Disney Imagineer Zach Riddley took to social media tonight to give more details about the EPCOT entrance plaza ribbon that debuted tonight:

This week we debuted new lighting in our main entrance plaza at EPCOT and I wanted to share more behind our design for this nighttime programming. At more than four football fields long, this light ribbon has been present since opening day, but was originally lit by hundreds of fluorescent tubes in solid colors. Now we’ve updated it with highly energy-efficient, programmable LED lighting with nearly 3,000 individually controlled points of light that blend together to create color gradients and patterns.

Color gradients have always been a part of EPCOT’s design legacy from the tiered amber, blue, and purple lighting of Spaceship Earth to the bands of color on the Energy pavilion, to the new color palettes of World Nature, World Discovery and World Celebration, and you’ll see all of that reflected in this new lighting design we’ve created for the main entrance plaza and it’ll continue through the new areas of the park.

And for the first time ever, the main entrance plaza and Spaceship Earth will be unified with dynamic lighting this year. The newly color-coordinated light ribbon around the entire rim of the plaza connects with programming on the new fountain lighting and together will shine in concert when the new Spaceship Earth lighting debuts with the Beacons of Magic for the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney World Resort.

As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!