Festival of the Arts, Expression Section

by Gaylin

At Epcot, during the Festival of the Arts, there was a chance for guests to help out with an art piece. It was called the Expression Section.

Cast members were pumping a small amount of paint into tiny containers, sorted by number, each number a different colour. If you look at the poster above the cast members, that is actually what the paint by number mural will be when finished.

The cast members were quite busy, there was never a line-up but there was a continuous line of guests in front of their booth, everyone wanted to paint!

The first time I went through the line, I got white paint, #8.

You were supposed to paint 5 squares . . . that white T in the middle, I painted that!

The second time I went through I got pink, I couldn't find 5 pink squares together so I did this 2 and found 3 more. As you can see, people were not being very careful with their paint!

As you left the mural area, used paint cups went in one bin and foam paint brushes went in another. Then a nice cast member gave you a post card as a take-away gift. Doing this took less than 5 minute from beginning to end and I sure wish I could have seen the finished product!

Walt Disney World, January 2017, Part 2

By Nick

Sunday 1/22/17 
 
We slept in. Okay, 7am IS sleeping in for me. We dropped our bags at bell services (for the reason for the room move, please see part one) and grabbed breakfast at the Boardwalk Bakery before hopping a bus to Disney Springs.

We arrived around 9:30am, and had much of Town Center to ourselves. It was National Polka Dot Day, and Disney was celebrating with a promotion called Rock the Dots. Guests were encouraged to dress in polka dots, and many Disney Springs establishments were giving out buttons and offering discounts to those Rockin' the Dots.

We met Gaylin and proceeded around DS visiting shops before being treated to lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express. Thank you again Gaylin!

Next we made a stop at Amorette's Pattisserie, where Gaylin picked up a delicious gluten free snack.

We walked back towards Town Center on the way to the Coca Cola Store, and who do we see walking in the same direction, but Minnie Mouse! She was making her way to the Rockin' the Dots dance party!

After a little dance with Minnie, we headed to the Coca Cola Store. The place is really big, and contains just about everything a fan of our favorite soda can think of. AND you can get a photo with The Bear!

We took a bus back to the Boardwalk around 3, and I went to the desk to inquire if perhaps I just didn't get texted that the room was ready (it's happened) and was told that it still was not.

The Cast Member noticed Barbie and Gaylin's attire and buttons and said she was heading over to Disney Springs after her shift to hopefully get a button. Barbie had an extra, and gave it to her. We believe this little act of kindness was paid forward the next day (stop back for part 3)!

We sat in the lobby for a little while, and happened to see friends Heather and Rich as they were waiting for Tragical Magical Express back to the airport. Great to meet you both again!

After 20 minutes, and still no room, we decided to just head to Epcot.

It started to rain lightly, and then pour just as we approached Japan, so we ducked inside the Mitsukoshi Department Store.

When we left it had cleared up, so we took advantage of a couple of the photo ops the International Festival of the Arts afforded.

The only FastPass we had was for Frozen Ever After. We'd missed it in October due to Hurricane Matthew, so I was looking forward to it. It is not a long ride, and certainly not, in my opinion, worth the extremely long lines, but if you have a FP to use, it's enjoyable.

When we got off the ride, we spent time in the shop, as it had started to rain again...

... and waited for a break to go over to Mexico, where Donald was waiting in his finest Mexican attire!

We walked down to Spaceship Earth, which had zero wait, so took a ride before saying goodnight to Gaylin.

Barbie and I walked back towards International Gateway rather briskly as the forecast was for extreme thunder storms and even tornado watches!

By the time we got to Great Britain, we were starved, so made a decision to grab a quick bite at Yorkshire County Fish and Chips.
No sooner had we popped the last chip in our mouths, it started to rain lightly.

We made it back to the BW just in time to avoid the deluge! Our room had a good view for the storm!

As one band of rain went by around 7:45pm, the Magic Kingdom apparently decided to present Wishes a little early, and Illuminations went off very early at Epcot!

The rain started back up not to long after, on and off all evening. But this led to some lovely days afterwards!

Please stop back tomorrow to see Gaylin's post on Rockin' the Dots!

Walt Disney World, January 2017, Part 1

By Nick

Saturday 1/21/17 

We flew out of Philadelphia on the earliest flight we've ever taken, 5:55am! We arrived in Orlando, boarded the Magical Express bus, and arrived at Disney's Boardwalk Villas at 9:30am.

Our room wasn't ready, so we walked over to Epcot and had a bit to eat at France's Les Halles Boulangerie Patisserie.

It was a gorgeous day, and as we had no FastPasses, we just wandered around taking advantage of several of the photo opportunities unique to the inaugural year of Epcot's International Festival of the Arts.

We made our way to the Festival Center located at the Odyssey, where in addition to art galleries featuring Herb Ryman and Mary Blair, art worskshops are held, you can find The Painter's Palate.

Barbie and I split the Trio of Savory Croissant Donuts which were fantastic. 

This really got my hopes up for more food offerings, and the next stop didn't disappoint.

At E=AT/\2 we had the BLT and Pop Artsicle, both great!

We made our way over to the Germany Pavilion to say hello to friends Heather and Richard.

The four of us chatted for awhile before going our separate ways. I'd received a text that our room was ready. When I looked at the text which had our room number I was somewhat disappointed to see it was on a low floor, as I'd requested a high floor with no bulkhead. Oh well, maybe it will be a fantastic view, I thought. 

We headed over to the Boardwalk, and...

What is a bulkhead? Well, it's a wall instead of an open balcony, so when you sit outside, you see...

As my co-host on the Disney Exchange Podcast, Dave, said, if this was a cruise ship it would be considered an obstructed view and be several hundred dollars cheaper. So, I decided to ask if we could change rooms. I went to the front desk and was told there was no available room for that evening, but we'd be moved the next day.

We showered and went to Disney's Hollywood Studios to meet long time blog friend Gaylin, who we had never met, despite knowing each other at least 8 years! 

We used our FastPasses for Toy Story Midway Mania before an early dinner at The Brown Derby. 

After a ride on the Great Movie Ride and a visit to Star Wars Launch Bay we picked out what I thought would be a good spot for the Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular, on Hollywood Boulevard.

Wrong! I was unaware that, unlike the previous fireworks show, Star Wars: Symphony in the Stars that the pyrotechnics are not directly over the theater, but are now off to the right if you are facing it, and our view of the fireworks was obstructed by a tree. It was at least a good view of the projections.

We had been invited to join Heather and Rich at the newly opened AbracadaBar at the Boardwalk, but, as we had been up since about 2am, we called it a night!