Concept drawing of the new Epcot, showing the four neighborhoods A lot of great things are on the way for Epcot. The entire front of the park is being reimagined. Once finished, Epcot will no longer house Future World and World Showcase. Instead, it will be four world-themed “neighborhoods”. The concept drawings look fantastic. Unfortunately, in order for new things to come, other things have to close. That is the sad part of change.
The drained Fountain of Nations For me, the hardest thing to say goodbye to was The Fountain of Nations. I loved it when the water would “dance” to the music. It was especially beautiful at night. I won’t lie, when I saw the fountain drained a couple of days ago, I felt it in my heart. The Fountain of Nations contained water from 25 global bodies of water, and it represented 29 nations. (You can learn more here, it’s an interesting read.) I hope that the water has been saved somewhere, and that it will become part of the reimagined Epcot.
The building that housed Club Cool, along with Fountain View and a few other things The other closure that hit me hard was Club Cool. My daughter and I made sure that we made it for one final time a couple of days before it closed, and I finally tried Beverly. (My excuse always was that I don’t like carbonation.) Club Cool was a fun extra. It was a great place for a quick pick me up on a hot day. I won’t miss the people who would stand in front of a machine, not wanting to let anyone else near it. Unfortunately, those same people will now be saving seats at the America Gardens Theater, or holding spots in line at Test Track. They won’t go away, they’ll just be somewhere else.
The Fountain of Nations at night during the 2018 Christmas season I do realize that change is (usually) good in the theme park industry, and that it’s necessary. If it weren’t for the Streets of America and Backlot Tour closing, we wouldn’t have Galaxy’s Edge or Toy Story Land. If we still had Camp Minnie-Mickey, we wouldn’t have Pandora. Mickey also had to move at the Magic Kingdom to make way for Storybook Circus and the Enchanted Forest. (Mickey always seems to have to move, he’s done it at the other two parks as well!) In the grand scheme of things, the closure of a free soda place and a fountain shutting down are a small price to pay, considering all that is on the way. That doesn’t make it any less sad.