Disney World Adds Entertaining Escape from Summer Heat, But Needs Many More.
Summer has arrived in full force at Walt Disney World, with temperatures in the mid-90s this week along with triple-digit “feels like” readings. This covers news of a couple of recent moves made to seemingly offer guests escapes from the high heat, humidity, and blazing sun. Plus, our thoughts on summers in Central Florida and why more reprieves from the weather are need–potentially even an entirely indoor festival at EPCOT!
Let’s start with the main news to share, which is that Walt Disney World has revealed that the Odyssey Pianist will debut today (June 9, 2025) and perform through August 10, 2025. During this time, the Rose & Crown Pub musician will be performing at this large indoor venue, offering guests an air-conditioned environment and live piano performances throughout the day.
This gives guests a change to take a break from the summer heat and enjoy live music inside the Odyssey pavilion at EPCOT, which is located between Test Track and the Mexico pavilion. The Odyssey used to be a proper restaurant, but has since served as a festival center and more recently as crowd-pleasing food booths. Its run as the Citrus Blossom during Flower & Garden just ended, and it’ll be converted into the Brew-Wing Lab prior to the start of the 2025 EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival over Labor Day weekend (hence this ending August 10).
The Odyssey Pianist will perform seven sets daily:
- 11:30 am
- 12:30 pm
- 1:30 pm
- 2:30 pm
- 3:30 pm
- 4:30 pm
- 5:30 pm
While the Odyssey Pianist doesn’t represent a new entertainment offering at EPCOT, since the performer would normally perform at the Rose & Crown Pub in World Showcase, it’s nevertheless a savvy and welcome move. At least, from our perspective as parents–perhaps we would’ve felt differently about this news ~15 years ago.
This follows Walt Disney World opening the Hall of Presidents lobby—but not the attraction itself–presumably for a similar place for guests to gather and escape the heat. The intentions there aren’t really clear since nothing is being communicated to guests.
As for the EPCOT change, it makes much more sense and the purpose of the change is obvious. Rose & Crown is usually slammed. It’s uncomfortably crowded, very much reminiscent of a pub we used to frequent in college. So I guess that part is authentic (although our “culture” was Indiana as opposed to the United Kingdom). We wander into Rose & Crown probably about once per year at this point, and usually right back out. I guess we’ve just gotten old, but that’s no longer our scene.
Rose & Crown Pub is going to be busy with or without the pianist. And it’s a pretty small space, so it’s not as if a ton of people can enjoy the music in the first place. By contrast, I’d hazard a guess that the Odyssey has almost ten times the capacity, and will be much better as a calming reprieve from the crowds, chaos, heat and humidity.
In a perfect world, Walt Disney World would add a pianist rather than relocating one from Rose & Crown. The ‘Forces of Nature’ acrobatics show in World Celebration just held its final performance (after lasting way longer than I ever expected), and it’d be nice if some of that entertainment budget were reallocated to something inside.
While the news is the vehicle for this post, the main motivation is that we want to see Walt Disney World do more of this.
After a brutal summer trip last year for the opening of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, we ruled out the months of June through August for future family vacations. We should’ve followed our own advice, questioning whether it’s “worth it” to visit during the hottest months of the year in exchange for lower crowds.
Admittedly, we almost made the same mistake again. We had an opening day Epic Universe trip planned, but cancelled that. And after the Starlight Night Parade opening date was announced, I might’ve pushed for all three of us to make the trip out to Walt Disney World so we could see the new-nostalgia fuel for the first time as a family. Cooler heads (read: Sarah’s) prevailed, but I would’ve repeated the same mistake if left to my own devices.
Not that I yearn for the days of the phased reopening, but one of the things Walt Disney World did then that we appreciated was Relaxation Stations. These were introduced as a much-needed respite from masking in the Florida heat, and largely put unutilized spaces to use.
Some of those once again have permanent purposes, but others could serve once again as summer lounges. I’m not sure of the current status of either Tortuga Tavern or Tomorrowland Terrace, for example, but I do know I’ve seen both of these seating areas completely closed during recent visits. (I get that they need to clear Tomorrowland Terrace ahead of fireworks, but there’s no reason to chase people out at 1 pm.)
Both of these shuttered restaurants could, at the very least, be put back on the map as lounges. Because even if these areas are currently accessible, guests have to know that in the first place–it needs to be conveyed via signage, in-app info, or something beckoning them inside. Stage an outdoor vending cart or whatever at their entrance, and welcome guests inside to enjoy shaded seating in a relaxing setting. This would be a win-win, capturing easy food & beverage sales while also offering a respite from the weather.
