EPCOT Update: It’s A Festivus Eve Miracle!
We’re back at EPCOT for what can only be described as a Festivus Eve Miracle: the reimagined main entrance plaza featuring the prismatic pylon fountain has been fully unveiled! In this Walt Disney World park report, we’ll take a look at that, construction, and Christmas week crowds.
For people my age, EPCOT has always been the most “relatable” park at Walt Disney World. It started out optimistic and imaginative in the 80s through mid-90s, experienced growing pains in its teenage years, struggled with its place in the world in its thirties, squandered potential, compromised on its ideals, and so forth. Despite all of that, it was always lovable.
This year was supposed to be a transformative one for EPCOT. Like everyone else, its plans were derailed. The Spaceship Earth Reimagining and the Marry Poppins Cherry Tree Lane expansion were scratched. Walt Disney World announced other cutbacks and cancellations, indicating the new Festival Center. Hopefully also like everyone else, EPCOT finishes the year on a strong note with a renewed sense of its trademark optimism…
Early this morning, Walt Disney Imagineering announced that EPCOT Center’s main entrance plaza reimagining has been completed and the construction walls are down, revealing the iconic prismatic pylon fountain in front of Spaceship Earth!
This completes the first phase of EPCOT’s massive overhaul, as the construction walls (sorry, we are not calling those frustrating things “progress walls”) that have lined the front of the park for over a year are now down. Here’s a look…
Reiterating what we shared when the pylons were first installed for those who missed it and/or are confused by the excitement, lifelong Walt Disney World fans are hyped because this is essentially a remake of the entrance plaza and fountain that existed when the EPCOT Center opened in 1982.
These feature prominently in some of Walt Disney World’s most iconic publicity photos over the years, including Card Walker’s opening day dedication and other festivities at EPCOT Center on October 1, 1982. From Walt Disney’s Epcot: The New World of Tomorrow to about a dozen other subsequent official titles, these pylons were prominent in most photos of Spaceship Earth.
Seeing the prismatic pylons back in the fall had me giddy, and that was true once again today as I gazed upon the completed entrance. It’s obviously not a substantive addition that will round out the attraction lineup or miraculously “fix” EPCOT. This evokes a version of Future World that until now exists only in memories.
For many of us, this is something nostalgic, sentimental, and a brief bit of positive news during what has been a bad year. On that basis alone, this project has tugged at the sentimental heartstrings for many EPCOT Center fans, prompting a disproportionate positive reaction and level of enthusiasm.
We are cognizant of the fact that this is an olive branch tossed to EPCOT Center fans, a small thing while the park changes direction in major ways for future generations and to suit the general public’s tastes. However, it’s no secret that Future World has been stagnating for decades, with no clear vision or path forward.
It felt unbelievably satisfying to see a finished Future World project that paid clear homage to the past and was a substantive improvement over its predecessor. I didn’t really even focus on photos–I’ll get those later when it’s not swarmed with others (Disney’s photographers did an exceptional job). Instead, we took it all in, socialized with other fans, and chilled with our homie Olaf. All in all, it was an exciting and emotional day at EPCOT.
We actually have other construction updates from EPCOT, which we’ll run through pretty quickly.
First, a “roofing report” from Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. The metal supports that will hold solar panels are now entirely covered in plywood. There’s also a variety of new scrim and coverings on the facade and in front of the eventual attraction marquee.
Next, after months of nothing happening here post-reopening, the other half of Innoventions West is now being demolished, with only the steel frame of the building remaining. The reason for the delay was presumably Disney’s announcement that the Festival Center would be reworked, which led to rumors that much of the Central Spine plans had gone back to the drawing board, with the remaining Innoventions West building’s future up in the air.
This area of the park is slated to become Moana’s Journey of Water in the World Nature neighborhood. Given that Walt Disney World recently highlighted this walk-through water play area, we’re assuming it’s still slated to be built.
Here’s a look at the first of five floating platforms for “Harmonious” that have been installed in World Showcase Lagoon.
This marks a milestone in the development of “Harmonious” as testing of the onboard show equipment has now begun for the upcoming nighttime spectacular.
Next, a “two-fer” with a look at prep for the next Harmonious platform and also construction near the Italy pavilion across World Showcase Lagoon.
While that construction wall extends the length of the expansion pad, what’s being added is a permanent gelato stand (“La Gelateria”). If this ends up being a country-sized ice cream kiosk, we won’t complain.
For those wondering about Christmas crowds, they actually haven’t been too bad.
We visited a couple of times over the weekend and again on Tuesday, and it definitely wasn’t what we had come to expect from the holidays in terms of congestion.
This was the line for Test Track at around 11 am, with a posted wait of 85 minutes.
Eyeballing it, that was probably dramatically inflated. By afternoon, all three headliners were under an hour.
As I write this at 7 pm, the current wait times for EPCOT are listed above.
If you’re wondering why crowds are so low during Christmas week, we broke it down in yesterday’s Walt Disney World news round-up.
Winnie the Pooh was out between the Land and Imagination pavilions.
His butterfly net has been replaced with a Christmas present and some fun props inside.
Over in the United Kingdom pavilion, Mary Poppins was out for a stroll.
