Epcot Update: Now with 50% Fewer Tombstones!
Epcot is next up in our June 2019 Walt Disney World construction updates & photo reports. As the park continues its massive re-imagining, projects are underway in both World Showcase and Future World. In this, we’ll take a walk around the park and see what’s changed since last month…including the highly anticipated walls coming down around the Leave a Legacy West removal!
June is also one of the final three months of Epcot rumor-mongering before all is revealed at the D23 Expo. In actuality, it’s highly likely that not all will be revealed, and we’ll continue to speculate about what’s unannounced, or the specific details of what does get announced.
Either way, we’ll hopefully be fixated on different things rather than the fate of Spaceship Earth, what’s in store for the Central Spine Redesign/Project Gamma, what other intellectual property is coming to World Showcase, and whether the Brazil pavilion will finally be built…
Part of me is cautiously optimistic for the D23 Expo, while another part is concerned. I realize the version of Epcot that I personally loved is long gone, but at the same time, the park as it exists now needs serious help.
Even if serious thematic compromises occur (and I’m expecting exactly that), I think Walt Disney World management and Imagineers working the project will try to throw fans a few bones. I mean that in more significant and substantial ways than just an old school logo or Easter Egg here or there. Things like updating the films, restoring the entrance plaza, and giving legacy attractions some TLC are what comes to mind.
For now, it’s the “heart” of Diet Epcot season, which means low crowds and short wait times, even for popular attractions:
We’ve started to see Soarin’ Around the World regularly below 30 minutes, and Frozen Ever After right around that mark at the end of the night. Not bad.
For the substance of the update, let’s start in World Showcase…
Here’s a look at the work underway to expand the International Gateway entrance.
There’s still a maze of construction back here around the old turnstiles, ticket booths, and bag check area. With it being Epcot’s slowest few months of the year, this shouldn’t pose much of a problem…so long as it’s done before Food & Wine Festival gets underway.
Shortly after our last update, Walt Disney World announced that the new Signature Restaurant in Japan will be named Takumi-Tei. The design celebrates the relationship between Japanese craftsmanship and nature, while the food is inspired by the wonderful collaboration between nature and takumi, the artisan.
The upscale dinner menu will highlight wagyu beef, plus a multi-course tasting menu featuring traditional tea service. Signature cocktails and premium sake will be available along with a wine and craft beer menu. Takumi-Tei will open in the Japan pavilion at Epcot this summer and will be operated by Mitsukoshi USA, which operates the other dining in the Japan pavilion.
Also in this area, we have a view of the fully-enclosed Guardians of the Galaxy show building at sunset.
Not much of a difference as compared to last month.
Epcot’s Flower & Garden Festival is over, but some of the marketplaces remain.
It appears that a few might be repurposed as temporary food & beverage kiosks. The ones in Canada and Germany are now serving beer, having replaced ODVs that were previously at those pavilions. The marketplace booths are a better thematic fit, in my opinion.
Also in World Showcase, “Guardians of the Galaxy – Awesome Mix Live!” has returned to America Gardens Theater.
It’s a fine summer concert if you can get past the weirdness of it all…and the location.
One thing you probably won’t (or shouldn’t) be able to get past is the bizarre look of the food served in ‘celebration’ of this.
We cover it in our “The Galaxy’s Most Awesome Disney Meal…Or Not” post.
Heading back to Future World, the path that runs between Refreshment Port and Imagination is closed for widening.
I love this walkway, but it’s always a serious pain. If anyone stops, it brings traffic to a standstill.
Here’s a side view of the fencing.
As with the Cinderella Castle pathway widening, I hope this actually addresses the congestion problem, rather than providing guests more available space to fill.
Finally, the walls are down at the Leave a Legacy West demolition site!
We actually originally intended upon posting this update on Tuesday morning. Literally minutes before hitting “publish” I saw a tweet that this side was finished, so we returned to Epcot yesterday.
Shortly after arriving, we got a tornado alert on our phones and managed to duck inside a gift shop for about 20 minutes of a torrential downpour. So that was fun.
The rest of the afternoon was overcast and grey, but at least there wasn’t any more rain. On the way out, I grabbed this shot. Except, instead of leaving, we headed back to FountainView to see if there was anything new there.
On our way towards the exit (take 2), the sky was showing some signs of color.
It didn’t look like it’d be a good sunset, but neither did the day before, and that ended up being an explosion of color, so we decided to stick around.
Bingo.
