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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2002 Food Rocks on the ground floor of The Land |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2002 The balloons of The Land, high above Food Rocks |
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Birds, flowers, and tikis provide a “musical luau” at the Enchanted Tiki Room. Bears, a raccoon, a bison, a moose, and a stag deer perform a down-home concert at the Country Bear Jamboree. If you think these are unusual singers, just wait until you experience Food Rocks. |
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The entertainers of Food Rocks are fruits, vegetables, dairy products, a basket of treats, a fish, a sandwich, kitchen tools, bags of junk food — and even food packaging. |
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Photo by Chris Bales, 2002 Entrance to the Food Rocks lobby |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2002 Another look at the lobby entrance |
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Go to the lower level of The Land pavilion. Head into the lobby and wait for the next show. There’s seldom a crowd. There’s only one theater, so your wait time will depend on when the prior show began. |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2001 Fun facts about food |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2001 More fun facts |
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Your waiting area’s pre-show “entertainment” consists of colorful graphics with food facts. Some are just odd bits of history or food science, while others encourage good nutrition. |
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Photo by Chris Bales, 2000 Sign for the actual theater |
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Photo by Chris Bales, 2002 Doors to the theater |
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The countdown clock reaches zero and the theater doors open. Pick a row. You’re about to be entertained by such acts as Pita Gabriel (a pita bread sandwich stuffed with high-fiber fillings), Richard (a singing pineapple with a Little Richard mustache), and The Sole of Rock ’n’ Roll (a fish who resembles Cher, including her hair). |
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Photo by Chris Bales, 2002 Fūd Wrapper (pronounced “food wrapper”), the host of the show |
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This “benefit concert for good nutrition” packs 12 musical numbers into a 12-minute show:
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Photo by Chris Bales, 2002 Finale: “Choose Before You Chew” |
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Almost everyone’s lyrics promote healthy food choices. For example, Pita Gabriel sings this:
You could have some red beans; There’s one exception. The Excess, a heavy metal act, looks unhealthy and has a different idea:
We love junk — give us sugar and fat; Fans of heavy metal might prefer The Excess over the other acts — and their lyrics might resonate more. That’s not what the folks who designed this attraction had in mind. |
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Food Rocks had a ten-year run at EPCOT — from March 26, 1994 (when the park was branded as Epcot ’94) to January 3, 2004 (when the park was branded as Epcot). But it wasn’t the first show in its space. |
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Guidemap snippet © Disney The Land (and Journey into Imagination) on a 1993 Epcot Center Guidemap |
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When the park opened October 1, 1982 as EPCOT Center, The Land pavilion was sponsored by Kraft Foods and had three major attractions under one roof:
Kitchen Kabaret had also been about nutrition, back when Americans were urged to eat from the Basic Four Food Groups — meat, dairy, grains, and fruits and vegetables. The musical styles were from before the age of rock ’n’ roll, the distant past for audiences of the 1980s — although the catchy Latin-style “Veggie Veggie Fruit Fruit” was a hit with guests of all ages. In November 1992, The Walt Disney Company and Nestlé USA Inc. announced an expanded strategic alliance. Disneyland already had a long relationship with Nestlé’s Carnation and Stouffer brands, but the new agreement would be much bigger. Among other things, Nestlé would replace Kraft General Foods as the sponsor of The Land in September of the following year. It was time to update The Land for Nestlé. |
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Source: United States Department of Agriculture USDA Food Pyramid, 1992 |
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1992 was also the year that the USDA replaced the Basic Four Food Groups with the Food Pyramid, suggesting relative quantities for each food category. In 1993, Disney announced that Kitchen Kabaret would be replaced. Here’s how Walt Disney World’s hometown newspaper reported the news (“Disney Sheds Light on Projects,” by Craig Dezern, Orlando Sentinel, July 5, 1993): The audio-animatronic “Kitchen Kabaret,” which focuses on the four food groups, will be replaced by a show tentatively titled “Food Rocks.” Faux rock ’n’ roll stars (Tina Tuna, Elvis Parsley) will promote healthy eating. Kitchen Kabaret closed January 3, 1994. Food Rocks officially opened on March 26, 1994 with more recent music and an updated nutrition message — but without Tina Tuna or Elvis Parsley. The Audio-Animatronic characters of Food Rocks had limited motion. It seemed that more of the budget went into the clever songs than into the physical show. Exaggerated lighting effects and high volume tried to hide the lack of animation. By 2003, another big change was on its way to The Land — and Food Rocks was in the way. In August, a new show building began construction adjoining The Land. Soarin’ Over California had been the stand-out hit attraction of the floundering Disney’s California Adventure park, and Epcot could benefit from a proven crowd-pleaser. To downplay the California connection, it would simply be called Soarin’. It actually made sense to have it at The Land. Although it was filmed in a single state, it was really about land in many forms and how people interact with it. After the 2003 holiday season, Food Rocks closed. Walls went up. Demolition began. The space would emerge as the FastPass distribution area and the start of the queue for Soarin’, which opened May 5, 2005. |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2006 Soarin’, where Food Rocks had been |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2013 Soarin’ sign, without “Over California” |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2013 Soarin’ queue |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2018 Soarin’ Around the World |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2024 Soarin’ Over California |
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On June 17, 2016, a new film, Soarin’ Around the World, replaced the California film. The attraction name remained Soarin’. Occasionally, the California film would temporarily return. The two films of Soarin’ have been much bigger successes than the two music shows that preceded them. |
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Source: United States Department of Agriculture USDA MyPlate, 2011 |
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Since 2011, the USDA has promoted MyPlate instead of any sort of pyramid. EPCOT will probably never have a music revue based on the nutrition guidance of MyPlate. |
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© 2024 Werner Weiss — Disclaimers, Copyright, and Trademarks Updated September 27, 2024 |
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