Without question, this is one of the best changes of the physical distancing “era” at Walt Disney World.
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge was proof of concept for this style of character interactions–and the last several months have forced Entertainment to try it elsewhere, to wonderful results.
Hopefully once things go back to normal, Disney will further iterate and improve this approach. If it’s this strong with guests and characters separated by barriers, imagine how good it’ll be when there are more intimate interactions.
The Waffles Holiday Kitchen is now open and has a couple of excellent options.
(Totally random, but since we didn’t get around to re-reviewing all of the Holiday Kitchens, figured it was worth mentioning here.)
First, the Turkey and Waffle.
It’s a bit pricey, but still recommended. Worth ordering for the novelty of having a waffle made of stuffing, which is actually quite delicious!
Next, the Gingerbread Waffle.
There are two varieties of this–one with crushed candy cane and the other with citrus-cranberry sauce. The candy cane one was quite good, although the dominant flavors were chocolate and peppermint, not gingerbread.
Above is a look at the menu.
The Waffles Holiday Kitchen operates with an inconsistent schedule and only on busier days…but that should be the rest of the year, at this point.
Finally, we close out the day with an evening ride on Living with the Land: Merry & Bright Nights. A fitting end to an excellent day at EPCOT.
A brilliant overlay for our favorite holiday to one of our favorite attractions at Walt Disney World. Starting with the new main entrance plaza fountain was like the perfect appetizer to our day, and concluding with this was like a decadent dessert. Now, to get the main course right…
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think about the finished main entrance plaza featuring the prismatic pylon fountain? Optimistic about the future of EPCOT? What do you think of the current state of Epcot and its construction? Excited for this or Moana’s Journey of Water, Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind, Space 220 Restaurant, World Celebration, Play Pavilion, or other projects at EPCOT? Looking forward to seeing EPCOT in person during your next Walt Disney World trip, or dreading visits to the park while it’s an active construction site? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Did they fix the scratch on that pylon that was being reported on when the scrims were up?
I like the return of the pylon fountain. I enjoy the Card Walker dedication and We’ve Just Begun to Dream footage from 1982.
I like these new character interactions with Pooh, Joy, and Mary Poppins. I had no problem interacting with them from a safe distance plus took wonderful outdoor photos of them.
I typically skip the food booths because the high cost for tiny portions but i would make an except for the Turkey and Waffles.
Nice to know you’re a fan of Festivus, too. Happy Festivus!
Just returned from a week stay at the Grand Floridian. A gem there for very good basic fare is Gasparilla Island Grill, a casual 24-hour eatery ther. The bacon, egg, and cheese croissants were great and at $8 and change were a relative bargain. The pepperoni pizza was also very good. Their home made mac and cheese was one of the best I’ve ever tasted!
On the negative side I would avoid the Grand Floridian Cafe. I had dinner there and ordered the Buttermilk-fried Chicken at $24. I got two pieces one of which was inedible as the meat was tough. My wife and son with his family had other items which were ok but not worth recommending. If you want great southern fried chicken go to Art Smith’s Home Comin’ in Disney Springs. It’s $25 and a great deal, especially after what I had at the Grand Floridian Cafe.
A tip for getting on a group for Rise of the Resistance: Use a fast phone, such as my iPhone X. I got on twice.
good thing you’re already Married!
Ditto
maybe I should qualify that the above was a joke because you wrote Marry Poppins!
We were at Epcot today as well and the wait times were definitely inflated. We got in line for Test Track around 11 am and waited around 45 minutes compared to the 85 minute posted time. Rode Frozen right before that and waited about 20 minutes with a posted wait time of 45 minutes. We saw similar inflated times the previous two days at Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom on Sunday and Monday, respectively. FOP was probably the closest one to the posted times.
Unfortunately we missed the new fountain! Staying at Caribbean Beach and rode Skyliner to/from the park and didn’t realize there was a reason to go on the other side of the walls.
I was also there today, the fountain was a wonderful surprise! I come the week before Christmas every year, I hate Covid, but I love the crowds and physical distancing this year!
Maybe I watch too many ghost shows on The Travel Channel, but that Harmonious logo bothers me. I’ll leave it at that.
Until when would you expect the light decorations to remain up on Living With the Land tour? We can’t go back until the week of January 4th. Do decorations stay up for part of January?
We were just at Epcot on Saturday, and the walls were still up. I’m so bummed we missed it. You were spot on with the crowds. We found the wait times to be inflated, and the crowds weren’t bad.
I hope the Harmonious platforms are active fountains during all of Epcot’s open hours because they are otherwise very unattractive and block a nice view.
More importantly, is this the first in a series of “Brickers attempt to recreate NWA album covers but with Olaf” photo shoots, or are your poses referencing pop culture that I’m otherwise unfamiliar with?
I think you should cosplay as John and Yoko from the final Beatles photo shoot at Tittenhurst Park (google it if you’re unfamiliar, worth it for the beards alone) and take the most Gaudi-inspired pictures possible around Gran Destino Tower. This is guaranteed to be fun and worthwhile!* Before you dismiss me as a crazy person, it’s been a long year.
*Guarantee not guaranteed.