Mary Poppins Teacups Attraction at EPCOT?
Walt Disney World announced the first-ever Mary Poppins attraction for EPCOT’s United Kingdom pavilion as part of a Cherry Tree Lane expansion, which has since been delayed or cancelled. This post shares details plus concept and poster art, including of the leaked teacups-style ride that would’ve been built in World Showcase. (Updated March 22, 2023.)
In the last three years, there has been not been much new information about the “postponed” Mary Poppins attraction slated for EPCOT. More details have been released about the future of World Showcase, and the Cherry Tree Lane expansion was entirely absent from those plans. Even after Walt Disney World started its 50th Anniversary and other updates have been offered, there have been no updates on the Mary Poppins ride.
Indefinite delay is usually Disney’s way of gentling stating that a project has been cancelled. Due to the total silence about the Mary Poppins project over the course of the last two years, that’s what we believe has happened with the Cherry Tree Lane expansion. We’ll update this in the future should that change, but for now, consider it cancelled.
This saga began when Walt Disney World reopened. After nearly a year devoid of detail about the Mary Poppins attraction and Cherry Tree Lane expansion, Walt Disney World quietly removed the expansion’s scene from the EPCOT Experience when the park reopened after its four month closure.
This lead to speculation that the Mary Poppins project had been quietly cancelled. In turn, Disney released the following statement: “As with most businesses during this period, we are further evaluating long-term project plans. The decision was made to postpone development of the Mary Poppins-inspired attraction and Spaceship Earth at this time.”
While the Walt Disney World spokesperson used the term “postpone” in the statement, that typically means a project is cancelled or shelved indefinitely. Even pre-closure, there were rumors that the other expansions for EPCOT might instead be prioritized. The closure of Walt Disney World was likely the final nail in the attraction’s coffin.
This shouldn’t be a huge surprise. The original announcement was almost entirely devoid of details beyond the fact that guests will be able to step in time down Cherry Tree Lane past Admiral Boom’s house, then enter Number 17, home of the Banks family, where their adventure will begin.
What, precisely, this ‘adventure’ would be was never described. Fans made their own assumptions and rumors flew of a flat ride with projections, but Disney never offered further details. It’s never a good sign when something is announced with no information, no timeframe, and only a single piece of concept art. (There are other upcoming Walt Disney World projects that fit the same bill, and are on equally unstable ground.)
However, there has been glimmers of hope that the Mary Poppins attraction is simply delayed instead of cancelled completely. Last year, the Cherry Tree Lane expansion came up during Walt Disney Company Annual Meeting of Shareholders. During that, then-CEO Bob Chapek was asked about the status of the Mary Poppins attraction at EPCOT.
In response, Chapek said that the Mary Poppins expansion was in a “holding pattern” due to the closure of the parks and billions of dollars in losses sustained over the last two years. Chapek further stated that as the Walt Disney Company’s cash and liquidity situation improves, they look forward to hopefully refunding those projects in the future.
This isn’t necessarily anything, but it’s not nothing, either.
If these “postponed” projects were off the table entirely, Chapek probably wouldn’t have said so, but he would have given an evasive answer that didn’t answer the question at all. Instead, he gave a response that offered optimism and left the door open for the Cherry Tree Lane project resuming.
During the D23 Expo a few months after that, the Cherry Tree Lane project was not mentioned at all. Normally, this would be cause for pesmissim, and reinforce our belief that the project is cancelled. After all, a ton of projects were discussed for Walt Disney World, including those only in the early stages of development.
However, there was a lot that was not mentioned, including projects that we know are in development or being worked on thanks to construction permits. In fact, many projects at EPCOT with uncertain futures–but that probably are happening in the medium term–were not discussed at all. This includes the Spaceship Earth overhaul, Play Pavilion, and additional details about World Celebration.
Fast-forward to Spring 2023, when a creative portfolio from a former Imagineer working on the EPCOT overhaul project appeared online and revealed details and actual concept art for the delayed or cancelled Mary Poppins attraction at EPCOT.
While technically unofficial, this leaked concept art and architectural designs (above and below) were clearly commissioned by Walt Disney Imagineering, and it’s likely the above piece would’ve been officially revealed had the closure 3 years ago not happened. This same Imagineer also worked on other projects as part of the Project Gamma World Celebration overhaul that did come to fruition, including Creations Shop, Club Cool, and Connections Cafe.
In case it’s unclear, the planned Mary Poppins attraction in EPCOT would have been an indoor teacups style flat ride.
