There are often a few trade-offs for visiting Walt Disney World in a tourist “off-season.” While you might be dealing with smaller crowds and fortunate to find less-expensive hotel rates than in peak season, the off-season often results in ride refurbishments and closures that take place during your visit. When you couple that with events including the complete “transformation” of Epcot and construction of TRON: Lightcycle Power Run at Magic Kingdom, there were a lot of things behind scaffolding and construction walls during our most recent trip.
While we’re not “in” the Disney parks as much as a lot of other folks who cover theme parks on the internet — and a shout-out to them, because their coverage is fantastic — we did want to share some of what we saw during our visit!
EPCOT
The Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow is currently undergoing a multi-year, park-wide transformation, which is scheduled to be complete by Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary Celebration in 2021.
Future World/Innoventions/MouseGear
A large portion of Innoventions East has been removed. Based on concept renderings, the area that formerly housed Club Cool and Fountain View (Starbucks) will be home to Epcot’s new multi-level festival pavilion.
Epcot’s flagship merchandise location, MouseGear, is currently boarded up and undergoing a renovation of its own.
Epcot’s original Fountain of Nations has been removed.
Lots of construction walls were up around Epcot’s Main entrance as well, as this area will be re-imagined.
Construction taking place adjacent to the Epcot monorail station.
Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
Construction was well underway for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, which will open later this year.
Future World West
During our visit, there was exactly one pavilion open in Future World West, as Test Track was down for refurbishment.
Much of the former Wonders of Life pavilion was behind construction walls. It is currently being transformed into the Play Pavilion.
The former Universe of Energy attraction is receiving new life as Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. Lots of work was being done on the facade.
From the monorail, you can see a little more detail of the scope of the construction, though much of the building has been sealed off since I last visited in February 2019.
Animal Kingdom
There wasn’t much going on construction-wise during our brief time at Animal Kingdom. There appeared to be some parking/transportation improvements taking place near the main entrance.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Ditto for Disney’s Hollywood Studios. There was a little bit of construction that was visible, but with Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge recently finished, and Toy Story Land mostly done, there’s not a need for a lot of construction right now.
During our visit, the marquee for Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway was installed.
Construction walls were up for the new Roundup Rodeo BBQ Restaurant in Toy Story Land.
Muppet Vision 3-D was closed for refurbishment during our visit, and the Ms. Piggy Statue of Liberty fountain was down as well, behind some hedges.
The Magic Kingdom
There were improvements going on around the Magic Kingdom, and City Hall was behind scaffolding.
Outside the park, work was being done around the main entrance of the Magic Kingdom. Much of this ground was the location of the former “Leave a Legacy” bricks.
TRON: Lightcycle Power Run
The ride building was nearly enclosed, and lots progress is being made on TRON: Lightcycle Power Run, which is scheduled to open in 2021.
Late night coaster construction content! TRON! pic.twitter.com/57BbnlmjC2
— Coaster101.com (@Coaster101) February 4, 2020
Tomorrowland Improvements
The aesthetic of Tomorrowland is changing, and the futurism theming is receiving a face lift. These columns were behind scaffolding at Stitch’s Great Escape.
When finished, they’ll look more like these columns at Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor.
There’s so much going on at Walt Disney World. Are you excited for all of the new developments? Let us know in the comments below!
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