Epcot Update: November 2018
We return to Epcot for our latest round of updates on construction and the various Walt Disney World Christmas happenings. This visit coincided with the start of Festival of the Holidays, the food element of which we’ve already in pretty granular detail here.
Actually, this “visit” was several trips to the park, some of which were only in the evenings so that we could enjoy IllumiNations: Peace on Earth for its farewell season. Our first time viewing the holiday tag this year we scored a last-minute FastPass+, which I don’t think we’d ever done before. We always forget just how earth-shaking the “Peace” on Earth finale/tag is until seeing it again, and…wow. Suffice to say, you can expect a surplus of Epcot updates this holiday season.
In this Epcot update, we’ll cover construction progress on the Guardians of the Galaxy coaster and Ratatouille trackless dark ride, plus a few other random stops in World Showcase and Future World. We’ll also cover some loose ends in terms of the Epcot International Festival of the Holidays…
We’ll start this update entering through International Gateway, where work on the Skyliner gondola station remains ongoing. The major recent gondola update of late is that Walt Disney World officially confirmed that the gondolas would not have air-conditioning.
We addressed this rumor at length in our last Disney Skyliner Gondola Update, and why the lack of air-conditioning didn’t really bother us. It wasn’t really even a rumor at that point as air-conditioning isn’t a feature in this model of gondolas by Doppelmayr, which is the manufacturer of Walt Disney World’s gondola system.
As noted in that post, we’ve ridden in a lot of gondolas, including environments hotter and more humid than Central Florida, and the lack of air-conditioning has never been an issue. In fact, we’ve never even ridden in gondolas equipped with A/C.
It still baffles me that this outrage is a thing, but whatever. I’ve chosen plenty of ‘hills to die on’ that probably strike other Walt Disney World fans as odd choices, so to each their own. (I still think the difference here is that most people who are upset don’t fundamentally understand gondola systems.)
We will do another full Skyliner update soon, as there’s a lot more to report on with regard to construction progress, the anticipated opening season of the gondolas, and more.
For now, here’s a look at the interesting new art on the Skyliner gondola station outside the International Gateway entrance to Epcot:
I really like this art, but I’m torn on its location. Murals and public art installations are common in Paris, but I’ve never seen anything on classical architecture. Just strikes me as an odd juxtaposition, but perhaps I’m nitpicking (again).
Equally as important to me, some weathering has been done to the canopy of the Skyliner station, making it fit with the other buildings a bit better.
Speaking of art, the Christmas window displays in gift shops throughout Walt Disney World are masterpieces. I’m not even kidding.
If you pass them by without second thought, you’re really missing out. A lot of them, including this one at World Traveler by International Gateway, feature ‘classic’ Disney character designs.
Also in this area, we have a view behind the current France pavilion, which will become the arcade leading to Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure.
It’ll be interesting to see how this, presumably narrow and dead-end corridor works with the influx of guests trying to experience the only E-Ticket attraction in World Showcase. I love the idea of expanding the France pavilion, but I wonder if there will be crowd-flow issues.
A view of the Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure show building from across World Showcase Lagoon.
I’d say this was shot intentionally at sunset for a ‘realistic’ view of how the human eye will see it, but that’d be a lie. On 3 different days, I forgot to get this photo during the day…and instead I have 3 night sunset/night views.
We need to start a section in these Epcot updates called, “Where in the (Future) World is the Figment Figure…and What Is He Wearing?” That’s not at all weird or anything.
As for the first question, he’s perched high above the displays at MouseGear. As for the second question, a Santa Claus suit! I’m betting this is the pet project of someone who works at Epcot, and they have a lot of fun with it. Judging by social media, we fans also have a lot of fun with this.
In my case, I have a lot of fun photographing the Figment Figure for “WIT(F)WITFF…AWIHW?” (an acronym that rolls right off the tongue). I still have about 20 unedited photos of Chef Figment from unique angles shot during Food & Wine, and I spent way too much time in MouseGear trying to do the same.
In other quasi-Figment news, there’s this new EPCOT mug at the Fountain View Starbucks.
I know there’s more collectibility in the ‘Starbucks x Disney’ collaborations or crossovers or whatever, but I wish this were just a straight-up Disney mug. Starbucks’ “thing” is the You Are Here mugs, and I wish they’d just leave it at that. I don’t need to show off my affection for two Fortune 500 companies on the same mug.
Holiday Storytellers, which we cover here, are now appearing throughout World Showcase.
Our absolute favorite is Sigrid, who shares Norwegian Christmas traditions and lore about Julenissen, the gnome, who appears and mischievously interrupts the storytelling. Don’t miss them.
I passed on photographing the sunset to see Sigrid and Julenissen because I enjoy them so much…and because the sunset looked like it’d be a dud.
I caught the waning light after they were done performing. Looks like I misjudged that one. Whoops. (Of course I sat down in the front row to watch the Storytellers, so I couldn’t really leave during the performance, even as I saw the color exploding behind me.)
More Christmas/holiday quick hits…
I love this view. Also, to be entirely honest, I love Epcot’s Christmas tree. I know it’s one of the older trees at Walt Disney World, but I like the classy design representing the countries.
Standby lines for Candlelight Processional have been ridiculous. We know people who waited two hours and missed the cut. Every year, there are more dining packages sold and fewer standby guests admitted.
For what it’s worth, we hovered around American Adventure, waiting for the performers to enter, at which time a rope was put up and guests were allowed to stand behind the seating area. Obviously, we were pretty far back, but we had a front row rope view that required a (roughly) 5 minute wait. Something to consider if you don’t do a dining package and don’t want to camp out in line.
