For the final 7 years, since actually earlier than the film was launched in theaters, there have been persistent and credible rumors of a Coco attraction coming to Walt Disney World. This publish takes a take a look at the probability of a ship journey coming to EPCOT or one of many different parks, together with a historical past of the rumors–and official bulletins–about Coco being added to WDW.
With the current improvement that Gran Fiesta Tour within the Mexico pavilion at EPCOT is closing in 2025 for a multi-month refurbishment of undisclosed nature, there was renewed buzz in regards to the journey being reimagined. That is in all probability the perfect place to start, as Walt Disney World has introduced that Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros at is scheduled for a brief closure starting January 6, 2025.
In response to the corporate’s calendar, the boat journey is presently scheduled to reopen by March 15, 2025. After all, refurbishments are all the time topic to alter, so Gran Fiesta Tour may reopen earlier or later. The present timeline means that the objective is to have it again in the direction of the start of the 2025 EPCOT Flower & Backyard Competition and begin of the Spring Break season.
Gran Fiesta Tour is a fan-favorite boat journey that includes two of the Three Caballeros (Jose Carioca and Panchito) with Mexico’s tradition as a backdrop as they seek for the third caballero (Donald Duck). The attraction weaves tradition along with Disney characters in a enjoyable expertise for anybody who likes boats, Mexico, fiestas, or waterfowl. And who doesn’t get pleasure from at the very least one factor from that trio?!
Within the grand scheme of issues, Gran Fiesta Tour is a really minor attraction. It’s tucked away into the Mexico pavilion and the most important criticism of it’s precisely that–that it’s a minor attraction. The wait time displays that, although, as does nearly every thing related to the journey. It incorporates a tie-in to an obscure film, doesn’t provide Lightning Lane, and has zero hype.
Our hope and expectation is that Gran Fiesta Tour is solely getting some TLC and vital upkeep throughout this multi-month closure in 2025. In all probability, this has nothing to do with a journey reimagining. It’s in all probability extra about holding the attraction trying nice. Maybe avoiding a repeat of the considerably comical state of affairs a pair years in the past when the Gran Fiesta finale Audio Animatronics vanished and have been changed with cardboard cutouts.
Nevertheless, this Gran Fiesta Tour refurbishment is bound to rekindle outdated rumors–and past that, we predict one thing will occur right here ultimately–so let’s take a deeper dive…
We love Gran Fiesta Tour and have virtually zero complaints about it (we miss the outdated music, however that’s minor), however we additionally get pleasure from it for what it’s. After all, it being a minor attraction, there have been rumors and hypothesis since 2017 that Coco would change Three Caballeros because the IP-integration in Gran Fiesta Tour with the journey revolving round Dia de los Muertos.
In spite of everything, the reimagining of Maelstrom into Frozen Ever After was contemporary in minds, in Remy’s Ratatouille Journey and different EPCOT enlargement had but to be revealed. We first reported on this Coco rumor approach again in September 2017–over a few months earlier than the movie was launched (and alongside a paid FastPass rumor)–and once more in November 2017 round opening weekend when the film already had an A+ viewers rating and was beating field workplace projections.
Our hypothesis on the time was that the attraction overlay would solely be greenlit if Coco was a smash success, and if Coco was a smash success, its feasibility within the Gran Fiesta Tour can be unlikely. Said in another way, there can be no incentive to evict the Three Caballeros until Coco have been a cultural sensation. If that occurred, it wouldn’t be sensible for the movie to land within the Mexico pavilion because of the restricted area inside for a queue.
From what we perceive (and recall), the latter is what occurred. In late 2017 and 2018, Imagineering and park operations did feasibility testing to find out what can be essential to accommodate Coco within the Mexico pavilion.
Mainly, even with a reasonably large-scale redesign of the Mexico pavilion that concerned eradicating and retooling the retail outlets (a lot of which might be outright changed by an extended and extra elaborate queue), there nonetheless wasn’t even area to make it occur. Considerations already existed about congestion in and across the Mexico pavilion, making a Coco boat journey a non-starter.
Clearly it’s been some time, however I don’t recall listening to something credible about Coco coming to the Mexico pavilion after 2018. I’ve questioned a number of instances whether or not Walt Disney World can be prepared to revisit the thought and use a digital queue (one thing they’re not averse to on a long-term foundation–see Cosmic Rewind) or Lightning Lane. Or each. Even so, there nonetheless may not be ample area within the pavilion, and it’s much more true in the present day that congestion in and across the pavilion might be nightmarish.
Coco coming to EPCOT has quieted within the years since, however Coco coming to Walt Disney World as a complete has not. The movie was thought-about for each Past Large Thunder in Magic Kingdom and Tropical Americas in Animal Kingdom earlier than in the end not ending up in both. Its omission from Tropical Americas is particularly fascinating, because it seems that the model of that land with a reasonably superficial Coco presence was pretty far alongside.
These have been in all probability additionally the best selections. Whereas Coco may’ve been an important match bordering Large Thunder in Frontierland, Vehicles is undeniably the larger franchise, and I’ve little doubt that I’ll be taking my grandkids to Vehicles 12 sometime. That isn’t to say it’s a great match for Frontierland–though I feel it may be–simply that it has wider attain.
