The Complicated Reason Why ‘Mary Poppins’ Hasn’t Taken Over the UK Pavilion in EPCOT

By Colette Langley Leave a Comment

Let’s take a journey together back to the year 2019. Baby Yoda, also known as Grogu, is taking the internet by storm, and we are crying in the theaters at the end of Avengers: Endgame. But, that is not all that was happening in 2019.

©Disney

Disney also made a huge announcement about a new ride that was expected to be built in EPCOT. However, here we are five years later and the ride is no closer to being built.

Back in August 2019, Disney announced that a Mary Poppins attraction would be making its way to the UK Pavilion at EPCOT. We were screaming supercalifragilisticexpialidocious at the thought that we could ride an attraction featuring Mary Poppins. The new attraction was supposed to allow guests to “step in time down Cherry Tree Land past Admiral Boom’s house, then enter Number 17, home of the Banks family.”

Mary Poppins attraction concept art

But, now we have been through multiple D23 Expos and numerous earnings calls, and we haven’t heard anything specific about this attraction ACTUALLY coming to EPCOT anymore. We saw a few pieces of concept art when the ride was first announced, but Disney has been pretty silent on the project ever since. In March 2022, Disney released a statement that the project had become “postponed” along with other projects like the retheming of Spaceship Earth. We also noticed that the Mary Poppins attraction was removed from the video in the EPCOT Experience.

Mary Poppins Attraction ©Disney

Other than that, we haven’t heard much about this scrapped attraction. The Mary Poppins attraction was postponed as Disney was recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. CEO Bob Chapek also stated at the 2022 Annual Meeting of Shareholders that they would be taking “a pause on capital-intensive projects.” Technically, Disney hasn’t officially released that it has been canceled, but with the ever-growing list of expansions and rethemes they have announced WILL happen, we are not sure that the Mary Poppins attraction will ever actually come to fruition.

Mary Poppins meeting in EPCOT

However, you truly never know with Disney, and we might still hear that the Mary Poppins attraction will be built after all! Only time will tell, and of course, we will be keeping an eye out for any news and updates about the Disney parks. Stay tuned to DFB for all your Disney news!

Why hasn’t Disney revamped these abandoned attractions?

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