France Pavilion
| France Pavilion | |
|---|---|
| Park | EPCOT |
| Land / area | World Showcase |
| Type | World Showcase pavilion |
| Opened | October 1, 1982 |
| Designer | Walt Disney Imagineering
|
| Status | Operating |
France Pavilion is a pavilion in World Showcase at EPCOT in the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, situated between the Morocco Pavilion and the United Kingdom Pavilion. It opened with the park on October 1, 1982 — although its formal dedication followed on October 20 — as one of the nine original World Showcase nations. The pavilion evokes a Parisian neighbourhood of the Belle Époque rather than a single monument: mansard roofs, wrought-iron balconies, limestone facades, fountains and formal gardens, with an Eiffel Tower rising behind the rooftops. For its first four decades the pavilion was known chiefly for its film and its restaurants; a major expansion in 2021 added its first ride.
Design
The pavilion's Eiffel Tower is built at roughly one-tenth scale from Gustave Eiffel's original drawings and is set back on top of a show building, using forced perspective so that it reads as a full-size tower standing in the distance. Below it, the streets are arranged as a small Paris quarter: a replica of the Pont des Arts leads from the neighbouring pavilion side, chestnut trees shade the promenade, and artists' stalls and a perfume shop line the lanes. A second entrance at the back of the pavilion connects to the International Gateway, EPCOT's rear entrance serving the nearby resort hotels and the Disney Skyliner station.
Attractions
The Palais du Cinéma, its theatre modelled on a hall at Fontainebleau, houses the pavilion's films. Impressions de France has played since opening day: an 18-minute travelogue projected across a 200-degree screen, travelling through French cities, countryside and coastline to a score arranged by Buddy Baker from French classical composers including Debussy and Saint-Saëns. Since January 2020 the theatre has been shared with the Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along, a retelling of the animated film presented as a musical, and the two films alternate through the day.
Remy's Ratatouille Adventure opened on October 1, 2021, exactly 39 years after the pavilion and on Walt Disney World's 50th anniversary. Adapted from the attraction that opened at Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris in 2014, it is a trackless dark ride in which guests, shrunk to the size of a rat, are chased through the kitchens and dining room of Gusteau's restaurant. The ride anchors an expanded courtyard behind the original pavilion, laid out as a Parisian street with a Remy fountain, Art Nouveau details recalling Hector Guimard's Métro entrances, and a new restaurant.
Dining
France has one of the largest dining offers in World Showcase. Les Chefs de France, a brasserie at the pavilion's entrance, was founded with the involvement of three celebrated French chefs — Paul Bocuse, Gaston Lenôtre and Roger Vergé — and serves classic dishes in a bright, high-ceilinged dining room. Upstairs, Monsieur Paul offers a more formal signature menu; it opened as Bistro de Paris and took its present name, honouring Bocuse, in 2012. Les Halles Boulangerie-Pâtisserie serves breads, pastries and sandwiches, L'Artisan des Glaces makes ice cream and sorbet on site, and La Crêperie de Paris, opened with the 2021 expansion, serves Breton galettes and crêpes in a table-service dining room and at a takeaway window, Crêpes À Emporter.
Shopping
Shops sell perfume and cosmetics, wine, kitchenware and French books and gifts; the wine shop, Les Vins des Chefs de France, pours French wines by the glass. Street performers and character appearances, including Belle from Beauty and the Beast, take place in the pavilion's streets and gardens.