Sure, the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival has been giving guest floral and topiary displays for over 20 years now, but what if it was something you could experience daily at the park?
As part of the ongoing expansion project for Epcot, an idea being kicked around is the “Gardens of Wonder”, which would be a series of displays at each pavilion that would capture the essence of that pavilion (Future World and World Showcase alike) and feature a Disney character or characters connected to the theme. These floral and topiary displays would welcome guests to each experience.
For example, Wall-E and Eve in topiary form would welcome guests to Mission: Space, while Anna and Elsa would do so in Norway. The idea is that every pavilion in World Showcase and Future World would receive one of these small gardens. It does make some sense based on the amount of green we see in concept art for the further development of Future World, so natural displays like these will be a big part of the park going forward. However, it would be intriguing to see how these would be maintained all year long, as opposed to just during a 3-month festival.
Concept art of the new look for Future World at Epcot
This idea has not been approved as of yet, and some recent shakeups in the new creative direction of Epcot may lead to this idea getting scrapped, but only time will tell.
Since it was announced at the D23 Expo 2017, very little has been said about the Guardians of the Galaxy attraction coming to Epcot, other than that it will be a roller coaster ride. Well, thanks to some internal documents, we now have a better idea of what this attraction will be like…
Guests will enter where they once did, but this doorway will now take them into the Welcome Gallery. This area consists of ramps leading upwards towards the next part of the queue. The building appears to be on multiple levels, with guests climbing upwards as the queue progresses to reach the elevated load platform for the roller coaster.
The second queue room is the Xandar Gallery, likely to feature relics from the Xandarian culture (prominently featured in the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie). This then leads the the merge point and the first pre-show, labeled in documents as “singularity”. You may recall that the Infinity Stones are referred to as singularities by The Collector in the first Guardians film. They are also a source of energy (wink, nudge). Regardless, we’re just speculating that the Infinity Stones will be the connection here, but something completely different could be happening in this room.
The “transformation room” in the Guardians of the Galaxy ride at Epcot
The secondary pre-show, the transformation room, is what you see above. There will be two of these for added capacity. Inside, some sort of transformation will take place for guests involving the red cannon-like device above Rocket Raccoon and Groot. The characters and the Milano ship will be projections. The attraction does not appear to have any audio-animatronic characters.
After this, guests then head down a hallway and upstairs to the load area. The attractions features a dual-load and unload, meaning two trains at a time. Coaster trains for the ride feature 5 cars that hold four guests each with a two-by-two seating configuration. In case you don’t want to do math, that means a train can hold 20 guests.
A rough idea of the layout for the Guardians fo the Galaxy attraction at Epcot
After loading and being dispatched, the trains take a quick trip around the load area and head into the launch tunnel, where they are then shot into the added building behind the old Universe of Energy. This building is 133 feet tall, so 12.2 stories in height. To our surprise, the coaster itself has no inversions and appears to be fairly family friendly. Think of it as a modern take on Space Mountain. The track layout consists of many tight turns and long straightaways that will likely be accented with projection effects. It’s hard to tell in the documents if there will be any physical show scenes, but there really doesn’t appear to be, other than some abstract lighted walls that the trains pass through at a few points in the ride. After the lengthy coaster ride, the trains travel back to the old building and unload station, allowing guests to go downstairs and exit through a store and out the right side of the facade.
Details of the storyline and what exactly is going on in this attraction are scarce, but the layout and ride specifications shared above are confirmed to be accurate.
Disney has still not set an opening date for the Guardians of the Galaxy roller coaster at Epcot.
Imagine walking into Epcot from the parking lot and walking under or through a giant hotel before you reach Spaceship Earth. If plans are approved, this may very well be the scene at the entrance area of Walt Disney World’s 35-year-old vision of the future.
If approved, the resort will stand at one of two proposed sites (seen above), either between The Land and The Seas pavilions in Future World, or directly over the entrance to Epcot, most likely connecting to the preexisting monorail station in some way. If the design located in front of Spaceship Earth is approved, it shouldn’t block the view of Spaceship Earth completely, but rather be used to frame the famous structure between towers or something of the sort.
It is no secret that the Walt Disney Company sees a lot of promise in the idea of resorts connected to or inside of the theme parks. This isn’t a new concept as Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel and Hotel Miracosta are already in existence (both opened way back in 2001), as well as the Disneyland Hotel at Disneyland Paris, which is sprawled out in front of the park’s entrance, requiring guests walk under it to enter the park. Disney has also already announced a Star Wars hotel that would in theory be connected to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, home of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
Guests pass under the Disneyland Hotel in Paris to enter Disneyland Park.
