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If you've been to Epcot at any point over the past few years, you've probably encountered more than a few construction walls obscuring areas around the park. Epcot has been undergoing a bit of a "glow-up" for some time, despite the chaos of 2020-2021 throwing a wrench in the park's initial construction plans. But at last, all those years of hard work have finally come to a close.
Disney expert "The Mouselets" was pleased to announce on June 13 that Epcot has finally wrapped up its fraught five-year construction phase, and there's a lot to talk about. She gave a rundown of all the new updates the park has made over the course of its long upgrade period, along with a lot of concepts from the original plans that got lost along the way.
Epcot's long-awaited glowup was so far-reaching that even Spaceship Earth got a new look! One of the first things @themouselets highlighted was the upgrades made to the front of the park, including Spaceship Earth's brand-new lighting and a welcoming water fountain. That's just the start, though.
Related: Nasty Storm Temporarily Transforms Epcot Into ‘The Rainiest Place on Earth'
Epcot also launched three new major attractions over the course of its years-long construction phase. Two of them, Guardians of the Galaxy : Cosmic Rewind and Remy's Ratatouille Adventure, have both been open for a while and are huge fan faves (especially Cosmic Rewind). The third, the self-guided exploration trail " Journey of Water with Moana ," only just opened last October.
These big three attractions have been accompanied with the launch of lots of new shops, eateries, shows, smaller attractions, and a few new interactive areas like the Celebration Gardens , but in this case, they've haven't exactly saved the best for last.. If anything, the construction phase finally rounded out on a kinda "meh" note with the recent opening of Communicore Hall. Not that there's anything wrong with it, but can you imagine the hype if Disney wrapped this phase up with an attraction as big as Cosmic Rewind instead? Talk about going out with a bang!
What Didn't Make the Cut
The final outcome of Epcot's construction phase had some high notes (again, Cosmic Rewind), but it's more of a mixed bag than I and a lot of other fans expected. That's due in part to the fact that a lot of cool stuff from the original plans never made it to the construction phase or was simply replaced. One of them, a futuristic multi-level Festival Center, was ultimately axed in favor of the more mundane Communicore Hall. This swap particularly miffed The Mouselets, and comparing the innovative Festival Center design to the mundane corpo-blandness of Communicore Hall, I can sympathize with her!
A lot of planned attractions were never officially cancelled but merely remain in Theme Park Limbo. For example, there was originally going to be a Mary Poppins -themed teacup ride added to the Great Britain area of the World Showcase. According to the Disney Wiki, plans for the Mary Poppins ride appear to have been indefinitely postponed and not officially cancelled. Just like the Play Pavillion and the rumored updates to the Spaceship Earth ride, though, it seems unlikely that the postponed plans will get revived anytime soon.
More Big Changes Coming to Disney World
While smaller changes are coming to Epcot, like the imminent updates planned for Test Track, it doesn't look like the park is getting a big "Phase 2" anytime soon. But while Epcot's big construction phase may have fizzled out to an anticlimactic end, Disney World is far from done with the big updates.
Along with some big new attractions (most notably Tiana's Bayou Adventure in Magic Kingdom), Disney World recently got some major updates approved, including a big Magic Kingdom expansion near the Frontierland area. Most surprising of all, Disney's approved 15-year development plan would allow for the creation of a fifth major theme park ! If Disney moves forward on that, it'll be the resort's biggest update since the 1998 opening of Animal Kingdom - but Disney hasn't confirmed whether or not they'll take that route yet. Even if a fifth park isn't in the works, though, there's still enough incoming updates for fans to get hyped about, and it looks like Disney's just getting started!
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