Over the long history of Disney Imagineering, there have been countless projects that have been planned, designed, and sometimes even announced, only to never be built.
While some of these projects from decades ago — like the Western River Expedition or LucasPort — have become legendary amongst Disney fans, others are still hanging over Disney World TO THIS DAY.
Play Pavilion
In 2019, Disney announced plans to turn EPCOT’s long-shuttered Wonders of Life into the new Play! Pavilion, which would be themed to be an “interactive futuristic city where guests would be able to interact with a variety of Disney characters.” At the time, planned attractions for Play! were announced to include an Animation Academy-like experience where Edna Mode teaches guests to draw, the Hotel Heist interactive game hosted by Zootopia’s Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde, an arcade, a Monorail Mark X, and a water balloon fight video game experience with various Disney characters.
As with many projects during this period, work on the Play! Pavilion was paused. However, unlike much of the rest of EPCOT’s “reimagining”, work never resumed. In 2023, Disney confirmed that the space was being “reevaluated” and the former Wonders of Life has remained vacant since, a massive “black hole” ironically standing between two space-based attractions: Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and Mission: SPACE.
Mary Poppins Ride
Speaking of, 2019 at that year’s D23 Expo Disney had Dick Van Dyke himself announce that a Mary Poppins-attraction (later revealed to be an indoor teacup style attraction) was going to be added to the U.K. Pavilion as part of EPCOT’s reiminagining. However, following the pandemic, the ride was cut. According to a Disney spokesperson. “As with most businesses during this period, we are further evaluating long-term project plans. The decision was made to postpone development of the Mary Poppins-inspired attraction…”
Spaceship Earth Refurbishment
Also in 2019 (notice a recurring theme here?), it was announced that Spaceship Earth would also be reimagined as part of the aforementioned larger refurbishment of EPCOT. According to Disney at the time, the attraction would be “updated with a new narrative about the human experience and the art of storytelling.”
Concept art seemed to show preexisting show scenes plussed-up with new effects. However, the entire EPCOT project was put on hold with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and when work resumed in the early 2020s, Spaceship Earth was NOT included, and the project was scrapped.
World Showcase Pavilions
Over the years, a slew of countries have been planned or announced as being added to World Showcase. These include Costa Rica, Equatorial Africa, Soviet Union, Spain, Switzerland (which would have featured an east coast Matterhorn), United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. However, for various reasons — including political and financial — none have seen the light of day. The most recent country to have been added to World Showcase was Norway in 1988.
Muppet Studios
So, this final one is a bit of a cheat, but hear us out. In the late 1980s/early 1990s, Disney and Jim Henson began planning a full Muppet Land to be built at the then Disney-MGM Studios. Plans included the eventually-built Muppet*Vision 3D, a Muppet stage show, character meet-and-greets, two Muppet restaurants, and a Great Muppet Movie Ride, which would essentially function as an in-park parody of MGM Studios’ headline attraction The Great Movie Ride featuring Muppet pastiches of famous films.
The plans mostly fizzled after Henson’s death. However, the abandoned concept has resurfaced in the consciousness of Disney fans in recent months, as many have speculated about how much — if any — of the Muppet Studios concept could be resurrected around the soon-to-be-Muppetified Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster.
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We still think about these abandoned Disney attraction concepts. Stay tuned to AllEars for more.
Um, Disney? Are We Ever Gonna Talk About This CANCELED Attraction?
Which of those attraction concepts would you like to see eventually completed? Let us know in the comments below.
Puerto Rico isn’t a country…. Otherwise great article!
It seems to me that Disney announcements are 90% fantasy and 10% reality. Nothing like building expectations and then dashing them over and over again. And then coming up with ideas that people vocally oppose and those are the ones they carry through with. I would like to see some more countries added to World Showcase. Since so many folks from Brazil comes to WDW, if a park isn’t even going to be developed in South America, then I think a Brazil pavillion would be a good idea.