As part of EPCOT’s reimagining, Walt Disney World planned a multi-year Spaceship Earth refurbishment and overhaul. That reimagining was delayed indefinitely, but a project is still likely on the horizon. We’ll discuss details & potential closure timelines, concept art for the overhaul, and why maintenance is long overdue. (Updated January 25, 2025.)
Let’s start with the reimagining delay. Spaceship Earth’s reimagining was announced at the 2019 D23 Expo after over a year of rumors. Details were limited to a tease of the “story light” at the time. Then on February 25, 2020, Imagineering revealed that Spaceship Earth would close a couple of months later, on May 26. Then all of Walt Disney World closed less than a month after the announcement and remained closed until mid-July. When EPCOT reopened, Spaceship Earth returned with it.
When EPCOT reopened after its four month closure, Walt Disney World had quietly removed concept art and scenes from the Epcot Experience overview video and released this statement: “As with most businesses during this period, we are further evaluating long-term project plans. The decision was made to postpone development of the Mary Poppins-inspired attraction and Spaceship Earth at this time.” That was the last official update on the Spaceship Earth reimagining. Obviously, a lot has changed in the last ~5 years.
January 25, 2025 Update: It was a rough week for Spaceship Earth, an attraction that routinely has rough weeks. Although the attraction is finally operational at the time of this update, it was closed for almost two full days and significant portions of others.
While this has been a particularly bad week for Spaceship Earth, unscheduled downtime and maintenance is not uncommon for this attraction. As discussed below, it was overdue to an actual refurbishment (not a reimagining) back when the project was slated to begin some 5 years ago. Now I’m no scientist, but ride infrastructure doesn’t strike me as one of those things that improves with age or fixes itself.
As for when Spaceship Earth could go down at this point, the obvious timing is after the Test Track 3.0 reimagining. That attraction is slated to reopen in late Summer 2025, which could mean anything from late July through October 1, 2025. It could end up being even later if the project has delays. Regardless, it’s not as if Test Track will open one day and Spaceship Earth would close the next–there’s likely to be a multi-month gap between the projects.
Walt Disney World is reluctant to take multiple major EPCOT attractions offline at the same time, so it’s unlikely that Spaceship Earth would close for a lengthy project prior to then. Even after the Test Track project, there’s nothing to say Spaceship Earth will be next on deck–there are a handful of attractions in EPCOT needing help.
Another complicating factor is that, prior to Test Track 3.0 debuting, a new bar will open inside Spaceship Earth, replacing the old sponsor lounge that was vacated when the Siemens partnership ending. (The lack of a sponsor for Spaceship Earth also complicates things–the only reason Test Track is being redone is because General Motors is footing much of the bill.)
It would be a curious decision to open the lounge in the spring…only to close it again a few months later. It’s entirely possible to have the lounge accessible while the ride itself is down for refurbishment or reimagining, but that would necessarily entail changing the scope and scale of the project versus what was previously announced back in 2019/2020.
Frankly, that’s a safe bet, regardless. It’s been over 5 years since the Spaceship Earth reimagining concept was developed, and a lot has changed since then–from leadership to budgets to technology. While there could be elements of the Spaceship Earth: Our Shared Story project that come to fruition, it’s also likely that there are major changes to what’s planned.
As for when an announcement could be made about Spaceship Earth being reimagined, the odds-on favorite is during the 2025 Destination D23 event at Walt Disney World over Labor Day weekend. This is the caliber of project to be announced at that event, as opposed to D23 Expo in Anaheim.
As for closure timing, that really depends on how urgently significant downtime is needed. If Walt Disney World can get away with it, I’d hazard a guess that they’d push the start of the Spaceship Earth refurbishment into January 2026. If not, it could happen earlier. Or, if they can really get away with it, they might not schedule anything–or just a brief closure. Walt Disney World has made pretty clear that they view the EPCOT overhaul as completed, so some major reimagining of Spaceship Earth may not happen until the early 2030s.
