Let’s go back in time, just like you do on EPCOT’s iconic Spaceship Earth attraction, to 2019. Disney announced a long rumored refurbishment would be coming to Spaceship Earth. They also claimed that it was meant to update and enhance but not be a lot of changes. However, art that appeared later seemed to contradict that.
Since the theming of current Spaceship Earth was the history of communication, shifting that to the “our shared story” and “storytelling” theme implied heavy changes.
Seemed like it was going to be changed a lot more than they originally said.
Then COVID-19 hit and they closed Walt Disney World in March 2020, a couple months ahead of the scheduled May, 26 2020 closure for the updates. At this point many suspected that Spaceship Earth would just remain closed when the parks reopened.
However, when the park reopened in summer 2020, so did Spaceship Earth. Not long after it was reported that those updates were postponed.
I saw the concept art for the proposed changes on WDWNT, but they indicated that they got them from WDW Magic originally. (Want to make sure and credit where it’s due.)
But the changes do seem to have been much more significant than Disney led people to believe.
It’s up for debate how long the refurbishment has been paused for. Some believe it’s coming soon, others believe it is still on a long pause.
One WDWMagic forum member Sonny Eclipse posted:
They are speculating that it is indeed still moving ahead, but nothing has been confirmed.
WDW Magic forum member IMDREW added concept art to the discussion:
Now all of this stuff seems to be dated 2019 so this was what they were thinking. It does not mean that it is still what they are thinking.
Most of it seems to be for the end and the descent. I think most of us can agree they need a better ending. The choose-your-own-future one is awful!
It looks like something similar to the aurora borealis was planned on the descent.
It is interesting to see what they were planning.
Spaceship Earth is a difficult ride to work with. Because it is mostly as it was when EPCOT opened it is beloved and iconic. So much has changed, but it has mostly stayed consistent. It does need updated, but I hope they keep it true to itself when they finally do.
For now the refurbishment is still paused indefinitely.
What do you think? Comment and let us know!
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