Ever heard the expression, “This is why we can’t have nice things.“? Well, we’ve got some bad news.
Recently, the 2024 EPCOT Food and Wine Festival kicked off at Disney World, and a fan-favorite food location is already looking a little different than it did on debut day. So…what happened? Let’s talk about it!
OK, let’s start at the beginning. You can find a building called the Odyssey Pavilion just outside of the EPCOT World Showcase. This building is really just home to extra seating most of the year, but during EPCOT’s seasonal festivals, Disney also serves exclusive snacks and drinks at this location.
Now, for the 2024 EPCOT Food and Wine Festival, this building is transformed into the Brew-Wing Lab, hosted by popular Muppets characters like Beaker and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew. (This just means the space has a little extra Muppet-y decoration and some HOT wings on the menu.) Here’s a look inside.
During the first day of the festival, you could order a (bizarre) pickle milkshake, pose by a Muppet Labs photo op, and brave the Unnecessarily Spicy Yet Extremely Tasty Carolina Reaper Pepper Curry Wings. Sounds fun, right? Hey — we’ll take any chance we can to escape the heat and soak in some air conditioning!
Here’s where the drama begins. Take a look at the cute little photo op set up on day one of the festival. Nice, right?
Well, it’s gone now. That’s right. When we visited EPCOT on September 3rd, a Cast Member confirmed that the lab setup was removed.
The Cast Member we spoke with believed that the props were removed due to some interference from little ones. Translation: children were touching the prop and breaking things. Of course, Disney itself did not confirm the reason for this change, so this is just speculation! The good news is that the rest of the Odyssey building is still filled with Muppets Lab details!
We’ll be sure to keep our eyes out to see if the props return! In the meantime, we’re always on the lookout for the latest Disney news, so stay tuned for more.
EVERYTHING You Need to Eat and Drink at the 2024 EPCOT Food and Wine Festival
IT'S WINE & DINE TIME!
Food & Wine Festival can be a bummer. You stand in line waiting for what looks like the perfect treat, and it's a bust. But fear not, dear friends, we compiled EVERYTHING you need (and the things to avoid!) to plan the ULTIMATE EPCOT Food & Wine Festival experience.
If you're planning a day or a week at the festival, we've got every performance, activity, and tasty nosh detailed out so you can make the most of your time and money. Listen, it's a tough job eating and documenting the nearly 200 bites and sips, but we do it all for YOU!
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Did you get a chance to see this prop before it disappeared? Let us know in the comments!
michael marino says
this is one of the many reasons we have stopped going to disney world. entitled adults acting like spoiled children.
Tammy says
Why don’t parents watch their kids? I saw multiple people on social media saying that children were throwing the props and their parents were just watching. Not sure if this is accurate but really sounds reasonable considering what I’ve personally witnessed.
Cyndie says
@Mr. Marino,
No disrespect, but no one said anything about adults throwing things, it said children…not sure where you got that from if you read the above story.
AlanC says
Parents afraid to parent are why we have kids without discipline.
Ryan says
@Cyndie
I completely agree.
naturaldisastergirl says
Lack of supervision of chidren is a problem that is getting worse and worse in the parks. And as another poster has noted, sometimes even when the parents are fully aware of the behavior, they just let it happen. I have posted a few examples of our experiences with insufficiently supervised children at WDW, so I won’t repeat them, but it’s definitely more common than it used to be. Seeing anyone act out at the parks was rare 10-15 years ago, at least it was based on our experiences. We would go entire trips without seeing anything worth noting. People feel entitled and empowered in their bad behavior now. We see something – out of control children running amok and interfering with other guests, adults yelling at each other, people line cutting, abuse of the props etc. in the parks, every. day. in. the. parks. now. Now we just hope that we won’t be too close to whatever it is.
Cyndie says
@Naturaldisastergirl:
Exactly! No way would we have acted like that as kids…not in a million years. But we were raised right. Parents really need to teach their children respect of others and their property.
I also agree that there seem to be a lot more pushy and volatile grown-ups too, especially in WDW, which isn’t a great example for anyone’s kids… and sure takes the magic out of everyone’s day! A smile and some patience goes a long way. You’ll have a happier life with more honey than vinegar!