Did we mention that the Peace on Earth tag to IllumiNations is awesome? Because it is.
Finally, here are some looks at the Guardians of the Galaxy show-building, first from the magical walk through the parking lot, then from across World Showcase Lagoon:
It’s difficult to tell from the photos, but they’re starting to enclose the building. It appears the lower exterior panels go away green and the upper ones are sky blue (or the more euphonious ‘blend-in blue’).
Ultimately, it’s highly unlikely that this structure will have any themed artifice on it (and we’re thankful for that), but it’s interesting that they appear to be using a mix of blend-in blue and go away green. Given the height of the structure, this makes sense, I just don’t think I’ve ever seen the ‘mixed’ approach. As with the Soarin’ theaters, the portion of the building visible from across World Showcase Lagoon will likely be blue since much of it will be above the tree line and set against the sky.
That’s a wrap for this update from Epcot. We’ll report back in early December with more from the Epcot International Festival of the Holidays, as well as photos of the age-defying John Stamos narrating Candlelight Processional, among other things.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Will you be experiencing the Epcot International Festival of the Holidays this year? What do you think of Epcot’s Skyliner station? Thoughts on the go away green/blend-in blue mix for the Guardians show-building? Will you be purchasing the new Epcot Starbucks mug? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
First of all thanks a lot for sharing this wonderful information. Actually, I’m planning to go on a ski holiday next year with my family and I must say this is really great as well as helpful info for me. Thanks for sharing.
If you’ve visited in summer, I can see why the lack of air conditioning is so concerning! The last few summers, even the Friendship boats were unbearable with air conditioning, because it was so hot they couldn’t keep up. When you’re out in the heat, you need to be able to find a cool break.
Is there a ‘lesser’ version of the peace on earth tag? I went the last two nights and it wasn’t a mega explosive fest as you described and the wind was fairly prevalent
They’ve been cutting the pyro on and off for the last several days. About a week ago, a bit of pyro went into one of the viewing areas, and I believe the show has been/is being modified because of that. (I don’t think it’s due to wind.)
We will be at Epcot the day after Christmas. My husband and I really want to try some of the foods at the festival. Any tips?
About the gondola concerns: I think, since everyone from you to Disney’s own people emphasize that the air circulates just fine when they’re moving, but Disney has a very hard time keeping outdoor transportation like the monorail or even fully enclosed attractions running (see: Frozen’s near daily breakdowns for a start), those of us who are doubtful hear an emphasis on “when they’re moving.” I do hope they work well, and I hope the gondola-maker’s reliability wins out over Disney’s lack of it, but I wonder what it would be like to be in a stationary floating greenhouse for a few hours in July while they try to get a motor running again.
You are probably already aware, but… hey, I’ve heard of that guy.
https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2018/11/disney-parks-after-dark-holiday-finale-of-illuminations-at-epcot/
We were just there in November but left by Nov 16 to beat the Thanksgiving week crowds. Although we got to see the Tree go up and things start to get decorated in Epcot, this caused us to miss the beginning of the Festival of the Holidays, the Candlelight Processional, etc. When exactly were you there and how bad were the crowds? Wondering if it would make sense to stick it out a little closer to Thanksgiving next time.
We must have been at EPCOT the same night…our daughter was singing in candlelight…fourth row from the top, on the far right! It was a gorgeous evening with perfect weather! This was our first visit to EPCOT to see the Candlelight Processional and experience Festival of the Holidays…all of the traditional storytellers were fantastic…except for the German punk rock band. What was up with those guys?
We are going to be at Epcot on Christmas day this year and we really want to get a good spot to see Illuminations. Any thoughts on where we should try to go and what time we need to get there? We used our Fastpass+ for the frozen ride so can’t use it for illuminations.
Tom,
I heard the epcot boats to HS will be down for the cable attachment on the new Gondolas. However, I cannot find anywhere on the web if the boats will still be running from HS to Boardwalk to Beachclub to Swan and Dolphin. I need to get from HS in the afternoon to Epcot and figured I can tale a boat 75% of the way to Beachclub and walk the rest to Epcot. Would you know the answer to this?
It’s been years since we were down at Christmas, but I recall the Norway storytellers being my favorite. And you are right – the Peace on Earth tag is awesome.
The dining packages seem like a self-fulfilling prophesy. Disney sells them → People feel compelled to buy them → less standby seats are available → even more people feel compelled to buy them.
I like the weathering and mural on the gondola to make it fit it better. I still wish the overall shape didn’t look like every ski lift int he world, but perhaps that is unavoidable.
I had not sen a map of the path/queue for Ratatouille. I like that it goes around the side by the water. Aside from Perry/Aurora, that’s a pretty much unused/unseen portion of the pavilion.
Yeah, we fell into the dining package trap…but all things considered, Biergarten was the perfect complement to the Candlelight Processional. The German Oompa band was in great form! We got Christmas carols on the bells, the Ricola horns and the zither. We had a great time…until the check came!! No AP discount on Dining packages?!?! Merry Christmas indeed!
Since the interim nighttime show Epcot Forever will presumably be running next holiday season, do you think it is possible that the holiday tag will see one more round in 2019, particularly if Epcot Forever intends to be all about Epcot nostalgia?
I’m hoping so! We were unable to make a Christmas trip this year, and last year’s Christmas trip missed Illuminations so we’ve never seen the Peace on Earth tag. Crossing fingers!!
Based upon the rumors I’ve heard regarding launch sites for Epcot Forever, I would say no, it’s unlikely to be back. I’ve been wrong before, though.