Disney Tips Your Guide To A Great Disney Vacation
If you look at the current state of Walt Disney World, you will see an unprecedented amount of active construction. As we head into the highly anticipated 2026 D23 Expo in Anaheim, three of the four Florida theme parks are actively moving dirt to build the next generation of immersive lands.
Over at the Magic Kingdom, ground has officially broken on both the sinister Villains Land and the massive Cars expansion in Frontierland. At Disney’s Animal Kingdom, the demolition of Dinoland U.S.A. is well underway to make room for Tropical Americas. Meanwhile, Disney’s Hollywood Studios is actively building its first-ever suspended coaster for the new Monsters, Inc. land.
Because those landscape-altering projects are already well underway, the spotlight for this year’s D23 theme park panel inevitably shifts to the fourth gate: EPCOT.
With the successful reopening of Test Track 3.0 and the World Celebration Gardens finally free of construction walls, EPCOT looks great on paper. However, two of the park’s most iconic, historic dark rides are desperately aging. Both Spaceship Earth and Journey Into Imagination with Figment are begging for a massive overhaul.
According to industry predictions, EPCOT is likely to get only one major ride update announced at D23 this year—and, unfortunately for hardcore Disney purists, it is not the ride they really want.
Here is why Disney is actively prioritizing a Spaceship Earth refurbishment over Figment, and why it makes complete logistical sense.
The Brutal Reality: Spaceship Earth Needs It More
If you ask any diehard EPCOT fan which ride needs to be completely gutted and rebuilt from the ground up, the answer is almost universally Journey Into Imagination with Figment. The current iteration of the ride is widely considered a massive thematic downgrade from the legendary 1983 original.
But fans are likely going to be disappointed when the D23 Parks Panel kicks off. Industry analysts strongly predict that the spotlight will instead fall on the giant golf ball at the front of the park.
Disney is expected to announce a massive, multi-year reimagining of Spaceship Earth officially—and from an operational standpoint, it has to happen now.
Dusting Off the 2019 Blueprint
We already know Disney wants to update Spaceship Earth because they technically already announced it. Back at the 2019 D23 Expo, Disney formally revealed “Spaceship Earth: Our Shared Story”. The park’s grand icon was set to undergo a massive refurbishment, featuring brand-new show scenes and a dynamic “Story Light” that would guide guests through human history.
The 2020 park closures killed that project. Announcing a revived, modified version of this project at the 2026 D23 Expo allows Disney to finally finish what they started without reinventing the wheel conceptually.
The Reliability Crisis
Beyond the outdated thematic elements, Spaceship Earth is suffering from severe mechanical fatigue. While Disney has performed a few short refurbishments recently to keep the omnimovers rolling, routine maintenance can only do so much. The attraction is experiencing increased downtime.
Spaceship Earth is the park’s visual icon. Having a high-capacity attraction with near-perfect uptime at the very front of the park is absolutely vital for EPCOT’s crowd flow. Fixing Spaceship Earth isn’t just about upgrading animatronics; it is an urgent operational necessity.
The Budget Barrier
Disney Imagineering is currently leaning heavily into a strategy of smart reinvestment. With billions of dollars already actively flowing into building Villains Land, Tropical Americas, and the Monsters, Inc. coaster, there is simply not enough capital remaining to greenlight a massive, ground-up overhaul of the Imagination Pavilion right now.
Instead, Imagineering is focusing its remaining resources on essential flagship updates—a strategy they just executed successfully with the Test Track update. Spaceship Earth perfectly fits this strategy, providing a highly marketable “new” experience within an existing footprint.
While a Figment reboot is universally desired, prepare yourselves for the reality of theme park budgets. When the executive team takes the stage this August, the biggest news for EPCOT will almost certainly involve thanking the Phoenicians.
