News New Play Pavilion to replace Epcot's Wonders of Life

[MisterPenguin]

Because it is terrible looking from the monorail. It is just a really bad look.

Disney doesn't care much about bad sight lines that come from being elevated by an attraction or conveyance. From the top of the Matterhorn or the short lived in-park gondolas giving guests access to other lands or infrastructure or any other 'back of house' -- there's only so much that can be hidden.

 

[bhg469]

It's far and away not the worst looking area of Epcot from the Monorail.

The obvious construction sites are visible.. People understand that.. A wall around a gold dome looking like a scene out of "I am Legend" is a little less understandable.. At least mow the lawn!

 

[DreamfinderGuy]

If there was work being done, I'm sure people here would have said something.

Here's someone saying something. Interior work was active last week.

Why work on prettifying the pavilion's front yard with landscaping if it's going to be simply delayed for another year?

This. Also, they're entirely relandscaping the entrance anyway. Maintaining what's there is a silly effort when all of it will be ripped out eventually.

 

[UNCgolf]

I am flabberghasted that everyone seems to think this is gospel. I'll hold my judgment until literally any reliable source says something.

And lack of refutation from a reliable source doesn't equate a confirmation.

Why do you think anyone is treating this as gospel?

It's basically just people hopeful that it's true.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Why do you think anyone is treating this as gospel?

It's basically just people hopeful that it's true.

If they're hoping PLAY! isn't happening, then they're also hoping for the consequence of PLAY! not happening: The pavilion sitting unused for years like Stitch's Great Escape is.

And they're hoping for Disney character M&Gs to be all over EPCOT, rather than relegated to the WoL Pavilion.

Be careful what you hope for!

 

[DisneyDebRob]

I did not realize there were so many people looking forward to this. When announced it sounded like a “ we don’t know what to do so we are going to make a few areas that kids can play in”. In other words, a people eater, or family eater. After looking into it, seems that it wasn’t really anything worth while. Could be just my feeling. These announcements always have a few throw ins that usually don’t get built or scaled down. I thought this would be the first to go. Waiting on official word like the rest of you I guess.

 

[J4546]

I did not realize there were so many people looking forward to this. When announced it sounded like a “ we don’t know what to do so we are going to make a few areas that kids can play in”. In other words, a people eater, or family eater. After looking into it, seems that it wasn’t really anything worth while. Could be just my feeling. These announcements always have a few throw ins that usually don’t get built or scaled down. I thought this would be the first to go. Waiting on official word like the rest of you I guess.

Yeah this pavilion looked like .... not something I cared about but still would like to see it opened. Out of all the things to go in the epcot redo though, this I'll miss least.

 

[UNCgolf]

If they're hoping PLAY! isn't happening, then they're also hoping for the consequence of PLAY! not happening: The pavilion sitting unused for years like Stitch's Great Escape is.

And they're hoping for Disney character M&Gs to be all over EPCOT, rather than relegated to the WoL Pavilion.

Be careful what you hope for!

That's actually exactly what I want! The pavilion sitting unused for another 5 years is better than it being the Play! Pavilion for 15+ years, which is what would happen if it opens.

I'd rather it be unused so that it has the potential to eventually be something worthwhile instead of wasting a whole pavilion for decades.

Plus, Disney character M&Gs are already all over EPCOT; the Play! Pavilion wasn't going to stop that.

 

[J4546]

Aybe they combi e their play ideas and use them to refurb the imagination pavilion with new experiences and interactions...keeping figment of course

 

[JohnD]

It is, and that's obviously not a quality source, but it already felt like they were on the verge of quietly canceling it when they said nothing at D23. It hasn't been mentioned when they've discussed EPCOT in quite a while.

None of our insiders have refuted it, either.

I still say Play! is sooo 2019 and pre-pandemic. My hunch is it's not coming back.

 

[Coaster Lover]

I feel like the fact that Play wasn't mentioned at all at D23 is the biggest "confirmation" we have that plans have changed and I don't think it's unreasonable to think that we wouldn't hear anything about a cancelation from any insiders until/unless a replacement was late in the planning. How much has been done on the inside and what are the chances they just move stuff towards the walls and make this event space?