This is precisely what it was rumored to be, and we previously cautioned fans–even before the Mary Poppins attraction was delayed–not to get their expectations up for this attraction. Our understanding at the time was that there were two competing concepts, both of which were indoor flat rides that utilized projection mapping effects.
This concept art is consistent with that, but it’s impossible to say whether this is the version that was greenlit before the delay/cancellation. (We had heard that the whole attraction was up in the air even before the closure.)
This overhead architectural view shows the guest flow through the Mary Poppins attraction.
The queue would’ve started on the right side, with multiple pre-show rooms leading up to the ride itself. This would’ve worked similarly to Enchanted Tales with Belle in the Magic Kingdom, with cool effects and reveals. As for the ride, think Mad Tea Party meets Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, at least as far as the “2.5D” scenic visuals mixed with projection mapping effects are concerned.
Like Enchanted Tales with Belle, it’s arguable that the pre-shows would’ve been better than the attraction itself. To be clear, this is neither a dig at Magic Kingdom’s Beauty and the Beast attraction or the Mary Poppins Returns ride on Cherry Tree Lane. The space where this was/is slated to go is limited, and fan exceptions for an expansive dark ride were always misplaced.
World Showcase needs more attractions, this would’ve been a good fit, and fleshing out a flat ride with fun effects and world-building could’ve made the attraction punch above its weight, so to speak. Just like Enchanted Tales with Belle does for character greeting ‘genre’ of attractions. The “issue” would’ve been fans expecting a big budget and envelope-pushing attraction when that was never Imagineering’s intent. This ride not happening isn’t something that I’ll personally mourn, but I think it would’ve been a solid addition to the ride roster at EPCOT.
With all of that said, we view this particular Cherry Tree Lane project as unlikely of those to resume. Spaceship Earth is long overdue for a track replacement, so reimagining that at the same time that refurbishment occurs makes sense. Play Pavilion is already deep into development and actual construction. Same goes for World Celebration.
By contrast, work never started on Cherry Tree Lane. Still, it’s entirely possible that development of the Mary Poppins expansion will be picked up where it left off at some point in the coming years. The expansion was well-received by fans, and it’s IP that just makes sense for World Showcase, which is rare. It’s also conceivable that something different will happen in the United Kingdom pavilion now that Bob Iger is back and reportedly has big plans for park expansion at Walt Disney World. Or, nothing at all.
For those curious, we’re keeping the rest of this Cherry Tree Lane and Mary Poppins attraction info post for the sake of posterity, but we have absolutely no reason to believe this will ever come to fruition…
The announcement of a Mary Poppins attraction follows on the heels of the news that EPCOT’s Future World Will Be Replaced by 3 New Neighborhoods, and will be the next big addition to World Showcase after Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure.
This was the announcement with the most fanfare at the 2019 D23 Expo Parks & Resorts panel, with a musical number introducing the expansion and Dick Van Dyke coming on stage (as spunky and chipper as ever) to introduce Bob Chapek’s announcement.
The planned Mary Poppins attraction is believed to be a spinner. This could mean something a la Dumbo or Mad Tea Party, a carousel or even a small Ferris Wheel. There have been a lot of rumors about this attraction, but the one that sounded most plausible was an indoor teacups style attraction that featured projection mapping effects.
Any of these attractions would could explain why specifics weren’t announced. There was a lot of fanfare and excitement for this Mary Poppins expansion, and that same level of excitement probably would not have remained if Disney announced that the ride ‘anchoring’ Cherry Tree Lane is simply an off-the-shelf amusement park ride.
There’s also the possibility that the plans remain fluid, which is why more specifics were not provided. If more intellectual property is going to be injected into World Showcase, I’d like to believe it’s at least a charming and whimsical dark ride that is concealed from the rest of the pavilions and offers a rich experience.
Otherwise, I don’t really know what to say about Cherry Tree Lane. From the concept art flashed on screen at the D23 Expo (but not released online) it looks like take over the under-utilized courtyard behind the United Kingdom pavilion, and will mostly resemble the real-world London, albeit with some familiar landmarks from the films.
I used to be a hard-liner on characters in World Showcase, but more or less gave up on that once Frozen Ever After debuted and I realized that more intellectual property was an inevitability. Now, I simply hope for no fictional countries, tenuous connections, and other nonsense like that.
As far as IP integrations go, Ratatouille in France, Mary Poppins in the United Kingdom, and (if it ever happens) Coco in the Mexico pavilion are the most appropriate options.
