EPCOT 3.0: The Festival Park

It was the 2017 semi-annual D23 Expo when Disney officially fessed up: EPCOT would finally get the official, master-planned, all-at-once, interconnected reimagining that fans had spent years daydreaming about. In an open-ended, multi-year expansion rivaling that of Disney California Adventure a decade before, EPCOT (and particularly its Future World) would get a much-wanted refresh. 

Of course, there's no denying that the 2020 pandemic interrupted the expansion's rhythm, making this much-needed, master-planned reimagining feel as piecemeal and disconnected as the park had felt in the 2010s. But as a result of the effort, EPCOT ended up with a refreshed, retro-cool '80s design language, new restaurants, new attractions, at least two new substantial rides (Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and Remy's Ratatouille Adventure), a new grouping system (Disney's scapegoat "neighborhoods"), and a brand new central core to the park's former Future World. 

As is customary with EPCOT, the results of that refresh will be debated forever. But let's be clear: all of this is about one thing in particular – establishing EPCOT as Disney World's Festival Park.

EPCOT's Festival calendar has been expanding for decades to the extent that today, the park's un-programmed state (what fans call "Diet EPCOT") exists in only two week chunks between festivals. Even then, the food booths never disappear. They're simply re-programmed as "Holiday Kitchens" or "Culinary Art Booths" and swap their menus for ever-smaller portions at ever-increasing (and almost absurdly profitable) tapas sampler rates. It's a model that works. 

Increasingly, we've seen Disney develop their parks for this audience. In 2019, Disneyland used some of its valuable real estate to create the Tropical Hideaway – a "Dole Whip & chill" enclave meant to expand capacity by giving locals a place to sit while they wait for Lightning Lane return times. It happened again with Disney California Adventure's upgrade to San Fransokyo Square – by any measure, just a food court. And now, EPCOT's Celebration Gardens points the way forward: a programmable space meant to be filled with food booths, musical acts, and seasonal celebrations.

It's not like Disney's working overtime to turn EPCOT into Disney World's "Festival Park." Quite the contrary, that's what the park has been for decades. Locals and visitors have flocked to the park's celebrations, making them the lifeblood of EPCOT. So is it really any surprise that Disney is finally leaning in and physically arranging the park and its schedule to factor in festivals? The only downside here is that at least the "Discovery Park" has aspirations; at least it tried to be something. As a "Festival Park," will EPCOT continue to grow and evolve? Or now that it's armed with Cosmic Rewind, Frozen, and Ratatouille, will executives decide that the higher ambitions of that 2017 announcement are unnecessary?