to go. But I would say if you're planning a trip around a festival and you're excited about food, that those few weeks after the festival starts is usually that's usually the golden period. to get the best food and always check the heat lamps if there's not a long line and make sure that you're not gonna get food from three hours ago. Jessica, what is your next tip? Jessica: My tip is to go into the buildings. whether it's the Odyssey Pavilion, the Communi Corps Hall, or the Morocco Lounge. Those are the three that I could think of, but sometimes there are other open buildings. I hear they're just now giving, they're giving tea samples in the UK tea room right now as part of food and wine. sometimes there's just interesting things going on in the buildings. Go into those buildings. experience some of those places that you maybe don't go. and almost every festival now they've got something fun. and we'll talk about some of the stuff they've done for Festival of the Arts, but they really have put a lot of effort in Communicor Hall and the Odyssey Pavilion and the Morocco Lounge to try to make them fun. I I just really recommend you going into those places and seeing those things. QMCraig: Mm-hmm. Yeah. I was gonna say and adding on to something you had said earlier, Jessica, about not having to eat your food near whatever booth you got it. Those are great places to eat and sit at a table in air conditioning. Jessica: good idea, yeah. QMCraig: Odyssey, especially, Rob: Mm-hmm. QMCraig: that's they got lots of tables. so yeah, definitely take advantage of those places to eat your food when it's extremely hot. Rob: Yep, absolutely. Eric, we're we're gonna have some some time to get specific festival tips about particular festivals later, but we have a last little round of general tips. Do you have any other general tips or questions from Patreon? Erick: This comes from Rachel and you used to do this. Rachel wrote, bring your own tray. I always do, just basic cafeteria tray. saves me every time I store it in a draw drawstring bag. Rob: Yep. That is a great tip. And I'll if you have an IKEA near you, IKEA sells the perfect tray. It fits in a standard size backpack. It's not too big. It's like it's IKEA. So it's like 60 cents or something ridiculous. I mean it's very cheap. but it's it's sturdy and it's perfect for festivals. But if you're gonna order one online, be really careful to check the dimensions. and and Jessica: Yeah. Rob: pull out your measuring tape and see what that really looks like. Cause I've ordered some online that did not work out so well for festivals. Jessica: We have ours and we store them in our owner's locker. We've got four Rob: Ooh, nice. Jessica: that are stored in our owner's locker all the time and constantly you're seeing us walk around and everyone who sees the tray goes, That's a great idea. So if I can find the Rob: Jesse. Jessica: link to Amazon, I will put it in the I'll put it in Patreon of the ones we wear. Rob: For folks who aren't aware, what is an own owner's locker? Jessica: an owner's locker is something that Craig told me to get. Just gonna put that out there. QMCraig: Ha ha. Jessica: An owner's locker is a big, in my case, a big purple bin. And you can store the things you only need at Disney World you rent It shows up at your hotel and then they take it back away when you're done with your trip. So in ours, I have wine, I have trays, I have shampoo and conditioner, I have rain shoes, ponchos, all those kinds of things. ears, those kinds of things that you don't need all the time. But that's what an owner's locker is. But yeah, but I will also try to get the Amazon link for the trays that we have because they were cheap and if you don't have an IKEA next to you and they are the exact right dimensions. Rob: Nice. Well, Craig, what is your next tip for folks who are visiting a festival? Erick: Ha ha ha. QMCraig: So I want to talk about the scavenger hunts that they have at each of the festivals. quick explanation. basically they have these little figurines for each festival. Like Remy is the the main character for food and wine, Spike the Bee is for Flower and Garden, Olaf is for Festival of the Holidays, and Figment is Festival of the Arts. And they each have each of these little figurines is holding something like for food and wine, Remy's holding different food items, et cetera. So if you go to one of the gift shops and they have the scavenger hunts available, you get a little card with stickers, and you have to find out which pavilion you find each of those little figurines. So that all the pavilions are on the card, then you have stickers with the items, and then you just have to match it up. It's a lot of fun, especially for kids. and then you get a prize afterwards. Now it's about ten bucks. I don't know if what it is. I didn't even look to see what it is for food and garden or about flowering but food food and wine. Has it gone up? What? Rob: gone up. No. Jessica: It's gone up a little bit there. Twenty dollars. Rob: I think it's it's it's twelve now, I think. Twelve or thirteen. No. Yeah. Jessica: Is it twelve? It was I thought it was like it is expensive. QMCraig: okay. Yeah. That that at least makes sense. But yeah. So the tip is if you really want the prize, and you just have three or four that you can choose from. you don't have to go and do all the scavenger. They're not gonna check and make sure you put all the stickers on the right thing. They're just gonna see that you paid for the card, you're going to get a prize. So if there is a prize you specifically want, make sure that they still have it. when you arrive. And if they're like yeah, we got plenty of inventory and you want to wait until later, you can always just wait on your way out, pay for the card, tell what gift you want, and then you have and you don't have to cart it around with you all day. Rob: I've talked to so many families who have. So there's there's families like I know Jessica's family was where the kids are so excited to see every single country in the world showcase, and that's like a big draw for them. And then there's other families where looking at buildings from other countries is like the most boring thing imaginable to the kids in that family. And if that is your family, there's a good chance that they're gonna be so excited. To find the character and be able to put the sticker and match it up. And getting buy in for everyone in your group to be excited to visit all the countries in the world showcase is just gonna make your life so much easier when you're going through Epcot. QMCraig: Ha ha. Rob: When part of your group is really excited to see every country, it gets everyone on board. So I think that's a good selling point for those scavenger QMCraig: Yeah, good point. Rob: hunts. Yeah. Jessica: Yeah, do want to say that this year they're doing something a little bit different because they've learned. they're doing blind bags of the gift prizes. So you can't request Figment or Mickey Mouse or Remy. You just you get what you get and you don't get upset. And I'm sure it's because in the past the Figment ones have completely sold out or the other ones have come Orange Bird for the flower and garden completely sold out. So Just to change. So if you were the person that did these scavenger hunts every time, so you could always get the figment thing or the whatever thing, they've changed that this time to where now it's a blind draw. I will say for the first time, I didn't do the scavenger