It’s pretty wild how a little break in the cloud cover is the difference between a dull and grey “sunset” and an incredible one.
I couldn’t resist getting one last sunset shot with the Leave a Legacy in the frame.
Why? I’m not really sure.
Back to the removal of the Leave a Legacy tombstones.
There has been a lot of excitement about half of this being “finished” online.
I was giddy when I entered Epcot to this sight, but it was also a surreal scene.
Right now, it’s not really finished; it’s in an awkward spot where the biggest eyesore is gone, but it’s still not in final form. I’m excited, but not for what’s visible today. I’m excited for what I can envision tomorrow, and that we’re one step closer to that. I really cannot wait for the new version of the Epcot entrance plaza to debut.
Expect walls to go up around the left side of the entrance plaza soon.
It’s pretty wild that even though the Millennium Celebration is long over, we’re just finally getting over the party’s massive hangover. With the wand, hat, and (soon) Leave a Legacy gone, I think that about covers it.
Heading out (or in, as the case may be) of the park, we have fences and construction in the parking lot as Epcot is in the process of transforming its “arrival experience.”
For now, that’s all from Epcot! With many more changes on the horizon and visible projects starting to ramp up, you can expect a lot more about Epcot in future posts, though.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Are you excited to see half of the tombstones removed? What do you think of the current state of Epcot and its construction projects? Thoughts on the latest rumors of D23 Expo announcements? Do you like the new Figment window display? 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!
I am so glad the monoliths are being taken down. I remember the first time I walked into Epcot after they had been put into place. I was so disappointed. I am short and they completely blocked the view I was used to. I felt like the Disney execs created something horribly ugly just to make some money off people who would pay anything to have their names on Disney property. They were not pretty, creative or in anyway asthetically pleasing. Can’t wait to see Epcot without the stones,
Since the Leave a Legacy photos are being moved, Will they still be able to tell us how to find a tile.. I’m old… hahahaha, hate to stand there all day trying to find the ones i purchased. It is fun to show the grandkids. Thanks for all your fabulous articles!
Those sunset pics are amazing!! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Can someone please explain to me why there is only one place in Epcot to get wheel chairs and electric chairs ? If your stay at a Disney hotel at the Boardwalk you have to cross the entire parks to rent one ! Not very friendly ?
Is american pavilion open in epcot
I am one of those who is quite sad that Leave a Legacy is gone. For one, I don’t remember the exact cost but U know it wasn’t unexpensive to purchase one and I did so under the belief that it would remain there as long as EPCOT was in existence. But more importantly, it was a picture of my mom and me who traveled to EPCOT from Ohio every year. She is no longer alive and it was a very nice memory for me if the good times we had together on our trips.
Hi, A wonderful memory of my life has been taken away. To my beloved late wife I am sorry our treasured photos are gone from our favorite place, Walt Disney World. We have spent time after time there and to bring our grandchildren to see our Legacy. It hurts to see both our walkway stones in the Magic Kingdom gone and now this. At least they could have put them somewhere else in the world. All my family and friends are sad because they always looked for our stone and photos in Disney World. I am truly sorry they did this.
they are putting them outside the entrance at epcot.
I’m with you Tom on the “thankful for the relocating of the tombstones”. Enjoyed the updated pics and dialogue. Keep up the great work here, cheers !!
Great photos! Thanks for the ipdate. Where are the monoliths getting moved to?
The monoliths themselves were destroyed. The photos are being moved outside the park entrance to, I’m assuming, part of the area near the parking lot that is currently behind construction walls.
Hooray! I’m so glad the monoliths are being removed! The entrance looks so much better.
Love the blog and photography though just have to share one historical correction that has been mentioned a few times recently. The Sorcerer’s Hat at DHS was not built for the Millennium Celebration. It was put in late 2001 for the 100 Years of Magic celebration. Please don’t blame the wonderful Millennium Celebration for the hat! 🙂
Ah, you’re right! Sorry about that; I don’t know why I’ve been lumping them together.
In any case, the Millennium Celebration gave us Tapestry of Nations, so even if it were responsible for all of these things, I’d always have a soft spot for it in my heart!
i was not a fan of the sorcerer’s hat at HS, but i did like the mickey hand and wand at epcot for the time they had it. i’m also one of the few who actually liked the 25th anniversary cake…
Thanks, Stannis!
