Review: Agent P’s World Showcase Adventure at Epcot
By Dave Shute
We recently did Agent P’s World Showcase Adventure at Epcot, an attraction which opened in the summer of 2012.
Like the now-retired attraction it’s based on, Kim Possible’s World Showcase Adventure, it’s a terrific new attraction for returning visitors, but we have mixed feelings about it for first time visitors.
The attraction is hard to describe, but at the simplest level it’s a series of technologically-enabled scavenger hunts at various pavilions at the World Showcase.
You can have fun completing just one hunt at one pavilion, or do them all.
The hunts are enabled by an adapted cell phone (or “F.O.N.E.”, see the image above) which you can pick up at many sites in the World Showcase–see photo for one of the carts from which you can pick them up.
It’s also more than just finding stuff–Epcot does stuff back to you in return!!
Our adventure was in Norway, and in response to the secret code our F.O.N.E. provided us, we got the special business card at the right from a cast member, which we then used in the next task!
It’s a hoot, and we had a ball.
It’s also a conceptual tour de force, as a mash-up of the Epcot World Showcase physical environment with the Phineas and Ferb plot and characters, all enabled by…an adapted cell phone that Disney provides!
My issue with the attraction for first time visitors who may not ever return (the target audience of this site) is that while it happens in the World Showcase, it isn’t really of the World Showcase.
While playing the Adventure, you won’t be seeing the shows, doing the rides, enjoying the architecture, seeing the films, or exploring the shopping of the pavilions. It’s sorta like seeing a Shakespeare play solely to do a scavenger hunt of unusual words.
Of course, that’s also why it’s such a great attraction for repeat visitors.
Kids on average just aren’t that keen on the World Showcase, and the Agent P World Showcase Adventure gives them a great new thing to do while their parents (in theory) are enjoying the rest of what the pavilions have to offer!
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8 comments
I would agree with that, Dave. I had read about it, and we hit it up as soon as walked into the World Showcase. It’s a really creative idea, but it didn’t involve just the kids. It involved the whole family, because while we were trying to walk from one place to another, the kids were falling back or yelling for us to stop so they could stop and focus on what was being said. Next thing we know, we’re all stopped huddled around this little phone, while it babbles on about this and that.
Plus it’s not like it simply gives you a project, you do it, it gives you another project, you do it, etc. It has a lot of filler with the characters in between that you have to listen to before you get to the project. We were just burning time left and right, so we stopped playing so we could actually look around. Even the boys weren’t terribly enthused after a few minutes.
One other thing: I saw more than a few kids throughout the Showcase just standing by himself staring the phone. I’m sure the parents were around somewhere, but they certainly weren’t around their kid. So although this is a way to keep the kid involved in the “boring” world, it doesn’t scream family togetherness.
So yeah, I agree that once you’ve seen the place in a first visit and you’ve got time to “give to the cause,” it’s ideal for kids.
Thanks for weighing in, Troy–and thanks for liking the site on Facebook!
I cannot stress enough that for a first-time visitor, avoid it. For those of us who have been to Epcot several times before….it is awesome. I truly enjoyed the two missions we’ve done so far.
Hi Ginge, and thanks for the thought! Why are you so definite that first timers should skip it–the same reasons I gave?
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Yes. First-timers will miss all of the culture of each pavilion. The missions take place in a country, but you don’t really get to enjoy the country completely. It would be great if there were a pause feature so groups could take some time in the area. Otherwise, it really is fun and I’m awed at the inventiveness. Note to future agents: don’t attempt a mission while there is a performance of some sort going on. It is impossible to hear the FONE. We did two more missions today, that’s how much my kids (6 & 3) enjoyed it.
Thanks, Ginger!
Ginger
You can pause the mission if u close the phone it will pause it because when I was doing it in Mexico I saw a short line for the three caballeros so I closed it and rode it
Thanks, Mike!
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