hunt because I was just collecting Figment stuff and I didn't I didn't want to take the chance to pay for and not get a figment thing. So QMCraig: Mm-hmm. Yeah. I that's that's how I determine if I want to do it or not. Do I want one of the prizes? Jessica: Right. QMCraig: And if there's prizes that I might get that I don't want, then that's kind of sad. Jessica: Right. And I I I it is it I'm not sure if that'll stick around or not, but I know particularly for Flower and Garden this year, they were the flowers that waved the figment ones were gone like the first week. It was ridiculous because that's what everybody wanted. I'm sure this is a response to that, but I just wanted to let people know that before they show up that this particular twenty twenty six Food and Wine Festival is a blind draw. Rob: so my next tip is very specifically for folks who are using the Disney dining plan. a lot of folks don't realize this, but the dining plan snack credits can be used for a lot of the festival food booth items. Not all of them, but I will say most of them. And a good rule of thumb: if that food item is priced at more than say seven, eight bucks. As a really good use of your snack credit. And in some cases, there was one year where there was a lobster dish. It was a lobster dish that was pretty sizable, that the price was like $11, and it was a snack credit. so if you're looking for a an economical use of your snack credit these food booths are a great way to do it. You just want to Jessica: Yeah. Rob: make sure as you're looking at the menu, there's going to be these little Disney dining plan icons. and if you see that icon next to a food item, you can just let them know when you order though. Say, I want to use my snack credit for this. The other thing I recommend, do that in its own transaction. That way you don't have to worry that accidentally this the snack credit got applied to the thing you didn't want to use the snack credit for. Jessica, what is your final general tip for everyone? Jessica: Living with the Land typically for each of the festivals has a little addition in it. a lot of times that is about what food, what ingredients are in some of the food booths. in general, they're just some vignettes throughout Living with the Land. with the exception of one, which we will talk about later for the Festival of the Holidays, is a full overlay. but living with the land is just a great addition, particularly if you're you've got kids in school and they're learning about nutrition or you're learning about food or biology. I mean, it actually shows you this is what that plant looked like before you had it in this dish. if you're eating at the Australia booth, here's where your pepper came from. So I I I think it's a lot of fun. I Highly recommend, even if you're not a big Living with the Land fan normally, QMCraig: Yeah, like similar to that, like for every festival. If you know about the Toy Train Village in Germany, they have little lampposts and they change the banners on the lampposts to reflect the current festival. So they have little flower and garden banners and they have little festival of the holiday banners. So that's really cute. Jessica: That's right. QMCraig: Definitely check that out if you're around. Rob: They've a they made some other Jessica: That is so cute. Rob: enhancements this festival. I think there were some character additions and some little there were lots of little things that got added in this time. Jessica: They had a guy Rob: Well, that's all the general tips that we have. But for each festival, there are some things that are a little little quirks, little things that are unique for each of the festivals. And we don't have a whole lot of tips for each one, but we do have some that we wanted to share before we move on to our question of the week. So let's just go through each of the festivals really quickly. And our friends on Patreon, if you have any festival specific tips. We will be covering those at the end of each festival discussion, but let's start at the beginning of the year in January with Festival of the Arts. Jessica, what is your first Festival of the Arts tip? Jessica: My first Festival of the Arts tip is just to remember that the word arts appears in that. all throughout world showcase, and in some cases up closer to the front of the park, there are tents, There is so much Disney art on display, Take the time to walk into those booths. Some of these artists, you know, some of the booths have multiple artists and maybe, you know, that this is their time to shine. This is the this they look forward to this every year to talk to you about their art, to show you what they've done, to be surrounded by people that appreciate, you know, kind of their style. And there is a style of artist for everyone. Whether you're a comic book style, you're a, you know, a vintage style, whether there's those People with the big eyes, those big eye style. I don't know what that's called. Big Eyes, Big Eye, is that what it's called? Thank you. I got that right. Rob: Mm-hmm. QMCraig: Pretty much big eye. that's a Rob: Style. Jessica: Precious Moment styles, QMCraig: good Jessica: there's there's a lot, there's all different kinds of artists there, sculpture, all kinds of stuff. Take some time to look at that. But on the flip side, if there is an artist you should particularly follow, so I y'all know I follow Rob Caz. I love Rob Caz. He may not be at Festival of the Arts every day. In fact, he's not. I know he's not. So what I do is I watch his socials, and most of the artists write like Right now, most of the artists are posting because that they just announced the dates. So the artists are now posting what days they're gonna be at the festival so that you know if you're a fan that you can plan your trip around or at least your Epcot day around when they're gonna be there. Rob: Yeah. And you definitely, if you're gonna buy some of their work, you definitely want them to sign it. And how cool is it to that that can happen right, right while you're you're standing there and you get a chance to chat with them about the work. the other thing that you might see happening at these different art booths when the artist is there, sometimes they are painting a new work right there in front of you. And my favorite form of of this happening at the festival is something that's called art in performance. there's one that's like, you know, usually music based and and I think there's usually like a a a dance or movement style performance. but the coolest form of this is something that's called art in performance. It's usually this amazing artist named Trevor Carlton. and he's there, I guess he's there pretty much every day because it happens, I think almost every day, if not every day. but but what he's gonna do. He's gonna be up on that stage and he's gonna paint a Disney character before your eyes, but he's not just gonna paint it, it's gonna be a show. There's music, he's gonna be kind of dancing and splattering the pain, and it's just it's a whole thing. And I love watching him do a character at least once every time I'm there for Festival of the Arts. another cool thing, you can buy that painting that you watched being painted before your eyes. But if you do want to do that, it's sometimes you, if it's busy, you might need to reserve that painting before it's even painted. Sometimes they are sold before he even starts to paint them. so if that's something you think you might be interested