Inaugural Epcot International Festival of the Arts

[Travisma 1,317]

1 minute ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

That's a good question you're raising.  There must be some kind of financial agreement between Disney and these artists.  There's no way that Disney is going to let someone like David Doss, to give one example, keep all of the money he makes from artwork depicting Disney's Intellectual Property. 

TCD

Especially when they go (or used to) after day cares and community centers for painting their figures on the walls.

My wife is on a lot of crafting sites, and the majority of them say that you are safe as long as you are making items for personal use or gifts.

Look at the tons of different homemade/semi professional shirts with Disney icons on them wandering around EPCOT during F&W.

[shoreline99 137]

We also enjoyed the festival. Food selections were good (except for one we didn't like at E=AT(2) that had a runny egg on it), crowds were not too bad, and the exhibits were interesting. We were there on Sunday the 12th, and ended up going back the next afternoon to hit the food booths for lunch. The Herb Ryman/Mary Blair exhibit was particularly interesting. There was a food photography/staging session going on in the Odyssey when we walked through that looked kind of cool.

They had a new paint-by-numbers painting up on Sunday, so TCD must have wrapped the other one up.

Interesting side note - The imagineer Marty Sklar was there on Sunday and Monday giving a talk on imagineering and EPCOT, but we never made it over to see him. I would have liked to but Sunday it was a hard ticket and Monday the timing didn't work out. We had dinner reservations at the California Grill on Monday and as we went to check in, there was Marty. He went upstairs, sat and had dinner at the bar while we were there. I didn't want to bother him and say hello, and I don't think anyone other than the staff knew who he was.

TCD I liked the Neapolitan beer trio, thought it was kind of clever. And tasty. 

 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

12 minutes ago, shoreline99 said:

They had a new paint-by-numbers painting up on Sunday, so TCD must have wrapped the other one up.

I have heard that they were completing more than one of these murals on some days of the Festival.  They just took them down when they were done and slapped a new one up.  I never heard if they displayed the completed murals.

12 minutes ago, shoreline99 said:

Interesting side note - The imagineer Marty Sklar was there on Sunday and Monday giving a talk on imagineering and EPCOT, but we never made it over to see him. I would have liked to but Sunday it was a hard ticket and Monday the timing didn't work out. We had dinner reservations at the California Grill on Monday and as we went to check in, there was Marty. He went upstairs, sat and had dinner at the bar while we were there. I didn't want to bother him and say hello, and I don't think anyone other than the staff knew who he was.

Very cool.  It would have been hard for me to not at least say hello to Marty.  He's a true legend.

TCD

[shoreline99 137]

3 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Very cool.  It would have been hard for me to not at least say hello to Marty.  He's a true legend.

It was hard not to go up and say hello, but I didn't want to intrude on his space. He had a nice big glass of red wine in front of him and looked like he was trying to relax after a long day.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

4 minutes ago, shoreline99 said:

It was hard not to go up and say hello, but I didn't want to intrude on his space. He had a nice big glass of red wine in front of him and looked like he was trying to relax after a long day.

I totally understand. It was like when I saw Beau Bridges in the concierge lounge at the Grand Californian, and the twins told me to leave the poor guy alone.

TCD

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

2 hours ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

I have heard that they were completing more than one of these murals on some days of the Festival.  They just took them down when they were done and slapped a new one up.  I never heard if they displayed the completed murals.

Very cool.  It would have been hard for me to not at least say hello to Marty.  He's a true legend.

TCD

We asked the mural guy, and he said they change one out every 3 days. There were 2 different murals. One for the first few weeks of the festival, and a different one for the last few weeks.

We asked if they are going to display them somewhere, and they don't know yet.

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

I do hope to see the completed murals. 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

18 hours ago, mouseketab.....Carol said:

We asked the mural guy, and he said they change one out every 3 days. There were 2 different murals. One for the first few weeks of the festival, and a different one for the last few weeks.

We asked if they are going to display them somewhere, and they don't know yet.

On the days I was there, they would have had to change out the murals sooner than every three days.  The murals I painted on were near done way before the end of the day.

I posted some photos of the second version of the mural earlier in this thread, so I knew there were at least two different versions. 

It was a cool idea, and well executed.  It bothered me a little that it created so much waste though- every guest tossed away a small plastic paint container and a barely used paint applicator.

59 minutes ago, GaDawgFan.....Kelly said:

I do hope to see the completed murals. 

Me too.  But, I doubt that's going to happen now that the Festival is over.

