News for The Land @ Epcot

[Tara8595]

Anyone have the inside track on that? Planning to come in May, but I don't want to come too early and miss it. Is it the belief of most that it will open May 5 to coincide with the 50-year anniversary of DL?

 

[mickeyfantroy]

I was there Sunday and surprised to see TL closed and a construction wall around the entrance. From what I could see over it the concrete has been ripped up.

 

[jiminy14]

Visited the Land on our Christmas vacation and can confirm that the balloons have been removed and the ceiling repainted blue with white wisps resembling clouds. I spoke with a CM at the Garden Grill and asked about the Sunshine Food Fair. She told me that the fountain and all existing food structures will be removed. Where the fountain was, they plan to build an open-air kitchen with various food stations. You will be able to order your food and watch it being prepared. She confirmed that that there would not be a full service restaurant downstairs as that would take away business from the Grill (I assumed this meant that the Grill was not being replaced).

 

[tjkraz]

Anyone have the inside track on that? Planning to come in May, but I don't want to come too early and miss it. Is it the belief of most that it will open May 5 to coincide with the 50-year anniversary of DL?

The Land should re-open in March, and testing of Soarin will begin soon after. Their goal is to have the "Grand Opening" of Soarin on May 5th, but the ride will likely be open to the public ahead of that date.

 

[Luckymommyx2]

I can't wait to hear some first-hand reports! I'm having a terrible time trying to figure out what everything is supposed to look like after the renovations. I liked the Sunshine Food Fair. The last time we were there it was pretty quiet and gave us a nice escape.

tjkraz...looks like we'll be there at the same time!

 

[mitros]

Just got back, The Land is closed, and so far, they have not opened Wonders of Life to take up the slack.

 

[aesalsa]

My DH is VERY disappointed that The Land will be closed during our visit. I really hope they do not do away with "Living with the Land." As many have already stated, is was real science--DH and I really love it. I've visited, but have never eaten at The Sunshine Food Fair (?). I really LOVED the balloons and was hoping I could take pics of them pre-renovation--oh well .

I too think that Soarin' sound like a great and much-needed E-ticket type of attraction. Walt Disney himself wanted EPCOT to be a place that does change from time to time (but I don't like too much change ).

 

[magicmouse2]

Sorry if I have missed this but has the Garden Grill restaurant closed ?

 

[tjkraz]

Sorry if I have missed this but has the Garden Grill restaurant closed ?

Yes. The entire pavilion is closed now through mid-March. Garden Grill will then re-open. Sunshine Season Food Fair will be replaced with a redesigned counter service restaurant of some sort. And the entire pavilion is getting re-themed and "tweaked" to help the flow of the additional traffic that Soarin will generate.

 

[mitros]

The Living with the Land ride will still be there, but the fountain is being removed as well as the food court.

 

[CTXRover]

The Land pavilion will reopen as what hopefully will be considered an improved pavilion, not a ruined pavilion. The Sunshine Food Court is being removed and replaced with an eatery that will now sit in the middle of the pavilion, replacing the center fountain and featuring an "open" kitchen with several different stations that you can hop between. It will be set up though so that there is only one area to pay at vs having to visit each stand and pay separately at each as before....what they will offer isn't known yet.

The balloons are currently sitting in the paint and prop dept. at MGM and can be seen on the backlot tour. They are being completely repainted into a Four Seasons theme with obvious depictions (a large snowflake for winter, a large flower and butterflies for Spring, Leaves blowing around for fall, a giant sun for summer,etc.). It is believed that they will be re-installed then in this format (some pics were taken and posted over at laughingplace.com last week).

The pavilion will also undergo some needed update in look and traffic/crowd flow...especially to accomodate the crowds that will enter to ride Soarin'. New ramps, elevators, etc. will be installed to ease guest flow through the pavilion.

The main waiting area/queue for Soarin' is a new, separate area that was built to connect the Soarin' show building and the current Land Pavilion with the entrance and exit in the area that Food Rocks was. There is hopefully enough queue line in this "connector" building to prevent any crowds from overflowing into the food court area.

Living with the Land boat ride will not change beyond some possible sprucing up, the Circle of Life movie is expected to remain unchanged and the Garden Grill will remain after a full rehab.