in, just check with Trevor Carlton or the folks at his booth before the show. Craig, what is your first Festival of the Arts specific tip? QMCraig: Okay, so that is to take advantage of some of the free offerings they have. And they do have some really unique things at at Festival of the Arts. they have a a paint by number mural, like it covers a huge wall. it's totally free. You go up, stand in line, they'll give you a little cup with some paint in it and a little sponge brush, and it has a number on it. you get five squares. this is the honor system. They tell you to just only paint five squares. And you just paint in any five that you want. And then throughout the festival, it just grows into this, you know, mural, beautiful mural. And they actually have like a bookmark that they'll give you to show what it's gonna look like. And then you can look up pictures and see how your your artwork came out. So that's pretty cool. they also have the Lorcana hunt that they started last year, which included some free cards. you had get there early. I don't know if they're specifically doing the free cards again this year, but hopefully. And they have these photo ops where they'll take a famous work of art, remove the characters. It's a full size booth, and you can walk into it and have your picture taken like your inside of the scream or the Frito Calo self portrait. So those are a lot of fun as well. Jessica: let me just piggyback on the Lorcana just a second and say if you don't know what Lorcana is, in the Morocco pavilion. They had last time, and I'm assuming they will have it again, a room dedicated to people coming and having their cards out. And there were four or five people every time we went in there that were willing to sit down with you and teach you Lorcana, to discuss Lorcana with you, if there was a certain character that you really liked, people would just bring their boxes of cards and give you the characters that they had. because most of these cards, people are not keeping for any financial value. They are just for the beauty of the art of the card and the and the characters on the card. So I you know, John and I kind of plan on bringing our extra cards too to this event. And if somebody is perhaps a big big big brother bear fan, I went through and gave most of my brother bear cards to Eric, right? QMCraig: Mm. Jessica: That's that's what I did because I know that he loves it. I have extra Bruno cards. They're coming to you, Craig, if you want them. QMCraig: Mm-hmm. Jessica: But I'm not alone. go to that Morocco pavilion. the Lurcana community is some of the nicest And they're just really about helping get people into the game into the hobby. The other thing that is unique about Lorcana is the artist's name is on the card and many of the artists are there. so I got my Lorcana cards signed by the characters. You can get your Lorcana cards signed by the artist. that is huge as well. So That will actually take a card that has got some monetary value and pump it up quite a bit in monetary value, just saying. QMCraig: Mm. Jessica: but that is a Erick: Yeah. Jessica: real other thing you can do during the festival. Rob: my next tip specific to Festival of the Arts, and this is this is really kind of true of every festival, but so far, Festival of the Arts has been the best use of this space. Check out what is going on at Communi Core Hall because it is usually, especially for Festival of the Arts, really cool. I think my favorite exhibit I've seen so far, they they've done Disney on Broadway. So the last couple festivals, Disney on Broadway has just gone all out. I mean, you can see amazing costumes from their different productions around the world. you can see pieces of sets and and and props and things from shows like The Lion King on Broadway. You can see one of my favorite things was this little diorama that they showed the set for I think it was Mary Poppins but you saw all of the different pieces of the set in the layers that they were they're built. So you could Get down at eye level with it and see the magic of all those layers coming together, or kind of stand up over it and see how that magic is made, how all the little pieces fit together. Really beautiful exhibits in there. and this is true of most of the festivals. There'll be something fun going on in Communicor. So, as Jessica said, go inside the buildings and especially be sure to go inside of Communicor Hall. Craig, what is your next tip? QMCraig: Okay, so the food at Festival of the Arts. it may not be known for being the most delicious, but it is the most Instagrammable, which for a lot of people that is very important. they tend to do a lot of fun things visually with the foods, like a deconstructed key lime pie or even like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, that kind of thing. but yeah, like I remember last year one of the booths was all Alice in Wonderland themed. So like the dessert was like a chocolate teacup filled with cream, but it was cut in half. like the cream was suspended perfectly. yeah, definitely if you're if you like to be seen with beautiful food, Festival of the Arts is the one you want to go to. Rob: I maybe I'm weird. I and I've talked to so many people who have your exact same take on it, that that the food is pretty and it sacrifices flavor to be pretty. I love the festival there, especially the deconstructed things. I feel if you're a fan of like molecular gastronomy, you know, like the the the different restaurants where like things that you know and love have been turned into foam or something crunchy or then you're gonna dig. Festival of the arts, because there's a lot of that going on. But I agree. For most people, they're like, Yeah, that was a little strange. but it was pretty, but it's little strange. QMCraig: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Rob: all right, Jessica, what is your final tip for a festival of the arts? Jessica: So in general, Festival of the Arts Figment is the icon of Festival of the Arts, and this is where those popcorn buckets come from. The popcorn bucket that started the whole new trend of popcorn buckets was I think 2021's Figment Popcorn Bucket, which I didn't get because the line was six hours long and I still regret it. Figment is the star of Festival of the Arts. And the merchandise is usually my favorite merchandise of all the festivals. Rob: Awesome. Craig, what is your final Festival of the Arts tip? QMCraig: Okay, and this is going back to the entertainment to the show. instead of bands like Hansen at the American Gardens Theater, they have Broadway professionals from Disney shows coming in. you may not recognize the names, but I do. So, but they're they're pretty big names, like Sierra Bogus, who was the original Ariel in the Broadway production. Susan Egan, the original Belle on Broadway, who also did the voice of Megara. Ashley Brown, she was original Broadway Mary Poppins when that opened in the in the States. amazing singers and performing songs that they helped to create on Broadway. So definitely a must do on my book, whoever happens to be there. They're all good. Rob: One thing also that's interesting, it's not typically hard to get that's the one I think of all the different festivals that happens, that's the one where it's unless it's a huge name, it's not usually that hard to get a seat in there, which is not the case for all of them. And here's what they do that's interesting. They will usually do a completely different set from