Epcot has always been a unique place among the Walt Disney World theme parks. It's the park with the strongest eye toward the future, and the future of Epcot is bright. The park is in the middle of a major transformation that will celebrate both the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney World next year and the 40th anniversary of Epcot in 2022, and today that transformation hit a brand new milestone as a new entrance fountain that has been under construction was officially unveiled for the public.
While this isn't our first look at what the fountain itself would look like, guests walking into Epcot were previously greeted by "progress walls" which surrounded the fountain while Walt Disney Imagineering finished construction. This morning, those walls were down, allowing the first people to get a real look at what the new entrance fountain looks like, and it looks amazing.
According to Disney, while the fountain is not entirely "done," the finishing touches will not need the walls up, and so now the entrance area of Epcot is truly welcoming to guests. While it's rare to not find large walls surrounding construction of something at a Disney theme park, Imagineering is always working on the next big thing, when they're the first thing you see, it maybe doesn't set the tone the way Disney would like. It's wonderful to simply have those walls down now, and the fountain itself looks amazing.
The fountain is a reimagining of the original entrance fountain which which was found in the same spot when Epcot first opened in 1982. It was eventually removed, to make way for the Leave A Legacy display at the turn of the millennium. Last year the concrete monoliths were removed from the entrance plaza, they will be placed just outside the park so they can still be viewed by the guests who spent the money to have their images etched into the park.
But the fountain is just one small part of a massive upgrade that Epcot will be experiencing. While some elements of the original plan, like a new Mary Poppins attraction at the U.K pavilion in World Showcase, and a major remodel for Spaceship Earth, have been indefinitely postponed, other aspects like a walk through attraction centered on Moana, are still planned. Two major new attractions, the Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind roller caster, and Remy's Ratatouille Adventure, are currently underway.
If this fountain is representative of everything else that Epcot's transformation has in store, then it's very exciting, as the new entrance has seemingly done something previously thought impossible, it has fans of Epcot united in the idea that something that is new is also good.
