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Countries Represented in Epcot UK Pavilion

Raineman

Raineman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I have been through his pavilion a few times, but my most recent visit was almost 7 years ago, and my memory sucks, so can someone answer for me: what countries are represented in the pavilion, or is it more of a general presentation? Technically, the UK consists of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, but, from what I can remember, the pavilion seems to focus mostly on the English aspects of the UK. Having just visited Scotland recently, it would be a shame if there were no mentions of that beautiful country in the UK pavilion.
 
nickys

nickys

Premium Member
Raineman said:
I have been through his pavilion a few times, but my most recent visit was almost 7 years ago, and my memory sucks, so can someone answer for me: what countries are represented in the pavilion, or is it more of a general presentation? Technically, the UK consists of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, but, from what I can remember, the pavilion seems to focus mostly on the English aspects of the UK. Having just visited Scotland recently, it would be a shame if there were no mentions of that beautiful country in the UK pavilion.
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You are correct, more or less. You missed out Wales.

The facade where the restrooms are is very much representative of Tudor England - Hampton Court Palace.

The tea shop is representative of shops through 4 centuries, and to be fair could be from any of the UK nations.

The Rose & Crown shows 3 typical “faces” of UK pubs - river / water facing, country tavern and market town. Again, could be from any nation…. other than the name which is definitely English. )The rose is the national flower of England).

The crescent shaped street could be from anywhere like Bath, London, Edinburgh, Oxford. And the shops are also typical “gentleman’s outfitters” type of smart shops.

I’m not surprised many call it the England pavilion. Annoyed but not surprised.
 
Raineman

Raineman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
nickys said:
You are correct, more or less. You missed out Wales.

The facade where the restrooms are is very much representative of Tudor England - Hampton Court Palace.

The tea shop is representative of shops through 4 centuries, and to be fair could be from any of the UK nations.

The Rose & Crown shows 3 typical “faces” of UK pubs - river / water facing, country tavern and market town. Again, could be from any nation…. other than the name which is definitely English. )The rose is the national flower of England).

The crescent shaped street could be from anywhere like Bath, London, Edinburgh, Oxford. And the shops are also typical “gentleman’s outfitters” type of smart shops.

I’m not surprised many call it the England pavilion. Annoyed but not surprised.
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Is it too much to ask of Disney to build replicas of the munros in the Scottish highlands? /s
 
Sirwalterraleigh

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
Raineman said:
I have been through his pavilion a few times, but my most recent visit was almost 7 years ago, and my memory sucks, so can someone answer for me: what countries are represented in the pavilion, or is it more of a general presentation? Technically, the UK consists of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, but, from what I can remember, the pavilion seems to focus mostly on the English aspects of the UK. Having just visited Scotland recently, it would be a shame if there were no mentions of that beautiful country in the UK pavilion.
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The welsh take issue with you 😡

I think “general feel” is the most you can assign to what they built…it’s a good little faux village kinda feel. WDI of 1979 was cognizant of getting the feel they wanted (and they spent a fortune to do it)

There is a book out there that really does a great job of detailing Epcot constitution history…project future…I believe?
 
JIMINYCR

JIMINYCR

Well-Known Member
nickys said:
It was a reference to Off Kilter, who often played in the UK pavilion as well as the Canada pavilion. The bandstand made a good stage for them.
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Greatly missed. Nothing that has appeared since has come close to the entertaining power they brought. For some time I had hoped Disney would realize the mistake they made and rehire them... but Disney rarely rectifies a botched move.
 
osian

osian

Well-Known Member
Yes, I do wish there was more explicit acknowledgement of the four nations, Wales for example is represented by one sweatshirt in a shop ISTR. I'm not convinced that the pavilion does much to explain what the UK is, if people didn't already know. A Circlevision style presentation would work for that purpose. The geography alone is way way more diverse than a street scene. And this is why I really, really don't want a Poppins attraction there.

Interesting factoid: I'm a member of a Welsh folk dance group, and during the period when I was once its secretary, we were approached by Disney to audition for performing at EPCOT. I think they just got a list of groups from the Welsh Folk Dance Society (or just Googled) and globally sent out invitations. Nothing ever came of it though, either they didn't get enough response or they decided not to pursue the idea, but it did show they were thinking of it.
 
JIMINYCR

JIMINYCR

Well-Known Member
osian said:
Yes, I do wish there was more explicit acknowledgement of the four nations, Wales for example is represented by one sweatshirt in a shop ISTR. I'm not convinced that the pavilion does much to explain what the UK is, if people didn't already know. A Circlevision style presentation would work for that purpose. The geography alone is way way more diverse than a street scene. And this is why I really, really don't want a Poppins attraction there.

Interesting factoid: I'm a member of a Welsh folk dance group, and during the period when I was once its secretary, we were approached by Disney to audition for performing at EPCOT. I think they just got a list of groups from the Welsh Folk Dance Society (or just Googled) and globally sent out invitations. Nothing ever came of it though, either they didn't get enough response or they decided not to pursue the idea, but it did show they were thinking of it.
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Disney should do more to explain the area more with better clarity. The education kids get is lacking in many subjects. Geography is one that gets little attention. Most kids don't know much about the areas outside of their own states because it doesn't matter to them. They will probably never travel to or need to have knowledge or contact with others outside of where they reside.
The Olympics, the World Cup, and other sporting events with participating teams may get some notice, but only for that brief time.
People complain about how EP fails to fully represent other countries realistically but at least there is a small touch of outside culture that will stand out which may spark an interest to find out more.
 
HMF

HMF

Well-Known Member
JIMINYCR said:
Disney should do more to explain the area more with better clarity. The education kids get is lacking in many subjects. Geography is one that gets little attention. Most kids don't know much about the areas outside of their own states because it doesn't matter to them. They will probably never travel to or need to have knowledge or contact with others outside of where they reside.
The Olympics, the World Cup, and other sporting events with participating teams may get some notice, but only for that brief time.
People complain about how EP fails to fully represent other countries realistically but at least there is a small touch of outside culture that will stand out which may spark an interest to find out more.
Click to expand...
EPCOT and World Showcase in particular used to actually attempt to be a place where one could learn about the world and its cultures. Nowadays it is just a showcase of Disney movies and characters that happen to ostensibly take place in or be derived from those cultures, unfortunately.
 
C

Comped

Well-Known Member
El Gran Magnifico said:
They could at least have a bench from Guernsey and a rock from Gilbralter. Doesn't even need to be a big rock. Regular rock with the inscription would suffice. Sell it in the gift shop for all I care.
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What about an online gambling portal from Mann and a penguin from the Falklands? As we all know, by the time Epcot was built, the British Empire, outside of certain islands (and Hong Kong), was mostly dead so we never got any interesting potential exhibitions on that...
 
Raineman

Raineman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Is it to much to ask to build a mini-mountain right beside the World Showcase lagoon in front of the UK pavilion and rename the lagoon to World Showcase Lag-Loch Lomond? They could even make it vaguely Mickey ear shaped and call it "Mickey Munro".
 

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