one show to the next. not always, but oftentimes if you're a big fan of Broadway. You might wanna see more than one of their performances 'cause you might see them do a totally different musical that they didn't touch in the in the last show. QMCraig: Yeah, and some like some of the actors will come in like and they'll do a week and then they'll come back a month later and do a week with somebody else. So Rob: Mm-hmm. QMCraig: there's usually a pair for each performance night. So but they'll always have the same people for a week or so and then they switch it up. So it's very cool. Rob: Yeah. Our next festival is a flower and garden. So Festival of the Arts is winter, flower and garden. We're moving into spring. Jessica, give us your first flower and garden tip. Jessica: So this is for those of us that are either vegetarian or vegetarian adjacent. there is a lot more options at Flower and Garden for vegans and vegetarians and I call us the non-mammal eaters, just a lot more options for us to eat. This is the one that I can usually find a lot of food at. it was a joke. John and I were gonna go do festivals and he had about 20 items to every one item that I could eat. It's just f just because of my allergy, I could not eat most of the food there. And Flower Garden is all about the food that I can eat. Rob: Yep. And and even if you're not looking at a specific, you know, plant based or or diet, just generally the food is healthier. I mean, it's just Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: and and it's QMCraig: Mm-hmm. Rob: still delicious. Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: so I feel like you can enjoy being gluttonous at flowering garden and not feel like you kind of wrecked your diet doing so because there's so many great fresh and healthy options. Craig, what's your first flower and garden tip? QMCraig: yeah, that is to arrive early and get some photos taken with the topiaries and the displays. of course this is the group that comes from the I rope drop snacks line of thinking. So if rides aren't your priority, if you want to see these beautiful topiaries, that's a great time because everyone else is zigging. It's your chance to zag and and snap some great photos in front of those topiaries without having to wait a long for a lot of people to go through there. 'Cause they do get very popular. Rob: And Craig, because we haven't really talked about it in this show, tell people what what they can expect with these topiaries. Like what what do those entail at Flower and Garden? QMCraig: well, every year there's always like a new huge display up front. I know it's an Encanto wish was one. I can't remember what was this last year, even though was there. they'll generally even though they have these huge displays with four or five different characters. Was it Toy Story? Okay. Rob: Was it it was Toy Story this past year, wasn't it? Yeah. Jessica: Mm-hmm. QMCraig: but then they will move those topiaries to another place for the next year. there's a Tiana topiary that is just gorgeous. There's Muppets, there's They're everywhere and just beautiful. there's also flower displays like flower quilt gardens, on these expansive grassy areas around the water. that's another thing that's it's it's just stunning. And it it is though the most beautiful festival in my opinion, other than the holidays, but it's a different beautiful. Rob: I mean, these are larger than life characters that are created almost entirely out of living plants, flowers, and they're so creative in just the the plant selections that they choose to make a dress out of or to make a character's hair out of. QMCraig: Mm-hmm. Rob: And I that's my favorite part about Flower and Garden is just seeing the creativity of the horticultural team. The other thing, and this is just one of those blessings of living in this area to see those those topiaries grow and change over the course of the festival. I mean, if you want to see them looking the most beautiful, come right around the middle to second half of the festival, because that's just when they're in full bloom. And if you want to see things get kind of crazy and chaotic, come for the last couple of weeks. Cause sometimes the hair is just kind of growing out of control or a dress is just like, but it's, I mean, it's just what's so cool about it. It's a living work of art. well, my only tip specifically to flower and garden is to not sleep on the butterfly garden or any of the special gardens that they have. so the butterfly garden, if you've never done that, it's it's this enclosed space. And it's tons of plants that attract butterflies. And they're essentially breeding butterflies inside of this garden. And, if you're lucky, you can actually see butterflies come out of the cocoon and and being born right before your eyes. But you can learn a lot about, you know, the life cycle of butterflies and how to bring butterflies into your yard when you get back home. Super cool. Another one that I love is we talked about twinings earlier, giving out tea samples during Flower and Garden. They have an amazing tea garden. And there's a complimentary tour that you can take where the team at Twinings at that store there will teach you about the different teas that are in the garden. This is one that if you want to do it, I recommend just head straight. to twinings to the UK pavilion, right, you know, when things open up and get on the list for one of the the different tours because those do fill up pretty fast because that they don't cost any extra. And you do get usually some free tea at the end. Jessica, what is your flower and garden tip? Jessica: So just like Figment is the mascot of Festival of the Art, Spike the Bee and Orangebird are the mascot of this festival. And the merch will be centered around that. So I just want to put that out there. There's some really cute, there has been some really cute Spike the Bee merch over the last couple festivals, including I believe a spork that went viral. So the Spike the Beef Spork is a viral piece of merchandise, much like the Figment popcorn bucket. The things that us Disney fans make viral are always the funniest things. But if you're a Spike the Bee or Orangebird fan, this is your festival. Rob: Yep. Eric, what about for flower and garden? Do we have any specific tips or questions from our Patreon friends? Erick: Ray and Lauren were suggesting to get the jambalaya and bananas foster from the American Pavilion and liquid Nitrogen cheesecake. Rob: There's a there's always a liquid nitrogen created item at it's called Swirld Showcase at the entrance to World Showcase. fun, clever pun there. Jessica: I just got that. Rob: and they always do a liquid nitrogen dessert and you can actually see them making it. they dip it in the liquid nitrogen and there's smoke. It's like a little science project that happens, and they're usually really, really good. So I I concur with that. That's always a stop to make at every festival. but the one at food, the one at flower and garden usually involves some some actual living flowers that make part of the liquid nitrogen dessert, which is really fun. all right. Well, now let's move on to the festival that's going on right now, which is food and wine. And this is going to be a short one because let's just get this out of the way at the top. If you're coming to a festival to do stuff other than eating and drinking, food and wine is probably not the festival for you because there just is not much else to do. It always