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Epcot World Showcase
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
World Showcase contains pavilions representing eleven countries—click on the links below for more information about each. In clockwise order, the pavilions are:
Mexico
Norway
China
Germany
Italy
The American Adventure
Japan
Morocco
France
United Kingdom
Canada
Of the eleven pavilions, Norway and Morocco were not present at the park's opening, and were added later. Each of these contains representative shops and restaurants and is staffed by citizens of these countries, many of them college students living in Walt Disney World College Program housing. Some also contain rides and shows. The only pavilion that is sponsored by the country it represents is Morocco. The remaining country pavilions are all sponsored by private companies.
Pavilions for Russia, Spain, Venezuela, United Arab Emirates, and Israel never made it past the planning phase. An Equatorial Africa pavilion was planned but was never built. It would have featured a large African presentation film hosted by Alex Haley. A small African themed refreshment stop is now in its place, known as the Outpost. After Disney's Animal Kingdom—an African-themed animal preserve and park—opened, any plans for an African Pavilion were dropped.
To cut costs, Disney now usually opens World Showcase two hours after park opening and closes certain Future World rides and attractions at 7:00 PM. However over the years as new rides are built, the newer more popular attractions like Test Track, Soarin', Mission Space, and most recently The Seas with Nemo and Friends, as well as the iconic Spaceship Earth, have been remaining open from park open through to park close.
Unlike the Magic Kingdom, which does not serve alcohol, many stores and restaurants in the World Showcase do serve or sell alcoholic beverages from their respective countries, and beer is sold at refreshment stands throughout the park.
There is an entrance to the park between the France and United Kingdom Pavilions known as the International Gateway. Guests staying in a number of the Epcot Resorts and guests coming from Disney's Hollywood Studios can access this gate by walkway or boat.
The article text above is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Epcot".
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