PHOTO REPORT: EPCOT 5/2/21 (Mother’s Day Treats, Self-Serve Beverages Return to Sunshine Seasons, “Creations Shop” Construction Progresses, and More)

Kevin Lake

Winnie the Pooh next to butterfly house

PHOTO REPORT: EPCOT 5/2/21 (Mother’s Day Treats, Self-Serve Beverages Return to Sunshine Seasons, “Creations Shop” Construction Progresses, and More)

Welcome to EPCOT on what was Walt Disney World’s hottest day so far in 2021, with a high temperature of 91 and humidity up to 93%. While not the most comfortable day in the parks in recent memory, there’s still quite a bit going on in and around EPCOT for us to check up on.

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The centerpiece of the park, Spaceship Earth, has slowly had more and more “Points of Light” added.

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Construction walls remain underneath the attraction and are expected to stay in place until late in the week, with Pin Traders Camera Center scheduled to reopen on Friday, May 7th.

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Moving on to the future home of “Creations Shop”, yellow underlayment has been covered up by another layer of material, signaling the continuing progression of the former Innoventions East building.

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Conversely, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind has been mostly stalled since blue sheathing was installed many weeks ago.

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At the nearby Mouse Gear, a few new tops appeared with a variety of interesting phrases and symbols replacing letters. The shirts are $29.99 while the tank top is, curiously, $5 more.

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We took a little detour to The Seas Pavilion to say hello to Lou and Lil’ Joe, two manatees who call The Seas home. They are both rescues, and part of one of the many interesting exhibits in the pavilion.

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Heading over to The Land Pavilion, we noticed that Sunshine Seasons has not only resumed selling fountain beverages—something which hasn’t happened since before the park closed in March of 2020—but is allowing guests to fill their own cups, a change which started rolling out a couple of weeks ago.

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At the Imagination Pavilion, ImageWorks is one of many shops to sell these new Pixar Pier billboard puzzles, but it’s the first time we’ve seen one out of the box and on display.

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Outside of the pavilion, topiaries are still looking good as we’re nearly two months into the Taste of EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival, which runs through July 5th.

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The flowers installed for the festival are in full bloom, bringing some much-needed color to the wall-filled park.

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The purple martins were extremely active today, adding their own bit of color—and sound—to the park.

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Heading back into World Showcase, we caught the Princess Promenade rolling through, and Belle looking as lovely as ever.

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The Mickey and Friends World Tour also passed by ahead of its scheduled end date of May 4th.

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On the Gran Fiesta Tour, our feathered friends are still flat, over three months after having their animatronics removed, which we wrote about a couple of days ago.

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The recently-announced Gelateria Toscana is looking close to completion, with the site looking fairly clean and only lacking some landscaping.

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Meanwhile, the restrooms in the Morocco Pavilion have been closed for about three and a half months. The buildings for Gelateria Toscana arrived via trucks only one week before the date the restrooms closed, a curious juxtaposition of projects which seem very different in their scale and complexity.

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On the World Showcase Lagoon, no testing was being performed on the “Harmonious” barges, but the center ring barge arms were vertical the entire day.

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We popped out to the EPCOT resort area to check on Disney’s Beach Club Resort, and we found that the entry refurbishment had been completed.

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We also found that two limited-time offerings were available for Mother’s Day, in the form of a red velvet cupcake and a raspberry mousse.

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Adding to the sweets are these Mickey ear ice cream cone ceramic jars, also found at Disney’s Beach Club Resort. Keep an eye out for our article for details!

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Back in EPCOT, Winnie the Pooh was searching for butterflies outside of the well-stocked butterfly house.

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As the sun was beginning to set, the “Points of Light” were illuminated, a function which they will handle once the lighting program debuts later this year.

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Finally, the entrance flags were also glowing, with a stiff breeze showing off their pavilion symbols.

Thank you for following along as we toured the international experiences of EPCOT. Be sure to check in to WDWNT.com regularly for all of the latest news and updates from the parks.