surprises me when I ask people like, what's your favorite festival? So many people will say, I love food and wine. It's like, okay, well, if you love to eat and drink at the festival, food and wine is the best because that's all there really is to do for the most part, other than there's a few other things that we'll talk about. They do have the most food and wine on offer. and the one thing that is new this year it's gonna be a cheese experience. I can't I can't remember the name of it, but it's it's gonna be at Communicor. Remember, I said Communi Core is always something you want to check for the festivals? It's gonna teach you about the history of cheese. And I've always been very curious about this because I just whoever it was that looked at Some molding curdling milk and said, you know what? I'm gonna give that a try. First of all, hats off to that person because I love cheese, QMCraig: Mm-hmm. Rob: but that was a brave individual who who QMCraig: Ha ha. Rob: who went there first. but we're gonna learn about the history of cheese. I think it is actually now open. By the time this podcast airs, it will definitely be open. and there's gonna be some cheese tastings available inside Communi Core Hall. So if you're a cheese fan like me, that is something new to the festival this year. and as Craig mentioned earlier, there used to be more that happened at Food and Wine. There used to be chef demonstrations and cool stuff. I would love for that stuff to come back. And I feel like this Communi Core addition to the festival is a step in that direction. So I'm excited about that. QMCraig: Very welcome step. Rob: yes. Craig, what is your food and wine specific tip? QMCraig: Mm-hmm. Okay, yeah, so for food and wine they have the Eat to the Beat concerts like at the American Gardens Pavilion, like I talked about the Broadway series, and they have it with the big theater and lots of people, but they have these big bands and there are lots of people that will come in and enjoy the bands. any yeah. Jessica: Yeah, let me just jump in there and just say that certain bands may have a following. And so you just have to be prepared for that. There was a band called Yellow Card, which is apparently a 90s band that I didn't know, 80s, 90s band. And the sheer number of people that were there in yellow card shirts that were there to see yellow card, This band I had never heard of. I had friends who live in Florida because I've made some friends there now. They were, hey, we're gonna go see Yellow Card, we're gonna go see Yellow Card. Some of these bands will be, the draw. And think we talked about this a little bit, even if it doesn't have a dining package, you won't be able to just step in. it happened to be the night of John's birthday that Yellow Card was there, and it was a torrential downpour outside. And everyone was inside except for the people in line to see yellow card. They did not leave their space. They had their ponchos and their umbrellas, and they were not going to lose their space in that line because they were going to be in that show to see yellow card. So if it's a popular band, or if you start walking in Epcot, you start seeing shirts for a band you don't recognize, be prepared. There could be a lot of people that are all going to the same place. Rob: This is really funny because I had never heard of yellow card. I was there working on the video and I noticed that they had pulled out all of the like the ropes and stuff to Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: to manage a huge crowd and I was like and Hansen had just been there and I was like, is Hansen playing again? And they're like, No, no, no, no. It's yellow card. And I was like, Did I did I don't know that did I mishear it? Is it w I don't know, yellow card? I was not familiar with them, but you were right. It was Jessica: It was a zoo. Rob: the the fans were out for yellow card for sure. Yeah. Jessica: The fans were out. It was exciting. Rob: Eric, do we have any specific tips or questions related to food and wine? Erick: Jules just mentioned about the yellow card. they Rob: Mm-hmm. Erick: said that they were early two thousands. You will know their big songs if you heard it. So talking about the concert, Keisha asked, how do I know if there are dining packages for a band? some subs to be very specific. Rob: so go into the dining app, the dining section of the app. if you search for Eat to the Beat or, you know, if it's Garden Rocks, there will be a dining package that'll that'll show up essentially in the list of different dining options that you can book. The easiest way to see is to just search for that dining package and then You know, when you're making a reservation, it's gonna show you with green dots what days there are openings available. so if you've got your schedule out and you know what band you wanna go see or what performer you wanna see, you can just sort of look for those dates. And if there's green dots there, then you can tap in and and book those dates. It is important to know though. Sometimes you're not going to see green dots, not because they weren't available, but because they just sold out really fast. Because the biggest acts will sell out very quickly. So what I recommend as soon as they announce the lineup, if there's someone in that list you really want to see, mark the date. what is it? 60 days out. Is that correct? I always Jessica: Sixty days. Rob: get yeah. 60 days out from when you want to see that performer. Mark that date in your calendar and go and try to book the dining package on that day to give yourself the best selection of being able to get it. And another thing that we'll just tack on to that, just because you have the dining package doesn't mean that you can just show up whenever and you're gonna have a great seat. And we'll probably talk about Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: that a little bit more with with the candlelight processional in this final section. But it just means you're gonna get seated in an area, but not necessarily a great seat. Well, with that said, let's move on to our final festival. Festival of the Holidays. This is my favorite festival. I love Festival of the Holidays. So I'm gonna kick us off for this one. and this is my number one tip that I always say in every video I've ever made about Festival of the Holidays. We've talked about it on this podcast. Do not sleep on the storytellers. The holiday storytellers are the heart and soul of Festival of the Holidays. most of the countries in the world showcase, as well as that there's some in other areas of the park, are gonna teach you about the holiday traditions from those parts of the world. it's not always, you know, Christmas. You know, there's a Hanukkah storyteller. there's a Chinese New Year, there's the Daruma doll vendor. If you don't know the story of the Daruma dolls from Japan. Absolutely go. I I now buy a Deruma doll at Epcot every single year for New Year's. It's a tradition because I learned the tradition from the Deruma doll vendor. if you don't have a lot of time to see a bunch of storytellers, I will say my suggestion for the absolute must-dos are Barn Santa is probably the most generally popular of the The storytellers, most folks love the Barn Santa. It's just a really good show. And that's in Norway. my personal favorite I will see La Befana in Italy at least two or three times a year. I love her that much. Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: She's amazing. she is the Christmas witch in in Italy. And if you think that that's surprising that there's such a thing as a Christmas witch, you need to go see La Befana. I weep. You you may cry. It's that good. and then I would say some of the others that that you might want to consider. Father Christmas in the UK is very funny. And the full version of Las Posadas in Mexico with mariachi cobre, that's the mariachi band that's there all year round. But during Festival of the Holidays on certain days. All of Mariachi Cobra will be there with dancers and performers from Ballet Fulclórico in Mexico City. And they will teach you about Las Posadas in Mexico. thing is though, they don't do that full show every day. And that's this is kind of the case with all the different countries. So if there's one you really want to see, check with someone in Guest Relations, you know, in Epcot if you can and find out. the schedule to make sure that you can see the full performance of the one you're most excited about. But storytellers, number one thing to do at Festival of Holidays, in my opinion. Craig, what is your must do at Festival of Holidays? QMCraig: Yes. Well, this this is my personal must do for sure. and that is Joyful. it's called Joyful A Celebration of the Season. And it is an R and B group, vocal. They're they are all singers. They have a, I think a synthesizer or piano player, and I can't remember if they have drums or not, off the top of my head. But it's fantastic. They do Christmas songs, they do other holiday long songs, they focus on Kanza as well. and talk about A mind blowingly talented group of singers. I always try to make sure that I see them at least every visit. they're just phenomenal, my favorite for sure. And they perform right between world celebration and world showcase in that area right there. Right with the ring. Jessica: They're I think they performed next Rob: Yeah. Jessica: to Communicor Hall this year, last year. Yeah, they moved them up to Communicor Hall Rob: Yeah, they moved them behind CommuniCorps Hall. Yep. Mm-hmm. QMCraig: Did they? Okay. Jessica: to that stage. Rob: Jessica, I know I know your next tip is gonna be about the candlelight processional. And I just before we we get into that though, I want to talk about really briefly. This is the other thing that. Is my must do at Festival of the Holidays. And a lot of people don't realize the Candlelight Processional. It's basically where they will have a celebrity narrator come in and they will narrate the story of the birth of Jesus. And there's this choir that's made up. The core of the choir is going to be Voices of Liberty from the American Adventure Pavilion, who are there all year round. But then there's this extended choir that's all cast members from all different lines of work. These are not. performance cast members. These are not cast members that are always in shows. They're, you know, they could be, you know, food and beverage cast members. They could be custodial, but just they all audition. And it's a big honor to be selected to be part of the candlelight So this goes back to Disneyland in 1958. Walt himself, this was one of the things he most wanted to exist at Disneyland. and it's continued. It still happens at Disneyland much less frequently. It's it's more of like a special event thing there. Whereas at Epcot, it happens every single night during Festival of the Holidays. So you should absolutely put this on your must do. But Jessica, your tip is about how to make sure you get to see it if it is on your must do. So let people know about Jessica: Yeah, and Rob: that. Jessica: it quote unquote sells out. There is there is no room at the inn. There is no room Rob: Ha ha ha. Jessica: at the inn for candlelight processional. I know this is kind of controversial and I I am I understand this is upsetting to some people because it's a free thing, but If you want to guarantee that you're going to get a seat, you really need to get on and get a dining package. I don't say that for everything. Most of the time, I'm the person of this group who doesn't do lightning lanes who says all of us can wait in a line. The lines for Candlelight Processional are like three hours lines. multiple people will try to get in the line and they will miss the first show. They will miss the second show and they will be in this line trying to get into the last show. I really highly recommend dining packages for this. If for some reason you can't secure a dining package 60 days in advance, sometimes if they're available, Regal Eagle will have day of dining packages. Go when Regal Eagle opens and see if you can get a dining package for then. Also, the dining packages are timed. So it's like you have a dining package for this particular show. That's the one you got. It doesn't mean show up at that time. You still need to show up. They'll tell you 30 minutes before, 45 minutes before if it's a big name. we showed up. The person who gave us our tickets said to show up 30 minutes before we showed up 30 minutes before, and the cast member kind of chastised us. Why are you showing up so late? We're like, we're 30 minutes early. Because no, the the whole line is is here. You should have been here 45 minutes at least beforehand to get in the line. so it's kind of an unwritten rule. Be there even if you have a dining package, you need to get in the line, particularly for the popular people about 45 minutes early. it's just worth it though. It's just worth it. Rob: Yeah. for me it's a must do every single year. It's it's an absolute must do it's beautiful music. It's the the visuals are spectacular and it just Jessica: Yeah. Rob: it puts you in the mood for the season. It really does. Craig, you have one final tip for us for festival the holidays and then we're gonna we're gonna see if we have anything from our friends on Patreon. So Craig, what is your final Festival of the Holidays tip? QMCraig: Yeah, so this is kind of going along with what Jessica was just saying, whereas something that normally 11 months out of the year is not a problem, but for Festival of the Holidays in December, it is. And that is the Living with the Land, Glimmering Greenhouses. So for the holidays, they do a full light show. Like they put Christmas lights over everywhere. And it it's it's truly beautiful. You have to enjoy it. Unfortunately, you really should do it at night. To really get the full effect. Now, I also recommend a lightning lane because it does get crazy. Those lines get very, very long. I don't know what's the do you know like the longest you've ever seen them? Jessica: two and a half hours. QMCraig: That's crazy. Yeah. So highly recommend Lightning Lane and Rob: yeah. I'm QMCraig: jump jump right on that because you're gonna go on a later time to make sure you're watching it in the dark. So definitely that's a big one to plan ahead for. That's right. What are you saying, Rob? Rob: as someone who h who rides living with the land all the time and normally it's practically a walk on to see sixty minutes QMCraig: Mm-hmm. Rob: is like, wow, Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: this is crazy. Erick: See. Rob: So I agree. Lightning lane for sure. Yeah. QMCraig: Mm-hmm. Yeah. yeah. Well, and another thing they do is the behind the scenes tour, which again, normally you have to well, you have to book it sixty days in advance. But to get one for glimmering greenhouses is even more difficult. I think didn't you get it, Jessica? Did you go last year? Jessica: Mm-hmm. I