By Yasmene Warren
The wait is finally over. The days of perusing the side of Walt Disney World’s EPCOT covered by construction walls are no more as the walls have finally come down. World Celebration Gardens at EPCOT is open for business, and we couldn’t be more excited. Let’s check out all of what Disney has been brewing up for its patrons over the last few years!
What’s New: World Celebration Gardens
With Future World becoming a thing of the past, EPCOT has made room for World Celebration to take its place. This area of the park is just one part of Disney’s multi-year renovation of the front of EPCOT, and it sits on the south side of Spaceship Earth.
Image by Walt Disney World (World Celebration Concept Art)
World Celebration and Gardens on the My Disney Experience App
Disney unveiled this new addition to the park today, Dec. 5, which happens to be the late founder, Walt Disney’s, birthday, with the gardens’ main focal point being a shiny new statue of the legend himself titled “Walt the Dreamer.”
This statue portrays Disney thinking about the Florida Project, which later came to be the beloved Walt Disney World, as well as the idea that turned into EPCOT. Disney’s statue depicts him seated on a bench, holding his hands, and gleefully looking toward World Showcase with a smile.
The World Celebration Gardens also offer plenty of new seating (with tables and without), metal canopies to provide some shade on a hot day, and a large topiary centerpiece.
The Development of Epcot Over The Years
Construction of World Celebration Gardens has been underway since 2019, and its construction walls made for a troublesome maze for guests and Disney fanatics to navigate over the last four years.
From an outsider’s perspective, those walls remain unchanged, but throughout those four years, a whole world of excitement has been in the works in World Celebration and beyond. From the opening of Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind during the summer of 2022 in World Discovery, to the renovation of Club Cool, MouseGear (reopened as the Creations Shop in late 2021), and more!
In the World Showcase, France also added Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Le Crêperie de Paris back in October 2021.
On Oct. 16, Moana-inspired Journey of Water opened, and more recently, Luminous and the Dreamers Point Walt Disney statue debuted to honor the company’s 100th anniversary. All that’s left is the completion of World Celebration, and it has loads of excitement in store.
What's Next for World Celebration?
CommuniCore Hall, a new exhibition space, will be an indoor area dedicated to character meet and greets, festival booths, and demonstration stations. Then, right next door will be CommuniCore Plaza, a festival hub with an outdoor stage for guests to watch live musical acts and performances.
Overall
We’ve all been anxiously awaiting the day Disney unveils a whole new world of excitement for fans worldwide to enjoy, and with the 100th anniversary of the company around the corner, we couldn’t picture a better way to celebrate. Annual passholders and Disney fanatics alike better gear up as we prepare to enter a new year filled with thrilling experiences and endless possibilities.
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