A couple of years ago one of the staples of Fall in Florida, the Festival of the Masters at Downtown Disney, was cancelled amidst much unhappiness and many complaints about how it was run. Another formerly fine show that had run its course.
But wait (trumpets blaring)!! Its back -- do you know about this? Coming to the Disney Parks: Epcot International Festival of the Arts for six weekends starting in January 2017. From Disney:
We’re excited to announce a brand new event at Walt Disney World Resort: the Epcot International Festival of the Arts debuts Jan. 13 – Feb. 20. It’ll be a trifecta of global masterpieces: combining visual, culinary and performing arts for six colorful weekends.
Oh, too bad. I just read closer and see it is not "our" kind of festival of the arts, but in the comments I see people looking for out kind.
But now that I've started writing this I'll share some of the old stories. You'll particularly enjoy this first one (written by Nels Johnson) as it not only talks about Disney it sheds light on some of the other phenomena in the business:
Nel’s rant from 11/2013 http://www.artfairinsiders.com/profiles/blogs/the-indifference-of-the-crowd-was-terrifyingly-disheartening plus great comments there
This one, sort about something else, but Alison Thomas' comment brings us back to reality:
I liked these too:
2011 http://www.artfairinsiders.com/profiles/blogs/disney-2011 &
http://www.artfairinsiders.com/profiles/blogs/emerging-masters-at-festival-of-the-masters
Then while you're at it, check out these also.
Our archives are brimming with all you ever wanted to know about art fairs. Any of you got an old "good old/bad days stories?"
Comments
After I wrote my comment I went back and read Nels and Allison's reviews. I had stopped doing the Disney show maybe 5 years earlier. At one time the show was at the Disney Marketplace which was next to where the show ended up. It was a much better location. Also, the director and committee was much friendlier than how they were described. I would always visit their offices when I came back in the spring and they all knew me by name and were extremely friendly. I you didn't like your space they would move you. I always had a great space but there were a few bad ones. That's when the show was "magical" to quote Nels. I did the show a few times after they moved but I didn't like the new location so I stopped going. I went back once after 5 years. It had started to go downhill. I was considering going back recently until they killed it.
I loved the Masters show. It was a lot of fun. I didn't make a lot of money, but, coming to Disney in November was great. It kind of shortened Winter because I would go back in February making my Winter only 2 months of cold weather. Plus, they gave everyone tickets to the theme parks and discounts on the hotels. Sometimes we stayed in Lake Buena Vista really cheaply. Sometimes we stayed right at Disney World. You could buy a 3 or 4 day weekend package with breakfast included and you could eat breakfast at any of the hotels. We would make reservations at the Floridian for breakfast and pig out before the show. I usually saved the tickets and went to Epcot or whatever when I came back in the spring. One year, I booked a room at the Comfort Inn and they overbooked so they gave me a room at their high end hotel. I drove up after setting up and it had a long driveway with fountains, etc. People were dressed in tuxedos and gowns and I drove up in ratty shorts and a t-shirt. The guy at the counter gave me a suite on the penthouse floor with a view of the fireworks at Epcot. I thought that was pretty cool.