Norway is a land at Epcot that can often be overlooked on your trips around World Showcase. The exception is if you have little ones with you and have Fastpass+ for Frozen Ever After (the new Frozen ride), or if you’re lucky enough to pass by when the wait is relatively short. With the new ride, the Anna and Elsa meet and greet at the new Royal Sommerhus, and the character dinners at Akershaus Royal Banquet Hall, it's easy to think that Norway might be more in tune with the smaller folks in your party and end up being overlooked in favor of a margarita in Mexico.
There was once a pastry at Kringla called a Cloudberry, which had quite a following among foodies. We're not sure of the ingredients, but they centered around cloudberries, which are arctic berries similar to raspberries, and grow in Norway as well as other northern countries. Our understanding is that a worldwide cloudberry event happened not long ago, and cloudberries were in short supply. Since then, the Cloudberry has been replaced on the Kringla menu with Troll Horns. Troll horns are made from lingonberries, which suspiciously, are the favorite ingredient of a traditional Norwegian pastry called troll cream (trollkrem in Norwegian). We're not sure what's in the Kringla Troll Horns, but the traditional troll cream consists simply of egg whites, beaten until fluffy, with lingonberries mixed in for flavor.
The Akershus Royal Banquet Hall in Norway may have been inspired by the Akershus Castle and Fortress in Oslo. The one in Oslo was constructed around 1290 and has undergone several major renovations over the centuries. Here's a menu from Akershus at the Norway pavilion.
Norway was fun. Frozen Ever After was a little hard to get Fastpass+ for because it is very popular and still new, but they are available. The shopping at the Puffin's Roost is by and large typical Disney, but there are some interesting things that are unique to Norway, so it's worth a look inside when you're there. The bakery, Kringla Bakeri og Kafé, is in our view under-appreciated. They offer good food for lunch, and some good pastries for snacks.
This past holiday season, we made a trip around World Showcase and took some videos of the various performers celebrating the holidays. We were able to capture a performance of Sigrid and Julenissen as they tell the story of the Christmas gnome. We think it illustrates the spirit of Norway so we thought we would bring that video back here. Video by Donald Fink.
This was my favorite country in Epcot long before Frozen came along. I fell in love with the architecture, the Stave Church, the Maelstrom, and the waterfall. But I've always loved Akershues - not just for the princess meals that my daughters love so much, but for the awesome scandanavian dishes and food. They are excellent!
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This was my favorite country in Epcot long before Frozen came along. I fell in love with the architecture, the Stave Church, the Maelstrom, and the waterfall. But I've always loved Akershues - not just for the princess meals that my daughters love so much, but for the awesome scandanavian dishes and food. They are excellent!