I must admit, 10% of me feels the same way as Adam (or at least knows where he’s coming from). I mean, 90% of me realises it’s Tom’s blog, and if he wants to criticise the monoliths (like by calling them tombstones…) that’s entirely his right. But the fact is a lot of what people like about theme park design is arbitrary and rooted in nostalgia – I never knew Epcot before the monoliths and liked them. I get the impression that they are being presented as objectively bad, and I haven’t read reasoned arguments on why that is the case.
This is a two-way street, and I would defend Tom’s affinity for elements of the parks that are being destroyed or removed, even if I don’t use or enjoy them myself. But when it comes to the monoliths, I don’t get the impression that’s the case. To be fair, I felt the same way about the hat, but at least Tom wrote an article putting forward his case for why that was thematically incongruous.
I think I’ve written this in another article, but my rationale for disliking the monoliths is pretty straightforward and doesn’t really require a full article: in a theme park rooted in optimism and the future, the first sight that greets guests evokes a cemetery or war memorial–somber things that pay homage to the past. While not as visually jarring as the Sorcerer Hat, I think Leave a Legacy is more thematically incongruous (in terms of the park’s underlying themes–not themed design) and sets the wrong tone for entering Epcot.
I’ve avoided repetitive criticism of Leave a Legacy because I do understand that some people are sad or upset it’s being removed. I didn’t realize that simply calling them tombstones would strike a nerve; they’re colloquially known as that among Walt Disney World fans. I don’t really think this is a negative or hateful article. It expresses excitement about Leave a Legacy’s removal and the future of the entrance area.
Tom, while I understand your intent was not to upset anyone, referring to the Leave A legacy area as tombstones, whether or not that is the term for them among Disney fans, is not meant to be neutral either. I never had an issue with the aesthetic, but my husband and I had a tile made while on our honeymoon and were hopeful to visit around our 20th Anniversary (they were supposed to be up for that long) to get what we thought would be a really great picture. We’ve been lucky enough to have a couple of PhotoPass photographers take pics of us with our little girls pointing to the tile and we’re hoping to have that anniversary moment even when the tiles are moved outside, but maybe treat the area with a little more understanding that those are people’s memories despite your disliking the architecture. I honestly love your site, this just irks me a bit.
They sure were a money maker for Disney !
Whether your a fan or not there are plenty of fans of the Monoliths ( not tombstones ) and your attacking it is just rude. You dont like it. We get it. Tou dont have to crow about it over and over and over again. For those of us that PAID for one of those, it would be nice for it to be around to show our kids. Look I like star wars and watched the originals in the movies in 1977 but I am sooo tired of all the hype with a new movie coming about every 6 months to a yr now that Disney owns them. But i dont crow about it every 5 seconds to everyone. Maybe less hate and negativity in your posts
What are you talking about? You do know that they’re just being moved, not eliminated? And that Disney has already fulfilled their contract with you?
Thank you! They are being MOVED people. NOT ‘RE’-moved from the parks like many are insinuating. If I had a penny every single time I ran into one of those things…
Adam, aka Negative Nancy…….if you feel the posts here are negative and/or hateful (or basically contradict your feelings or opinions to the point you consider them
“hateful” or “negative”) then perhaps you should find a more conservative, plaid, and boring blog, like you are likely those you are more accustomed to…..
no one is forcing you to read the site, either. or just skip the post literally with the word in it’s title you don’t agree with. in the end, it’s a joke anyway.
I don’t know why, but I get the feeling if WALT was helping design the Leave a Legacy markers, that instead of a weird tombstone look they’d look kind of like Isolinear Chip style structures; like the computer chips in ‘Star Trek, TNG’.
Those sunset pictures are . They capture the feeling of Epcot in the evening so well that they put me right back there! Beautiful.
*fewer tombstones
Not to be the grammar teacher, but I AM a grammar teacher. Count nouns=fewer. Mass nouns=less. Fewer apples, less applesauce.
I thought it didn’t sound right, but I neither knew why nor did I bother to look it up. Thanks.
It’s also 50% less tombstone mass though… ;o)
Happy to help. I’m genuinely impressed with how many “rules” you get right, given that English is rather arbitrary on its rules. BTW, I’ve sent many a letter to grocery stores encouraging them to change their signage to “10 items or fewer.”
I hate to admit it but I am on one of those tombstones! I was very surprised at what they did with them ,it looked like a forest of monoliths. Maybe Hal would bring some unworldly friends down from the ethers. But no it was just weird. It looks so much better.
Some beautiful pictures.
+1 Joice, the monuments never gave me a good feeling, they may have evoked positive feelings for others, but didn’t achieve the same for us!