The PLAY Pavilion flag at EPCOT’s entrance plaza has been removed from its spot among the other pavilion banners displayed in front of Spaceship Earth and has been replaced with a standard EPCOT logo flag.

PLAY Pavilion Flag

On February 21, 2019, Disney announced that the ongoing evolution of Epcot included plans for a PLAY Pavilion “that’ll be unlike anything you’ve ever seen at the park.” This new space was supposed to be devoted to playful fun and feature an innovative city that would come to life under the dome of the unnamed pavilion previously known as Wonders of Life.

The pavilion’s city would be bursting with interactive experiences, your favorite Disney characters, hands-on activities, and engaging entertainment when it was set to open just in time for the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney World Resort.

Fast forward to 2022, and a good portion of the project remained in limbo or had been canceled, including a second phase of announcements, which were anticipated to be made public.

The originally envisioned festival pavilion was canceled, and Disney remained quiet,  publicly ignoring the existence of the PLAY Pavilion.

That silence would remain through the D23 Expo 2022, and it did, with no mention of the existence of the project from executives or Imagineers. Weeks after D23, the pavilion was mentioned on the EPCOT 40 map given to guests, and its pavilion logo even featured on EPCOT 40 merchandise. Despite all of this, sources in the company indicated, at that time, that executives had “officially” canceled the project during a retreat to Walt Disney World.

All this time, the PLAY Pavilion flag was still being flown, along with the collection of flags that line EPCOT’s entrance that highlight the park’s various pavilions, until now.

The PLAY Pavilion flag at EPCOT’s entrance plaza has now been removed from its spot among the other pavilion flags in front of Spaceship Earth and has now been replaced with a standard EPCOT logo flag.

D23 Expo is only two months away, and the timing of the flag swap could indicate there are new plans in store for the pavilion or just the removal of the last remnants of the PLAY Pavilion.

D23 will run from August 14 through 16 in Anaheim, California.

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