This isn't the EPCOT you remember: Top Imagineer explains why the park 'will never be completed'

EPCOT has changed. Future World is gone. New neighborhoods are taking shape. And it's hard to envision what's next with construction walls obscuring one of the largest transformations in the Florida park's history. It's a lot for longtime EPCOT fans to take in.

Scott Mallwitz, executive creative director of Walt Disney Imagineering, gets it.

"We're EPCOT fans as well," he said. "I was here a couple of weeks after opening, first year, and had the opportunity to visit, and I was just blown away. Many years later, to be able to come back and lead a team thinking about how to set the park up for the next 30 years is just incredible."

He pulled back the curtain for USA TODAY on Disney Imagineers' plans for EPCOT's future and homage to its past. "You have to go back first, right?"

What is the best time to visit Disney World? Any time there's a festival at EPCOT

Roundup Rodeo BBQ review: Is Disney World's new Toy Story restaurant worth it?

EPCOT goes back to form

Walt Disney's vision for the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow was an actual city of progress, where people lived and worked and travelers visited, marveling at the possibilities of American ingenuity. EPCOT went in a different direction after Disney's passing, but Imagineers revisited his ideas for inspiration for the park's current transformation.

"What were they thinking? What challenges were presented? What weren't we able to do that was part of the original version?" Mallwitz asked.

If you look on the floor of Connections Café & Eatery, which opened last year, you can see some of that vision in renderings of concept art for Progress City.

"Those kinds of little tone pieces, little homages to our own history are also going to be reflected in this project moving forward in many different ways," Mallwitz said.

Easing the brutalist design

One thing guests can expect is more open spaces, like Walt Disney envisioned for the residents of EPCOT.

Guests may already notice a shift away from what Mallwitz referred to as "we need a big building, a big building, a big building" and the brutalist architecture that prevailed when the theme park was built.

"The problem with brutalism is that unless you introduce the art piece ... it just becomes a giant sculpture that you don't know how to relate to," he said. "I think that's what happened with some of our buildings over the years, and now we're going back and peeling back."

Imagineers are removing physical barriers and leaning into the park's "hyper, hyper symmetrical organization," another signature of Walt Disney's original plans. They've opened the line of sight from The Land all the way to Mission: Space and completely transformed what was originally CommuniCore East, then Innoventions East.

"The difference is striking, as you see, between what used to be Electric Umbrella and what is now Connections," Mallwitz said of the bright and open dining space. "It's the same building. It's just different materials, different applications, different sensibility."

What are the 4 new worlds at EPCOT?

Former Future World is now carved into three different neighborhoods: World Celebration, World Nature and World Discovery. World Showcase marks the fourth neighborhood.

"I think Future World was a concept that was difficult to understand. I think the only reason it became easier to discern is that it clearly wasn't World Showcase," Mallwitz said. "So it was time for us to think about it differently."

• World Celebration sits front and center, extending from EPCOT's main entrance north, belling out toward World Showcase.

• World Discovery sits to the east, incorporating Mission Space, Test Track and Guardians of the Galaxy, which opened last year.

• World Nature sits to the west, incorporating The Land, The Seas with Nemo and Friends, and the Journey of Water, Inspired by Moana, opening later this year.

Beyond common themes, neighborhood-specific graphics will tie areas together.

"World Nature leans into greens," Mallwitz said. "World Discovery leans into warm reds, and World Celebration leans into kind of an EPCOT blue, but really a different expression of that."

World Celebration

World Celebration will give EPCOT's festival programming space to "blow out their ideas, something they've never been able to do before," according to Mallwitz.

The neighborhood's new CommuniCore Plaza will feature a garden with seating and space for guests to enjoy entertainment from a covered performance stage, snacks from festival kiosks inside the plaza or simply, conversation.

"We can host something as small as a violin duet or a Burning Man installation," he said.

Adjacent CommuniCore Hall will offer roughly 8,000 feet of climate-controlled exhibit space for additional festival offerings that won't depend on Florida weather.

"What better place than in the front, right? " Mallwitz said. "On grade, accessible at all points, and then the space itself as well is subdividable in two, so we can actually have two different sets of programming happening at the same time. Oh, and by the way, that programming can then be broadcast to the external component, to the external courtyard, or shared in whatever format we'd like. ... Our opportunities shouldn't be limited by our facility, so let's let our facility help us get where we want to be."

The building itself will be embedded with LED paneling so "that we can change color, we can pulsate, we can reflect what's happening in there," Mallwitz said. "We can defer or lean into any programming that is happening on Spaceship Earth and kind of create that celebration, create that connection."

Two other World Celebration areas of note are Mickey & Friends, a permanent location where guests can meet Mickey Mouse and his pals, and Dreamer's Point, which will feature a new statue of Walt Disney.

World Nature

World Nature will invite guests to celebrate the Earth and think about their relationship to it.

"These great pavilions, Land and Seas, tell that story and can continue to tell that story in the next 30, 40, 50 years," Mallwitz said. "The addition of a wonderful, interactive experience like Journey of Water even deepens that, enriches that."

The self-guided outdoor trail will teach guests about the importance of water while they playfully interact with it, like Moana.

"Its relationship to the Seas pavilion, I can't wait for people to see that," Mallwitz added. "It's hard to see now, but it's really kind of locking in this whole idea about stewardship and connectivity with the planet that we live on and share with everybody."

World Discovery

World Discovery leans into EPCOT's original themes of innovation and ingenuity, with the added ingredient of adrenaline. All three of its attractions get guests' hearts pumping.

"Let's energize ourselves about innovation and ingenuity and exploration," Mallwitz said. "Get all that energy over there."

For now, the newest attraction is Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. Disney is reevaluating the concept of its previously announced PLAY! pavilion, which had been eyed for the former Wonders of Life site.

Looking ahead

Walt Disney said EPCOT "will never be completed" but "will always be in a state of becoming." Even though its incarnation as a theme park wasn't quite what he imagined, he was right.

Imagineers went into this current transformation thinking about how guests will interact with the park for decades to come.

"They know that guests will continue to change, our behavior will continue to change, the way we interact with our parks, but also our personal devices will continue to change," Mallwitz said. "How can we set the groundwork for continued evolution, but also keep it focused on our EPCOT messaging?"

That's what they're working on behind those construction walls.

More like this

Disneyland's Splash Mountain will close in May: What to know now

Disney World's new TRON ride is unlike anything we've experienced: That's what worries some fans

'That is me': See how Disney World, Disneyland made 'it's a small world' more inclusive

This man visited Disneyland every day for more than 8 years: His tips for your trip

Here for the snacks: You don't need a park ticket to try these 10 iconic Disney World treats

Disneyland vs. Disney World: What is the difference? How to choose.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Disney Imagineer explains what they are building at EPCOT in 2023