Looking at the Canada Pavilion, there are two specific Canadian icons that were borrowed by the Imagineers for the area: Chateau Laurier and Butchart Gardens.
The Canada Pavilion
The Canada Pavilion
Chateau Laurier
Butchart GardensThe Gardens of the Canada Showcase at Epcot Center offer a variety of floral expressions. Patterned after the famous Butchart Gardens in British Columbia, Disney’s Victoria Gardens try to capture the many moods to be found in that unique garden. A former quarry ravaged by years of mining, Butchart Gardens represents ]enny Butchart’s efforts to reclaim and beautify the destruction resulting from her husband’s thriving enterprise. Like the garden which provided its inspiration, the Victoria Gardens are home to a broad variety of plants.
The man-made Canadian mountain which looms in the distance lends a bit of rugged majesty to the well-groomed landscape it rises above. Evergreens carefully selected for their size and texture contribute to the illusion of grandness. Larger and coarser textured plants at the base give way to smaller, fine textured plants near the summit. Patches of “wildflowers” and natural groupings of trees and shrubs specially selected to look like species of the northern climes soften the gentle rush of a stream.
Flowers in bright pure sweeps of color command the center of attention while stately cedars, maples, and birches are content to form a distant wall of subtle greenery. Everywhere one looks there is interplay between the flowers and their land¬scape, a harmony achieved through an abundant variety of plant materials, textures and shadings of hue.
http://www.imaginerding.com
More generally, the building in the Canada pavillion is drawing from the whole “Canadian Chateau”, style of which the Chateau Laurier is a part. The style was frequently used for the iconic “Grand Railway Hotels” that dot the transcontinental railway lines.
The Laurier in Ottawa is the main example, but it includes the Chateau Frontenac in Quebec, the Bessborough in Saskatoon, the Empress in Victoria, the Confederation Building in Ottawa, and to a slightly lesser extent, the Banff Springs Hotel.
British-style formal gardens, like Butchart Gardens (which is gorgeous!) also dot the countryside, and it’s nice that EPCOT managed to pull two symbols of Canada that are truly countrywide.
Sorry, just thought I would throw in a detail about my home and native land! Excellent blog by the way… I’ll have to add it to my list of daily reads!
Thanks!
I appreciate the comments and the additional information.
I am always on the lookout for more details about the parks and their architectural significance. I am going to hunt for info on those other hotels right now…
No problem!
Unfortunately, WDW isn’t high on my list of Disney resorts to go to (if they still had a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride it would be different!), but if I ever did, I would particularly want to see how Canada was represented. I guess it’s a matter of national pride ^_^
If you want to see some video on some of these hotels, I have some on my Video.ca file at http://www.video.ca/user.php?name=CoryTheRaven