Unfortunately, there's a NEW Mexico Pavilion (no, not the State)
Written: Sep 05 '07 (Updated Sep 05 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Nice atmosphere for the restaurant
Cons: Poor food at the restaurant, lousy new attraction, claustrophobic pavilion with little space
The Bottom Line: The Mexico pavilion can be interesting to see once, but it won't occupy you for long with a sub-par restaurant and lackluster boat ride
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| duke101's Full Review: Walt Disney World Epcot - Mexico |
As of April 2007, the peaceful boat ride housed at Epcot's Mexico Pavilion entitled El Rio del Tiempo is no more. In its place is the more kid-friendly, less cultural boat ride known as Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros. And not since the days of changing the original Journey Into Imagination ride has Disney ruined such a wonderful attraction.
No offense to families with kids, but there are already so many other child-friendly attractions throughout the Disney theme parks. What set Epcot apart from the other parks for me was that it was always the theme park for adults, with fascinating international pavilions that explored the cultures of each nation without resorting to flashy attractions (with the possible exception of the Norway ride, waterfall and all).
Perhaps Disney knew what they were doing, because where once you could practically walk onto the boat ride at Mexico, there is now a line (albeit a 5-minute wait at most). Only time will tell if anyone will care to continue riding the new attraction once the novelty subsides.
In fact, there is little novelty to this new attraction, since Disney clearly spent very little time and money renovating the attraction. Most of the same sets and movie screens prevalent throughout the original ride remain, but with different images portraying Donald Duck and the other members of the Three Caballeros (a Mexican trio of singing birds) on the movie screens where once there was footage of Mexican rituals and festivals.
Most disappointing about the changes to the ride are that the ending of the ride, which once featured a carousel of dancing marionettes, has been replaced with simply a small movie screen that shows Donald and the other members of the Three Caballeros essentially saying goodbye. If Disney had at least added animatronic figures of these characters at the end of the ride, then I could have appreciated it more, but a small movie screen is hardly worth changing the ride.
Disney's efforts to promote the new ride are equally half-baked. While you can periodically find the Three Caballeros' characters outside the pavilion for picture taking, more often than not you'll find just two of the Three Caballeros, or even just Donald Duck on his own wearing a sombrero. Anyone who has been to Disney World even once before most likely already has a picture with Donald Duck on his own, and doesn't need another one of him with the sole addition of a funny hat. Come on, Disney, you can do better than this.
If the attraction were the sole disappointment of the Mexico pavilion, I could let it slide somewhat, but the rest of the pavilion fares little better. In sharp contrast to practically every other pavilion in Epcot, the pavilion is largely indoors in one building. And unlike the American Adventure pavilion, in which the building simply houses an attraction, there are also numerous gift shops (or should I say gift carts) tightly placed together within the narrow confines of the Mexico pavilion.
While the intention of placing everything within one building is obviously to create a nighttime effect over the Mexican village even while it is day outside, the result is to create more crowding and inability to walk freely than anywhere else in the entire Epcot park. More preferable is the approach of the Morocco pavilion with a free-flowing village that feels much larger and more realistic.
The only true part of the pavilion located outside the building (other than the picture taking area with Donald Duck) is a counter-service restaurant called Cantina de San Angel. I confess to never having sampled the food at that establishment, and it seems quite popular, but it is basically just cheap tacos and burritos that seem to give no real flavor of the true Mexican cuisine.
Inside the Mexican pavilion is also a sit-down restaurant called San Angel Inn. While many have praised the restaurant for its authentic Mexican cuisine, there are an equal amount of critics who despite the food. Unfortunately, I fall into the latter category.
Let me start by noting that I have been to the real Mexico, and I loved each and every meal I had there. It was nothing like the type of Mexican food you find in America, even along the border, and although you can't drink the water, it's difficult to find a bad meal at even the most grubby and uncleaned establishment.
That being said, I have no idea why people think the sit-down restaurant at Epcot's Mexico pavilion is authentic. It's just plain lousy food that's difficult to even chew. It is very surprising to me that Disney has been able to masterfully create restaurants that provide authentic African cuisine (such as at Jiko or Boma at the Animal Kingdom Lodge) and even top-notch Hawaiian fare (such as Ohanas at the Polynesian Resort), but they cannot seem to create a decent Mexican restaurant.
The one redeeming quality of the San Angel Inn is the exquisite atmosphere, providing of course you're lucky enough to get one of the few tables near the water where the boats pass by. From there, you can watch a replica of a volcano emit smoke as you dine under the stars (not authentic stars of course), and you can even wave to passers-by on the boat rides (who don't yet realize they are about to be bored beyond belief by the new Three Caballeros attraction). Since the tables in the restaurant are somewhat set off from all the gift carts cluttering the rest of the pavilion, you can actually enjoy the atmosphere without getting pushed and shoved.
One final treat in the pavilion is that you can periodically catch a glass-blower off to the side in one of the many gift shop areas. Of course, this is not going to occupy you for more than a minute or two, but it's worth checking out if it's happening.
In the end, that doesn't leave you with much worth checking out at the Mexico pavilion. It's perhaps worth a quick stop on any trip just to check it out, but it's impossible to spend the amount of time that you can at some of the other pavilions (even those without any attraction such as a ride or movie) simply walking around and marveling at the intricate and authentic details.
Recommended:
No
Best Time to Travel Here: Sep - Nov
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Epinions.com ID:
duke101
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Member: Adam
Reviews written: 174
Trusted by: 16 members
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