The expanded Future World East walkway is nearly complete at Epcot, with just a planter separating the first section to be unveiled and guests.

This new walkway will play an important role in 2020, with much of the core of Future World set to be behind walls as more demolition gets started in the new year. Disney is essentially trying to reroute guests around the perimeter of the Innoventions buildings and MouseGear as the west side gets demolished and the east side gets reimagined. With this rerouted traffic, the existing walkways were woefully small, only having to contain a handful of guests in the past. As a matter of fact, a new pathway on the west side of Epcot opened just this morning, connecting Spaceship Earth to The Seas pavilion (PHOTO/VIDEO TOUR).

As you can see in the photos below, not only has the walkway been expanded, but the same futuristic, sleek lighting that we saw installed in Future World West has been installed here on this east pathway. MouseGear is to the left in the photo below.

Perhaps more exciting is the return of the Purple Martin housing, just in time for their migration with happens in the new year. Each year, purple martins travel to Walt Disney World Resort to raise their young before flying more than 6,000 miles to the Brazilian rainforest and back. You can learn more about the efforts Disney undertakes for Purple Martin research here.

For more coverage of the changing Epcot landscape, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com!