Thursday January 18th 2024

It was an overcast, almost foggy day. It was humid and the temperature climbed into the low seventies. In the middle of the afternoon a brief shower passed through the area. Since then, a brief shower seems to pass through every two hours or so.

After a slow start to the day caused by the uncertain weather, I ended up visiting Disney’s EPCOT theme park today. The International Festival of the Arts is in full swing. It is my second favorite EPCOT festival. The International Flower and Garden Festival in the spring is my favorite. This festival has booths showing and selling art work. Most of the art is Disney focused, but there are other depictions as well.

There are artists actively creating new works and opportunities for visitors to participate in the development of art as well. For adults and supervised children there is a massive paint by number mural that people fill in colored blocks according to the numbers. Elsewhere in the park children are given chalk to color on the cement walkway very near the location that professional artists are creating formal chalk art. In the American Garden theater people can learn how to draw famous Disney characters from Disney illustrators during the daytime and listen to singers perform Broadway tunes in the evening. There are even artistic food creations for sale in the various food stands around the park.

Today I mostly just walked around taking in all of the sights. The crowds were heavier than I expected. Wait times for all the rides were long. I didn’t ride any of them. I listened to some of the live entertainment. The Voices of Liberty at the American Pavilion were great as usual.

As I was enjoying my lunch of Fish and Chips at the UK Pavilion the first rain shower of the day arrived. I found a dry place to eat my late lunch, but the rain managed to discourage more exploring of the park. Once I finished eating, I made my back to the front of the park and departed for the afternoon. The festival continues until February 19th. I’ll be in this area the entire time, so I will have ample opportunities to explore the festival in more depth.