did get it, but normally behind the scenes is one you can usually walk up and they have availability like within within two weeks. You can find one, right? No, glimmering green greenhouses. You have to get it 60 days. You gotta set your alarm for 6 a.m. I think actually I think this is a midnight drop. This is a midnight drop. So this is one where you gotta set your alarm at midnight and still be awake. So get up and try to do it. Rob: Do hotel guests yeah, it's a hot ticket for sure. Eric, what are we hearing from our friends on Patreon? Do we have any final tips or questions before we move on to our question of the week? Erick: this is from Jamie and from Christina. they have found out that it's useful to bring Ziploc bags for leftover sweets and like also Rob: Mm-hmm. Erick: just like especially like during the festival of the holidays, that you can just put like the cookies on the Ziploc bag and then take them back to the hotel and eat them as the snacks like for later that night. Rob: That's a great tip. So what they're referring to, the scavenger hunt, the food scavenger hunt for festival holidays is the cookie stroll. And what's great about the cookie stroll, if you have ziplocks or you have like some sort of container, cookies keep very well, very easily. And you're gonna get a lot of cookies at Festival of the Holidays. And a lot of these cookies are pretty large. So that's a huge tip. To have and they're they're a perfect thing to have the next morning with your coffee. It's like a lovely little treat for breakfast. yeah, that's a great tip. Thank you for sharing that. Erick: And I think you guys are going to have fun with this question. this is Jessica: dear. Erick: from Rachel. does the narrator really matter that much? Jessica: Yes. Rob: Yes. They're all it's always gonna be good. Let's start with that. I've never seen a narrator that I didn't think was was it was still an amazing experience, but there are certain narrators that just add a layer on top. let's just go around quickly everyone's favorite, what's your favorite narrator that you've seen and briefly why, Jessica? Jessica: Well we saw Ashley Ekstein last year and she's the original Ahsoka voice and she put Star Wars hints about a new hope in the little nods to Star Wars in it. and she was just it was amazing. I I loved every second of it. So out of the three that I've seen, she's my favorite. Rob: Craig, what is your favorite that you've seen? QMCraig: that's easy. It was Marley Matlin. She's a a deaf actress, Oscar winner, Rob: Really wanna see her. QMCraig: and just yeah, so they had a person narrating it, and she signed the whole thing. And it was just incredible. Rob: Yeah. Eric, what's your favorite narrative that you've seen for Candlelight Processional? Erick: For me it was Ali Carvalho. And Rob: Mm-hmm. Erick: for me it's just it was the very first time that I experienced the Candle Light Processional. but I would say that my second one will be like whoopy. Rob: Mm-hmm. Erick: and the reason is what was that she was pretty funny when she was doing it. Rob: Whoopi is for me, hands down, my favorite that I've seen. Now I've heard, I've never seen Neil Patrick Harris. He's, I feel like he's probably the most famous in terms specifically for this event. Like people rave about how much they love Neil Patrick Harris doing this event. Whoopi for me is gonna be tough to beat. She's just, she brought so much humor, but it was in a very respectful, like it wasn't, you know, it didn't feel out of place in this event that is, you know, not a particularly humorous event, typically, right? But she added the humor in the perfect places. And it was just, it was a really fun night. And I j I love Whoopi Goldberg to begin with. So I've seen, you know, a a broad range of folks do it. It's always moving. It's always magical. So, you know, if if you can see someone that that is special to you, that's the icing on the cake. But, you know, I would say it's always worth seeing, no matter who the narrator is when you're there. All right. Jessica, why don't you share with us the question of the week this week? And while Jessica is pulling up that question, I want to remind everyone that you can ask a question that we will answer in this section of the show or at one of our QA episodes where we just answer questions the whole time by leaving your question as a comment on one of our videos, either on the Ear Scouts YouTube channel. which you can find easily at earscouts.com forward slash podcast or in one of our videos on the main Ear Scouts channel on YouTube. Of course, if you're a member of our Patreon family, you can always ask those questions live in the chat or in our regular chat room and we will try to include them in the show. Jessica, where does our question come from this week? Jessica: I had put some of the things that we were doing for the first time for our trip onto Patreon, one of which was we went to the Hollywood and Vine breakfast at Hollywood Studios for the Halloween-themed breakfast. And we got a question from Christina, and she said, would love to hear why you liked this place for breakfast so much. Really excited to try this place. So I'm just gonna give first of all, one of the reasons we really liked this place it was a breakfast buffet and it had an omelet station, it had some interesting it had grits, it had a couple of casseroles, it had a salmon and potato casserole for breakfast, which is kind of a weird thing, but it was really good. It wasn't just your typical food. It had interesting pancakes, it had like a cinnamon apple pancake when we were there. It wasn't the classic kind of breakfast buffet food. It was an elevated breakfast buffet food. compared to some of the other breakfast buffets we've had at Disney, this was a great breakfast buffet. the other thing that I will say is the fact that the characters change costumes for the seasons makes this so much more interesting to me because it's not like you're just getting Mickey and Minnie and Goofy and Pluto, we got a new set of Halloween costume pictures with the characters that we could only get there. And it makes me want to schedule this for the holidays. Like I'm already thinking about what do they look like at Christmas time because I'm pretty interested in seeing those costumes. the food was good, but the experience was good. And the fact that you get interesting costumes in your core characters and it changes seasonally makes it a win win. Rob: I'm glad to hear, Jessica, that you 'cause you had had years ago you'd had kind of a a so so experience Jessica: Yeah. Rob: at Hollywood and Vine and you were kind of not big on going back, but you feel now you you Jessica: Yeah. Rob: really like the improvements that they've made. Yeah. Jessica: A hundred percent. Rob: The last thing I want to say, if you are using the Disney dining plan, Hollywood and Vine, specifically for the Phantasmic dining package, Is possibly the best table service value you're going to get in any of the parks. Because when you do the dining package, that's going to give you a special seating area for Phantasmic in the evening. It's going to be more expensive if you were to do it out of pocket than the regular Hollywood and Vine buffet, but it's no extra charge for you when you're using the dining plan. And I think it ends up being for adults. I mean, I want to say it's like 90 bucks, you know, like close to $100 for that dining package meal at Hollywood and Vine. And that's that adds up when you got