The Land is not being lost or destroyed, don't worry. Hopefully we will all agree the pavilion is much better after its rehab...expecially since its first major E-ticket will now be part of it (Soarin'). What exactly it will look like, I have no idea, but I've heard concept art that was seen by a lucky few appeared promising (complete with the balloons and all)....the final theme is up to a debate, some say a Travel Agency, other say an Airport theme, others say it will be a theme more centered around "the Land" with palm trees and such inside...we'll have to wait and see

 

[mitros]

ANY indication at all that they may return the Garden Grill to a regular menu eatery as opposed to the "buffet" that Nestle put in after taking over from Kraft? We really miss the old restaurant. We have only eaten there twice since it was taken over by Nestle. Before the change, we ate there every time we went to Epcot. Another question comes to mind, will the Land, including Soarin', be totally sponsored by Nestle?, or will there be a different sponsor for Soarin'. Which leads to one more question: who's name is on the Disneyland version of Soarin'?

 

[CTXRover]

It looks like the original Future World is a thing of the past. Living Seas is becoming Nemo Land, now the Land is losing it's theme

I don't necessarily think so. I think the Land will be better than it was when it reopens. No official word from Disney has indicated what new theme, if any, the Land pavilion will have after it opens. Rumors out there range from an Airport to a Travel Agency to one that will have an even greater inspiration from the "land" itself. Each one of these rumors were started from people claiming to be "in the know"...so anything is still possible.

I'm not sure if you've been in the Living Seas since some of the Nemo enhancements, but if you haven't, let me tell you they are very well done, and tastefully so. It is finally turning into a pavilion worth entering again, imo. I've never seen kids of all ages as energized in the LS as I did on my past trip in a LONG time. All of the new areas are wonderfully done, with a strong focus on education still, but presented in a much more entertaining way. Bruce's Sub house is great for learning about sharks, the Nemo and Friends area is equally wonderful to not only let kids see the real animals, but also you'll find yourself learning some new info along the way....and Crush the Turle show is a true treat and example of modern Imagineering at its best. I feared it would seem like Nemo "invaded" the LS when I first heard of the Nemo additions...but they have done a very nice job on it and I commend them for great new areas that still keep the main theme of Seabase Alpha very much alive.

 

[safetymom]

I don't remember seeing a sponsor on Soarin in CA.

It is to be themed as an airport. The idea being that you are going to visit the places shown in the movie. That is how the CA movie will make sense.

 

[CTXRover]

ANY indication at all that they may return the Garden Grill to a regular menu eatery as opposed to the "buffet" that Nestle put in after taking over from Kraft? We really miss the old restaurant. We have only eaten there twice since it was taken over by Nestle. Before the change, we ate there every time we went to Epcot. Another question comes to mind, will the Land, including Soarin', be totally sponsored by Nestle?, or will there be a different sponsor for Soarin'. Which leads to one more question: who's name is on the Disneyland version of Soarin'?

The signs for Soarin' on the construction walls say "presented by Nestle", so I imagine they will remain the sponsor of the pavilion and the new ride, but don't know for sure.

 

[mitros]

I have not been to the Living Seas for a couple of months now, are the Sea Cabs still walled off? That was quite unattractive, which is one of the reasons that we stopped going there. It was getting rather lame. The last time I was excited about The Living seas was when they filmed an episode of Thunder in Paradise there.

 

[CTXRover]

I don't remember seeing a sponsor on Soarin in CA.

It is to be themed as an airport. The idea being that you are going to visit the places shown in the movie. That is how the CA movie will make sense.

I've heard credible info that the area where Soarin' is will have an airport theme to justify why we are flying "over the land", but the pre-show video has been re-shot and the queue area will have a greater focus on the biospheres of the Earth and different Land topographies as per a Disney press release vs DCA's queue where the focus is on the history of aviation. There are conflicting rumors though that the ENTIRE pavilion will get an airport theme....which I don't believe is true considering the Land pavilion also features a boat ride and a environmental film.

 

[CTXRover]

I have not been to the Living Seas for a couple of months now, are the Sea Cabs still walled off? That was quite unattractive, which is one of the reasons that we stopped going there. It was getting rather lame. The last time I was excited about The Living seas was when they filmed an episode of Thunder in Paradise there.

Unfortunately, no, the seacabs are still gone. They still dump you off the hydrolators near the gift shop which is tacky and dumb, but overall the entire pavilion has gotten some needed TLC over the past year.

 

[mitros]

Not to be a pain with all of these questions, but when you say the Sea Cabs are gone, do you mean gone gone, or are they just still covered over by that wall? {We go to WDW 3 or 4 times a month, you would think I should know these things!}

 

[CTXRover]

Not to be a pain with all of these questions, but when you say the Sea Cabs are gone, do you mean gone gone, or are they just still covered over by that wall? {We go to WDW 3 or 4 times a month, you would think I should know these things!}

Just gone behind a construction wall still. The wall is themed enough so it looks a little like a real wall in the pavilion, but its still just that plywood type construction wall from the look of it. In other words, I wouldn't say the sea cabs are gone forever, but there is still little indication of them reopening anytime soon (although I really think they need to).