Page 107 - CelebrationsSpring2020

Adventures
Around the
World:
The New Films of
World Showcase
Guests who have visited Epcot in recent months are very aware that a number of changes are on the horizon.The bevy of barricades are a clear indication of new experiences and attractions to come, with more details on display in the Odyssey Pavilion, just outside of the World Showcase.
Epcot’s fans are justifiably excited for the new attractions coming to the park: Guardians of the Galaxy and the remodeling of Spaceship Earth in Future World, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure in the France Pavilion and the as-yet- unnamed Mary Poppins attraction in the United Kingdom Pavilion. New restaurants have Guests eager to whip out those meal plan credits, and the upcoming Future World “neighborhoods” are so intriguing that one might almost forget that on January 17, Epcot added three new films to the Epcot experience, with a fourth on the way!
Awesome Planet
Awesome Planet is the newest inhabitant of The Land Pavilion’s Harvest Theater (or “Theatre” –official printed
literature spell it as “Theater,” but the original building signage had it as “Theatre”). This is the theater (or theatre)’s third film, replacing The Circle of Life: An Environmental Fable, and earlier, Symbiosis, both cautionary tales about conservation and the future of the environment.
Symbiosis opened with the park in 1982. “Nothing in the universe exists alone,” intoned narrator Philip L. Clarke. “Every drop of water, every human being, all creatures in the web of life and all ideas in the web of knowledge are part of an immense, evolving dynamic whole as old and as young as the universe itself.” (While Clarke’s name might not be at the tip of most Disney fans’ tongues, his film credits include the ensemble of a gallery of Disney Renaissance favorites, including The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Clarke went on to describe how various cultures around the world have adapted to changes in their environment over the course of thousands of years of existence, as well as creating modifications to their home regions in order to
by Lori Elias
Artwork © Disney
107 · Celebrations