Is Disney TESTING US With the New Attraction in EPCOT?

EPCOT has FINALLY completed its massive transformation after nearly 5 years.

EPCOT

The final stage of this transformation was opening CommuniCore Hall and CommuniCore Plaza, a new flex space to be used during EPCOT festivals complete with an outdoor stage to use for performances. While we won’t see another EPCOT festival until Food & Wine begins on August 29th. In the meantime though, Disney has a few different offerings to entertain guests in this space throughout the day, and we’re starting to think that these attractions could be a TEST for Disney World’s future.

There are three attractions and experiences we’re specifically looking at right now, all of them taking place in CommuniCore Hall and CommuniCore Plaza. The largest one of those is the new ¡Celebración Encanto! show taking place on the large outdoor stage in CommuniCore Plaza.

¡Celebración Encanto!

This new attraction is a 20-30 minute family-friendly show that features 2 hosts and four dancers telling the story of Disney’s popular animated film Encanto through the film’s songs. It’s interactive, not only encouraging audience members to dance and sing along where they stand, but they also invite kids and adults alike up to the stage during certain numbers. And the whole show finishes with a dance party with Mirabel and Bruno where everyone is encouraged to participate.

Bruno and Mirabel

Also outside at CommuniCore Plaza is the new Festival Favorites booth. This is a permanent booth that will allow you to pick up some of your favorite festival eats year-round, but it’s currently serving up latin-inspired eats like Cheese-stuffed Arepas (Cilantro-Lime Crema and Cotija is offered, as well as Chicken and Avocado) and Coconut Tres Leches Cake, as well as some cocktails, wine offerings, and beers.

Festival Favorites!

Finally, you can experience two different Latin bands performing on the Communicore Plaza stage and inside at CommuniCore Hall each night. They’ll be jamming out and performing for guests when the scheduled ¡Celebración Encanto! shows finish each day.

Latin band playing

So here’s our point — that’s a lot of Latin-inspired experiences in one place! We are NOT complaining in the slightest, because we enjoyed the ¡Celebración Encanto! show and the Latin bands, and while the Festival Favorites booth could use a little help, we didn’t hate the offerings there (the cheese-stuffed arepa with cilantro-lime crema and cotija is a real standout!). But is there a reason behind this decision?

Cheese-Stuffed Arepa with Cilantro-Lime Crema and Cotija

We have two different theories we’d like to share with you. The first is that Disney is testing the response to these Latin and Latin-inspired experiences to see how Disney guests would react to some of them being incorporated into the Tropical Americas retheme of DinoLand U.S.A. coming to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. While Disney hasn’t confirmed what experiences or IP will be used in this area of the park, they have mentioned Encanto and Indiana Jones as strong contenders. It’s also been confirmed that Disney Imagineers are taking inspiration in the regions just north and south of the equator here in the Western Hemisphere, including the northern part of South America, stretching up into Central America.

@Disney

Introducing an Encanto show, Latin bands, and Latin-inspired eats into CommuniCore Plaza before the next festival takes place would be a great way to test how an audience would receive a whole land based off this area of the world and the stories there!

CommuniCore Hall

Or, since Disney decided to shorten the length of EPCOT’s International Food & Wine Festival this year back to its pre-pandemic dates — a decision that was met with controversial opinions — could they be planning to add ANOTHER festival to their EPCOT lineup in the future, such as a festival solely dedicated to Latin-inspired eats and experiences? If they’d like to keep the Food & Wine festival shorter, this new festival could take place in the summer — in between the Flower and Garden Festival and Food and Wine.

¡Celebración Encanto!

We have no way to confirm what Disney could be planning or testing with these new offerings, or if they’re testing anything at all! These may have just been the ideas they came up with when planning for this new area before Food & Wine begins, but we’ve seen Disney subtly test things before, so it wouldn’t surprise us!

Looking for more recent EPCOT news? Check out these posts below!