The Mary Poppins Attraction is On Hold But Not Canceled in Epcot’s UK Pavilion

One of the more exciting new projects planned for Disney World is the all-new Cherry Tree Land neighborhood that is coming to the UK pavilion in EPCOT, and with it a Mary Poppins attraction. Unfortunately, it looks like this project could be canceled or at least delayed for a long time…

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(UPDATE 3/30/23) – A new portfolio from a former Disney Imagineer has recently surfaced which revealed the concept art for the previously announced Mary Poppins attraction for EPCOT, and it’s a spinner tea cup-style ride. Scroll down to see what it looks like.

We know that the Mary Poppins project for EPCOT was announced at the most recent D23 Expo, but due to the park closures and big budget cuts throughout Walt Disney World, it looked like it might not be happening at all at this point.

After comments from former Disney CEO Bob Chapek at a Walt Disney Company Shareholder Meeting, we learned that may not be the case, and there may be hope yet. However, we still haven’t heard from Bob Iger on the matter now that he’s back as CEO. Nevertheless, here was what Chapek said about it.

Chapek confirmed the project was on hold but assured listeners that it has not been definitively canceled and that Disney is still planning on moving forward with the project eventually, as well as others it was forced to put on hold.

Chapek cited the pandemic and budget cuts as the reasons the Mary Poppins project was put on hold. Interestingly, Chapek also mentioned that he is very disappointed this and other projects had to be put on hold and that the Mary Poppins attraction is one of the projects he was most looking forward to.

He continued saying that as soon as there is more funding available for these projects, they would move forward. Whether Iger agrees with that is yet to be seen.

In any case, this was a pretty surprising turn of events as Disney fans had all but given up hope of ever seeing Mary Poppins in EPCOT. Now while we will have to wait a long time, things don’t look quite so bleak.

We were extremely excited about the project when it was announced but realized there would be problems as soon as Disney updated the EPOCT Experience video in the Odyssey Pavilion. If you haven’t seen the video, it takes you on a visual tour of all the new EPCOT projects Disney is working on for the renovation of the park.

Originally, in the video before the closure, there was a specific scene dedicated to the Mary Poppins area of the U.K. pavilion. You saw Mary flying down on her umbrella and leaves scattering about as she lands. Even the buildings of the U.K. in the model have umbrellas, signifying the presence of Mary Poppins.

Unfortunately, Disney has updated that video and it no longer includes the Mary Poppins scene, nor the Spaceship Earth refurbishment either.

Disney has since given an official statement on the Mary Poppins project and Spaceship Earth:

“As with most businesses during this period, we are further evaluating long-term project plans. The decision was made to postpone the development of the “Mary Poppins”-inspired attraction and Spaceship Earth at this time.”

We learned a couple of years ago from former Disney CEO Bob Chapek that Disney would be making some big budget cuts on projects in the near future. In fact, in our post about the upcoming projects most likely to get cut after that announcement, we included the Mary Poppins attraction.

At this time, Disney has to concentrate on finishing the projects that are well underway and almost complete. Since they have faced liquidity problems and significantly lower revenue over the past couple of years, priorities must be followed. Since the Mary Poppins project hasn’t even broken ground yet, this was an easy choice for Disney executives to make.

What Type of Attraction Will It Be?

Now that Disney exceutives confirmed the attraction will likely get built (eventually), what will it be like?

Rumors about this attraction go way back and range from anything from a spinner ride to a dark ride. From the way things were said at the D23 Expo, it sounded like this was going to be a dark ride. Bob Chapek said you would step inside the Banks’ house where your journey begins, so that sounded like a dark ride to me.

However, thanks to the former concept art that was recently released, it’s not a dark ride, but a spinner ride, much like the Mad Tea Party in the Magic Kingdom, only with some form of preshow before riding.

At one point it was also rumored that it could be a walkthrough attraction or a dark ride, but after it was put on hold and with money being the main issue, it’s unlikely we’ll get anything more advanced than the spinner ride that was planned.

Mary Poppins EPCOT Project Details

Before this announcement, what did we even know about the Mary Poppins project? Well, we really didn’t even have a confirmed attraction type, so knowing that it was a spinner/tea cups ride is a big step.

As described by Disney, guests will wander down the new Cherry Tree Land, the neighborhood from the Mary Poppins film franchise, and step in time right over to number 17, the address of the Banks family residence.

