CommuniCore Hall Becomes an EPCOT Festival Highlight with Disney Broadway Exhibit Opening

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CommuniCore Hall Once Upon a Stage: 30 Years of Disney on Broadway

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Posted: Friday January 17, 2025 9:15am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

The EPCOT International Festival of the Arts kicks off today, January 17, 2025, with the grand opening of Once Upon a Stage: 30 Years of Disney on Broadway at CommuniCore Hall. This new exhibit celebrates three decades of Disney's presence on Broadway, offering an immersive experience for fans of theater and Disney storytelling.

CommuniCore Hall Once Upon a Stage: 30 Years of Disney on Broadway

Finally, CommuniCore Hall lives up to its pre-opening promise of being an engaging part of an EPCOT festival. The space is full of costumes and props and only a small merchandise section that feels part of the experience.

CommuniCore Hall Once Upon a Stage: 30 Years of Disney on Broadway

What to Expect

Inside CommuniCore Hall, you can explore a collection of costumes, props, and behind-the-scenes displays from Disney stage productions. Highlights include items from The Lion King and Aladdin, showcasing how these classic animated films were transformed for the Broadway stage.

CommuniCore Hall Once Upon a Stage: 30 Years of Disney on Broadway

The exhibit also delves into the creative process, offering a look at the design and craftsmanship that brought Disney's stories to life in live theater.

CommuniCore Hall Once Upon a Stage: 30 Years of Disney on Broadway

Admission Details

Access to the exhibit is included with your EPCOT admission and is part of the 2025 EPCOT International Festival of the Arts through February 24, 2025. Entrance to CommuniCore is located on the side closest to Journey of Water, with the exit leading into CommuniCore Plaza.

Also at CommuniCore Plaza: Opening Bites Food Studio

Just outside CommuniCore Hall, the Opening Bites Food Studio debuts today with a menu inspired by iconic foods from Broadway productions.

Opening Bites Kiosk

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monothingie1 day ago

The 2017 F&W Festival Center at the WoL Pavilion had interactive demos, exhibitors, classes, food, and entertainment. It took a dilapidated abandoned building and made it interesting. Why does everything new have to be done to the minimum ?

Fido Chuckwagon1 day ago

This appears to be a response to “The Wicked Experience” at Universal, which by all reports has been a huge success and is moving a ton of merchandise.

mattpeto1 day ago

Did you want an omnimover moving around guests inside the space? It's a hall man.

wdwmagic1 day ago

Street Painter Nate Baranowski

monothingie1 day ago

I was just thinking that. I remember at F&W the WOL Pavilion had a lot to offer guests.

Disstevefan11 day ago

Remember when the festival center was in the WoL pavilion? This is nothing compared to that. To be fair, my standard operating procedure when visiting WDW is to set expectations as low as possible. ;)

monothingie1 day ago

Set expectations so low, that when Disney does the absolute bare minimum, the cupcake brigade's heads explode. It's a small area with a couple of exhibits and props. This isn't anything more than that. The one thing they did wisely was to darken down and drape over the surroundings to hide the cafeteria feel of the space.

mattpeto1 day ago

This is a proper way to outfit Communicore Hall. FotH was a small step forward, this is where it needs to be.

Brian1 day ago

monothingie1 day ago

All they had to do was tear down a couple of buildings, let it sit empty for a couple of years and then cobble together another generic building, to get...exactly they had before.

TheCoasterNerd1 day ago

YESSS their biggest mistake has been temporarily fixed! Big win for Epcot fans

JohnD1 day ago

I was about to say the same thing. Now the real test is their being able to keep it that way with different themes or will it eventually revert back to an open warehouse.

Epcot82Guy1 day ago

This is definitely a step in the right direction. I will agree that this display within CommuniCore Hall is engaging. I can't say that the overall Hall lives up to that by a long shot. At least the pig chose high quality lip stick in a quite attractive shade this go round.