Birt Family Focus

Epcot, The Land Pavilion -- 7/10/02
Photo by Carol

The Entrance To The Land Pavilion

Today we visit the Land Pavilion. This is my favorite of all the Future World Pavilions. I am an avid gardener and this is gardener's paradise!

The land focuses on the environment and ways to feed ourselves and future generations. There are 3 venues here, as well as 2 restaurant areas and a gift shop. The Garden Grill, famous for it's rotating dining platform and Farmer Mickey character interactions is on the second floor. The Circle of Life- a movie dealing with the environment and our relationship with the land, presented by characters from "The Lion King" is also on the second floor.

On the first floor is my favorite fast food place-the Sunshine Season Food Fair. You will find something for everyone here. There are several different counters offering (huge) sandwiches, baked potatoes, salad, soup, pasta, barbecue, and deserts. While you are down here, get your fast pass for Living With The Land. This is the pavilion's main attraction and a do not miss for gardeners!

Living With the Land is a 14 minute boat ride through several displays showing various ways in which food may be grown and raised in more economical ways to provide for the needs of the future. It is quite a gentle and relaxing ride as well, so even if you don't particularly care where your next meal may come from, you will enjoy the quiet break in your day. This ride will take you through hydroponics areas where you will see huge vegetables growing literally in the air, being misted periodically with water and nutrients. Some of those vegies look so good you want to reach out and pick them, but that would be a no-no. You will also see examples of symbiotic gardens where fish are raised in tanks of water with vegies suspended over them. The vegies get fertilization and water from the fish, and the fish eat some of the vegie roots- everyone is happy and it takes only a fraction of the space ordinarily needed to raise the two- symbiosis rocks.

So does food- rock, I mean, and you can see for yourself in the little theatre called "Food Rocks". This is a cute little play about nutrition put on by animatronic food puppets. They are patterned after rock stars and the songs they sing about nutrition are VERY familiar- in tune if not in lyric! My favorite? The Peach Boys who sing Good Nutrition. Be sure and check out the interactive waiting area- there are sounds and smells and interesting facts about food and nutrition to be investigated here.

An interesting fact- you know all those delicious looking vegies you saw on your boat tour? You can have them- just eat here! All the vegies served at the Sunshine Food Faire and the Garden Grill are grown here. In fact, so is the fish that is served at the Garden Grill. You can't get a fresher meal anywhere.

Get here early and sign up for the "Behind the Seeds Tour". This is a one hour walking tour of those nifty gardens you saw on your boat ride. For us garden mavens- this is a must and it's very dollarless - $6 for adults. At WDW- that's a drop in the bucket! Sign up early, this is always sold out by noon.

Be sure and spend plenty of time here- we like to plan to visit around when we want lunch or dinner OR stay and visit after a PS for Garden Grill or the Ice Cream Social. If you try to go when you are not hungry, you will find that you are before you are through!