This new neighborhood looks gorgeous and is complete with all the details you would expect in such an area, including Admiral Boom’s house. Guests would walk into the Banks’ house where there would be a preshow in the study involving the fireplace coming to life. Think of something similar to Enchanted Tales with Belle in the Magic Kingdom.

After that, guests would ride the spinner attraction in the middle of the “Jolly Holiday” sequence from the Mary Poppins film. It’s done in a cartoon/2D style like in the movie.

In the concept art, there are 3 spin platforms, each holding 6 tea cups, for a total of 18 per ride.

Here is a look at some concept art for the ride:

If you look on the right side you can see the entrance into the Banks’ home, then the preshow room above that. Once it’s finished, guests would move into a waiting area before getting on the ride in the Jolly Holiday scene.

Here is some concert art of families enjoying the spinner ride.

Honestly, we’re pretty disappointed to know that it was only a spinner ride that Disney had planned. We really think a dark ride would have been a much better addition, or something more creative. This feels like a cheap way out.

If that’s what was planned, quite frankly, we are glad it got canceled. The only way we’d like to see Mary Poppins come to EPCOT is if this is taken back to the drawing board and cooperate signs off on something a bit more interesting.

When Could It Open Now?

After this most recent update and seeing the originally planned concept art for the attraction, where does this leave us? When do we think it could open now? Really, that’s totally up in the air at this point.

A Mary Poppins attraction has been floated around for some time now but it didn’t even look like Disney was considering building it after Mary Poppins Returns didn’t do as well as the company had hoped at the box office. Apparently, it did enough business, and the Mary Poppins character and the franchise is beloved enough that Disney at least felt at one time it would be a welcome addition to EPCOT’s transformation project.

As we know, Chapek was hopeful to bring the attraction back and that was positive news at the time, knowing that the Disney brass wanted to see this attraction get done and that it would likely find a home in EPCOT.

However, current CEO Bob Iger has made some big changes since taking over as CEO once again, and is in the middle of completely restructuring the company. Along with that means more tightening of the purse strings, and we haven’t seen any new attractions get announced yet.

I would imagine it will take some time for Iger to get the Mouse House in order, and only then will they start moving forward with any potential new attractions. We know that there is a potential expansion coming to the Magic Kingdom, and Dinoland is being replaced in the Animal Kingdom, but we haven’t gotten confirmation yet that either one will be moving forward any time soon.

Even before it was put on hold, we had no idea about when the Mary Poppins was scheduled to come to EPCOT. No details about the name of the attraction or the opening date were given, but it was clear that the project was still a couple of years away.

Now with this latest setback that becomes even further down the road.

We have no insider info on the project, but according to Disney’s statement, the Mary Poppins attraction is postponed for the time being with no specific intentions to build it right now.

Disney used the word “postpone,” but looking at their history of past similar projects, it’s hard to say what that means. Most of the time Disney doesn’t just come out and say a project is canceled. First, it’s postponed, and depending on the circumstances, it’s either picked up again or left on the Disney drawing board.

Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean we will never see Mary Poppins in EPCOT. Disney seems to still be somewhat enthusiastic about the project, and unless Iger totally disagrees with putting something Mary Poppins-themed in EPCOT, the UK pavilion will likely get a new addition someday.

One reason is that Disney has been making a big push for more characters to come to EPCOT in recent years, and despite the economic hardship the company is currently facing, we still think this will be very much their goal moving forward.

The only thing now is whether will it be a spinner ride as originally planned, or something different. Personally, I’m skeptical we will get anything better than a spinner ride. If Disney already canceled a low-budget attraction like this, it’s not likely they will end up spending more money than that on something better in the future.

As they always say, no idea ever really dies at Disney Imagineering. It will probably get put on the shelf for 3-4 years until the time is right and then move forward either in the way Disney already had in mind or with some modifications to the project.

As soon as we hear anything else from Disney or other rumors about the project we’ll let you know.

To hear about some of the other projects coming to Walt Disney World, read our post on the Upcoming and New Disney World Attractions, where we go over everything coming to the parks in the next few years.

Your Thoughts

I want to know what you think about a Mary Poppins attraction on hold in EPCOT…

• Are you happy about this decision?
• What type of ride should it be?

Let us know in the comments section below!

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