A new portfolio from a former Imagineer discovered this week revealed yet-unseen details about the as-of-yet “postponed” attraction based on “Mary Poppins” announced at D23 Expo 2019 for the United Kingdom Pavilion at EPCOT, including what kind of ride was set for the spot.
A portfolio shared by former Imagineer Damon Pressman showed off the yet-unseen art and layout. One piece of art showed guests spinning around indoors in teacups amid an English countryside background similar to the “Royal Doulton Bowl” sequence from the “Mary Poppins Returns” film. We also saw previously-seen art for the exterior Cherry Tree Lane area and the poster first revealed at D23 Expo 2019.
Most critically, we got a look at the layout for the ride, which would have an interior queue through the lower level of the Banks family home at Number 17 Cherry Tree Lane, featuring a preshow similar to Enchanted Tales with Belle at the Magic Kingdom. In that preshow, guests would watch the fireplace come to life before coming into the English countryside from the “Jolly Holiday” sequence. The ride itself featured six teacups on three smaller spin platforms. Flats of trees and bushes would anchor the corners of the ride experience.
WDWNT first reported on rumors of a Mary Poppins spinner flat ride in August 2018, just under a year before its announcement at D23 Expo 2019. The project was one of many victims of the COVID-19 pandemic cuts which struck projects across EPCOT including the ill-fated Festival Center and PLAY! Pavilion. Just days after Walt Disney World reopened from the unprecedented four-month pandemic closure in July 2020, Disney issued a statement confirming the postponement of the Spaceship Earth reimagining and this Mary Poppins attraction. They also removed both from The EPCOT Experience, which was a showcase of the park’s future.
Just last year during the Annual Shareholder Meeting, former Disney CEO Bob Chapek confirmed that the ride was still on hold, not cancelled, expressed his disappointment that the projects had to be put on hold, and vowed that as their cash situation becomes a bit more robust in terms of liquidity, Disney looked forward to restoring funding to those projects. He also noted that the “Mary Poppins” attraction was one of his favorite projects. No opening date had ever been given for the project prior to its postponement.
With Chapek out as CEO of The Walt Disney Company, it’s as possible as not that this “Mary Poppins” spinner ride could still come to fruition in EPCOT, but the project is still seemingly up in the air at this point, with no construction preparation spotted behind the United Kingdom Pavilion even as Walt Disney World officially sheds the last of its pandemic-era measures and closures.
What do you think? Will we ever see a “Mary Poppins” spinner ride come to EPCOT now that the pandemic has come to an end? Let us know in the comments below!
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Wow, talk about an underwhelming ride, and one that has almost nothing significant to do with its source. Imagineering clearly went off the rails if they thought this was the way to use Mary Poppins in the parks.
Don’t need an indoor teacup ride when this concept already exists in the Magic Kingdom with Alice in Wonderland
Oh good, artwork about another attraction we won’t get at WDW.
So this new ride would be a spin off of a ride that opened at Disneyland almost 68 years ago!?
Honestly, I would prefer a carousel. It might be a bit more boring, but it seems more “Mary Poppins” to me. Of course, anything is better than nothing. Indoors could have been a fun touch, although, I’d argue it’s not necessary either as long as there’s a cover for rain, especially in EPCOT which has almost no outdoor attractions.
This is not an E-Ticket, so it’s funny to me that they’d cut it. All of the parks, even MK, could use more A-C ticket attractions, I think. I’d love to see each park with attraction counts similar to parks at the Disneyland Resort.
Things like this shouldn’t require a tremendous investment to get rolling again. Hopefully, they will explore the idea again.
Any park ride or event that includes Mary Poppins is greatly welcome. Are you listening, Disney World? (Including more fine art.)
What does this accomplish? There are already better spinner rides at WDW? This ride has very little capacity. And I can’t imagine that any family is planning a vacation around a new teacup spinner?
No thanks, I’d rather they do nothing than put in a stupid indoor spinner ride.
NOOOOOOOO I HATE TEACUP SPINNER RIDES
Thank god they didn’t go ahead with this pointless attraction. Nice to have one or two of these styles of rides in the parks but can’t we see a little bit more investment in rides rather than slapping the same old ride vehicles in with yet another overlay. Surely Disney can come up with something a little more original……..maybe sort out some of the shockingly bad rides still in existence…..imagination for one. Gut the building, both floors and give us an imagination ride we deserve…..or just rename it more appropriately……lack of imagination.
Personally, I would love to see a Mary Poppins ride at EPCOT similar to Peter Pan at MK. That is, a quintessential dark ride where you “fly” along with Mary Poppins in different scenes. Tea cups just don’t do it for me!
It looks like a great ride for the little ones and helps fill in that corner of the park really well. Hopefully this can roll out in the next few years.
Though personally, I am a little disappointed that it’s another teacup ride. If they changed the ride vehicle to carousel horses and had them slowly bounce through the track layout, then it would certainly have had more of a wow factor for me.
That’s just my armchair imagineering though. This is still a really wonderful addition to add to the park if they want to finally cut the check.
If that’s their idea, then just let it die.