We are sad to report that EPCOT has given up on ambitious plans to redevelop the heart of the park with a modern festival building complex. As we’ve previously reported, the Future World section of the park has been divided into three zones. World Discovery houses Test Track, Mission Space (and new Space 220 restaurant), the upcoming Play Pavilion, and the opening soon Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind coaster and pavilion. World Nature is home to the Imagination, Land, and Sea pavilions.
And World Celebration is the entry plaza, Spaceship Earth, and a new CommuniCore plaza and stage. A large Fountain of Nations was ripped out at the start of this project to make way for plans revealed at the last D23 Expo.
The choreographed water show is no more. But this space will not become a large festival building as promised, but will rather sadly become a lawn with a garden.
What had been planned for this space was an ambitious festival building that would provide shade in this part of the park, house festival demonstration, and flex space, and have gardens and a stage on its rooftop.
Instead, today Disney revealed plans for a simple garden with a vast network of trees and smaller gardens in the plaza between the two halves of CommuniCore Plaza.
And, because one-quarter of CommuniCore has been ripped out, they are creating a new space and stage to the side of the plaza where guests can enjoy music and festival-related entertainment.
The area will be called CommuniCore Hall and CommuniCore Plaza.
One project in this area that still is on track is the Moana-themed Journey of Water water playground.
It appears that the transformation of Spaceship Earth with a new storytelling narrative has been abandoned as Disney has dropped all mention of the project.
Nearby, next to Spaceship Earth, a Walt Disney statue will sit gazing upon this new mostly empty World Celebration plaza. We sure would like to know what he’d have to say about this.
Let Us Know What You Think!
We finally have a better grasp of what’s to come to EPCOT’s defunct central Future World area, but is it everything it can and should be? What would you like to see in the heart of World Celebration?
Perhaps Disney will redeem themselves with additional information released at the upcoming D23 Expo in September 2022.
