Sometimes, when a theme park makes an announcement it’s something shocking that nobody saw coming. This week’s reveal of two different new locations on the way from Universal Parks and Resorts would qualify as that. Other times, however, the writing is on the wall, and when the park finally makes a public statement, it’s only to confirm that which pretty much everybody already knew. Today’s announcement, that Epcot’s Play! Pavilion is officially on hold is one of those.
Announced back in 2019, the Play! Pavilion was going to be a new addition to Epcot that would take over the space of the long disused Wonders of Life Pavilion. The original plan had been for the new pavilion to open as part of Walt Disney World’s 50th anniversary, but the global pandemic threw a wrench into that idea as it did so many others. Two other projects planned for Epcot, a complete redesign of Spaceship Earth and a Mary Poppins attraction in the U.K. Pavilion, were officially “postponed” after Disney World reopened following the pandemic closure.
However, even as things were getting back to normal at Disney World, the company had gone entirely silent on the Play! Pavilion. Little to no obvious work was being done at the location and at Disney’s recent D23 Expo presentation on the parks, the pavilion was not mentioned at all. While no official word had been given, it seemed the Play! Pavilion was dead in the water.
This morning Blog Mickey reported that Epcot park maps, that previously referenced the “Future Home” of the Play! Pavilion, no longer included that note. Theme park reporter Scott Gustin has now confirmed that the Disney World is “re-evaluating” the original concept.
While this doesn’t mean the Play pavilion is completely dead, it almost certainly means that if it ever does exist it will do so as something significantly different from the originally announced plan. That’s perhaps not that surprising. While few details of what the pavilion was supposed to be were ever confirmed, it did seem that it would include a lot of physically interactive elements, and so it’s far from shocking why construction didn’t resume there post-pandemic when work on other things was getting back under way. Disney World's 50th anniversary began under pandemic restrictions, so it's possible this pavilion would have had to remain closed anyway.
Disney World almost never uses the word cancelled when it comes to new attractions. Instead, the Wonders of Life Pavilion will likely just return to a state of limbo until some point in the future when a new announcement will be made, revealing the new plan for the space. When that announcement could come, is anybody’s guess.