There are no shortage of underutilized or flat-out unused spaces like this all around Walt Disney World. Over at EPCOT, the Odyssey is just one example. There are also two huge indoor venues–World ShowPlace and the Wonders pavilion–that are sitting mostly unused. Wonders might be off the table since it was previously slated to become the Play Pavilion, a project that was paused indefinitely. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if it’s now an abandoned construction site. That’s not the case with World ShowPlace, though.
For those who are unfamiliar with the World ShowPlace, it was the Millennium Village, the primary home of Walt Disney World’s Millennium Celebration from 1999 to 2001. The venue housed over 50 countries that didn’t have a permanent presence in World Showcase. Among these nations were Brazil, Chile, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Israel, Kenya, Namibia, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa, and Switzerland.
World ShowPlace offers over 40,000 square feet of flexible function space and has capacity for approximately 2,000 guests. That’s higher than the hourly throughput of most rides in EPCOT! Disney Meetings promotes World ShowPlace as “the world’s largest indoor group facility located within a theme park.” Suffice to say, it’s massive.
I mention World ShowPlace specifically because it was used during the ‘Taste of’ EPCOT events during the phased reopening as festival center, housing a handful of different food booths and entertainment. It was glorious.
And that was only at a fraction of its full potential. Given that this was previously the Millennium Village, it’s safe to say that this space could house an entire festival if properly staged. It could be home to a half-dozen or more food booths plus tables plus entertainment. There might be corporate in-fighting over this proposal, as Disney Meetings & Fairytale Weddings both use it, but those after hours events could coexist with a festival. And I cannot imagine there are many conventions using World ShowPlace between June and August, anyway.
I’m mentioning World ShowPlace because it could be the key to finally fulfilling my dream of a summer festival at EPCOT. It’s my understanding that one explanation for both the shorter festivals and the lack of a summer festival is high heat. That high numbers of guests and Cast Members pass out each summer, which is attributable to the festivals. In the case of the Cast Members, it’s because of the conditions inside the kiosks. (Years ago, this is the explanation we heard for the lack of a summer event–but we assumed it was wrong when Walt Disney World started extending Food & Wine into summer.)
Basically, the playbook already exists for what Walt Disney World should be doing with indoor relaxation areas. It comes from the Relaxation Stations, Taste of EPCOT events, and more. In addition to World ShowPlace, there’s also the potential to use attraction space as a flex option. I’m burying this here because it’s controversial with diehard fans, but turning the American Adventure rotunda or Canada Far & Wide into dynamic spaces would be a win–continue to play the films on loop, and allow open access with food & drinks.
There’s a reason why summer is no longer peak season at Walt Disney World, and hasn’t been for a while. This is a reality that’s finally being acknowledged, and reflected in aggressive discounting and more. But deals can only do so much if the guest experience is miserable due to high heat and humidity coupled with the perplexing design decision to have few indoor respites from the weather. Walt Disney World can reverse this trend by opening shuttered spaces and actively welcoming guests inside. The Odyssey Pianist is a small step in the right direction–hopefully we see much more like this in the summers to come!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of EPCOT adding the Odyssey Pianist? Is this a step in the right direction for giving guests an easy escape from the summer heat? Wish Walt Disney World would do more with ‘Relaxation Stations’ or other shaded seating areas? What about a fully-fledged indoor summer festival in World ShowPlace at EPCOT? Did you attend the ‘Taste of’ events that utilized this space? Agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing feedback about your experiences is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
I was at Epic on Saturday and Epcot/Hollywood Studios on Sunday and the heat was pretty brutal. We had umbrellas, electric fans, cooling towels, and I even brought baby powder and a change of underwear – they helped! At least at Epcot and HS you can cut through stores and restaurants for a little bit of AC – that is not happening when walking across Celestial Park!
We were at the Parks this weekend. My wife and I have now sworn to never go in June again. It made the days very difficult and Disney needs to add more areas for people to cool down. Whether it was a merch shop or quickservice restaurant, people were littered everywhere indoors trying to escape the heat. Even when you got inside, a lot of the AC was sub-par and did nothing. Spaceship Earth was literally roasting on Thursday, I don’t think the AC was even on.
Honestly, they should add lounges for people to cool down in. Also, there is simply not enough shade in non-DAK parks.
Completely agree with the little to no AC on many attractions. Only the stores (where of course they want you to linger and spend $$$) were adequately cooled. Even one of the two resorts we stayed at were uncomfortably warm regardless of what we did or a maintenance call.
One of the best places to beat the heat is Muppets 3D …..oh wait, never mind.
I’m sure I am looking through rose tinted glasses but I’m starting to miss Innovations! I have no idea how Imagineering could have revived it but it certainly would have been a great place to beat the heat.
