EPCOT Attraction Permanently Shutting Down
An EPCOT attraction that showed off the planned future of the park will be shutting down this week. Disney has announced that The EPCOT Experience will permanently close on March 14th. The attraction originally opened in 2019 and was intended to show park visitors about the major renovations taking place at the park. With many of those renovations either underway or complete, The EPCOT Experience will be shut down to make way for what Disney describes as "new activations" at the Odyssey Pavilion.
In an Instagram post announcing the closure, Disney Imagineer Zach Riddley noted that over 2 million visitors had seen The EPCOT Experience since it originally opened. "Since its 2019 debut, Walt Disney Imagineering presents the EPCOT Experience has welcomed more than two million guests, as travelers from around the world enjoyed an immersive look at the past, present and future of this beloved park," Riddley wrote. "This attraction gave our team a chance to share a first-person view of the vision coming to life during this ongoing "state of becoming." It's a rare moment to see these milestones unfold, and we've been inspired and deeply grateful to have this opportunity to pull back the curtain on our thinking."
Riddley noted that many of the projects previewed in The EPCOT Experience had either opened or was close to opening. Some of those projects include Remy's Ratatouille Adventure, the Harmonious nighttime experience and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, which is scheduled to open this summer. A planned attraction themed around Moana is also currently under construction.
Disney has not announced what will replace The EPCOT Experience, although the Odyssey Pavilion that houses it has traditionally been home to seasonal events and a restaurant.
In other EPCOT news, a shelved Mary Poppins ride that was originally shown off at The EPCOT Experience could still eventually make its way to the park. Disney CEO Bob Chapek recently stated that the ride was "on hold" due to a lack of available cash flow, but it wasn't shut down entirely. The Mary Poppins ride was to open in the UK Pavilion at World Showcase.