Conversely, Coco’s presence in Tropical Americas felt too small. Like it might solely be a part of the little village, carousel, and reimagined restaurant. The film is sufficiently in style to justify greater than that, and amongst key demographics. Much less objectively, Coco is only a implausible movie that will lend itself to a beautiful boat journey. It’s for this similar cause that I feel a Gran Fiesta Tour overlay would in all probability be a disservice.
A method or one other, I’m completely on board with a Coco attraction. It’s simply among the finest–and arguably the very finest–animated movie in current reminiscence, rivaling Moana, Inside Out, Frozen, and Zootopia. (Clearly subjective, however these are the standard hits from my perspective.)
It will appear that Disney Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro agrees. Throughout his and Bob Iger’s “Turbocharge Tour” final 12 months, the franchises repeatedly talked about to media and at numerous conferences have been Moana, Frozen, Encanto, Zootopia, and Black Panther. This isn’t an enormous shock, as Coco has been a fixture of leisure choices within the parks since its launch. It appears to have enduring recognition and has already develop into a contemporary basic.
What’s additionally notable is that Disney did announce a Coco boat journey for Disney California Journey through the current D23 Expo. That Coco attraction shall be crammed with the characters and music from the beloved film, as you be a part of Miguel on a visit to the land of the lifeless in a ship journey.
For the DCA Coco journey, Walt Disney Imagineering will draw inspiration from beloved classics, like Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. “We’re bringing our skeletal forged of characters to life in an enormous approach by way of the most recent Audio-Animatronics expertise,” D’Amaro advised the gang. “These figures will seem in methods you’ll must see to consider.”
Work on the Coco boat journey at DCA gained’t even start till 2026, suggesting the journey gained’t debut till 2029 or 2030. It’s additionally value noting that the touchdown spots for the attraction inside the footprint of Disney California Journey are pretty small, so until it’s a part of precise enlargement a la DisneylandForward, it’s going to be a little bit of an intimate attraction.
As quickly as I heard the announcement at D23, my first thought was that it’s a kind of “good concepts that gained’t die” in Imagineering, and so they lastly discovered a house for the Coco boat journey after attempting to create space in EPCOT after which Magic Kingdom. My second thought was that they’ll ultimately make it work at Walt Disney World, and it’ll in all probability find yourself at EPCOT.
To be clear, I don’t suppose this 3-month (or so) refurbishment of Gran Fiesta Tour is a journey reimagining right into a Coco attraction. It’s far, far too brief for that. Each time that does occur–if it does occur–we’re in all probability taking a look at a closure of at the very least 18 months (if not 2 years) to enhance crowd move in and across the Mexico pavilion.
This in all probability isn’t even laying the bottom work for a reimagining, a la what we’ve seen with Rock ‘n’ Curler Coaster getting prolonged common refurbishments over the past couple of years. It’s potential that the work on Gran Fiesta Tour is being finished to increase the usable lifetime of the attraction, and pave the way in which for a Coco boat journey down the highway, however even that’s a stretch. Most probably, that is completely unrelated to Coco, and never being finished with it in thoughts.
In the end, the explanation I’m satisfied that Coco will land at EPCOT as a part of the 10-year plan for Walt Disney World is usually by technique of elimination. It acquired minimize from the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom plans, and this parks are getting their huge expansions within the subsequent 5 years. Each will in all probability get extra within the second half of the last decade, however Coco is now not rumored to be within the operating. Neither is it the “huge” land changing Animation Courtyard at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
This leaves EPCOT. The park that’s supposedly “finished” with its overhaul and good to go for the following 5 years. My sturdy suspicion is that Walt Disney World shall be disabused of that notion in a 12 months or two, and shall be left scrambling for one thing marketable. We’ve beforehand coated journey reimagining choices within the entrance half of the park, specifically Journey into Creativeness and Spaceship Earth.
One other crowd-pleasing journey in World Showcase would maintain quite a lot of attraction, whereas additionally assist balancing out the park. Logistics do current a significant hurdle, however Disney will both determine them out or ignore them. Coco is simply too huge and too good to disregard, and my sturdy suspicion is that ultimately results in it ending up in EPCOT.
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Study motels on our Walt Disney World Inns Opinions web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Opinions. To save cash on tickets or decide which kind to purchase, learn our Suggestions for Saving Cash on Walt Disney World Tickets publish. Our What to Pack for Disney Journeys publish takes a singular take a look at intelligent objects to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Journey Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, the perfect place to start out is our Walt Disney World Journey Planning Information for every thing you must know!
Your Ideas
Ideas on a Gran Fiesta Tour journey reimagining that includes Coco? Does the thought of a contemporary attraction impressed by Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion excite you? Assume the logistics may work with a Coco boat journey within the Mexico pavilion, or would it not result in nightmarish strains, crowds and congestion? Do you agree or disagree with our evaluation? Any questions? Listening to your suggestions—even if you disagree with us—is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!