Remember, all of this is speculative based on a mixture of the downtime plaguing Spaceship Earth and what we’ve heard about it being overdue for maintenance. There’s no guarantee that Walt Disney World will do anything, as deferred maintenance has become the norm over the last few years. That’s starting to change, which is why we’re optimistic that this project will finally be put onto the calendar. Again, it needs to happen–Spaceship Earth is in sorry shape.
There’s considerable work needing to be done on the ride system that can’t wait too much longer. When we first reported on the rumored reimagining, we shared that Spaceship Earth was overdue for track replacement. That was back in 2018.
Almost seven years later, and that has not happened. Spaceship Earth is basically held together with duct tape at this point, experiencing more downtime and having ever-increasing issues. A larger project and longer downtime is desperately needed. Spaceship Earth’s infrastructure badly needs work, and it could use an update to show scenes, too.
What any Spaceship Earth refurbishment will entail remains to be seen at this point. It’ll be lengthy regardless–multiple months, if not a year or longer. Whether it’ll be a full-scale reimagining or “just” necessary TLC will likely dictate whether the closure is on the longer or shorter end of the spectrum.
If Spaceship Earth does get reimagined–and that’s really needed at this point, here’s what could happen. This is all what was previously planned and could have changed significantly in the years since the Spaceship Earth: Our Shared Story project was shelved…
Previously, Walt Disney World announced that the reimagining would be “Spaceship Earth: Our Shared Story.”
It’s conceivable that this could still happen sometime in 2025 or 2026. Again, this work is overdue by several years, so at some point, they won’t be able to put off the necessary portion of the track maintenance and replacement any longer.
This reimagined Spaceship Earth was to have a new narration, an entirely new musical score, and new show scenes. Most notably, guests will follow a magical “Story Light” that brings the entire experience to life in dynamic ways, giving each scene energy and beauty that ties the entire journey together.
In Spaceship Earth: Our Shared Story, guests would visit Egypt, which is part of the current version of the attraction–but it would be “an Egypt like you’ve never seen before, transformed through the power of light.”
Per Walt Disney Imagineering, this will be the Spaceship Earth’s fourth “and most ambitious” update since EPCOT Center’s grand opening on October 1, 1982. Of course, that could very well be marketing puffery. It’s not as if Disney is going to tout this as “eh, maybe the third-most ambitious update ever, give or take.”
Walt Disney World previously confirmed that the next iteration of Spaceship Earth will still focus on the story of humanity, following our long journey from prehistoric humans to today brought to life.
Many of the existing scenes in Spaceship Earth will remain in the attraction, but updated with new technology and blended together with brand-new scenes to tell a story about our shared human experience. Throughout the reimagined Spaceship Earth, you’ll hear new narration and see how light plays a central role in the human journey. The attraction will come to life in dynamic ways in a celebration of what’s possible when we all come together.
Additionally, the back of Spaceship Earth was to be reworked with a new post-show.
Thankfully, changes outside Spaceship Earth actually did happen. Not completely as announced, but to a large extent. Upon exiting Spaceship Earth, there’s be a Dreamers Point, which features a statue of Walt Disney seated on a curb.
This area behind Spaceship Earth will also feature natural environments, a wishing tree in an enchanted forest, and a story fountain playing Disney music. (Those last two things, sadly, did not happen. The area behind Spaceship Earth is pretty dull and uninspired.)
One thing that desperately needs to change in Spaceship Earth is the descent. This is the essentially the conclusion of the attraction, which is currently driven by interactive screens in the ride vehicle. Outside of that, there are some random triangles and curtains as show “scenes.”
The current descent has been lambasted by fans since it debuted over a decade ago. Pretty much as soon as the current version of the attraction debuted, there were rumors that the descent was unfinished, and would be added to over time while the attraction was operational. Despite vague signs of work being done, that never happened.
Regardless of what happens with the show scenes in the first half of the ride, it’s highly likely that something will be added to the descent during Spaceship Earth’s next refurbishment or reimagining. It’s pretty obvious that Imagineering was not satisfied with it before, and the interactive technology has not aged well in the ride vehicles. The big unknown is whether the new Spaceship Earth descent will be what you’re looking at in this concept art, or something different entirely.
For my part, I’m cautiously optimistic about the eventual Spaceship Earth refurbishment or reimagining.