a family of four. I mean, that's a big chunk of change that you're saving by using the dining plan there versus paying out of pocket. So well, with that said, I think it is time to move on to our final segment of the podcast. And that is happy thoughts, because we always like to end with a little burst of positivity. Craig, why don't you start us off this week? What is your happy thought? QMCraig: Okay, this just shows the simplest things make me happy. So when I woke up this morning, it was chilly. I had to put on sweats. And that Jessica: Mm. Rob: Wow. QMCraig: made me so happy. I'm ready. I am ready for fall. I'm done with summer. Bring on the chill. I'm ready for it. Rob: think I need a ticket to Indiana because that sounds magical. Jessica: Me too. QMCraig: Right now, yeah. Rob: Jessica, what is your happy thought this week? Jessica: So my happy thought is we were in Disney and we did a lot of firsts this time. First the Hollywood and Vine was a first for John. It was a first for me in long time. But we did American Adventure for the first time for John, and we got to see Rob. So that was really exciting. And and we got to sit down for that. But we also did Storytime with Belle, which was my first time. I'd never done that. And I got selected to be one of the knights, so the guards. That was exciting. I have my picture and my bookmark from that. And then we did Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, which was John's first time in there. And John got selected to be Sully. So it was just, it was just this couple of a day was of just like this weird thing where we got selected in all of these. So that was my QMCraig: Ha ha. Jessica: happy thought. It was a it was a lot of fun. And even as somebody who goes to Disney multiple, multiple times, you can find things you've never done before. So that's Rob: Mm-hmm. Jessica: my happy thought. QMCraig: Mm-hmm. Very true. Rob: That's awesome. Eric, what is your happy thought this week? Erick: So for me was that we were able to go to the Walt Disney Animation Studios that just opened in in Hollywood Studios and being able to see the little hints of Brother Bear all around, just made me very happy. but what I really appreciate from this location was like how beautiful they turned that area. And I feel like there's little things for everyone over there. I I believe like it doesn't matter which movie is your favorite, you're going to be able to find something for you. Rob: Yeah. They did QMCraig: Mm-hmm. Rob: an amazing I mean, if you this is this is the space that most recently was Star Wars launch bay. I say this as someone who loves Star Wars. That area of the park, it looked like an inexpensive roadside museum that someone put together and like part of it looked like it had been closed off because there'd been a leaky roof or something. I mean, it was just it was bad. It did not look good. And it is beautiful now. I mean, it looks spectacular. I think it's better than it's ever been. So yeah, I agree. QMCraig: Yeah, and as someone who remembers the original animation experience that they had back there where you went it was like a whole tour of an animation studio, I'm glad. I'm so glad they're reusing that space and especially for animation. So two thumbs Rob: Yeah. QMCraig: up, can't wait to see it. Rob: Yeah, I can't wait to get back over there. so my happy thought this week is tangentially about Disney, but really we it's about we went to Halloween horror nights. as we're recording this, it was last night, Sunday night. And Universal has changed the way that they do what they call stay in scream, I think is what they call it, but it's basically when you get. If you have a day ticket or you have an annual pass or you pay for the the the early admission to the the Halloween Halloween horror nights, you get to enter before everyone else. Obviously, if it's a day ticket or annual pass, you can be there all day if you want. What they used to do was they would start all the Halloween stuff around like five-ish. but That meant that you still had a you had more time than the people who came coming in at the regular entry time, but it was it was just stressful. I mean, you just basically spent the whole night running from line to line to line, and the lines were all really long. And it was just it was a really stressful experience trying to get everything done. And what they did this year, they started opening the lines for the first haunted house at Houses. There were a couple that opened at 2 p.m. and the line started at 1 p.m. And they had this rolling schedule where the haunted houses would gradually open throughout the afternoon. Plus, the event exclusive food started becoming available at 3 p.m. All those special kitchens opened at 3. This was not my favorite Halloween horror nights in terms of the the the actual houses or the the things that were there. I mean it was good. I'm not saying it wasn't good, but it was it was not my favorite. But just the change in stress level, the the ability to just enjoy this event and not feel like I was in a mad dash made this my favorite Halloween horror nights by far. Like it's not even close. And it was just if you're coming to Halloween Horror Nights, absolutely get this the early ad ticket admission. I think they call it stay in scream or get a day ticket and just plan to be in there starting, I'd come around 1231. but the reason I want to bring this up in this podcast is because I think Disney really needs to take a lesson. They need to take some notes because they're already doing a much better job in California with Oogie Boogie Bash, where they're You can get all of the unique food items, with the exception of I think one thing, all day long. Even if you're a day guest and you're not coming for the Oogie Boogie Bash itself, you can get those food items during the day. The ride overlays, they happen all day long. You don't have to wait until the party starts. And by doing these things early, even though it's not just exclusive to the to the party guests, I'm sorry, no one is buying a ticket. To not so scary Halloween party to get a special hamburger at, you know, Cosmic Rays. That's not the appeal of your event, Disney. And that's not why people are buying. And guess what? If you let people buy that hamburger all day, you're gonna sell more hamburgers, and people are not gonna be stressed out having one more thing they've got to check off their list during that limited party window. Same thing with ride overlays. If you're really worried. That you don't want people who didn't buy the ticket to get the ride overlay. Well, then maybe check wristband starting at two or something and and you know, only let those people on the ride. But honestly, what's the big deal? Like do it like you do in California, open these things up earlier. Cause the stress level for not so scary and very merry is here. It's it's high. And for Oogie Boogie and now for for Halloween horror nights, it's just not there. You're not stressed. You're just enjoying the event. And that's the whole point. So, my happy thought is Halloween Horror Knights has figured this out. Oogie Boogie at Disney, they've already figured it out. Disney, bring this to Not So Scary and Very Merry. Make these events better. and we can't wait to go when you do. until next time, we hope everyone has a lovely week. We'll be back next week with a brand new episode. And until then, don't forget to think lots of happy thoughts, everybody. Good night. QMCraig: Mm-hmm.