 

[Jrb1979]

I feel like the fact that Play wasn't mentioned at all at D23 is the biggest "confirmation" we have that plans have changed and I don't think it's unreasonable to think that we wouldn't hear anything about a cancelation from any insiders until/unless a replacement was late in the planning. How much has been done on the inside and what are the chances they just move stuff towards the walls and make this event space?

Add in the Mary Poppins attraction that seems to be cancelled too.

 

[Fear]

Why do you think anyone is treating this as gospel?

It's basically just people hopeful that it's true.

Check twitter. Bunch of memes and posts about it.

 

[UNCgolf]

Check twitter. Bunch of memes and posts about it.

I thought you meant on this forum/in this thread.

Half of Twitter's whole existence is people believing/posting ridiculous things.

 

[MisterPenguin]

I feel like the fact that Play wasn't mentioned at all at D23 is the biggest "confirmation" we have that plans have changed

Oh... no, no... Lack of D23 announcements are meaningless...

21 Major Omissions That Weren't Revealed At D23

Fans may have overhyped themselves.

www.buzzfeed.com

What was missing from the Disney D23 Expo Boundless Future presentation

A look back at D23 Expo and what didn't make the cut for this year's Disney Parks presentation.

www.wdwmagic.com

All the Big Disney News that was not Announced this Weekend

The Walt Disney Company made many BIG Announcements, but a few we were hoping to hear about were missing. Here is what was NOT announced this past weekend

www.kennythepirate.com

What WASN'T Announced at the D23 Expo This Year?

We look at all the things that we didn't hear announced at the 2022 D23 Expo Parks Panel, and what this means for the parks!

mickeyblog.com

 

[TwilightZone]

I wish for a combination like Eisner / Wells.

And why’s Humungous in that montage?

It's a little comparison chart that made sense in my brain but now realize is kinda cryptic in practice lol.
Harmonious is similar to the failure of Light Magic.
The Play logo being placed everywhere despite it being (supposedly) dead in thee water is similar to the Beastly Kingdom Dragon being placed all around Animal Kingdom (as well as advertising materials for the park)

 

[Coaster Lover]

Oh... no, no... Lack of D23 announcements are meaningless...

I agree with you to an extent, but I feel like there is a difference here... most (all?) of the things you linked to were things that were never announced that had initial announcements after D23. This was a project that was previously announced that had no updates at D23. Of the projects that were previously announced but hadn't opened, what others (if any) had no updates? Frog mountain was updated, so was Tron, Zootopia, Runaway Railway, Fantasy Springs, Moana, Avengers Campus E Ticket, World of Frozen... all had updates... further, all of these were listed on Disney's "Boundless Future" timeline presented at the end of the event...

Play! and Mary Poppins? Both completely missing...

 

[TwilightZone]

I think it's more (beaver) daming that Disney has been radio silent about this rumor than anything else. Remember the Country Bear debacle? Or the Tiki Room one? It feels weird that Disney hasn't said anything about this rumor anywhere. Maybe I am looking too deep into things though.

 

[ToTBellHop]

FWIW, I’ve not heard it’s canceled. Possibly postponed like TRON was (and we all know that postponement didn’t last very long). If the Board actually canceled it this week, why release that exclusively to the bad site? They hate him.

Also, I doubt the Board would make a decision like that. Might they have decided to pull its FY23 funding and shuttle it elsewhere? Sure. That would delay the project by a year (if it then was added to the FY24 budget). But a cancellation from that group seems unlikely.

 

[Fear]

I think it's more (beaver) daming that Disney has been radio silent about this rumor than anything else. Remember the Country Bear debacle? Or the Tiki Room one? It feels weird that Disney hasn't said anything about this rumor anywhere. Maybe I am looking too deep into things though.

It's not weird at all. CBJ and Tiki had huge outcries from people who believed they were going to get bulldozed based on That Site's rumors. Nobody's flooding Disney's inbox with Save PLAY! Pavilion petitions.

Also, there's really no reason to respond to rumors like this at all. Those responses in the past were extremely, extremely unprecedented.