Fun fact. In 2012 my then 6 year old son saw the 1/2 sized downgraded innoventions and upon hearing of all the fun his older siblings had there in ‘01, ‘04, and ‘09 took it upon himself to write a letter to the someone in admin at WDW asking them to please keep and fix up innoventions. He received a reply telling him there were no plans to get rid of innoventions!! He still loves Disney even though he was fed a white lie
Lack of respite from the heat is why I told my family when we just visited in late May, ‘I really want to enjoy Epcot, but I just can’t.’ It’s always a brutal day and we are a rope drop, break in room and close a park family just to take a break from the heat. It works well for us, but I feel that in years past more parks were open later. Nine PM is just when the temps start making the parks enjoyable and then they close. All the people hiding out in connections cafe and in the shade of the breezeway are more than enough proof people are trying to get out of the sun!
We just got back from Epic and it was still 90+ at 8pm. I said to my family “Florida will be unbearable in another decade, how will anyone spend time outside between May-October.” The planet is not getting any cooler folks. The lack of shade, umbrellas, benches, indoor seating at the parks (US and WDW) is mid boggling. It seems like a cheap solution too. Open up some indoor areas, more fans, misters and shade! We used to do Aug but now I am questioning if that is still realistic as I get older and the planet gets hotter.
For some truth about climate change, you should go to co2coalition.org.
TIL about World Showplace. After 10+ trips I never knew it was back there
During the Epcot festival concerts, they should really have a lot of umbrellas or canopies up in the extended lines that form before they let people into the American Gardens Theater. Or they should go back to just letting people into the theater at any time rather than making them wait in line. A lot of older people attend the concerts & they shouldn’t be exposed to standing out in the heat a long time. Once when my parents & I were waiting in line for concert seats, an old lady also in line collapsed. This didn’t inspire Disney management to make any changes for the good of its guests. I suppose they’d also want such guests to pay for their own medical treatment even though it’s Disney’s own fault.
I came for the article but stayed for the photography. These photos are incredible!
I was there in May last year, and the heat is absolutely unreal. I had to bring extra shirts to change into at lunchtime. I really want to go around February next go-around.
Having a single large dining hall for festival food events would potentially be an improved guest experience. You currently have to travel far and wide to visit each food station, which sucks if you want to mix and match. And once you do get tour food, there are no tables. So having an indoor space filled with tables and chairs, and surrounded by food stations would make eating much more enjoyable. They could even just duplicate the stations from around the park to this one dining area. I would love to be able to have a real meal as virtual tapas by selecting from stations. If you want to make it more efficient, have a mobile ordering with table delivery service.
We just got back from a trip, and while we have typically gone in late July because of kids and school, we managed late May this time. Wasn’t *quite* as hot, but almost.
In the heat, I was really struck this trip by how much queues are extending beyond the typical queue area, without the wait times being similarly inflated. So, for example, Haunted Mansion routinely had a 30 minute wait backed up all the way to the Liberty Belle. Space Mountain had a 45 minute wait that had a queue backed up outside of the building. Seven Dwarfs was constantly backed up out of the queue, even at 45 minutes in the middle of the day. I asked a cast member about this, because I don’t recall seeing these back ups quite so bad in the past without wait times being bananas, and when you’re out in the “Extended queue” area, there’s really no shade or weather protection because it wasn’t designed to be part of the queue in the first place. Any reasons for this? I know some queues have space for ECVs and the like, but others most definitely don’t. I can’t figure out what’s causing it, and the cast member didn’t really answer the question. But it was striking how often we stood in those extended queue areas despite wait times not seeming inflated enough to require it. Maybe it was because we didn’t purchase lightning lanes at all this trip, but even in the past when we’ve had them, you only get it once and then have to go stand by. And maybe no one else is noticing this, but it really stood out to me.
It’s because of fewer Lightning Lanes being distributed, which causes physically longer standby lines despite statistically lower standby wait times!
Further reading if you’re curious, but that’s the case in a nutshell: https://www.disneytouristblog.com/lightning-lane-multi-pass-worth-money-disney-world-lower-crowds/
It’s almost as if Imagineering hates shade. You would think anything built in the last decade would account for the warming world. But some of the newer areas are the worst offenders with no escape from the heat when not in a ride/queue/shop/building. Making your customers suffer for easily 1/3, if not 1/4 year is a strange business plan. I’ve wonder what justifies this and it’s gotta be sight lines right? Trees, overhangs, umbrellas, by their entire function, don’t let you see up or as far. This has got be an aesthetic choice over a functional one?
I’ve talked to a lot of different people about the cause of this, and have never gotten what I consider to be a credible answer. Basically, Imagineering blames operations–and vice-versa.
One thing to remember is that Imagineering doesn’t have complete autonomy over what’s built. They create a menu, and then the parks & resorts “order” off of that, with a conversation about customization, etc. Inevitably, this includes budget cuts and other subtractions (and on rare occasion, additions).
