Happy Friday, everybody! Can you believe you’ve almost made it through your first week back to work or school since the holidays ended? Neither can we!

Greetings from Epcot!

To pat ourselves on the back, let’s take a walk through one of our favorite Disney World parks and see What’s New in Epcot! The holiday crowds have filtered out and Epcot is returning to business-as-usual this week — just like the rest of us! Let’s see what construction, food, and merchandise updates we can spot on our trek today!

Construction Update in Epcot

Entrance and Parking

Riding the monorail into Epcot, we had a good aerial-perspective of some of the construction happening in and around the park today. As much as we don’t enjoy looking at construction walls and scrim, they sure are effective at covering up all the work these guys are doing when we’re at eye-level!

Epcot Parking

We saw lots of heavy equipment digging and moving dirt around in the parking lot area as we pulled into Epcot!

Epcot Parking

Speaking of Epcot’s entrance, our eagle eyes saw some of what’s been going on behind those construction walls too!

Epcot Entrance

Plus, look at how heavily fortified those temporary walls are! So many cinderblocks!

Epcot Entrance

Find out more about the Epcot transformation here!

Future World

Epcot’s entrance and parking lot aren’t the only spots transforming! Check out the current view of Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind! It’s kind of crazy that ALL of this can be seen from the monorail, don’t ya think?!

Guardians of the Galaxy Construction

The former entrance to Ellen’s Universe of Energy is barely recognizable now that the solar panels have been removed! The coloring of the building has also changed, now that the details are bronze.

Guardians of the Galaxy Construction

It also looks like work is being done on the new sidewalk. While the design isn’t as cool as we had imagined it would be, we’re eager to see the finished product.

Guardians Construction

We’re excited to see that they are hard at work on this HUGE new attraction, which isn’t projected to be completed until 2021!

Guardians of the Galaxy Construction

We can’t wait to ride it then! And we’re still waiting on news regarding Space 220 Restaurant — no word yet on when we’ll be dining among the stars, but we’ll let you know as soon as we hear anything!

Read more about Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind coming to Epcot in 2021 here!

Needless to say, Future World is the most impacted by all the construction occurring throughout Epcot. Recently, we’ve seen Mouse Gear move to a new temporary location, as well as relocations for Epcot’s Starbucks and character meet-and-greets. Electric Umbrella will also be closing soon, likely for good. And as of this week, Cool Wash is also now cut off by a construction wall.

Cool Wash

See where the new Epcot character meet-and-greet locations currently are here!

Meanwhile, Epcot is gearing up for Awesome Planet’s big debut next week! The new film is starting on January 17th! We saw this sign at the entrance of The Land listing all the various attractions the pavilion now holds.

Awesome Planet Signage

Find out more about Awesome Planet here!

And Awesome Planet was really looking awesome today! Not only will Awesome Planet be debuting next week, but so is Canada Far and Wide, the Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along and Epcot’s 2020 Internation Festival of the Arts! We, of course, can’t wait for it all to BEGIN next Friday!

Awesome Planet

And check this out — Awesome Planet has a digital wait time sign so you’ll know when the next show is starting! Very handy!

Awesome Planet Wait Time Sign

See which other attractions are coming soon to Disney World here!

World Showcase

We headed over to the France pavilion’s Palais du Cinema next to see how preparations for the Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along were coming along.

Palais du Cinema at the France Pavilion

They too have installed a digital wait time sign so you’ll know if you have enough time to duck into L’Artisan des Glaces of Les Halles for a quick snack beforehand! We hope you’ll enjoy the new sing-along which is a retelling of the classic tale, but with a twist!

Palais du Cinema Wait Time Sign

Read about the twist to the Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along here!

We can tell its almost Festival of the Arts time because festival booths have started going up around the World Showcase! Festival of the Arts is one of our favorite festivals to shop for unique pieces of art for our sweet Disney abodes!

Festival of the Arts Booths

See the complete list of this year’s Festival of the Arts food booths and menus HERE!

And we also love to watch the free nightly Disney on Broadway performances at the American Adventure pavilion. The theater has put up this year’s entertainers which you can learn more about here!

Disney on Broadway

Find out who’s performing at Disney on Broadway this year HERE!

Regal Eagle Smokehouse

While Regal Eagle Smokehouse’s menu was finally released this week, construction on the bbq joint is still underway!

Regal Eagle Construction

Check out the new Regal Eagle Smokehouse menu here!

Work does seem to be progressing, so hopefully, we’ll be feasting on pork ribs and banana pudding any day now!

Regal Eagle Construction

And did you know Sam Eagle from The Muppets fam will be hosting an annual cook-off at Regal Eagle? As if we couldn’t be any more excited then we already are!

Regal Eagle Construction

Disney also revealed the ENTIRE Regal Eagle menu this week! See what BBQ they’ll be serving here! 

Food Update in Epcot

L’Artisan des Glaces

Now that Epcot’s Festival of the Holidays has ended, Christmas treats have left and new seasonal flavors are returning! We were super-excited to see one of our favorite snacks return to L’Artisan des Glaces today!

L’Artisan des Glaces Menu Board

Their delicious Strawberries and Cream Macaron Ice Cream Sandwich is BACK!

Strawberries and Cream Macaron Ice Cream Sandwiches

Read our review of the Strawberries and Cream Macaron Ice Cream Sandwich here!

Merchandise Update in Epcot

Mission: SPACE Cargo Bay

At Mission: SPACE Cargo Bay, we spotted this adorable Astronaut Mickey Plush for $21.99. Isn’t he just the cutest?

Astronaut Mickey

We love how his little ears poke out of his space helmet. Not sure how sound the science is behind Mickey’s spacesuit, but its style is right on point!

Astronaut Mickey

The Fjording

At The Fjording in the Norway pavilion, we spotted our favorite ice guy and reindeer duo on this Sven and Kristoff Phone for $29.99!

Sven and Kristoff Phone Case

The Toy Soldier

Lastly, we saw this new UK Spirit Jersey at The Toy Soldier in the UK pavilion for $64.99!

UK Spirit Jersey

It’s got Mickey’s silhouette on the front with the Union Jack flag and “Epcot World Showcase” below it…

UK Spirit Jersey

…while the back has a big Union Jack flag and “United Kingdom” in large white block letters!

UK Spirit Jersey

Well, folks! That’s all for this installment of What’s New in Epcot — until next time! We’ll be back soon with more updates and we’ll be covering the new attraction openings and Festival of the Arts when they kick off a week from today! Until then, make sure you subscribe to our newsletter for the most up-to-date Disney World info!

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Are you heading to Festival of the Arts this year? Which Epcot festival is your favorite? Cast your vote in the comments section!