Overall, some interesting and surprising announcements…and ‘non-announcements’ for World Showcase. It’s tough to get excited about the Mary Poppins attraction or Cherry Tree Lane…or really have much of any reaction…without more details. We shall see if Walt Disney World releases more details about the Mary Poppins expansion during EPCOT’s 40th Anniversary weekend, or if the project truly is cancelled.
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Your Thoughts
What do you think of the Mary Poppins expansion in EPCOT’s World Showcase? Excited for this, disappointed, or in ‘wait and see’ mode? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment here? 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!
WAKANDA FOREVER!!!
Okay I think I’m going to be the only one here not happy about Disney messing with Epcot. Yes I get it that Disney wants to make Epcot more kid friendly, but to me Epcot was always about walking through the neighborhoods to learn about the culture, enjoy some food of that culture and look at the beautiful architecture. It was never about going on a ride, that’s what the other 3 parks are for.
There have been years worth of posts and discussions here tracking the mourning process of the original Epcot. You are definitely not the only unhappy camper, but the folks here have moved through the denial and anger phases into a sort of rough acceptance that Disney does not care about our voices as much as they care about selling branded merchandise to younger/more recent Disney fans.
I concur. Not happy. Everything that is going on. I understand it is to bring in more money obviously, but leave some nostalgia please. After a while they will remove living on the land boat ride. What will be left? Nothing? I loved the back street and the garden in UK. Quiet, bands played there every once in while. A place where you could get away which is what Disney does not want.
Hollie, that’s a great point. My kids are a little older now, but we always used the UK hedge maze and viking playground in Norway as places to let them wander around and blow off steam. Now both will be gone.
A Mary Poppins spinner makes no sense. Guests wouldn’t walk inside 17 Cherry Tree Lane only to return outside to a carousel or other spinner. It will either be a dark ride or a walk thru (character meet and greet). That’s all that makes sense. Disney develops many attraction ideas at many scales. Perhaps they decided to resurrect a bigger Mary Poppins attraction at the last minute. It wouldn’t be surprising if Disney adds an IP attraction to nearly every World Showcase country over the next decade. So maybe we’ll still see Coco in the mid-2020’s. Something in Germany (how about Tangled) or Italy (how about Hercules). Just not before 2030. Disney will always expand the parks…more to come in 2030, 2040, 2050, 2060…
Pinocchio would be a better fit for Italy since Hercules is Greek.
Here’s my 2 cents: Mary Poppins is a great IP match for the UK pavilion. As to the attraction itself, well, we’ll have to wait and see. A carousel is a natural match, but incredibly underwhelming (though think of the possibilities of matching that with Drinking Around the World…on second thought….).
I’m not sure whether to be worried about the lack of details regarding the ride or not. Is it because they’re not quite ready to go with that level of announcement? Or is it because they feel it would underwhelm this initial announcement? We’ll have to wait and see.
As to the non-Brazil announcement and this being the biggest of the Epcot news regarding pavilions, well, in this world of woke worriers, would anyone be surprised if there were those at D23 ready to burst into protest? It is a very bad time PR wise to announce a joint venture with Brazil. Whether that’s the reason, well, maybe one day we’ll find out.
The set up with the poster did seem to allude to a new country, not a new IP ride. Maybe they withheld it. A showcase country with trees perceptually on fire would love lovely at night.
Well, count this adult as being absolutely thrilled at the prospect of MORE rides and MORE characters.
While these announcements have felt lackluster when it comes to WDW, I am excited about the Mary Poppins addition. Maybe lackluster isn’t the word, or maybe it’s because most of these announcements were leaked besides this one, well before D23. Either way, this announcement gives something new to be excited about at least.
A few years ago an article was posted on the D23 website that was an interview with an imagineer. In it he showed the ride he cane up with an submitted during his interview. It was a Mary Poppins ride that sounded amazing. Since I read that article I’ve been hoping they would actually do it. It did involve riding the carousel horses through the chalk scene and then continued on through the story in such a fantastic sounding way. It really was something you would expect a Disney imagineer to create and make! Here’s hoping it’s going to actually be that ride!
Here’s the link to the D23 video on YouTube. It’s a creative idea. You get on the carousel, but the horses break free from the carousel and take riders through a journey of the movie.
https://youtu.be/WU6X1eLoVWI
A Mary Poppins attraction is about as exciting as Disney building a HUGE land devoted to a terrible sci-fy movie
How dare you! Mary Poppins is an amazing movie and it has long been overdue for some love in the parks.
