What is the ODYSSEY CENTER exactly?

[Kevin Page]

It's the building located right next to TEST TRACK. I thought there were just bathrooms there <shrug>


Kevin Page

 

[The Mom]

There used to be a restaurant there. Now I've seen it used for "special" events- one of the wine tasting dinners comes to mind. I'm sure others will be able to add more info.

 

[DisJosh]

Yup used to be a restaurant....now theres bathrooms there as far as I know....lol. and an info center......I think.

 

[The Mom]

There also used to be a first aid center there. We went in when my husband got something in his eye(cinder?) from Illuminations. This was about 10 years ago. Does anyone know if it's still there?

And no, Disney didn't follow up; however, we didn't make a stink, either. The nurse on duty washed his eye out, and he never had any further problems.

 

[WDW-Imagineer]

Didn't there used to be some sort of Character Show where all of the characters came out in Space Uniforms & danced around??

 

[markymark]

I didn't realise it had closed down. Mind you the only time I ever noticed it was when walking to World Showcase. I think it'd be good to have a decent restaurant there, but I guess it would have trouble competing with the restaurants in WS.

 

[MCMike37]

Originally posted by marciahahn
There also used to be a first aid center there.

As far as I know that is still there. That is where we first learned about fire ants on either our first or second visit there (Both me and my mom have a good reaction to their bites, ie, sometimes they swellup to the size of baseballs....)

 

[jazcatsnh]

It is closed now except for the bathrooms. You can look in the windows and still see the old food signs on the walls for the resteraunt however.

 

[Tim S.]

As of last August the First Aid center was still there. It's located around the side of the building closest to the World Showcase.

The staff there was very helpful and pleasant (what else would expect from Disney?). We found out the hard way last year when our son had a bug bite infection that kept getting worse. They couldn't take care of it at there (they cleaned his wound but he also needed antibiotics) so they drove him and my wife by ambulance to a clinic right outside of WDW where he was treated and given antibiotics. The ambulance ride was free but we had to cover the cost of the clinic visit and the prescription (which we could then submit to our health insurer for reimbursement) . Luckily, both the clinic and the pharmacy (conveniently located within the same building as the clinic) took credit cards since we travel with no checks and just a little bit cash. The ambulance returned them to the park right around the time they told me they would be back.

So my daughter and I had a couple of hours to ourselves while the rest of my family was treated to a first aid version of the backstage magic tour!

 

[Grant]

The Odyssey is open to guests only for special events... such as wine tasting during the International Food & Wine Festival. The rest of the year it remains closed. It is also used as a private function room and we made use of it during our cast member training sessions. At the back of the Odyssey (linked by some corridors) is one of the staff canteens...

The Odyssey became base camp for our 3 days of Epcot inductions (Millennium Village cast), and was also host to a tearful day several months later when we had our farewells after the closing of the Village...

So, that's the kind of thing it's there for...

 

[Maria]

Originally posted by jazcatsnh
It is closed now except for the bathrooms. You can look in the windows and still see the old food signs on the walls for the resteraunt however.

No way! It used to be a fast food restaurant but now it is used as Grant said, as a special events and conference facility and for cast member´s trainnings and seminars. There are no food signs from the old restaurant on the walls. It is used for the "Cooking with the flowers" seminar during Flower and Garden festival, for special dinners during Food and Wine Festival. It does link to the Cast Member´s cafeteria, it also has a full kitchen used for banquets and special events, and a stage, audio and lights control booth, and dressing rooms (on the second floor).

There are bathrooms there and first aid, and also the baby care station with a nursery and changing room (worth checking if you are travelling with babies!)

 

[MrPromey]

The last time I was in there which would have been about six or eight months ago, they still had the "food signs".They're the backlit kind that are up above the area where they used to serve the food. There are usually partitions up that hide this area though… Around Christmas time in 1999 they ran a buffet dinner out of there to handle the overflow of people that couldn't get reservations to the other world showcase restaurants. Now that the changeover of the millennium pavilion is complete, I wish they would do something with the Odyssey. It's seems like such a waste sitting there where it is. People walk out to it not knowing what it is and I see people looking in the windows all the time. It would be a great place for some kind of small walk though attraction or something. I'd even settle for another shop there. It's just a big waste of space most of the time though. The walkway around it isn't much of a shortcut to anywhere because of how it curves all around… It just seems to me that something that high profile should be put to better use than it is...

 

[mej]

On my first visit (our 1990 honeymoon) it was a fast food restaurant. The characters did a show a few times each day and then came around the audience. It was great - a free character meal! I wonder why it closed!!!

 

[Ryan]

With the limited conference space in Epcot, this is a much needed (and used area). I can't even begin to count the number of meetings and seminars I attended in that place. As for it becoming something else, it's not going to happen until they build a new Future World cafeteria for Cast Members and I don't see that happening anytime soon.