World Showcase – Fun for Kids!

I started out this week’s Destination Disney topic by saying “I absolutely adore World Showcase at EPCOT” and I do!  This week’s topic had several questions, which I’ll try to answer in this post - - -

What’s your favorite thing about World Showcase?

I love to travel, but travel to foreign countries is expensive.  At World Showcase, I feel like I’m really visiting a tiny part of each of the 11 countries.  I love that the Cast Members in each country are natives of that country.  I love that the food and the architecture – just everything – is so true-to-life and true to the country it represents. 

Aside from Italy (which I visited and spent time in as a young child)and Canada (our neighbor to the north), I’ve not had opportunity to visit any of the other countries “in real life”.  I enjoy the exhibits and feeling like I’m actually there. 

Do you have a favorite place to eat in World Showcase?

We absolutely loved the breakfast (with the princesses) at Akershus in Norway.  The food was delicious and the interaction with the princesses was well worth the extra money. 

 

I love Chinese food but nobody else in my family will eat it, so I enjoy  grabbing an egg roll in China.  They’re yummy! 

Our whole family (with the exception of Ian – and we’re working on him) are Italian food fanatics – so I’d like to try to new restaurant in Italy one of these days. 

Truthfully, I’d love to try a small snack (or meal, if I had a lot of time) in each country someday.  That would be fun!

If you have kids, what do you to do make the World Showcase experience more fun and/or educational for them?

My girls have both enjoyed the Passports than you can buy in World Showcase.  These are neat because they come with stickers that you put on each country’s page – then you also receive a stamp in each country and the Cast Member will write your name or a personal note to you in the native language.  These make really neat keepsake souvenirs. 

People on the DISboards have created pages you can use to make your own passports, using an online photo site such as Shutterfly or ArtCow.  I’m considering doing this for our next trip.  They look really cool and what kid wouldn’t want a PERSONALIZED passport?!

We’ve also done the masks.  We love the KIDCOT fun stops – they are a great way to get the kids involved in the World Showcase experience even if you aren’t doing the passports.  This year, with the introduction of Duffy, they have replaced the masks with a Duffy on a stick.  To my understanding, it works just like the masks – you pick it up at the first country you visit and carry it around to all the fun stops – kids can color it and get the stick stamped, etc.  I’m actually excited about this as we had several trips involving the masks and I’m rather sick of them!  (Years ago, when Ashley was 5, she made a different craft in each country – that was cool!)

My friend, and fellow Destination Disney participant, Christa, gifted us with a Hidden Mickey book this week.  (The idea was to give it away later this year in a Destination Disney post, but my kids are rather resistant – I’ll have to work on them!) Anyway, thanks to this book (which you can find more information about here), I know my kids will be on the lookout for Hidden Mickeys in World Showcase (and everywhere!) on our next trip. 

I’m also looking forward to receiving a copy of Guide to the Magic for Kids (watch for an upcoming review of this book). This book contains a special section devoted to World Showcase that kids can get stamped and autographed in each country. 

If you have World Showcase thoughts, ideas, and pictures to share, please post on your blog, and link up to this week’s Destination Disney post HERE.