Epcot Attractions Construction Update, November 2018
Imagine spending a brisk winter morning sipping freshly-brewed coffee with a hot butter croissant from a quaint, off-the-beaten-path French patisserie in the heart of Paris. As you sip, you notice a few pedestrians wandering the quiet streets that haven’t quite woken up from the previous evening. A gondola swings high overhead, and you wonder which country around World Showcase the passengers will be visiting first.
In just over a years’ time, you can star in a scene exactly like the one I described! Grab a coffee and pastry from Les Halles before the rest of the Showcase opens and watch the Skyliner transport passengers to their destinations. When I visited Walt Disney World a few months ago, I would have described that scene very differently.
The Skyliner
My most recent visit to Epcot brought with it lots of Food and Wine eats and drinks, but something more…updates on the construction happening around the park! First, let’s start with the construction update that is the hottest around the Resort. Yep, I’m talking about the highly-anticipated Disney Skyliner!
The uprights installed just behind the France Pavilion were just pile-driven into freshly turned earth, and when the gondolas are installed on the wires…what a sight line that’s going to be! From the looks of it, the gondolas will pass right through the France Pavilion before landing near the International Gateway. I can’t think of a better use of sightlines- or an already-established Pavilion- in which to integrate the gondola system!
Ratatouille
The work on the building has broken ground, but it’s a mere shell of what it will be. There isn’t much to report coming from the location of where the new Ratarouille-inspired attraction will land in time for the Resorts 50th anniversary celebration. The focus in France seems to be solely on getting that Skyliner up and running!
Guardians of the Galaxy
It is being built, and we will come! Watching construction can be cool, but Disney makes sure that all of their ‘messiness’ stays behind 8ft high barricade walls, and we rarely get to glimpse any of it. It’s almost comical that these walls are up surrounding the site of the Guardians of the Galaxy construction…because the thing is so darn massive, it isn’t concealed at all!
First the rumors swirled, and then Disney confirmed that yes, this will be the world’s largest indoor roller coaster. So, the world’s largest coaster needs a pretty big building, right? And the now-defunct Universe of Energy building is HUGE, right?
Well, its infrastructure is apparently not nearly large enough to house the world’s largest coaster, because a building nearly three times the size of the existing mastodon is going up right next door! Multiple Cast Members confirmed that the new structure will house the majority of the coaster, and now more than ever, I can’t wait to ride! If you’re visiting the Resort, you can see the massive building from many of the roadways, so keep your eyes peeled!
Are you planning on booking a Disney vacation for you and your family? I’d love to help! You can find me over on Facebook, or contact me directly at msalerno@mickeytravels.com, or 800-308-6257