Olympics at Epcot?

[FerretAfros]

Does anybody know if they do anything special for the Olympics at Epcot? I've never heard of anything, but I also have never done any sort of research into it. I'll be in the park the day of the closing ceremony, so it would be winding down (if they do anything at all), but it would be fun to check out

It seems like such a natural fit for World Showcase, but I could also see there being some sort of contractual/legal issues, since I don't think Disney is an official sponsor. World Showcase does a good job of keeping that Olympic togetherness feeling all the time (in a way, the general vibe reminds me a lot of the Millennium Celebration), and they have a pretty good lineup of participating countries, so it would be fun to see what they might do

 

[TikiTorch]

We were there in July 2012 just before the London Games. The only thing special we noticed was some official merchandise in the United Kingdom pavilion. Cool stuff for sale, but not a big emphasis at all. I suspect that if they really wanted to play up an Olympics there would be big licensing fees involved.

 

[-em]

I think only when the host country is in epcot is anything remotely done... I know with the 2012 London games they had the country flags out, basic olympic merch and lots of little 'trivia' and mentions (like the chalk drawings were all olympic themed etc) I remember similar things with Vancouver as well-

Disney 'celebrated' the 2004 olympics with a huge pin release (I think over 70+ different ones) and had a vague pin celebration for the 08 games (called I think summer of champions)

As for Sochi- I didnt see anything when I was at Epcot earlier this week..

 

[aladdin2007]

It would make for a great pavilion on its own, such as where world showplace is. But nope they dont do anything.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

I for one wish they would at least sell some Merchandise from the Other Disney Parks that are within WS..China, Japan & France should at least have a store with the unique park merch from their countries.

 

[FerretAfros]

I for one wish they would at least sell some Merchandise from the Other Disney Parks that are within WS..China, Japan & France should at least have a store with the unique park merch from their countries.

A lot of the merchandise in the France pavilion's Les Halles store (in the exit of Impressions de France and the new bakery) is from DLP, but re-branded for Epcot. Last I saw, thy had an assortment of items with Mickey and Minnie in front of Parisian landmarks, and the word "Paris" in big black letters. Many of the items had an Epcot logo in the corner, but it looked like most of them were applied with a sticker that was added on top of the DLP logo, so you could easily make it a DLP-branded item

 

[Ben_since_1971]

I have always thought it was a missed opportunity. But if there is an organization that guards it's property more than Disney, it's the IOC. There would have to be contracts made to do official Olympic tie-ins, and given the short attention span of the Games, not worth it.

That's not to mean, however, that the individual nations shouldn't do displays of their Olympic heroes. Displays of medals, short videos of heroics, etc. And why not give the host nation (if not one already in World Showcase) a chance to show off for a month or so?

 

[lunchbox1175]

I asked when we were there last week in the Norway pavilion if they had any cool merchandise, but they said they didn't.

 

[Ralphlaw]

Personally, I don't think it's a good idea to bring the Winter Olympics to Disney. All of those young athletes will make me feel old and dorky. And fat. And then dorky again.