While visiting EPCOT recently, we decided to take a ride around the EPCOT monorail loop a few times to get a unique vantage point of the construction taking place for CommuniCore Hall, the Mickey & Friends meet and greet, and the CommuniCore Plaza party area.
As a reminder, CommuniCore Hall is the last major piece of the puzzle for the EPCOT overhaul project and the World Celebration Gardens area. Located within the EPCOT monorail loop, CommuniCore Hall occupies the space where the former Club Cool used to be, along with a mostly abandoned structure. Like everything with the EPCOT pit, the old structure was leveled and rebuilt.
Here’s a look at a couple of concept art pieces for CommuniCore Hall, followed by a look at the EPCOT World Celebration site plan.
Turning our attention back to our recent visit, we’ll try to stay focused and work “right to left” across the site. That means that we’ll be going from a view southeast of the site, across to the northwest.
In this first image, we can see two layers of construction walls. The pathway used to be accessible to guests, but was closed off a few weeks ago.
We’re interested to see what becomes of this overhang area to the southeast of the CommuniCore Plaza outdoor party area. Hopefully, it’ll be accessible to guests looking for a reprieve from sun or rain.
In this slightly wider view, we can see the overhang to the right, the CommuniCore Plaza outdoor party area in the center of the image, and the CommuniCore Hall exhibition space on the left of the image.
Here’s a tighter view of the plaza area and the CommuniCore Hall exhibition space.
A wider view shows more of the CommuniCore Hall building, which is basically a white wall facing toward the Imagination Pavilion.
As we were riding by, crews were working on a new textured area along the facade facing toward the plaza. A similar texture and design can be found on the opposite side of the building, and we covered that in an earlier article.
Before we get much further, we should take a look back at the plaza area, and the impressive lighting columns that have been installed for some time now. There is a pretty robust foliage array in the area, suggesting that hardscape work has been substantially completed.
If we look past the planter, we can see that theming has been added to the outdoor (but covered) stage that will function as a flex space for entertainment acts as seen in the concept art below.
Here’s a closer look at the stage, and the Spaceship Earth-style panel design around the perimeter.
Zooming out again, here’s a closer look at the lighting columns that will transform the area once the sun goes down. We expect this to be a vibrant, party-type atmosphere. What remains to be seen is just how much entertainment is presented after sundown when the venue can come alive.
As we continue past the CommuniCore Hall section, we can see the north side of the facade where we took a look at recent work that introduced new textures and designs.
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!