The plan when the restaurant changed hands was for it to be open for a short period of time, then for it to go into rehab. That has always been the way it was going to be done. I guess because it seems awhile back now, people have kind of assumed it's already done it's rehab.
I think from a business perspective that makes perfect sense. The new management team have had a good chance to see what works and what doesn't, they will have a better handle on what they need. I don't think that the new company would have had much of a chance to spec the place out before taking over, so I imagine they only started designing the new look for the place when they actually took possession. If you remember it all happened in the space of a few months.
It is a pain, it's one of the few Epcot restaurants I haven't been able to try yet. With Nine Dragons out also, there might be a few overlap months where it's a bit of a pain for ADR's.