Gran Fiesta Tour Reopened After Months-Long Refurbishment in the EPCOT Mexico Pavilion, and It CHANGED!

One of our favorite chill attractions in EPCOT has finally reopened after its months-long refurbishment!

Over in the Mexico Pavilion, you’ll find the Gran Fiesta Tour, which features the beloved three Caballeros (a.k.a. Panchito, José, and Donald Duck). Back in January, it closed for an extended refurbishment, and Disney didn’t share what it planned to change (if anything) within the ride. Now that the ride is officially back open, we have to admit that a LOT more work was accomplished than we expected!

While the story and scenes are the same following the Gran Fiesta Tour refurbishment, we did notice a lot of important changes throughout the ride. One of the most significant things we noticed is that all those projections that tell the story as we search for Donald have been replaced with digital screens.

We also noticed that things sounded much better, and after speaking to a Cast Member, we discovered that that’s because, for the first time since 1982, they put in an entirely new sound system! This includes brand-new speakers and an all-new sound design, bringing in the original audio tracks from when the ride was first created and then updated in 2007.

The Cast Member we spoke to also told us that some of the sound effects in the ride had been lost over time due to the age of the old sound system. Now that it’s been refurbished, you can hear the fireworks in the finale again, as well as some lovely chirping birds in the queue area. It really adds an extra dimension to the ride!

Plus, after a lengthy refurbishment, the Marionetta animatronic has also returned to the ride! The Cast Member we spoke to told us that she actually returned to the ride in December, before this larger refurbishment, but hey, you still may not have seen her for a while if you last rode before December!

These animatronics need some TLC every now and then too

We also noticed new lighting, and since those new screens are digital, the ride has never looked more vibrant, in our opinion! However, we can’t help but wonder if this larger refurbishment (especially with an all-new sound system) is actually due to the fact that Disney plans to retheme this ride sometime in the near future, and these updates would also benefit that. There’s no confirmation on this, but it did get the wheels in our heads turning!

If you’re looking for a travel agent to help with your vacation, we recommend our friends at Mouse Fan Travel. They’re experts in the field with over 20 years of vacation planning experience, and they can help take a bunch of the stress out of the entire booking process for you!