Another underwhelming announcement in a series of underwhelming announcements. Considering this is their last D23 before WDW’s 50th anniversary kicks off, I had hoped for some bigger news. That being said, I’d rather have Mary Poppins in the UK than Wakanda in an African pavilion. Brazil leaves me cold too. I simply don’t see any iconic architecture besides the Christ the Redeemer statue (a replica of which is not a likely proposition for Epcot) and tropical rainforest is too generic (you could see the same thing in Asia … or Africa … or Australia!) If they want to represent South America, Peru is a much better bet. For one, they have pre-existing IP they can infuse (let’s face it, that’s a primary consideration for the current regime) and they can simply clone either of the rides at Tokyo DisneySea’s Lost River Delta (Raging Spirits is pretty much off-the-shelf).
Due to the recent political issues in Brazil (the stripping/burning of the Amazon and the genocide of the native people that’s been pushed by the new Brazilian president) it doesn’t surprise me at all that Brazil wasn’t announced to be added to the world showcase. That’s not anything that Disney is going to want their name associated with.
Yes. While reading these comments, a headline popped up on my phone- “Brazil rejects aid to help fight fires following a pledge by world leaders at G-7 Summit.” Very hard to move forward with the pavilion while these issues play out.
I could see a ride that starts off as a carousel and then the horses come off the carousel to explore, much like the movie, could be more entertaining than a simple spinner ride or carousel. As a kid, I always wished my carousel horse could do that!
I am “wait and see” mode with Mary Poppins. If the new attraction is a dark ride with original scenes or scenes closer to the 1964 movie, then I will look forward to it. If its spinner, off the shelf ride, or cliff note version of the 2018 movie dark ride, then I will be disappointed.
I’m probably in the small minority but I was excited Three Caballeros are safe in Mexico for now.
So, what was we’re the two mystery posters? One was Mary Poppins, and what was the other?
I think it was the thingamabob 3 level building in the new middle neighborhood of Future World
I really believe the Brazil pavilion was going to be announced until coverage of the Amazon fires (and the possibility it’s Government is complicit in it) intensified last week.
My biggest disappointment is lack of mention about new Monorails.
Still holding out hope the Brazil pavilion will become Peru with a restaurant and ride themed to The Emperor’s New Groove. May my potatoes a salad.
*make
That would be awesome.
I think even if the Brazil pavilion is still in the works, right now would quite possibly be the WORST time to announce it. Honestly, I’m hoping it’s nixed.
I’m glad they are doing Mary Poppins but can’t get excited with no details. If it’s a boring spinner ride or carousel then that will be sad.
I don’t know what I want out of a Mary Poppins ride. I think something like a carousel would be cute visually as you’re walking through the area, but lame in every other way. A Peter Pan-esque ride would be cool. A dark ride where there is flying (umbrellas), floating (laughing), on rooftops (chimney sweeps) and on the ground (racing carousel horses).
*are
Ooh, a dark ride in which you ride the detached carousel horses would be amazing! A standard carnival ride in Epcot will break my spirit.
Yes! And they could use the props from the Great Movie Ride!
I don’t like rides in world Showcase or characters, there are three other parks for that. I liked the culture and performances from the countries, where you could get a glimpse of what it’s like there. I think that’s what it was meant to be. I liked that it appeared a more adult park and you could have a dinner in relative peace.
Totally agree…keep EPCOT to adults looking for culture, entertainment and good food without all the hoopla of ride attractions…spent an evening in EPCOT the week before Christmas and the decorations, lights, hot chocolate, music and super friendly visitors made my day!!!
This feel like a non-announcement. All I got out of the official Disney Parks Blog post is that there will be…nice views of the World Showcase…? This has been touted as a reimagining of the park, but feels more like a new coat of paint. I was expecting Brazil, at the very least, and was secretly hoping for a Dreamfinder-led steampunk Imagination Adventure inspired by the Figment comic books. Sigh.
I’m not sure how I feel about this whole HarmonioUS thing. (okay, that’s not really true, I know exactly how I feel about it..)
I don’t feel like World Showcase is really the place for a collection of Disney music. That’s been done for every show and parade for the past forever, and it feels like more IP being squeezed that doesn’t belong.
Plus it’s a dumb name.
(This may just be the bitterness of Illuminations ending talking.)
I am trying to remain open-minded but have to say I am underwhelmed by most if not all of the changes…