EPCOT's Japan Pavilion - Pick A Pearl review - Highly recommended!

[jennymd430]

This is definitely on my list this time. Thanks for sharing!

 

[TSR6]

This is definitely on my list this time. Thanks for sharing!

Glad to add to your "to-do" list! A lot of people have said the same thing on the Facebook groups I post to!

 

[Elizamarie763]

This definitely sounds like a great souvenir! I'll be dragging my boyfriend along with me to pick a pearl in 43 days or so

 

[Toffeewoffy]

I've had loads of pearls - it was my tradition to get one every trip to IoA (got one at US as well). The trouble is, the pearls are cheap, but they really push you to buy some gold jewellery to set them on - and they claim they can only drill them when freshly 'harvested' as the pearl then hardens and won't be drillable. They also don't do silver settings - which would make the finished item so much cheaper.

The first time I did it I got twin perfect white pearls, and had them set into some simple Eurowire earrings. DD has one with a dolphin setting and the last one I got I had a very simple gold loop added so I could hang it from any of my necklaces.

I think it's time to have another look, so perhaps we'll look at the Japan pavilion next trip.

 

[DjdBrit]

I do this every trip for my daughter, its fun and the kids love trying to figure out which one to pick and what will be inside. Hoping one day to put all our pearl together to make her something

 

[catra121]

I did this last year in September. I picked 3 and I ended up with one large white pearl...one VERY shiny white pearl, and a pair of twins. I had all set into necklaces, one for my mother-on-law, and one for each of my two sister-in-laws. The one sister-in-law has two kids so it was cool to get her a necklace setting that held both pearls. The large peal I had set into a cage and the other one into a clam shell setting. They all turned out stunning. I gave them as gifts at Christmas and included the little baggies in each box (they always "Disney Up" the baggies with little Mickey heads and stuff which I thought was a nice touch).

When you get the pearls set it does end up being quite expensive...but I knew going in that these were going to be Christmas gifts so I didn't mind spending about $50 each for everything (the pearl and the setting). All in all it was a wonderful experience.

 

[TSR6]

This definitely sounds like a great souvenir! I'll be dragging my boyfriend along with me to pick a pearl in 43 days or so

Have Fun!

 

[Micca]

We did this with our twin DDs when they were kids and they loved it. We've had so many WDW trips that a lot of the memories all run together, but they still remember the pick-a-pearl experience. I don't remember it being at Epcot though...did they used to do pearls at DTD? Maybe in an outdoor kiosk?

 

[EvilQueenLiz]

We pick a pearl on every trip. My daughter has 5 pearls and my son picked his first one on the last trip. We haven't had them set into anything yet but eventually we will.

 

[TSR6]

We did this with our twin DDs when they were kids and they loved it. We've had so many WDW trips that a lot of the memories all run together, but they still remember the pick-a-pearl experience. I don't remember it being at Epcot though...did they used to do pearls at DTD? Maybe in an outdoor kiosk?

Yes...they did have it at DTD, but it's closed right now.

I've heard much better reviews about the EPCOT location, versus the DTD location (as the DTD location is an outside vendor with FL locals running the booth, versus EPCOT is true people here from Japan to work at Disney for 1yr.)

 

[100acreHiker]

Just want to add that i am so grateful for Disboards--I'd never heard of this and I just love the idea of it. What a fun video. Definitely going to make a point to do this!

 

[disneyhorselover]

It was a blast...and I'm glad we "stumbled" upon it after a couple EPCOT beverages.

The video I took with my wife (posted above... or here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fsil35CZfI ) - was only half the fun. I snuck back there later in the trip and got her twins. Boy was she surprised.

Now to find a setting for them....lol

Thanks for posting the video! I have always kind of overlooked Pick a pearl, but the video made me smile-the CM's enthusiasm is awesome and adorable! Makes me think I'll have to at least watch one myself next time I'm there!

 

[tarak]

I think my daughters would love that. We'll be there in two weeks - might have to do it!

 

[TSR6]

Thanks for posting the video! I have always kind of overlooked Pick a pearl, but the video made me smile-the CM's enthusiasm is awesome and adorable! Makes me think I'll have to at least watch one myself next time I'm there!

I think my daughters would love that. We'll be there in two weeks - might have to do it!

Glad I could add something to the list for your trips!! That's why I posted it - been there many times, but it was the first time we did the Pick-A-Pearl!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fsil35CZfI

 

[Dawnlight]

I'm putting this on my list of things to do at Epcot. We're visiting with three generations, so would love to do this with my mother and twin girls. I'm wishing for twin pearls for at least one of us!

I've found some great deals on ebay for the cages to house the pearls. I'm planning on getting the cages (some as low as $3) and bringing them with us instead of purchasing a setting there (same goes for $30-$40)

 

[hooch11bear]

If you don't want to put the extra money into mounting the pearl, they have a tiny glass bottle with blue sand in it with a little cork at the top. They run around $3. We got one for my DD one year so that she could keep her pearl in there instead of it laying around in the little bag. I usually get mine mounted in some type of setting. I've gotten rings before, earrings, necklaces. They do have some settings that are very reasonable. On our most recent visit I got mine mounted on a very plain mounting for a necklace that ran around $30. I didn't need to purchase a necklace though. One year I didn't like any of the choices they had for mountings, so I took my pearl with me to DTD and picked one out there.

 

[si-am]

Something to keep in mind is that you might end up with a pearl too large to fit in the cages. It might be better to buy them afterwards if that's the route you want to go.

 

[TSR6]

Something to keep in mind is that you might end up with a pearl too large to fit in the cages. It might be better to buy them afterwards if that's the route you want to go.

Exactly. You never know what you'll end up with!

 

[abctriplets]

We had promised our kids that this would be their birthday present, after spending a day at the Magic Kingdom. Since we weren't going to Epcot, the plan was to go to the Pearl location in Downtown Disney. But they were closed, under renovation, and opening shortly after we left.

So instead we went to the Pearl location inside Disney's Beach Resort near Epcot. We told the gate attendant in the parking lot that we wanted to just shop, and he let us in. We walked all through the cool beach resort (that pool is to die for), and found the pick-a-pearl location.

It was no where near as cool as the Japan one. It was a small, stand-alone kiosk at the edge of the lake. There were 2 buckets with a few dozen oysters in each of them (along with a bit of water) - nothing like the cool tank you got to pick from. There wasn't too much of a ceremony (tapping it 3 times and saying "Aloha!" while the woman rang a bell). But we ended up getting 6 pearls. (The triplets each got one for themselves, and then they each picked out one for my wife).

Curious what the renovated Downtown Disney location is like.....

 

[tinkerbella16]

Me sister, Mother and I are going to Pick a Pearl in Japan when we go in November. Something different and fun to do. We are really looking forward to it. I love the Cinderella carriage cage to put on a necklace.

I heard that if you get a really big pearl, they might offer you $150 for it and you can pick another one. Someone on a disney fb page shared her experience and this is what happened when she picked one. Really excited to do this with my mom and sister!