Favorite Attractions: Epcot – World Showcase
I’ve already written about my favorite attractions in Epcot’s Future World (read it here), but now it’s time for my favorite area of all the parks in Disney World – the World Showcase!
I decided to split Epcot into two posts because I feel the World Showcase and Future World both have SO much to offer, the post would be outrageously long and the 2 sections might have felt nearly unrelated to one another.
If you follow me on Instagram or have read many of my other posts, you already know of my love of the World Showcase. But if you don’t know this, then you need to. I love to travel, but in reality, I haven’t seen much of the world yet. The incredible thing about the World Showcase is there are 11 different cultures to experience, and you can do so in an afternoon!
Some of my earlier Favorite Attractions posts have mostly focused on rides, and while this post will definitely feature some, it’ll kind-of encompass a little bit of everything. But, honestly, a lot of it is gonna be about food.
Canada
Some people start off in Mexico, and some start off in Canada. I always have gone for Mexico, 1st, but our 1st day in Epcot on our most recent trip, we entered the World Showcase specifically for fish & chips for lunch, so we started our journey in Canada.
I’m going to be completely honest: The only reason I’m mentioning Canada is because I’m obsessed with this photo and wanted an excuse to post it. I always loved Le Cellier Steakhouse but haven’t eaten there in quite a long time since we always seem to have the dining plan these days and I never choose restaurants that cost 2 dining credits.
I haven’t done the O, Canada! show in the Canada pavilion in years but it’s on my list for the next trip.
United Kingdom
The UK has recently become one of my favorite pavilions to visit.
The UK may not be super renowned for their food, but I love it. The Rose and Crown Pub has some amazing English entrees, but hubby and I really love Yorkshire County Fish & Chips. The menu is simple: fish & chips and beer.
We like to grab our food and head for the tables right down by the water. They have umbrellas so we get some shade, some breeze, and the most amazing views while we eat. Quick service may be quick to get food, but we tend to draw this meal out and really relax.
I also LOVE strolling through all the shops in UK! We like a lot of British shows and getting to see all the merch is so fun. And I traveled to Ireland 6 years ago and lots of the food and snacks in the other shops remind me of that wonderful trip.
One of my favorite things we did on one of our trips was grab some Starbucks and head back here to just sit. We sat in the English gardens out in the back of the pavilion, it was still early morning and the World Showcase hadn’t been open for very long, and it was so quiet and pretty and peaceful, we almost forgot we were in the middle of crowded Disney World!
This same quiet area is also where we love to sit and listen to the Beatles cover band when they’re playing.
Plus, you can meet Alice and Mary Poppins in this pavilion!
France
That view walking across the bridge into France is just so pretty!!
This is another one all about food. I haven’t done the official attraction in France in many years, but I love the pretty architecture and French food.
My biggest favorite was the coconut ice cream from L’Artisan des Glaces.
I also love the fountain and that you can usually spot Aurora and Belle in the area!
Morocco
Like Japan, we spend an extensive amount of time wandering through every space we can, taking in all the detail and culture in all the shops and little areas you can pop into.
I don’t know if there’s even an attraction here, which is absurd because of how many trips I’ve made, but I’m always just so taken with the architecture that I let myself get sucked in to just looking around.
Japan
Japan is one of our favorite pavilions to visit. My husband absolutely loves Asian culture and we both love Japanese food. We spend a ton of time wandering through all the shops, really taking in every single detail we can.
We love to stop in the Japanese gardens, on a beautiful little bridge, and listen to the drummers performing. When they aren’t performing, wandering through these gardens is another spot that feels so immersive and quiet and makes you forget where you are.
We also ate at Tokyo Dining for the 1st time on our last trip and we made sure our reservation was late enough that we were able to catch Illuminations while we ate! That was hands-down my favorite Illuminations experience ever, so I highly recommend trying to make that happen for yourself sometime!
Yes, I am skipping the America pavilion. Considering I live here, I like to spend my time in the World Showcase exploring other cultures so we hardly spend any time here, and it’s honestly mostly to use the bathroom.