TCD

[lightbikes 73]

We really enjoyed the Art Festival - we were able to catch 4 weekends of it before we headed home and really liked the slower pace compared to both Food and Wine and the Flower Festival.

As noted by several folks there was much less drinking then F&W gets and that made just stolling and looking a lot more pleasurable. You didn't have to worry about some drunk dumping their 10th beer on you.  

The food was good, expensive, but by and large well prepared and the presentations were a lot of fun to watch.  Plus, unlike F&W where the focus is on the wines more then food, the food here was the focus.  THe goal genuinely seemed to be to make each plate a little art presentation.  Frankly the wines were, imho, second (or third) tier, which made them mostly unimpressive.  The portions of the food too were usually enough to split nicely between two people so we could graze a meal I would never even attempt to prepare for about $40.00, which for Disney prices isn't bad at all.

The other part was the opportunity to talk to a number of the artists about their work.  Yes, they were by and large all Disney artists but a number of them have very successful careers outside their "Disney" charactrers and it was really interesting to see some of that work.  We  picked up a couple of pieces that we wouldn't normally have got specifically because we could get them signed.  We also saw a couple of artisits (including James Coleman) customizing some of their pieces for various guests.   

By and large we have not been impressed with much that Disney has being doing the past few years.  Prices have jumped way past the point of being reasonably affordable for the average family and what's on offer has been steadily chipped away at.   Certainly the various threads here have done a terrific job of pointing out the steady erosion of the good things because the bean counters are running the show.

Still, having said that, the Art Festival was something they actually got right and something we'd be willing to do again. 

Of course, knowing Disney you can count on them to find some way to monetize the experience more (maybe charge for strolling???) before the next one.

 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

14 minutes ago, lightbikes said:

We really enjoyed the Art Festival - we were able to catch 4 weekends of it before we headed home and really liked the slower pace compared to both Food and Wine and the Flower Festival.

As noted by several folks there was much less drinking then F&W gets and that made just stolling and looking a lot more pleasurable. You didn't have to worry about some drunk dumping their 10th beer on you.  

The food was good, expensive, but by and large well prepared and the presentations were a lot of fun to watch.  Plus, unlike F&W where the focus is on the wines more then food, the food here was the focus.  THe goal genuinely seemed to be to make each plate a little art presentation.  Frankly the wines were, imho, second (or third) tier, which made them mostly unimpressive.  The portions of the food too were usually enough to split nicely between two people so we could graze a meal I would never even attempt to prepare for about $40.00, which for Disney prices isn't bad at all.

The other part was the opportunity to talk to a number of the artists about their work.  Yes, they were by and large all Disney artists but a number of them have very successful careers outside their "Disney" charactrers and it was really interesting to see some of that work.  We  picked up a couple of pieces that we wouldn't normally have got specifically because we could get them signed.  We also saw a couple of artisits (including James Coleman) customizing some of their pieces for various guests.   

By and large we have not been impressed with much that Disney has being doing the past few years.  Prices have jumped way past the point of being reasonably affordable for the average family and what's on offer has been steadily chipped away at.   Certainly the various threads here have done a terrific job of pointing out the steady erosion of the good things because the bean counters are running the show.

Still, having said that, the Art Festival was something they actually got right and something we'd be willing to do again. 

Of course, knowing Disney you can count on them to find some way to monetize the experience more (maybe charge for strolling???) before the next one.

 

Great post!

I agree with you- the Festival of the Arts was so much nicer than what the Food and Wine Festival has become.

I think one thing that helped keep the crowds down is that they didn't announce this very far in advance, and they really didn't hype it.  Plus, no one knew anything about it, and, given Disney's lousy track record lately with new offerings, were probably skeptical about it.

I remember the early days of the Food and Wine Festival.  You could walk up to a booth, and order food with no wait.  Portions were larger and prices were smaller.  There was no rowdy party atmosphere.  That has all changed now.  For the worse. 

I know that if they repeat this Festival (and I see no reason why they wouldn't), it's going to be more crowded and more expensive, and they will probably cut some things to make it more profitable.  I'm glad that I got to go when I did.

TCD

[Travisma 1,317]

7 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Great post!

I agree with you- the Festival of the Arts was so much nicer than what the Food and Wine Festival has become.

I think one thing that helped keep the crowds down is that they didn't announce this very far in advance, and they really didn't hype it.  Plus, no one knew anything about it, and, given Disney's lousy track record lately with new offerings, were probably skeptical about it.