The hotel is still in the very early stages of development, which means it could end up in front of Spaceship Earth or off to the side, or maybe not even happen at all. Either way, should it happen, it will offer quick and easy entrance into Epcot from the front of the park and offer unparalleled views of Future World.
A new piece of entertainment is coming to Future World in Epcot next month, currently titled “SpectacuLAB”.
In August, the Disney Auditions website was seeking comedic actors for a new show, to portray wide-eyed and naïve “scientific interns”. This is undoubtedly related to this new show at Epcot.
SpectacuLAB is set to debut November 11th, 2017 in Future World, somewhere around Innoventions (perhaps the Fountain Stage), but no further details are available at this time.
Entertainment is Future World has been sparse over the last 10-15 years, since the acts that used to perform exclusively on this side of the park were done away with some time ago.
The SpectacuLAB will be an engaging new interactive show debuting November 11th. In it, guests will be invited to join a group of real scientists – and their tech-savvy intern – for a series of thrilling experiments that put scientific principles like ultrasonic pressure, barometric pressure, acceleration and force to the test. Through this funny and fascinating show, guests of all ages will have the opportunity to participate in the demonstrations and discover how each scientific principle has inspired amazing technologies we enjoy today.
To bring The SpectacuLAB to life, Walt Disney World will collaborate with sponsor Murata, a global leader in the design, manufacture and supply of advanced electronic components, and Science from Scientists, a nonprofit organization that aims to improve STEM literacy at schools.
Being the first Sunday of the park’s Food and Wine Festival, I had to park really far away from the entrance of Epcot this afternoon. On the bright side, it did afford the opportunity to see that work had begun on the future site of the Guardians of the Galaxy attraction.
Construction vehicles are present and a noticeable amount of shrubbery has been cleared in places. You’ll also notice a plethora of colored markers in the ground.
In case you are unfamiliar with the area pictured above, it is a large section of unused land north of the Universe of Energy, practically in the Epcot parking lot. If rumors are true, the queue and load area for the ride will take place in the Universe of Energy building, with the roller coaster ride system launching guests into a massive show building in this expansion plot.
Guardians of the Galaxy at Epcot will open before Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary in 2021.
Our latest photo report brings us to Epcot as we countdown to the extinction of the Universe of Energy, the start of the Food and Wine Festival, and the relaunch of Mission: Space…
If you open the front door to the space, you are greeted by a screen telling you that it is closed and will not reopen.
We have a video and photo tour in case you never were able to experience the Siemens VIP Center:
VIPs of course could get “back-doored” onto Spaceship Earth.
The Siemens and Disney contract is set to expire September 30th, 2017, so expect the references to the company to vanish and Project Tomorrow to close by then.
Feel The Flow, Here We Go…
With the Universe of Energy closing forever on August 13th to make way for the Guardians of the Galaxy roller coaster ride, Disney has stationed a PhotoPass photographer outside of the building.
As we near the closing, guests are certainly showing up in larger numbers to say goodbye…
The bridge from Odyssey to Mexico has seen better days…
The repainting of the exterior of the Mexico pavilion continues, but apparently Disney isn’t happy with what they did. Above, you see blue paint starting to ascend the structure last week.
This week, the blue paint moving upwards on the structure vanished.
Work continues on Choza Tequila, now set to open during the Food and Wine Festival.
Some lovely new booths for the festival have popped up, like this one in Africa.
This new Italy booth is rather nice as well. Don’t forget that the Festival kicks off August 31st. And no, that’s not a typo… and I’m upset that it’s not (I don’t want to stand outside and eat hot food in August).
Club 33 preparations have moved into the lobby of the American Adventure.
The Chat Lounge will not return to the Food and Wine Festival this year as a result (also, it appears Chase is no longer a sponsor anyway).
The Torii Gate in Japan was repainted recently and is looking great!
The remodeling of the Mitsukoshi Department Store in Japan continues…
The pearl jewelry area in the store was moved to a new location that is quite nice.
A new jewelry area has opened further into the store.
They were sold out of Yunker, probably because we ate it on the last WDW News Tonight.
Over in MouseGear, there is some new apparel to be found.
The Electric Umbrella has begun to offer mobile ordering.
Push and Pull
In what is becoming a more regular occurrence, we witnessed monorail teal getting towed through Epcot a few days ago…
Starting August 13th, Epcot will relaunch the Mission: SPACE attraction with a brand new experience and an enhanced version of the “classic” ride.
The revamped Orange Mission, or Mission Space – Mars, has been enhanced with new HD video produced by the folks over at ILM.
