Things are changing in a BIG way at EPCOT — but there’s one particular new area you might not know that much about.

Sure, you’ve heard about the new fireworks show coming to the park by the end of the year, the Figment meet-and-greet you can expect to find this summer, and Journey of Water — Inspired by Moana. But what about CommuniCore Hall?! What exactly is this new area that is being built and what will it look like? We’ve got EVERYTHING you need to know right here!

What IS CommuniCore Hall?

CommuniCore Hall is a NEW area that’ll bring EPCOT’s many festivals to the “center of Walt Disney World,” according to Disney. Essentially, it’ll be the “home base” for EPCOT’s festivals and live events and will serve as sort of a “hub” for Festival activity toward the front of the park.

Where Will CommuniCore Hall Be?

CommuniCore Hall will be located in World Celebration (a.k.a. toward the front of EPCOT). In the concept art below, you can see the back of Spaceship Earth in the front. Then, there are gardens in front of that. To the right are the buildings that house Connections Cafe, Connections Eatery, Club Cool, and Creations Shop. To the left, you can see the future home of CommuniCore Hall as well as some other spaces related to the changes being made in EPCOT — more on that in a second.

CommuniCore Hall versus the Old “Festival Pavilion”

If you’ve been following the EPCOT Transformation closely, you may remember Disney previously announcing and sharing concept art/models of a “Festival Pavilion” that was set to come to the World Celebration area. That pavilion was going to be the “home base” for EPCOT’s festivals and live events and would have featured a plaza level, middle expo level, and park in the sky on the top level, with views of the fireworks.

Eventually, we got some signs that indicated the potential end of this Festival Pavilion, including a change in some press release language from a Festival “pavilion” to a Festival “area.”

While Disney hasn’t explicitly confirmed this in so many words, it seems CommuniCore Hall is essentially the NEW version of what this Festival Pavilion/area was supposed to be. It’ll still serve as the hub for EPCOT Festival activity, but won’t have that 3-story structure, won’t have a park level on the top, and will have a variety of different things when compared to the old Festival Pavilion. Despite these changes, it seems the general purpose of that festival building — to serve as a home base for EPCOT Festival fun outside of World Showcase — will be captured by CommuniCore Hall.

What Will We Find INSIDE CommuniCore Hall?

CommuniCore Hall is set to have some seriously exciting stuff! As many of you likely already know, EPCOT hosts 4 festivals throughout the year: the EPCOT International Festival of the Arts, the EPCOT International Flower and Garden Festival, the EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival, and the EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays.

CommuniCore Hall will play an integral part in these events. You can get another view of it and just where it’ll be situated in the concept art below — it’s the building to the right-hand side, behind Journey of Water.

CommuniCore Hall will technically be housed within something called CommuniCore Plaza (more on that below), and will be the first fully-purpose built structure in Festival programming!

It’ll be designed with flexibility in mind and will be able to host a wide variety of experiences with food, art, live music, and more. Inside CommuniCore Hall, we’ll all be able to find a demonstration kitchen, a mixology bar, and exhibition and gallery space. The hall should also help extend the festival experience and give chefs new ways to connect and experiment.

It reminds us a lot of how the Wonders of Life Pavilion (currently set to become the PLAY! Pavilion) used to be utilized for EPCOT Festivals, housing merchandise, demonstration kitchens, and other Festival-related events. The big difference here is that while the Wonders of Life pavilion was sort of retrofitted for these festival events, CommuniCore Hall is specifically being built with these purposes in mind. That means it likely will have a much smoother flow, more unique aspects, and a better way of displaying all the Festival fun.

According to Disney, “CommuniCore Hall will also be the home of a dynamic exhibition space that will transform with each festival throughout the year.” Below you can see some concept art released for what one “possibility” would be for the use of this exhibition space during the Festival of Arts.

It looks like an exhibition themed to the Festival of the Arts could feature all kinds of unique paintings, a colorful Figment statue, an Inside Out display (perhaps with some interactive elements), and plenty of other spots for folks to take selfies (like near that Steamboat Willie statue that features an explosion of colors).

Looks like there could be plenty of details on the ceiling to look for too, like those colorful birds, and even a display in the back that seems to feature the fish and sharks from Finding Nemo. It looks like an ever-changing art gallery with potentially interactive elements that could draw the whole family in.