I remember the early days of the Food and Wine Festival.  You could walk up to a booth, and order food with no wait.  Portions were larger and prices were smaller.  There was no rowdy party atmosphere.  That has all changed now.  For the worse. 

I know that if they repeat this Festival (and I see no reason why they wouldn't), it's going to be more crowded and more expensive, and they will probably cut some things to make it more profitable.  I'm glad that I got to go when I did.

TCD

Us also.  

I was disappointed that they didnt offer the Mickey splatter outline merchandise that they had on the mail I got announcing the festival.  I liked that a lot more than the Figment stuff.

 

[lightbikes 73]

2 hours ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

I know that if they repeat this Festival (and I see no reason why they wouldn't), it's going to be more crowded and more expensive, and they will probably cut some things to make it more profitable.  I'm glad that I got to go when I did.

TCD

 

2 hours ago, Travisma said:

Us also.  

Yes we're glad we were there this year when it was brand new.  

It's funny how we all talk about how quick Disney is to figure out a way to make things more expensive and monetize everything they do.  

One of the things we talked about was how Disney is trying to find all these long term events.   At this point F&W is now starting August 31 and running till mid November.  Then they will roll into Christmas.  The minute the Marathon is over it will be Art Festival time mid-January  right up to the Flower and Garden show which rolls to the end of May.  All Disney needs to do is find something else festival like to fill in June, July and August and they'll have the food/wine/beer kiosks going all year 'round.  

They have certainly found a great way to turn us upside down and shake more out of our pockets.

I'm sure somewhere, someone is being very well paid to figure out what they can offer for the remaing three months.  

 

 

[Travisma 1,317]

1 hour ago, lightbikes said:

 

Yes we're glad we were there this year when it was brand new.  

It's funny how we all talk about how quick Disney is to figure out a way to make things more expensive and monetize everything they do.  

One of the things we talked about was how Disney is trying to find all these long term events.   At this point F&W is now starting August 31 and running till mid November.  Then they will roll into Christmas.  The minute the Marathon is over it will be Art Festival time mid-January  right up to the Flower and Garden show which rolls to the end of May.  All Disney needs to do is find something else festival like to fill in June, July and August and they'll have the food/wine/beer kiosks going all year 'round.  

They have certainly found a great way to turn us upside down and shake more out of our pockets.

I'm sure somewhere, someone is being very well paid to figure out what they can offer for the remaing three months.  

 

 

June, July, and August will see the inaugural Sweat and Stink Festival.

You will get to melt and bake in the FL sun and humidity which will cause you to stink like a well used hog pen.

[lightbikes 73]

1 hour ago, Travisma said:

June, July, and August will see the inaugural Sweat and Stink Festival.

You will get to melt and bake in the FL sun and humidity which will cause you to stink like a well used hog pen.

LOL - oh dear - good thing we never go near the place between March and November!!!!!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Good news.

If you liked the Inaugural Epcot International Festival of the Arts, or if you missed it this year, Disney just officially announced that it will be back next year:

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2017/03/artfulepcot-will-make-another-appearance-in-2018/

TCD

[lightbikes 73]

2 hours ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Good news.

If you liked the Inaugural Epcot International Festival of the Arts, or if you missed it this year, Disney just officially announced that it will be back next year:

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2017/03/artfulepcot-will-make-another-appearance-in-2018/

TCD

Oh my oh my  - this was so predictible - nine monhts of festival -

now we wait for the coming announcement of Travisma's predicted   "Inaugural Sweat and Stink Festival".  

[keith_h 420]

I wonder what the dates will be? We are heading to the Fort the first weekend in February, 2018. It would be kind of nice to have it going on but I also kind of hate to see it make a slower time of the year get more crowded.

[Travisma 1,317]

36 minutes ago, keith_h said:

I wonder what the dates will be? We are heading to the Fort the first weekend in February, 2018. It would be kind of nice to have it going on but I also kind of hate to see it make a slower time of the year get more crowded.

If you want to see it and they don't change anything, it only ran Friday thru Monday.

If you want quiet time go Tuesday thru Thursday.

Busch and Seaworld only run their festivals on weekends.

[keith_h 420]

That wouldn't be too bad if the festival stays on those days. We always arrive on Sunday and leave on a Saturday. We've debating whether to get four single day park tickets or go with park hoppers. If they keep the same schedule the park hopper might be the one to go with. We could hit one of the other parks during the day on Monday and go to EPCOT in the evening for the festival. Then later in the week go to EPCOT for EPCOT and time it based on FP times.