I’m still of the belief that Imagineering being largely based in Southern California has had an impact, and that a lot is designed based on how they themselves experience the parks in CA.
We were there August 2023 and it was downright brutal. My husband lived in Orlando for ten years and it had never been as bad as that trip. We’re now firmly November through April visitors as much as it pains me with each summer discount released!
It seems like an awful lot is down in the MK and will be for a long time to come. I’m wondering if weather will impact this due to their being (I think) more crowds out in the heat.
Hi Tom,
This has been a recent topic of discussion between me and my wife. We have DVC and want to start going more in the cooler months, having grown tired of going when it’s so hot. But we are torn because of all the goodies that DVC offers in August and September (Moonlight Magic and Welcome Home Weekends). Like you alluded to, it’s not difficult to imagine why those benefits are offered in the summer.
*1986-2007, but who’s counting
As a DLR local, I have definitely noticed the lack of indoor chill spaces (esp at DCA) and indoor entertainment (I miss the shows at the Hyperion so much), so it’s nice that WDW is inching its way back to adding guest value this way.
I’m definitely a bit anxious about my August visit in terms of storms and heat (I’m packing a fan, cooling towel, shoe covers, an umbrella, and a poncho). After visiting WDW the last week of May where my first day in the parks at AK was mid-90’s, I feel a bit more prepared now for summer weather.
My heat mitigation plan for EPCOT includes: reservations for Space 220 Lounge in the afternoon, Geo-82 for dinner, AND plans for the Behind the Seeds tour, and multiple rides of Living with the Land. And at least one Mint Tea slush from the Morocco pavilion.
I went on a trip last summer, and in spite of most of my pre-trip planning being focused on finding indoor places to rest and escape the heat, I never found enough of them to really make a difference. It bears repeating that summer at Disney World is brutal, and can completely ruin a trip more completely than any attraction rehab ever could. I know Disney can’t change the weather, but they absolutely could do more things to help guests avoid it, at least a little bit.
More air-conditioned spaces that aren’t fully-functioning restaurants would be a big help, and as mentioned here the parks have a rather large number of locations they *could* open if they chose to. The other one is simply longer park hours. Midnight (or later) closings in the Magic Kingdom should be the norm, not the exception in the summer, and Animal Kingdom should at least make it to sundown every day of the year.
“Midnight (or later) closings in the Magic Kingdom should be the norm, not the exception in the summer, and Animal Kingdom should at least make it to sundown every day of the year.”
Quoted for truth/dramatic emphasis.
The heavy crowds during Extended Evening Hours in summer should be proof-of-concept for this. I wouldn’t mind one of the parks opening at 10 am if it meant getting another couple hours of nighttime.
We’ll be there in 15 days and plan to seek shelter where and when possible. It doesn’t take much heat and humidity to cause me to wilt. We have Membership Magic Beyond, so DVC lounges will be a sure thing, and I will be more likely to take advantage of typically short ride waits to enjoy cool indoor rides like Three Caballeros. My son is registered for DAS, so we won’t get the full experience of standing and waiting in the sun, though I suspect it will still be a challenge for us, regardless (sensory issues abound). I am curious to see how much more manageable that PASS makes our visit from the standpoint of comfort. There will still be plenty of walking in the sun (we are bringing a fan, cooling towels, and a UV umbrella), outdoor shows, and so on, so if we can’t tolerate the heat despite the DAS pass, we may have to bypass summers in the future also, which is too bad. Having a young child means summer is one of the few times we have wide open to go on longer trips.
Even after living in Florida for a couple of the worst summers on record, I still cannot handle the heat and humidity. It’s the biggest reason we left–never got used to the weather.
It’s definitely a YMMV thing, but I’ve never found standby lines to be an issue when it comes to the heat and humidity. There are a couple of exceptions to this, but even most overflow queues have umbrellas or fans. It’s the spaces in between–especially SWGE/TSL, World Showcase, much of Animal Kingdom, etc–that really get me.
Good luck with your trip–hope it goes well!
Thanks! I’m definitely Southern Californian at heart (lived there 1989-2007), but we have been on the East Coast for almost two decades now–near New York City, still not acclimated to the humidity–and only get out to California once every couple of years (we also own at the Grand Californian).
Hopefully having our own heat mitigation gear will help in the in-between spaces. I’m definitely planning on treating this as an “adventure,” in the sense that I am making plans and including contingencies, but will let the conditions on the ground each day dictate what we do and how we do it. We’ll be back in February and we were just there in April, plus I’m doing the whole value approach to this particular trip (25% off bounce back at POP, 50% off my kid’s theme park tix, etc.), so there is that pressure to wring as much as possible out of this trip. Definitely hitting Typhoon Lagoon one day we are there!