Cinco de Mayo Celebration of Epcot's Mexico Showcase

Who doesn't love Cinco de Mayo? And who isn't ready for some margaritas and a nice meal with a festive atmosphere?

At Epcot's Mexico Showcase, the fiesta lasts every day! Ready for opening day, those world famous Disney Imagineers created a beautiful combination of shops and restaurants to complement the lovely El Rio del Tiempo, the attraction found inside the pyramid.  This ride through a Blue Bayou type lagoon unfolds the story of Mexican culture through music and dance. 

Before we get to that, let's talk about where to eat. From my last visit, it boiled down to two choices. One with great food and an average environment, and one with awful food but a spectacular only as Disney can do setting.

Just opposite this pyramid is the restaurant with amazing food: La Hacienda. It may even have the best food in all of Epcot, and it earned deservedly rave reviews from everyone in our group, kids, parents, and grandparents. That's saying something as our state offers some of the best Mexican food in the country.

The other restaurant of notice is inside the pyramid: San Angel Restaurant. One of our early favorites when EPCOT Center opened, but one with now some of the worst food at the park, albeit with a mesmerizing environment. Can't have both here. What would you choose?

Now back to our story of the Imagineers and their vision for the Mexico showcase. They dreamed up a great concept with some wonderful art to support it. 

The concept art reveals their thoughtful undertaking. To capture a country as vibrant and varied as Mexico, they involved local artists in their work. Doing so brought an authenticity to the Disney theme park- even if it is a fanciful dream-like version of everyone's favorite ideas of what the nation actually comprises. 

Approaching the imposing temple sitting alongside the World Showcase lagoon, we see the Imagineers first give us a museum like space devoted to bringing us a small sampling of crafts from local artists. But once we go deeper inside, a surprise awaits!

The Walt Disney World experience is all the more rich because of the vision of the park's creators, and its execution. Just about anyone can build rides, but EPCOT Center was meant to educate as well as entertain. In the early days, long before the inclusion of animated characters, the pavilion's adventures had to stand on their own. And they did. 

Let's go back in time to opening day and step inside to discover the treasures of Mexico. A beautiful plaza calls to us with so much to discover. Moving past the small shops around the colonial plaza, we find yet another temple and a small lagoon.

Going deeper still, we step aboard our small boat, cruising on the moonlit waterway into a smaller but still imposing illuminated structure.  Ancient statuary sits beside it with a singular hut found off to the right. Our adventure begins!

No spoilers here about the ride itself, but instead some concept art (above and below) for the village within the plaza show us the night is alive with music and food!

The plaza sparkles in the moonlight, beckoning us to partake of its pleasures! Time for shopping. Perhaps a meal but certainly there's time for music! Yet, the other countries of World Showcase are waiting for us, making EPCOT Center a full two day park if you include the adventures of Future World. Where to go next?

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company. Photos copyright the author.)