Epcot odds and ends...

Here are a few random things we found new and/or (hopefully interesting) during a few recent trips to my favorite park… many are, not surprisingly, food related…

At Innoventions (East to be specific) in Future World we came across a newly re-opened attraction as well as some clues to a yet-to-be-opened one…

The House of Innoventions, which has been shuttered for nearly two years, has re-opened full of new hi-tech gizmos for the home.

Entrance with our Castmember Host

Kitchen

Entertainment Area

Touch Screen Control Panel

Daughter's Room

Has the family's daughter created an upside-down Hidden Mickey on her wall?

Bathroom with, what else, a $6,400.00 toilet...

Backyard cookout area

Of course it’s really nothing more than an elaborate ad for the products in the home from the likes of Siemens, Kohler and HP, the House of Innoventions was fun to see, and the castmember that led us through did a wonderful job.

If you’ve read Eating (and Drinking) Around the World for any length of time, you’ve seen posts with construction walls… so here we go again…

There’s a new attraction coming to Innoventions East, and some clever movie-style posters on the construction walls give us some hints as to what to expect.

Looks like it could be fun… Innoventions is often overlooked by many visitors to Epcot, but the exhibits can often be quite enjoyable and (gasp) even educational…

Dedicated Readers will know that World Showcase is my Happy Place, so let’s not wait any longer…

As we noted not long ago in the post “Getting a head start…”, the outside Margarita Bar in the Mexico Pavilion is now offering chilled tequila shots.

They had also been advertising a special summertime drink there…

but on the most recent visit it had disappeared, but it was being offered inside at the wonderfulness known as La Cava del Tequila…

in the name of research I gave one a try… it was different from just a beer,  cold and refreshing… quite good on what seemed like a 750 degree sweltering summer day.

Tequilada

With the new La Hacienda de San Angel restaurant sitting on the World Showcase promenade, many new guests to Epcot may not realize the original Mexican sit-down restaurant, San Angel Inn, is located inside the cool confines of the pyramid…

wisely Disney has now placed “Mexico Dining Reservations” stations outside with the menus from both restaurants.

Looking for something sweet? Let’s head to Germany to visit Miss Bonnie’s happy place:

Karamell-Kuche, the Werther’s caramel shop…

Inside we find chocolate-covered caramels with sea salt…

and if anyone knows the contents of the display cases by heart, it’s Miss Bonnie, and she swears that these are new additions to the offerings here.

Salted sweets, especially caramel, are very popular now, and rightly so.

Miss Bonnie allowed me to sample a very small bite of each, and while I would have liked a slightly higher chocolate-to-caramel ratio, but she thought it was just right.

While still in Europe, let’s pay a visit to the wine shop in Italy. More alcohol – yea!

Here you can get wines by the glass, or bottles to take with you.

Almost hidden on the wall next to the side entrance is something I’ve never noticed before (so I’m going to say it’s new, at least it’s new to me…): a nice wooden piece holding small cards…

each of the cards relates to one of the wines available here. On the front is a picture of the label, while the back of the card has a description of the wine… I think this is a really nice idea, and of course, wine cards make great souvenirs for the kiddies! I can hear it now: “I’ll trade you a Movendo Riesling for your Prosecco Brut…”

Collect and trade with your friends!

As we make our way further around World Showcase we eventually come to the good old US of A, and come to find that the Heritage Manor Gifts store has become a virtual haven for hometown, nostalgic food-related items!

Inside we now find a selection of sweets, many of which look to be “old-timey” and/or regional specialties.

Among the books offered for sale there are some food-related editions…

including a couple of cookbooks featuring Florida specialities…

Along one wall there are several shirts, most with logos of traditional eateries from cities around the US:

Superdawg Tee-Shirt

Buckeye Donuts Tee-Shirt

Otto's Tee-Shirt

Joe's Cable Car Tee-Shirt

Joe’s Cable Car Restaurant was featured on “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives“.

Capone's Root Beer Tee-Shirt

Fuggedaboutit! Pizzeria Tee-Shirt

Loveless Cafe Tee-Shirt

Gino's Deep Dish Tee-Shirt

If you can’t make it to Epcot anytime soon, you can also check out these shirts (and others) at the Hometown Classics store site.

There is also a Superdawg hat,

Superdawg Hat

and a neat Chicago Style Hot Dog Diagram shirt.

Chicago Style Hot Dog Tee-Shirt

On the same wall is a selection of drink coasters again featuring US cities, and one of these is also food related.

Memphis Bar-B-Q Drink Coaster

After our shopping stop in the States, let’s see what’s up in one of my favorite World Showcase pavilions, Japan.

The former Kakigori (flavored shaved ice) stand has been behind construction walls and recently those came down to reveal the new Kabuki Cafe.

Kabuki Cafe

The location actually just opened for business a few days ago, we’ll let you know what we think of the offerings soon…

Over the past several months country-specific glassware has been showing up:

Beer Glasses and Coasters in the United Kingdom

Wine Glasses in Italy

I haven’t verified there are glasses in each of the countries gift stores, but we’ll keep looking… if anyone out there knows for sure, please post a note in the comments!

Sadly it’s time to take our leave of Epcot for now… we have to get back to the kitchen!

See you soon…