Its fans will say that the new World Celebration – the heart of EPCOT – is a community space. By day, it feels like this space fulfills an important need for the park. Charging ports suggest that Annual Passholders could come here, grab a coffee from Connections, then find a seat embedded in a planter, plug in, and "work from home" from EPCOT.

It's a space that feels like it's fitting a lot of briefs – it's futuristic, but cozy; accessible, but unique; retro, but modern, just like EPCOT itself.

By night especially, Celebration Gardens transforms. It's a space that's intensely colorful and discoverable... After sunset, stained glass lights illuminate; so do wooden sculptural gourds. Trees undulate with color, and wooden sprigs stuck into the ground suddenly reveal themselves as lights.

And of course, the retro '80s EPCOT "globe" logo embedded in the ground illuminates, synchronizing with the mini-shows presented through Spaceship Earth's pinpoint lights. And for those who mourn the loss of the iconic LED-embedded tiles displaying otherworldly symbols around the Innoventions area by night, rest assured: the new area includes its own pinpoint lights, sending colorful patterns sweeping through the area.

WOW! The EPCOT Anthem Spaceship Earth Show from World Celebration Gardens is probably the coolest when viewed from INSIDE the World Celebration Gardens area. Here’s a small clip (We will have the full segment on our YouTube channel soon):#DisneyWorld @WaltDisneyWorld #EPCOT pic.twitter.com/TVN0YKxGv6

— ThrillGeek (@thrillgeek) December 6, 2023

And of course, to cap it all off, this new expansion includes a bronze statue of Walt himself. Following in the vein of "Partners" (at most Castle Parks) and "Storytellers" (developed for Disney California Adventure's rebirth), we find "Walt the Dreamer" situated on a concrete bench looking into the heart of EPCOT.

The plaque nearby contains an associated quote: "... always be in a state of becoming." (It was a quote he used to describe the original Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow urban living concept whose name would be revived for the EPCOT Center theme park years after his death.) It may just be a bit of fan service (and an odd fit given that EPCOT is definitely not the EPCOT Walt was talking about), but statues of Walt have come to mark major park reimaginings at WDI, so it's expected.

Look – when it comes to EPCOT, nothing can please everyone. EPCOT isn't a "theme park" in the same way that the rest in Disney's portfolio is. It plays by different rules; it has a different atmosphere. It's an expo. So through that lens we ask: what do you think of the new Celebration Gardens? Did Disney hit a home run in this new central space for the park? Or is this area yet another chip away at what made EPCOT special? Let us know in the comments below!