Walt Disney World - Epcot

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abigsmurf
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Description suggests it's as much a dark ride as a rollercoaster and if it was something especially intense, you'd expect them to show it off more if it was an intense coaster so I'd be surprised if it was any more intense than something like Expedition Everest or Thirteen. 100ft is very tall for a ride without a drop to show off too, about the height of the Jurassic Park River Adventure building, you've got to imagine there's a reason to go to that expense.

Disney did recently file a patent for a long armed suspended swinging coaster which probably would require a large building but again you'd think they'd want to show off a novel ride system as much as possible rather than keep most of it indoors.

I'd imagine the Gringotts bank coaster was seen as a bit of a blow to Disney Imagineer's pride so maybe it'll be a "it does everything" technical showcase but that leaves the 'world first' element to ponder.

Guessing they'll need to reveal the ride system before heavy work starts (they've already put up construction walls) otherwise people will guess it from evidence/leaks so we'll probably get more info in the next month or two.
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abigsmurf
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Given that Disney have basically cancelled Gigantic, I'd guess the plans for a Spanish pavilion have also been put on hold.
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Robert.W
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Over in Epcot, construction is underway on the show building of the new Ratatouille dark ride in the France Pavillion. Pictures are from @bioreconstruct on Twitter. 

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This pictures also shows progress bing made on the Disney Skyliner!

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There has also been much pregress on the construction of Disneys Riviera Hotel.

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abigsmurf
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Fingers crossed they can fix the two main problems I have with the Ratatouille ride in Paris; being able to see the floor and length of the ride.

Epcot's my favorite park so I'm liking that it's getting some rides which will spread the queues out more, rather than them being concentrated heavily on Soarin, Test Track and Frozen. Guessing Disney are hoping the Epcot and Studios expansions with ease off the massive overcrowding at Magic Kingdom.
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lewis97
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A massive concrete foundation has recently been poured for the Guardians of the Galaxy attraction coming to Epcot, which looks to include all the footers for the coaster in the new 'facility' being constructed.

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Robert.W
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Interesting article about a new Future World Hotel at Epcot. 
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ThemeCrafter264

The Space Restaurant hasn't been cancelled and should be placed between Mission Space and Test. Track.
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Robert.W
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The article doesn't say that does it??
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Robert.W
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No, I mean the WDWNT article about the new hotel didn't even mention the Space Restaurant. I thought you meant that that article said the Space Restaurant had been cancelled.
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Dungeon-X-Smile
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Did anyone hear about the figment comic about the old Epcot attraction?

Apparently there’s a marvel comic about the backstory behind the classic attraction journey into imagination.
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abigsmurf
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No doubt at some point they're going to get rid of the Journey into the Imagination ride which makes me a bit sad (the number of 'classic' Epcot rides keeps shrinking) but it's hard to see them resisting the temptation of a Frozen style makeover. 
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lewis97
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It seems vertical construction of the Guardians of the Galaxy rollercoaster is underway, as shown in these photos from @bioreconstruct.

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abigsmurf
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https://wdwnt.com/2018/10/sse2yearclosure/

Spaceship Earth is going to get a colossal makeover. Ride system replaced, reworking of the main ride systems (seems likely they'll replace lots of the animatronics with more modern projection mapped ones and a much better finale.

2 years of closure is a pretty massive amount of time for an iconic ride to be closed, not sure if that's an indication of the amount of work or if the construction work around the entrance will make it inaccessible for a long time anyway. Here's hoping they keep IPs out of it and we don't end up with "Dr Strange's Spaceship Earth"
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Guardians of the Galaxy construction update. The framework for the building is complete with some of the walling starting to be added. The building is very big, about twice as tall as any of the other buildings in Future World and almost as high as Spaceship Earth.

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abigsmurf
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There's some pictures of the track floating around. Pretty much confirms its using that spinning coaster prototype that was in testing a while back.

Looking at how chunky the tracks are, seems like the coaster cars are going to be very heavy which is probably one of the reasons for using a long launch track. I'd guess the ride will have lots of large helixes rather than pure drops as a heavy coaster would mean that any acceleration will be fairly subdued.
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My suspicion is it will be something like Escape From Gringotts. Those trains are huge and spin and use a large show building. That ride can also give a surprising amount of acceleration. Add in some fans and it could feel faster still.
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abigsmurf
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The drop in Gringotts barely gives any sensation when in theory a tilt track should feel worse than a normal drop (as you don't get that lag in acceleration caused by front cars pulling rear cars over the apex). You do get a lot of force from the launch though so I suspect you'll only get a high speed section from the launch and the rest of the track will use tight bends and the spinning elements for intensity.
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abigsmurf
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Official confirmation from Disney confirming the ride system and showing it in action

https://twitter.com/CaitlinDineen/statu ... 2001755136

As I thought, the weight of the vehicles looks like it smooths out drops. will probably end up much milder than crush's coaster but the controlled spinning adds all sorts of possibilities.
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Owen
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Here it is... welcome to the brand new EPCOT!

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To start, below are a selection on posters featuring a selection of past, present and future attractions, as well as confirming two surprises remain. One being highly expected to be the long awaited Brazil pavilion!

Also, note the Mary Poppins silhouette over the United Kingdom poster, and the Coco characters on the Gran Fiesta Tour poster - possibly hinting at the highly rumoured Poppins carousel and Fiesta Tour/Coco refresh!

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Poster images by Carlye West on Twitter.

The first major thing to be shown by these posters is a brand new Moana inspired walkthrough attraction coming to EPCOT - “Journey of Water: Inspired by Moana”.

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Along with this, a model highlighting major changes was revealed this evening, here are some photos by The DIS highlighting each section.

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The overall look at the model shows a sneak peak at the areas. Here’s some projects we were previously aware of -

Moana
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The Play Pavilion
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Guardians of the Galaxy
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Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
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China Pavilion Upgrades
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Some unexpected appearance though were...

The Mexico Pavilion
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It seems as though Mexico may be getting that highly rumoured Gran Fiesta Tour/Coco attraction tie in due to the previously mentioned poster and, I’m sure that Coco-style guitar wasn’t there before...

The Imagination Pavilion
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At this point, who knows?


Some new merchandise was also shown, as seen in this image by The DIS on Twitter. You can also see the new pavilion logos on the selection of pins!

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To round it off, you can see an overview of the model via a video by Attractions Magazine here as well as a look at the moving concept art here.

A preview of the EPCOT transformation will be accessible to guests from October inside the Odyssey Events Pavilion and will feature interactive exhibits and a full model of the upcoming transformations!

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Expect more details and a full announcement on Sunday!
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