Germany Pavilion
| Germany Pavilion | |
|---|---|
| Park | EPCOT |
| Land / area | World Showcase |
| Type | Pavilion |
| Opened | October 1, 1982
|
| Status | Operating |
The Germany Pavilion is a pavilion in World Showcase at EPCOT at Walt Disney World, Florida, situated between the China Pavilion and the Italy Pavilion. An original World Showcase pavilion, it opened on October 1, 1982. Built around a cobbled platz in the manner of a small German town, it has no ride, and its presentation rests instead on its architecture, its shops, a large buffet restaurant and live music.
Germany is notable among the original pavilions for what was planned but not built. Early designs included a boat ride on the Rhine, which would have carried visitors past miniature versions of German landmarks and cities in a show building behind the town facades. The ride building was constructed in part — the walled front portion can still be read in the pavilion's layout — but the attraction was postponed at opening and never completed, leaving Germany as a pavilion of shops and dining in front of unused space.
Design
Rather than reproducing one town, the pavilion assembles buildings in styles drawn from several German regions and centuries around a central square. Half-timbered merchant houses face a clock tower and a fountain crowned by a statue of Saint George slaying the dragon, a figure associated with German towns and with the pavilion since its opening. Shopfronts carry the names and trades of a traditional high street — glass, toys, wine, Christmas ornaments and sweets — and hanging baskets, window boxes and a maypole-style planting keep the square dressed through the year.
At the lagoon edge between Germany and Italy stands one of World Showcase's most frequently photographed small features: a miniature garden railway, with model trains running through a tiny village of houses, a church and tunnels, its planting scaled to the scene. The display was installed for the 1995 Flower & Garden Festival and proved popular enough to become permanent; its village is redecorated for EPCOT's festivals.
Dining
Biergarten Restaurant, the pavilion's table-service location, occupies the rear of the platz. Indoors, it recreates an outdoor village festival at night: long communal tables face a stage on a terrace beneath a painted evening sky and building facades, while a band plays polkas and other German folk music in sets through the meal. Service is a buffet of dishes including schnitzel, sausages, spätzle, sauerkraut, salads and desserts, with German beers served in litre steins.
Sommerfest, at the entrance to Biergarten, is the quick-service counterpart, selling bratwurst, pretzels and beer. Other food locations include Karamell-Küche, a Werther's Original caramel shop opened in 2010 whose counter prepares fresh caramel popcorn and coated apples, and seasonal festival kitchens on the promenade.
Shopping and entertainment
Germany's shops are among the most specialised in World Showcase. Der Teddybär sells toys and Steiff bears; the Kunstarbeit in Kristall shop offers Arribas Brothers glass and crystal; the Weinkeller pours and sells German wines; and a year-round Christmas shop, Die Weihnachts Ecke, sells ornaments and nutcrackers. Snow White, whose best-known film setting is a German fairy-tale landscape, meets visitors at a wishing well at the pavilion's edge.
Musical groups perform in the platz and on the Biergarten stage, and the pavilion takes a prominent part in EPCOT's Food & Wine Festival, when its promenade hosts German food and beer stands.