The American (mis)Adventure

Hi all! Welcome to another Loo Review! If this is your first time here, we're so pleased you've joined us! Now, we know that, if you are a first-timer, you're here out of curiousity, right? You're checking us out to see if we're for real: a blog dedicated to the restrooms of Disney Parks and Resorts?! No way. Can't be real.

In fact, we are for real. We've opted to create a fansite dedicated to something no other fansites are reviewing! Is it strange? Sure is; but, nobody can say we're not unique. And you know what? We're having fun here! Seriously, who doesn't enjoy a little harmless potty humor when talking about ... er ... potties?

At any rate, regardless of how you got here, we're glad you've stumbled upon our humble little site. We know you must be a huge fan of Walt Disney World (otherwise, you wouldn't be here), and we want you to know that we are, too! Thanks for giving us a try. Now, sit back, relax, pull up your Squatty Potty and enjoy this week's featured WDW Loo Review!

This week's review finds us back in Epcot, World Showcase to be exact. We're winding our way past Canada, past the U.K. (Rose and Crown smells exceptionally good today -- ed.) over the bridge and beyond France. As we make our way past Morocco, beyond the pagodas of Japan, more familiar archictecture appears in our field of view. Colonial buildings? Check. Funnel cake stand? Check. Restaurant serving hot dogs, burgers and a chicken BLT? Check, check and more check. Where else can we be but The American Adventure?!

The American Adventure sits at the midway point of the World Showcase, way on the backside of the lagoon. It's hard to miss: large, colonial style brick buildings, fountain squarely in front, situated in a huge, paved brick courtyard. To the left sits Liberty Inn, the United States' contribution to the exotic flavors served in the Showcase.

Here's the entrance to Liberty Inn:

Check out the menu. You may have never heard of many of these strange dishes:

We rib Liberty Inn quite a bit -- it certainly doesn't have exotic menu offerings for the American consumer. Then again, I bet Restaurant Marrakesh doesn't offer items considered exotic to the Moroccan palate, either -- so we should probably cut the Inn some slack.

But hey, you didn't come here today to talk about the All-American Burger or the Red, White and Blue Salad with Chicken. You're here because you want to know the most patriotic place to relieve yourself in The American Adventure (don't we all -- ed.)! Well, say no more: let's carry on.

Looking to the left of Liberty Inn (just beyond the dining courtyard that sits in front of the restaurant), the discriminating eye might notice a sign:

Hmm, interesting! Let's look closer:

A-ha! We've found a loo to review! Not only that, but there's telephones and an ATM in the area as well (hopefully NOT in the loo, itself -- dropping my debit card in the toilet is a huge party foul).

Making a right at the sign points us towards the rear of Liberty Inn. It's a long walk along the left side of the building to get to our destination:

Seriously, this walkway goes on forever: first uncovered, then covered. The journey was so long, in fact, that we began to wonder if there really was a restroom back here. Luckily, the plethora of restroom signs along the way offered reassurance that the trip would not be for naught:

We took it as a good omen that we were getting closer to the restroom when we saw this sign. What better country than the U.S. to have a commercially-sponsored loo?! Let's hope this means the toilet paper is more than the traditional 2-ply WDW standard.

Finally, and not without great anticipation, we arrived to the loo. This set of restrooms has a men's and women's section, but no dedicated companion restroom that we noticed. Given the gender of this reviewer, we will only get to glimpse the men's interior. Check out the plain-Jane (er, John) sign. No Imagineering here, just keeping it real for those fellas with a full bladder.

Let's venture inside!

Hmm. Not a whole lot to see here: pastel blue squares adorn the wall while a checkerboard pattern fills the floor. No accent tile, no nods to America. Just your standard public restroom. Note the presence of four urinals, each separated by stainless steel dividers, two closer to the ground for the wee folk.

There are three stalls in this restroom. Here's a look into the non-ADA-complaint one:

Yep. Nothing too special here, either. Someone decided to adorn the back lip of this toilet with a huge wad of toilet paper: not sure if they simply missed the basin or if this was a lame attempt at decoration. Unfortunately, this level of cleanliness was reflected throughout the loo. It was simply a dirty restroom, with paper products scattered about, urine spots on the toilet seats, puddles of water and soap on the sink countertop. Now, to WDW's credit, there was a restroom attendant working hard to try and clean the place up. That said, we get the feeling that this loo had been neglected for hours between cleans (or, more likely, there were simply too many guests creating their own American adventure between cleans).

Here's a look at the sink station (after it had been cleaned -- trust us, you don't want to see the "before" photo):

Again, nothing to write home about (is there ever anything one truly wants to write home about on the topic of restrooms? -- ed.), just continuation of the well established color schemes without theming or embelleshment.

Sign outside the ADA-compliant stall (sorry, the stall was occupied during our visit -- no pictures this time around):

Sign posted just inside of the loo entrance:

Folks, this is the first WDW loo we won't be recommending to our readers. Undoubtedly, we are spoiled by the number of well-themed restrooms on property, and we certainly should not expect "Tangled" level attention to detail in every WDW loo. That said, it seems there was simply no Imagineering put into this one at all. The colors, though nice, were bland. There is no discernable attempt to tie this loo into Liberty Inn or the American Adventure in general. Imagineers: you can do better! We've seen it!

Moreover, this place was too far out of the way. Now, don't get us wrong: we're big fans of the secluded loo -- those hidden gems where the extra walk is worth a quiet, less-traveled place to do one's business (see our review of the loo at the boat dock on Tom Sawyer Island as proof). That said, we expect to be rewarded for our efforts, and this restroom simply doesn't reward at all. The place was bland and dirty -- not worth venturing off the beaten Epcot path to visit.

It pains us to offer a less than stellar review of any restroom at WDW. We love this place, and want to heap nothing but praise on every aspect of the parks; but, folks, we just can't do it this week. Sprinkling a little pixie dust on this Loo Review won't change the fact that the Liberty Inn loo is in need of help. We won't sugar-coat things here!

WDW Loo Review Recap of Liberty Inn/American Adventure Restrooms at Epcot:

Capacity: Medium (4 urinals, 3 stalls -- one of them a spacious ADA compliant)

Cleanliness: Poor

Theming: Poor

Traffic: Light

Changing Station: Yes

Companion Restroom: No

Access: Poor (it's a long trek to get here)

OVERALL RATING: 2/5 urinal wafers

Summary: Do yourself a favor and use the restrooms in the Morocco, Japan, Italy or Germany -- this loo simply disappoints. Here's hoping for a redesign soon! This is our namesake pavilion, Imagineers! Let's hop to it!

Thanks for joining us for another Loo Review! Please, be sure to check-in next week for review chock-full of photos, humor and helpful information!

Until next time!

Loo Review Matt