- As you enter World Showcase from Future World, if you head to the right, the first pavilion you would reach would be Canada. This pavilion features the Hotel du Canada as its icon, and also includes mountains, gardens, and a 30-foot waterfall. Be sure to grab a "Beavertail" from Trapper Bob while you’re there!
- The "Hotel du Canada" is the towering landmark that leads guests into the Canada pavilion in Epcot’s World Showcase. The distinctive building is modeled after the French Gothic design of the 19th-Century "Chateau Laurier," located in Canada ‘s capital city of Ottawa . It is another example of "forced perspective," in that although it looks six stories high, it is actually only three.
- The building was designed to represent the entire nation of Canada , as the top portion of the building represents French Canada, while the lower half is patterned after the hotels built around the turn of the century by the Canadian railroad as it pushed west toward the Rockies .
- The building is home to "La Boutique Des Provinces," a small shop with handcrafted items from Canadian artists, as well as pewter and decoupage (The art of cutting out pictures and pasting them on furniture or home accessories to simulate painting). The entire Canada pavilion in World Showcase features architecture and landscaping found throughout the nation.
- The lovely gardens of the Canada pavilion are inspired by the original Butchart Gardens, located in British Columbia on Canada’s West Coast. The original Gardens consist of fifty-five acres of floral display, through meandering paths and expansive lawns. The Gardens began in 1904, when Jennie Butchart began to beautify an abandoned limestone quarry left behind from her husband’s work at Tod Inlet , Vancouver Island , Canada. Her family has continued the tradition of both horticulture and hospitality, by opening their gardens to visitors from all over the world.
- Located in Canada, Le Cellier is one of the best steakhouses in the entire Walt Disney World Resort. Located next to Victoria Gardens , this cozy restaurant was, at one time, a cafeteria-style dining hall with a reputation as one of the worst places to eat in all of Epcot. Today, it is themed to look like a chateau’s wine cellar, with dark wood paneling, flickering lanterns and stone archways.
- Some of the restaurant’s signature dishes include the Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup, the Le Cellier Mushroom Filet Mignon, and the Maple Ginger Glazed Salmon.
- The Canada pavilion features the largest World Showcase garden, with more than 140 rose bushes blooming every year. It is also the most labor-intensive landscape in Epcot as well, as the plantings in the garden are changed seasonally. For example, white flowers are planted during the winter months to simulate a Canadian winter, and remain in shaded areas during the spring months (to give the appearance that they haven’t melted as yet).
- The fir trees you see perched atop the Rockies spend three years adapting to the Florida climate before they go onstage, where they are not actually planted, but rather nestled among rocks in large plastic planters. Each tree has an understudy waiting in the wings, so a quick switch can be made in the event that the tree is struck by disease or hit by lightning.
- The Hotel du Canada is another example of forced perspective – it looks six stories high, but is actually only 3.
Canada
About Lou Mongello
Lou Mongello is a former attorney who left the practice to pursue his passion, and is now a recognized Disney expert, author, speaker, and host of WDW Radio. Learn more…