While this is the concept art that has been shared for the Festival of the Arts possibility, since the Exhibition Space will transform with each festival, it could look VERY different throughout the year. That’ll give families an exciting reason to return to this spot over and over again.

In terms of the building design itself, Disney explains, “Playing with light, shapes and reflections, the architecture of this building was designed by Walt Disney Imagineering to celebrate the legacy of EPCOT and the original CommuniCore buildings.”

From what we can see in the concept art, it looks like CommuniCore Hall will carry on some of those signature shapes from Spaceship Earth with a more colorful scheme. We can’t wait to see what it’ll look like back there when Spaceship Earth’s nighttime light effect is going on and the whole place just radiates with beautiful colors.

The concept art seems to show CommuniCore Hall as one central building, with an outdoor area toward the end (closer to World Showcase). That outdoor area will actually be home to some entertainment, but we’ll get to that in a second.

While CommuniCore Hall will be heavily utilized for EPCOT’s Festivals, something ELSE will also be housed here. Throughout the year, CommuniCore Hall will be the location of a NEW Mickey & Friends meet-and-greet! It looks like this will be located toward the outskirts of the building, by the more outdoor entertainment space.

Previously, EPCOT’s Future World had a meet-and-greet space called the Character Spot, which featured Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy. Disney hasn’t confirmed who will be featured in this new space but we can’t wait to find out.

And so that’s the basics of CommuniCore Hall, but there are a few other things you should know.

When Will CommuniCore Hall Open?

All of the work in World Celebration is set to be FINISHED by late 2023. That should include things like CommuniCore Hall, the Mickey Meet-and-Greet, and more. Disney hasn’t given a more specific ending timeline.

What’s the Status of CommuniCore Hall Right Now?

If you take a hop on the EPCOT Monorail, you’ll get a great view of all the CommuniCore Hall construction happening right now.

We’ve seen quite a bit of work happening here with a decently sized building taking shape that we expect could become the future home of CommuniCore Hall. But, it’s still a ways away from being complete.

Still, it’s exciting to watch its progress as things really start to come together.

Look for more construction updates about this project on our What’s New at EPCOT page.

What Other Areas Are Coming to World Celebration Near/Associated With CommuniCore Hall?

As we noted above, CommuniCore Hall is technically located within CommuniCore Plaza. The areas in the Plaza beyond CommuniCore Hall are meant to provide an outdoor space where guests can come to relax and experience all that the Festivals have to offer.

One of the main spaces appears to be attached to the end of one side of CommuniCore Hall. There, you’ll find a space that can host large-scale concerts or an intimate performance that extends out into the gardens nearby.

Concert Series held throughout the year currently include the Disney on Broadway Concert Series (for the EPCOT Festival of the Arts), the Garden Rocks Concert Series (for the EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival), the Eat to the Beat Concert Series (for the EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival), and the Candlelight Processional (for the EPCOT Festival of the Holidays). Those are currently held at the America Gardens Theatre in the American Adventure Pavilion, so we’ll have to see just what shifts over to this new space when it opens.

We can see a bit more of the stage area in the concept art below, along with some green spaces for guests to sit/stand while listening to those tunes.

World Celebration will also soon be divided into several different gardens. In the center will be a planter based on the five-ring EPCOT logo. The gardens will also evolve with the seasons! They’ll offer plenty of shade and seating for guests, and each one will have its own identity, with the ability to change to go along with the Festivals throughout the year.

Disney has shared that at night, the gardens will “take on a whole new life,” where lighting will immerse guests in an evening experience that will also change through the seasons. And based on the images shared, it looks like those beloved illuminated floor tiles from the old Future World will be returning in a new way.

And that’s a look at CommuniCore Plaza, the World Celebration gardens, and CommuniCore Hall — some of the NEWEST spaces that’ll be coming to EPCOT soon. Again, work on these is still progressing and we’ve got a ways to go before the end of 2023 arrives, but we can’t wait to see what these spaces will look like.

Before you plan your next trip to Disney World, check out our DFB Guide Everything Bundle here. You will get ALL of our best-selling eBooks with details on Disney World Dining, EPCOT Festivals, the BEST snacks in each park, and soooooo many tips and tricks we’ve learned over decades of visiting our happy place. 

And stay tuned for more Disney news!

What do you think about CommuniCore Hall? Tell us in the comments!