The family-friendly Green Mission, now known as Mission Space – Earth, takes you on an exciting orbit around Earth. On this new adventure, you’ll take in sites like the Hawaiian Islands, Italy’s “boot” and the Northern Lights—as seen from space, of course—before finally landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
In addition to all the “mission” updates, Walt Disney Imagineering has also made this attraction more family-friendly. As we reported a few weeks ago, Disney today officially announced that the height restriction will be changed for the Green Mission side with the addition of new “X-2 booster seats”, allowing children 40-44” to ride.
Mission Space relaunches August 13th, 2017, which is also the last day of operation for the nearby Universe of Energy.
Mission: SPACE at Epcot has had a tumultuous history. It opened to great fanfare in 2003 as the most realistic space simulation on the planet, a new-age thrill ride the likes of which the world had never seen before, but after being too intense for many (to put it politely), they were forced to introduce two different “teams”, or versions of the ride in 2006. While Orange Team Mission kept the original version intact, Green Team Mission used the same film with a much gentler ride profile that was minus any g-forces. It’s like watching Mission: Space from a rocking chair in my opinion.
Announced over the weekend at the D23 Expo, in just a few weeks, guests will be able to enjoy new adventures at Mission: SPACE – an updated Orange Mission and a brand-new Green Mission.
The updated Orange Mission will make an even more visually stunning trip to Mars thanks to a new film animated by the folks over at ILM, while the all-new Green adventure will allow guests to blast off for a completely different orbital adventure around planet Earth. A new film with the gentler motion of Green in mind seems like a good idea, as the gentler version of the original just never really seemed to click with guests.
From what we are hearing, not only will Green boast a completely new mission, but booster seats should be made available so that Disney can lower the height requirement for this version of the ride. Disney has continually said they are trying to make Epcot more family friendly in this overhaul, and this Mission: Space update certainly screams that.
Among other changes expected are a reworked queue and a completely new pre-show (at least for Green Mission). It is unclear if Gary Sinese has returned for the new pre-show, but both rides should have their own unique versions.
Disney is stating Mission: Space will re-open this August at Epcot, although internet sources are still claiming it will be this October. I guess we’ll have to wait and see which of those is correct…
Taste Track at Epcot, just steps away from Test Track in case the name didn’t give it away, has had a tumultuous history. Since it was constructed in 1998, it has more often than not been closed. In recent years, Disney has rotated through a few different menus at the location, including a short lived lineup of grilled cheese sandwiches. Well, the location is now open daily once again, but is now serving some crazy ice cream sundaes in addition to more traditional fare.
If you know us here at WDWNT by now, then you know that we had to try all 3 of these new sundaes out. Let’s see if they live up to their menu pictures…
Berry Explosion Sundae ($6.50)
Vanilla Ice Cream layered with Berries and Pound Cake, topped with Whipped Cream, Strawberry Pearls, and Cotton Candy
If you like strawberries and pound cake, do yourself a favor and get one of these. It is filled with generous chunks of strawberries and a nice piece of pound cake towards the bottom, which goes perfectly with everything in here. The cotton candy on top is probably unnecessary, but I’ll be damned if this isn’t just about the most photogenic dessert at Walt Disney World because of it.
Chocolaty Churro Sundae ($6.50)
Chocolaty Churro Sundae ($6.50) at Taste Track, Epcot
Vanilla Ice Cream and Hot Fudge, topped with Whipped Cream, Chocolate Curls, and a Churro
I had such high expectations for this and it did not live up to them (and it wasn’t nearly as photogenic as the sundae above, nor the one pictured on the menu board). Don’t get me wrong, if you want ice cream on top of a churro, this is great, but it just isn’t very exciting. It’s just vanilla ice cream with hot fudge and whipped cream. I would at least throw some caramel sauce in here to make it a little more interesting, but again, it’s not a bad option for a couple of dollars more, if not just to get some ice cream with a churro during these hot summer months.
Apple Pie Sundae ($6.50)
Vanilla Ice Cream and Caramel Sauce, topped with Whipped Cream, Caramel Popcorn, Salted Caramel Pearls, and Warm Apple Pie
Basically a caramel sundae with a McDonald’s Apple Pie broken in half and shoved in it, this is enjoyable, but nothing to write home about. The flavor is mostly just vanilla, similar to the Churro Sundae above. This isn’t a bad option if you want a caramel sundae with apple pie in it, but based on the menu photos, I think we just expected much more out of these and the Berry Explosion was sadly the only one that delivered. Save your ice cream money for Beaches and Cream or Ample Hills.
