Welcome back to Walt Disney World for another exciting Sunday in the parks! We’ll be starting our day at EPCOT and later moving on to Disney’s Animal Kingdom as we find new characters, new barges, a new drink, and more. Let’s check it all out.

At the entrance to EPCOT, we always appreciate the recent addition of flags — especially when it’s breezy out.

Underneath Spaceship Earth, the most recent portion of pavement work has been completed, and we await new walls going up tomorrow morning and the temporary closure of Pin Trading Headquarters.

Around the back of Spaceship Earth, a significant overflow queue is set up in anticipation of long lines. This effort comes after the Spring Break crowds visited over the past few weeks.

Up top, we’ve got dozens of “Points of Light” installed, a respectable start to what will eventually be hundreds upon hundreds of lighting elements.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind has been undergoing construction work, though at a tortoise’s pace as of late.

If Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is the tortoise, Creations Shop and Club Cool are the hares. Work has been progressing far more productively, reflecting the intention of actually completing the project this year, unlike others on property. The project is set to be ready for guests this summer, but we’ll keep an eye on it.

Out on World Showcase Lagoon, new fireworks barges were added alongside the five permanent “Harmonious” barges already installed.

Circling back to the Italy Pavilion, we took a moment to appreciate the detail present within the area.

Along the water, work continues on some small repairs to one of the bridges.

At La Gelateria, there hasn’t been much advancement since our update last week, but hopefully, the remaining groundwork will be completed soon so that at least one small set of walls can come down at EPCOT.

As we progressed further, we caught the Princess Promenade passing through, and Mary Poppins appearing in the U.K. Pavilion.

Inside World Showplace, fan-favorite performer Carol “The Piano Lady” Stein was performing.

We found a new strawberry-basil cocktail at the Farmers Feast festival kitchen, which has replaced the blood orange beet cocktail. Farmers Feast has a seasonal menu, and these ‘extra’ cocktails have rotated in a similar fashion.

Moving along to Disney’s Animal Kingdom, the park has geared up for its Earth Day Celebration.

Once addition as part of that celebration is Koda and Kenai of “Brother Bear” appearing on their very own flotilla.

Back at Rafiki’s Planet Watch, Russell from “Up” has also been added to the park’s lineup of characters. As compared to the three other Walt Disney World parks, Disney’s Animal Kingdom has the least amount of distanced meet-and-greets, so the addition of Russell making an appearance is appreciated!

The park did have plenty of new pins, though, which included new Expedition Everest pins.

A limited release Earth Day 2021 Te Fiti pin has been released as well. Keep an eye on WDWNT for details on where to find this commemorative pin!

Expedition Everest also scared up a new pair of Yeti socks, joining other new merchandise which arrived alongside the attraction’s 15th anniversary.

Finally, on our way out of the park, we took a few minutes to say hello to Annie Anteater and Rebecca the Male Black Swan, two of our favorite Disney’s Animal Kingdom residents.

Thanks for joining us on our weekend adventures around Walt Disney World. To be the first to know about the latest news and update from the parks, be sure to download WDWNT: The App to your phone to be alerted when breaking news happens.