Glass blowing opens, FG08, and hot wings! (pics)

[mousermerf]

Happy Easter!

Lots of stuff to go into this photo-update. My fave was the glass blowing at Crystal Arts is open (they said its been going on for about 11 days) - also Flower and Garden, Pop gave me a dirty room (boo!), the monorails are pixie vomit free, and there's a new trash can in Epcot. Some other stuff too i'm sure.

Let's start with blowing glass..

If you look closely, you'll see there is real fire coming out things in that photo. So, i stuck around and waited and within minutes the artisan came out - and told me it'd be 5 mins, but then it was 20 because the oven wasn't hot enough.

One of apparently two artisans..

I dunno who the other guy is, but he's got his work cut out for him. Mark is great at explaining the process and really making it a show. I learned more about glass and glass blowing in those 30mins or so (it takes that long to make something) then i'd have ever imagined. Note - they dont really blow much, rather the air heats and expands when they plug the hole in the pipe. Who knew? He did.

Rolling to get some color on it..

And the oven, whoo, thats hot and bright. Seriously near blinding light when it is opened. Btw, they heavily air condition the area.

And more rolling for color.. They use metal oxides for the colors - it's like being at Epcot.

And finally some shaping, sorry for the blurry photos but i didnt figure blinding someone holding something over 2000 degrees in my near vicinity was a good idea.

It eventually became a lovely emerald green and gold vase. Priced somewhere over $100 i think. I could of purchased it (it has to cool overnight though - which actually requires an oven so it wont crack, so i cant even tell you what the finished product really looked like) but i could have purchased it, right then and there.

Anywho, wonderful addition to Main Street. More photos from the rest of today in a few..

 

[mousermerf]

In Tomorrowland they were selling Hot Wings. Apparently an addition for the holiday. There is also a dining guide that is like a times guide and tells you where every type of food in the park is being sold. Rather nifty reference sheet, i ope it stays beyond the holiday.

There was a permit filed a while ago for some sort of signs at Carousel of Progress. I searched high and low and only disocvered that the regular old sign was different. It used to have flip-numbers. This is a sticker of "2008" where those flip numbers should be.

Elsewhere, this is the only tribute to America that should be in small world..

The Contemporary's new tower is getting ginormous.

Over at Epcot, there's no more ugly on the monorails, as the YOMD's wrap is gone.

The general geographic distribution of people who goto Epcot on Easter is as follows..

But not too many ride SSE.. None of the extended queue used, only half of the hard queue, 10min wait.

The blue triangles had more painted and they added some blue dots to the descent, it look like they're working from both ends toward the middle where the video-phones usd to be, which is still a black abyss. On a positive note, the narration is cut to be more concise and the audio is louder in all areas.

Oh - speaking of refurbs - Peter Pans looks wonderful and animatronics i didnt even know moved were moving. They re-tin-foiled the volcano and appear to have painted all the water, and london looks lovely.

Flower and Garden in a moment..

 

[mousermerf]

Innoventions interlude, the paper making area moved to spot next to the doors toward Test Track in Est,

Walls are up now for the new weater/storm area at the other entrance. Also, Waste Management got its own trashcans.

Flower and Garden!

Off to Garden Town.

(more in few!)

 

[mousermerf]

Welcome to Garden Town (after you walk through freshly rigged people counters, so they apparently want to know how well this works)

Goofy About Health now displays how they make topiaries.

And Anacomical Players is now a different sort of show..

No General Knowledge to be found.

Coach's Corner is umm.. not there?

And if you could ride Body Wars you'd exit into a train display.

The art gllery instead of a DVC promo was a nice touch.

And incase you didn't know, butterflys are sponsored by Claritin.

 

[mousermerf]

And now for the boo-hiss moment. I checked into Pop Century and was given a yuckey room. Yes, i know it happens, but it shouldn't - and i'm going to post the photos on the net and tell everyone how craptastic it was.

I felt like one of the three bears after a Goldilocks encounter. Someone had been sleeping in my bed.

And someone obviously didnt know how to use a towel rack!

And the floor is apparently a waste bin as well as a laundry bin too.

Boo! Hiss! Not magical, and really kind of gross. Oh well, i got a clean room later, but that was yuckey.

 

[Fun2BFree]

Great update, Merf! I love the area-specific Tomorrowland ODV. If they put those there instead of the plain ones, I might actually tolerate them. And it's great that the CoP is now in 2008, after being in 2002(?) for the past few years.

 

[GoofyDadKB]

Did they have any hanging flower racks at the F&G festival? :sohappy:

 

[tigfan]

Excellent pictures, post, everything!! Thanks!!

 

[joel_maxwell]

nice update. where was the glass blowing in Epcot?

 

[bhg469]

I don't think there is any way i would eat chicken wings that far south. Shocking that with all the food disney makes perfectly, they cannot replicate what a chicken wing should be.

 

[Disneykidder]

Awesome pics, other than the Pop ones. I love it when you guys post pics of the magic from the day before. It makes me feel a lil' bit of the magic when I can't be there, boo hoo.:animwink:

About Pop, yeah it happens but it stinks. Kind of nasty.

 

[PatsRule]

If anyone tasted the hot wings, I'd love to know how they were. The best wings down there are at ESPN Zone but it would be nice to be able to get them in the parks.

 

[OmegaKnight]

As for the YOMD wraps on the monorails, new ones are being put on soon. The new ones are going to fit more with the whole castle in the clouds theme than the old ones did.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

Nice update!

Glad to see the YOAMD decals are gone from the monorails.

 

[joel_maxwell]

I don't think there is any way i would eat chicken wings that far south. Shocking that with all the food disney makes perfectly, they cannot replicate what a chicken wing should be.

well, if you make it in to Birmingham and are looking for some good wings, there are some good places. im not much of a wing guy... too messy. yes, im one of those OCD people.

 

[JuanD_20k]

thanks for update, pics look good

 

[MissM]

And it's great that the CoP is now in 2008, after being in 2002(?) for the past few years.

Uh, no. It's been changed every year.

 

[wdwsog]

Thanks for the pictures merf!

My next trip is not until 2010 and your updates keep me going!

Keep em coming as often as you can!!

 

[Cynderella]

Thanks for the update! Can't wait to go back.

 

[PhilharMagician]

Thanks for the update Merf.

Someone needs to taste test the Tomorrowland wings and let us know how they are.