Disney

I hadn't been to visit a Disney park since I was seven, but I returned from Epcot not long ago after participating with the New Orleans, Jefferson Parish, St. Bernard Parish and St. Tammany Parish Convention and Visitors Bureaus in the Louisiana Pavillion which was created as a temporary addition to the park as part of the Epcot Food and Wine Festival. Yep, wine at Disney. And margaritas, too. Anyway, the imagineers at Disney recreated Louisiana scenes, complete with a Riverboat with a working paddlewheel, a Cajun cottage, a garconier, and sugar cane, rice and Tabasco peppers. Everyone who visited received a recipe card for shrimp Creole and was able to watch cooking demos of the dish as well as dance to the sounds of the Abita Blues Band, Amanda Shaw and the Treme Brass band. The goal was to promote Louisiana as a tourist destination and encourage all the visitors to Epcot to come to our state. Everyone who passed through the "iron wrought" gates remarked how pretty everything was and I hope both the state and the museum are able to garner some new visitors as a result.