Walt Disney World has installed rolling construction barriers around roughly half of the central planter in EPCOT’s World Celebration Gardens. The movable hedge walls sit on wheels and carry greenery that blends into the landscaping while hiding a work area. They now cut off guest access to a large portion of the central planter behind Spaceship Earth. It’s the latest development in a long-running saga involving the area’s problematic in-ground lighting.
Is Disney World Fixing EPCOT’s In-Ground Lighting?
IN THIS ARTICLE:
- Rolling barriers now block off half of the World Celebration central planter
- The barriers arrive after years of issues with the area’s in-ground lighting
- It’s unclear yet whether this signals a permanent fix or removal of the lighting, or something else entirely
The barriers form a continuous wall along both sides of the planter. They sit next to the low concrete border that wraps around the flower beds. Dense hedge greenery fills each box, tall enough to obscure views into the work area and block the walkway. A separate stretch of retractable stanchion blocks a nearby path.
Guests can still walk the open side of the plaza. Spaceship Earth remains visible from the unobstructed portion of the walkway, but the enclosed section is currently off-limits. It’s still not clear what will happen here. There’s no visible work yet. We saw no visible equipment or materials staged in the area during our visit.
This is the area of EPCOT that has dealt with a troubled in-ground lighting system almost since it opened. The lighting briefly returned to full working order in December 2024 after nearly a year of stops and starts. Strips separated from the ground again by January 2025. Mortar beneath the strips continued deteriorating from there, and popped-up sections became a tripping hazard. As we reported, Disney blocked off a large portion of the planter that June 2025. The company then screwed the loosened plastic strips back into the ground as a stopgap measure.
Given that history, this new set of rolling barriers raises an obvious question. Is Disney finally moving to permanently fix or remove the in-ground lighting? We’ll continue watching the area for signs of what the work involves.
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!