Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure Opening Date & Info!

Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure is a family-friendly trackless dark ride opening in 2021 at Walt Disney World. The EPCOT attraction will debut as a Streets of Paris expansion to France’s World Showcase pavilion. This covers everything you need to know: when it’s likely to open, photos, concept art, and answers to common questions. (Updated March 9, 2021.)

As background, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure is the clone of Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy at Walt Disney Studios Park at Disneyland Paris. Some differences between the two are possible; it’s common for Imagineering to tweak clones upon learning what works or doesn’t. The Disneyland Paris version includes the table service restaurant Bistrot Chez Remy, which will not be coming to Epcot.

Walt Disney World announced this version of Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure a few years ago at the D23 Expo, following construction permits and rumors leaking. The attraction and Streets of Paris section is being built as an expansion to the France pavilion, using space behind the existing theater plus the vacant plot next to the Morocco pavilion. Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure is a “pure” addition–nothing is being replaced by this expansion…

In terms of Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure’s substance, speculation is not required given that Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy debuted ~7 years ago. The concept is guests shrinking to the size of a rat, scurrying through a restaurant in a trackless dark ride. It’s a frenetic, high energy experience with some oversized kitchen items as physical props, plus 3D film on a series of giant screens.

When announced, the ride system was first of its kind for Walt Disney World. Since then, both Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway have debuted with similar trackless dark ride components. In terms of a comparison, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure is more similar to Runaway Railway–except with more dimensional props, but also more ‘flat’ screens.

Above is a look at the Streets of Paris concept art released for the expansion. While elements of this (such as the Remy character fountain) are similar to the area added to the Walt Disney Studios Park, the layout is different as are the specific dining and shopping options. Only the attraction itself is a clone.

We’ve experienced the attraction many times over the last 5 years at Disneyland Paris, and you can read our comprehensive thoughts in our Spoiler-Free Review of Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy. If you’re really excited about Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure coming to Epcot, perhaps refrain from reading that and simply form your own opinion once experiencing the ride for yourself.

Aside from Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, the big addition to the Streets of Paris expansion will be La Crêperie de Paris. This new crêperie will feature the cuisine of celebrity chef Jérôme Bocuse, the son of Paul Bocuse and operator of the pavilion’s Chefs de France and Monsieur Paul restaurants.

La Crêperie de Paris will feature a menu inspired by the Brittany region of France, and will offer both table service and a quick-service window. The restaurant will serve both sweet crepes and savory galettes. If this crêperie is on par with the other dining options in the France pavilion, it’ll be a winner!

Originally, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure was slated to open last summer. This was officially announced by Walt Disney World, and banners were added to the construction site. Due to the multi-month closure, that plan was scrapped.

Since reopening, Walt Disney World has opened a portion of the Streets of Paris area–basically just the restrooms–and added a new “Opening 2021” banner to the iconic Art Nouveau Métro marquee.

March 9, 2021 UPDATE: The big news today is that during today’s Walt Disney Company 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, CEO Bob Chapek made a number of forward-looking statements about Walt Disney World’s future, including ramping up operations and debuting new attractions. While most of this was vague, we did get one rat-sized morsel: an opening date for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure.

Walt Disney World will officially open Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure on October 1, 2021. While this is over a year after its planned debut date, it makes sense to debut it on the start of Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary. This is good “counter-programming” that should help draw some crowds away from Magic Kingdom.

Note that this does not mean that Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure won’t have a soft opening before October 1, 2021. The attraction is totally finished, and has been since late last year. While Walt Disney World still needs to test & adjust and train Cast Members on the ride, that could be accomplished in the span of about 6-8 weeks.

As we’ve stated repeatedly, the timeline for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure has not been dictated by construction progress, but by when it’s most logical to debut the blockbuster new attraction. It’s more about waiting until operational normalcy has returned and attendance caps are lifted.

It’s possible that Walt Disney World could silently ‘soft open’ Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure in Summer 2021 and operate it for months while pushing off the gala media event and grand opening until October 1, 2021. That’s a definite possibility, especially if vaccine rollout goes well and Walt Disney World is able to relax physical distancing and totally drop attendance caps.

As we shared in our recent 2021 Taste of EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival Dates & Details post, one of the reasons we believe that event is running a month longer than normal (until July 5, 2021) is because we suspected at the time that Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure is not expected to open until after that event ends. Walt Disney World likely wants to buoy attendance at a time of year that’s normally slow for EPCOT.

The problem with debuting Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure in the next few months is that this is the type of marketable addition that generates buzz and prompts guests to book and plan trips. While there are some tourists visiting Walt Disney World right now, it’s mostly locals. This attraction won’t change that until real-world circumstances improve, people start traveling more, and attendance caps are removed.

Releasing an opening date that’s in the more distant future gives guests something to plan around so they don’t keep postponing trips. If circumstances change for the better before October 1, 2021, the unpublished debut date could be moved forward. That’s doubly true if the parks can operate at 100% capacity again and EPCOT needs something after Flower & Garden Festival ends to lure more visitors.

Ultimately, we’re looking forward to Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and the Streets of Paris expansion at Epcot. The attraction is not the pinnacle of Imagineering–and it would’ve been more impressive before Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and Runaway Railaway when the technology was more of a novelty to Walt Disney World fans. Nevertheless, it’s a reasonably solid family-friendly ride that’ll improve the attraction lineup in Epcot.

Adding another ride to World Showcase is the biggest upside to Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, in our view. If intellectual property and characters are going to be added to World Showcase (and they are), there’s literally no better choice than this movie. Ratatouille is a great as the movie itself is a love letter to Paris and should fit the pavilion well–much better than Frozen in Norway. That coupled with the Streets of Paris being a pure expansion without losing anything makes it a winner. If Imagineering iterates on the ride itself to improve some of our quibbles with it, even better!

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YOUR THOUGHTS

Are you excited for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure? If you’ve experienced the version in the Walt Disney Studios Park, what did you think of it? If you’re an EPCOT Center purist, are you apprehensive that this will fit the France pavilion, or do you think it’s inappropriate IP for World Showcase? When do you predict that Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure will open? Do you agree or disagree with any of our thoughts? 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!