The BIG Thing Missing From EPCOT's World Celebration Announcements

If you’ve been following along with the EPCOT news recently, then you know it has been a WHIRLWIND.

We’ve got a bunch of new details on the attractions and offerings coming soon to the park! Disney has shared updates on Journey of Water — Inspired by Moana, the new festival center, and the overall look of World Celebration. However, in the midst of all those announcements, there was something BIG missing!

Disney seemed to be focusing pretty heavily on World Celebration in the latest wave of updates, and yet they failed to mention the biggest thing IN World Celebration — Spaceship Earth.

A few years ago, Disney announced that as part of the EPCOT transformation, Spaceship Earth would be getting a “reimagining.” The ride was meant to get some updated scenes and refurbishments to focus more on a theme of storytelling throughout history.

Concept Art for Reimagined Spaceship Earth ©Disney

The iconic attraction was set to close in May of 2020, but when the pandemic hit, the plans were thrown off a bit. The park reopened in July with Spaceship Earth still available, and since then, Disney hasn’t shared much about the proposed project.

So, when Disney started making big announcements about World Celebration, we were hoping to get an update on the Spaceship Earth reimagining. Unfortunately, there was no mention of the ride throughout the presentation, and unlike the other projects in the area, no new concept art was shared. So again, we’re left in limbo, wondering what could become of this plan.

©Disney | Spaceship Earth is IN the concept art, but not the focus of it.

While Disney hasn’t outright canceled the project publicly, we’re becoming increasingly doubtful that it will happen soon. They seem to be more focused on getting the middle of the park completed (which we’re very thankful for — goodbye, construction walls!) and working on Journey of Water — Inspired by Moana. It would also be highly unusual for the EPCOT’s main icon to be closed for a refurbishment during the park’s 40th Anniversary (which is on October 1st), and as that date draws closer, it’s growing more unlikely that they would be able to complete the project by then.

Maybe we’ll get news for EPCOT’s 40th Anniversary.

So, basically, we wait to find out what Disney is doing with this popular ride. If they make any announcements in the future, we’ll make sure to let you know!