The ride system badly needs it. Not only that, the most likely changes will occur later in the attraction to scenes that I don’t think are particularly strong at present. From my perspective, there’s little chance that the future 180top and scenes thereafter can be a downgrade from the current incarnation of Spaceship Earth. Ditto the new narration.
Moreover, Imagineering has made some tremendous strides with technology since the last Spaceship Earth overhaul, and several of those could be implemented to nice effect. I’d imagined plenty of projection mapping will be used, but if we get some of that Mystic Manor-esque ‘magic light dust’ that’d be icing on the cake.
With that said, what follows here is rumor (from pre-2020)–but all of the past rumors about the scope and specifics of Spaceship Earth’s overhaul were officially confirmed by the company (before being shelved), so this likely speaks to Imagineering’s intent with Spaceship Earth at the time the project was announced.
Again, plans could have changed since the Spaceship Earth reimagining was first announced. However, to the extent there are changes, it’s likely the project has been scaled back as opposed to expanded. Spaceship Earth is sponsorless, and the budget for the EPCOT overhaul has been spent. Whenever it does happen, this project will not get the same level of funding it would have back in 2020.
The first element of the rumor is that all scenes will be refreshed prior to the Industrial Revolution, with more significant changes for the scenes following that. It’s anticipated that the 180top will be drastically reimagined utilizing the latest in projection mapping tech. During the closure there’s also likely to be track replacement, new load and unload stations, and a new post show.
Second, this refurbishment is expected to last between 1 and 2 years. We’ve tried to nail this down more specifically, and all we’ve heard is that it could last around 18 months.
However, that was also back when Spaceship Earth was going to be one component of the bigger picture EPCOT overhaul. It was thus possible that part of the reason the project would last so long is because Spaceship Earth would close for the duration (or at least a major phase of) the central spine redesign.
With the rest of the EPCOT overhaul now finished, we would expect a shorter closure. Basically, the minimal amount of time for accomplishing the necessary work on the track and ride system. Whether that’s 6 months or over a year is beyond me. But whatever reimagining is going to happen will have to occur during that window, as opposed to extending it.
On a positive note, some enhancements did still come to Spaceship Earth, they just happened outside the iconic geodesic sphere. First, EPCOT’s main entrance plaza reimagining has been completed, revealing the iconic prismatic pylon fountain in front of Spaceship Earth!
Three acrylic pylons standing over 16 feet tall and featuring the park’s logo surround the fountain and hearken back to the creation of EPCOT Center. This completes the first phase of EPCOT’s massive overhaul, as the construction walls that have lined the front of the park for over a year are now down. The new entrance plaza looks nice.
At night, Spaceship Earth looks even better. Epcot’s icon comes alive with new Beacons of Magic, an addition during the World’s Most Magical Celebration for Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary.
New lights have actually been installed in between the reflective panels of Spaceship Earth, connecting to one another and resembling stars in a nighttime sky. Unlike the other Beacons of Magic, these are the only permanent new lighting that have continued beyond “The World’s Most Magical Celebration” as a defining feature of the reimagined Epcot. (Read & see more in Beacons of Magic at Epcot: Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary Highlight!)
Ultimately, we’re still looking forward to more changes to Spaceship Earth, and left wondering whether the reimagining project might begin around the time other new additions. Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Moana’s Journey of Water, and CommuniCore Hall have all debuted, and the front of the park is once again be construction-free.
Consequently, it’s entirely possible that Imagineering will let EPCOT have its “moment” for a couple of years before undertaking more major projects. The reimagining of Spaceship Earth could then be part of a second phase of the EPCOT overhaul, joining Journey into Imagination and [insert whatever else is on your personal wish list here]. It’s unlikely that Walt Disney World will release an official timeline for this reimagining project until Destination D23 Expo in September 2025–and maybe not even then–but we’ll keep you posted as more becomes known!
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Your Thoughts
What do you think about this Spaceship Earth closure and reimagining? Thoughts on when the project will occur–if at all–now that it’s been delayed indefinitely? Excited for the exterior enhancements? Could you handle Spaceship Earth being closed for 2 years? Do you agree or disagree with our thoughts here? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
