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More Detailed Look at Two Canceled EPCOT Projects- Including Marry Poppins
A recently published public portfolio of work by former Imagineer Damon Pressman has given a glimpse into two cancelled EPCOT projects.
First another look at Project Gama shows the beautification project for the former Innoventions Plaza with the garden-centric concept and the “Festival Center” in the background. The project currently under construction appears to have scaled back a large portion of the trees/gardens and replaced the Festival Center with a larger footprint to contain Communicore Hall, Communicore Plaza, and “Mickey & Friends”. Is the greenspace traded for additional concrete and structures worth the small dose of nostalgia in Communicore names? Guests may be able to make that determination later this year when the multi-year construction project is finally completed.
Next, Damon’s portfolio gives a detailed look at the cancelled Marry Poppins attraction for the UK pavilion. The detailed concept art shows the attraction was planned to be an indoor flat ride with a similar (if not the same) ride system as the Mad Tea Party.
The concept depicts Guests wandering through the rooms of the Banks house likely set in the period of Marry Poppins Returns. Once in the Nursery, Guests (for reasons likely in the film) are magically transported into the Royal Doulton Bowl sitting on the mantel and walk into the painted scene (similar to the Runaway Railway or Storytime with Belle pre-show effect). Once inside the painted porcelain scene, Guests are corralled and then choose and load into their own Royal Doulton Bowl for the spinner ride itself. Once complete, Guests exit back through what appears to be a small post-show area to leave the Banks residence.
While it was expected that the ride would be themed based on the sequel rather than the beloved original, the overall execution would have been interesting to see in practice. Would the "walk into another world" effect be played out in the eyes of the Guests after its 3rd use at Walt Disney World? Why are there many impractically large Royal Doulton Bowls inside of a painted countryside scene on a Royal Doulton Bowl? What would have been the musical score while Guests were spinning? ... It appears the world may never know ...