Italy
Italy is, again, all about food for me. I honestly hate the perfume store (my asthma is not a fan and I don’t wear expensive, Italian perfume) but I love the architecture and the food!
Since Alfredo’s closed 11 years ago, I’ve felt a little lost at Epcot. It was always one of my absolute favorite restaurants. I have to admit that we haven’t eaten at Tutto Italia, but Via Napoli is SO good! It has a bit of a cafeteria atmosphere in the main dining room since it’s just so large, but the food has the most delicious simplicity to it.
Germany
It may be a stereotype, but Germany to me is beer and pretzels (here I go again with the food…maybe I should rename this post).
There’s this amazing-smelling caramel shop and all sorts of gorgeous glassware and Christmas ornaments that we love to check out.
The Biergarten is a fantastic spot for a meal, but I really love the Bier stand.
We grab a beer, sometimes a pretzel, and we sit by the fountain and people-watch.
China
We spend a ton of time in the China pavilion. First of all, the architecture is stunning. Surprisingly, tho, I don’t think my husband and I have ever eaten in the China pavilion together. I’m hit-and-miss on wanting Chinese food and I have eaten here plenty of times in the past, and I always want to try new restaurants and ones we’ve never experienced before.
The Reflections of China show is really incredible and the performers just by the entrance to the China pavilion are my absolute favorite to watch. They are so talented and completely mesmerizing.
There’s a ton of Chinese culture to find in the shops that run almost the whole left and back of the pavilion and, unsurprisingly, we spend a lot of time there.
Norway
Even though I wouldn’t list it as one of my favorites, I think Norway is the pavilion we consistently interact with the most.
We didn’t partake because it was too close to mealtime, but the bakery looks AMAZING.
Norway is 1 of only 2 World Showcase pavilions with an actual ride. Most have a show that shares the history of the country, but here you get to ride. It used to be called Maelstrom and it shared a bit more about Norwegian culture, but with the mania, it has now become Frozen Ever After. Same ride track, and it’s really cute, but it’s outrageously popular because it’s Frozen so the wait is always long and it’s really tough to get a FastPass.
There is an Anna and Elsa meet and greet that we think is the most brilliant thing ever. 1st, it’s cute because the house you enter for the queue is Frozen Fever themed. But, there are several rooms with several pairs of Anna and Elsa, making the wait go faster. A small group is taken at a time and they lead you through 1 door, close it, and you’re in an area with several doors off of it, but you hardly notice because 1 is open and they’re leading you thru it to meet Arendelle’s leading ladies. Each time a group enters the room of doors, the door behind them closes to the other folks still waiting don’t see which way they go. This way several groups are meeting with Anna and Elsa all at the same time! Brilliant!
Also, the interaction with both of them was so much fun!
On our most recent trip, we ate at Akershus for the 1st time. I won’t go into it too much since I already wrote about it here, but the food was fantastic and the interactions with the princesses were great. We really love getting to try new and different kinds of food from cultures we’ve never experienced before. Especially since, it’s never as intimidating as you may go in expecting it to be.
Mexico
And finally, we get to Mexico. Our real-life neighbor to the south. I love everything about the visual aesthetic of this pavilion, but I’ll be honest and tell you I’m always a little disappointed whenever we visit.
We always enter the pyramid and it’s dark and the atmosphere is amazing and there’s some awesome history to learn about as you walk in. But we never visit the tequila bar (tequila is NOT hubby’s thing and I tend to grab a margarita outside if I’m going to have 1) and we don’t ever want to buy a sombrero. I have to confess I am not a fan of the Three Caballeros ride because I feel like it does a disservice to Mexican culture and history. I’m really looking forward to it becoming Coco themed in the future.
The food in Mexico is amazing and I highly recommend stopping here to fill your tummy. San Angel overlooks the Three Caballeros ride and it’s pretty cool seeing the boats go by and the volcano in the background. But that’s about it for us in Mexico.
Thanks for reading along about what turned into my favorite food in the World Showcase! What are your favorite aspects (food and actual attractions) of the World Showcase?
magically lirio 
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