EPCOT / ROB URBAN
Tell me
more.
A hometown. A garden. A song.
The people who make us curious.
A visitor notices that Lisa Michelle Sigbjornsen is from Norway. A conversation begins. Soon she is talking about her hometown, and the visitor wants to know more.
That moment appears in Disney’s 2022 collection of EPCOT cast member stories. Lisa had represented Norway through the Cultural Representative Program before becoming an attractions coordinator.
It is a small exchange, and it gets close to what I admire about EPCOT.
A place can give people something interesting to look at. It can also introduce them to someone who has a personal reason to care about what they are seeing.
That second possibility is particularly valuable. A pavilion becomes connected to a hometown. A country on a map becomes somewhere a person beside you knows and loves.
The person beside the place.
Lisa’s account conveys pride in sharing her heritage and affection for the friendships she made across World Showcase.
I appreciate both parts. Visitors have a chance to learn, and the people doing the welcoming are also meeting one another.
That gives a cultural exchange a human scale. Someone has a family, a place they miss, a tradition they enjoy explaining or a suggestion about what deserves attention.
One conversation can leave a person with a name to remember or a question to pursue. It can also replace an unfamiliar place with a sense of connection.
That is a worthwhile beginning for curiosity.
A sound
worth
passing on.
At the Japan pavilion, arborist Shoji Kanaoka found another way to share something meaningful.
Disney’s 2023 profile describes his work on a shishi-odoshi garden for the Flower & Garden Festival. Water fills a bamboo tube until it tips and makes a sound. The device has an agricultural purpose: startling animals away from crops.
Kanaoka also made wooden wind chimes for the garden. As retirement approached, he taught fellow arborists Leon Fevry and Sierra Ruparelia how to make a shishi-odoshi.
That passing-on of knowledge is the part that stays with me. A person can contribute a beautiful thing and also help someone else understand how to continue making it.
I admire the care behind that kind of legacy. It involves time together, practical instruction and trust in what other people will do with what they have learned.
The garden’s sound belongs to a tradition. The account of its making belongs to the people who shared it.
The conversation
before the meal.
Listening has a place in the kitchen too.
In Disney’s 2026 profile of its chefs, Carlos at Le Cellier Steakhouse describes working with Cultural Representatives from Canada and listening to their perspectives as he develops the dining experience.
His own appreciation of gathering around food began with family life in Puerto Rico.
I like that combination of confidence and openness. He brings an understanding of hospitality from his own life and makes room for what other people know.
A meal can carry those conversations to the table. The guest may never hear the discussion behind a choice, but the discussion still contributes to what is offered.
It is a thoughtful way to approach a place devoted to sharing cultures: keep listening to people with something to share.
Different memories.
The same room.
At The American Adventure, Voices of Liberty brings people together through a cappella singing.
Disney’s February 2026 account introduces singer Aaron Stratton, a former member of the Marine Corps Reserves. He recalls the personal feeling certain songs carried when his older brother was serving in Afghanistan.
The same article describes special Echo Sets, with groups singing from both levels of the rotunda, and the lighting work of technician Patrick Lienemann, also a veteran.
I appreciate learning whose experiences stand behind a performance. A familiar song can carry personal meaning for the person singing it and a different memory for someone listening.
For a little while, those experiences share a room.
The skill matters, and so does the generosity of offering something meaningful to an audience. That combination gives me a deeper appreciation of the people involved.
How does
it grow?
Curiosity also has a practical home at The Land.
In the same 40th-anniversary history, opening-day cast member Phyllis Wilkins recalls visitors encountering unfamiliar growing methods and wondering how plants received their water.
I love a question that begins with something a person has just seen. There is an immediate reason to want the answer.
Growing food connects a technical subject with everyday life. A visitor can become interested in a method because it changes their understanding of something they already recognize.
EPCOT has room for that moment of surprise. A day out can include discovering a subject you would like to understand better.
A little more interested
in one another.
The stories I return to are about people sharing what they know: a hometown, a garden practice, a perspective on food, a song or a way of growing plants.
That is why EPCOT inspires me. Its broad invitation becomes most interesting when someone gives it a particular voice.
I admire the people who make that possible, and the idea that a pleasant day can leave us with a little more interest in one another.
Continue with the art of making at Hollywood Studios or Walt Disney World as a whole. If the people in your organization have knowledge worth sharing, I would like to hear about them.
Rob Urban
People, programs and timing.
What is a Cultural Representative at EPCOT?
Through Disney’s Cultural Representative Program, participants share the culture and traditions of their countries with guests. The article uses Lisa Michelle Sigbjornsen’s published account as an example.
Is the garden story a current festival listing?
No. It describes Shoji Kanaoka’s work documented in 2023. Festival gardens and displays change; consult the current EPCOT program before planning around a particular installation.
Are Voices of Liberty Echo Sets the regular daily show?
Disney describes Echo Sets as special performances for selected occasions, involving singers on both levels of the rotunda. Check current entertainment listings for the program and times on your date.