EPCOT Lighting Woes: Changes to World Celebration Lighting Suggest a Shift in Design

1 day ago in "EPCOT"

EPCOT World Celebration In-Floor Lighting Changes November 2024
Posted: Wednesday November 13, 2024 9:50am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

As part of EPCOT's recent years-long overhaul, Disney Imagineers installed thousands of programmable LED light fixtures throughout World Celebration in the center of the park. The lighting design aimed to create synchronized effects across the entire area, tying together the World Celebration Gardens, Spaceship Earth's Points of Light, the exterior of Communicore Hall, and even the interior lights of Connections Cafe. But soon after World Celebration opened, significant issues with the in-ground lighting strips became apparent, raising questions about the durability of this new system.

The central planter in World Celebration was initially surrounded by vibrant in-ground lighting. It was intended to enhance the area's atmosphere as it shifted color patterns during the nightly Spaceship Earth light shows. However, just weeks after their debut, the lighting strips began to show signs of failure. Sections around the planter were frequently left unlit or displayed incorrect colors, and cracks appeared in the plastic strips covering the lights. Summer brought new challenges as high temperatures caused sections of the lighting covers to warp and lift, prompting Cast Members to rope off these areas due to the trip hazards they created.


Now, recent changes suggest that Disney is addressing these issues head-on. This week, most of the translucent lighting covers around the center planter have been replaced with solid white opaque covers. It's unclear whether the lighting system is being removed or undergoing a significant repair.







The original vision for the programmable lights was to create an immersive, synchronized experience across the park, from the entrance to World Celebration Gardens, adding kinetic energy to replace the original Fountain of Nations. Whether this recent change is a temporary fix or a permanent solution remains unclear, so stay tuned for further updates.

Discuss on the Forums

Get Walt Disney World News Delivered to Your Inbox

View all comments →

tparris7 minutes ago

Is that why they haven’t fixed the light towers or the fountain lights in months? Maybe they want to fix everything in one fell swoop?

Andrew C29 minutes ago

Lighting is hard....

Disstevefan129 minutes ago

I didn't even know the pylons were also broken. I cant keep up with all the failures. Since the holiday season is currently underway, whatever they plan to do, they are already too late. At this point, who cares. This whole area is substandard garbage - in my opinion.

James Alucobond32 minutes ago

Seeing what they’re doing more closely, it doesn’t look like permanent removal, at least not yet. They wouldn’t just be slapping another plastic cover on top since the durability of that is part of what caused issues in the first place. I think they’d swap out the lighting channel for something more durable if they ultimately get rid of it entirely.

Disstevefan11 hour ago

Repair by removal? Which holiday? Independence Day 2025?

DreamfinderGuy1 hour ago

Reconfirmed that the plan is still to have the ground lights working again by the holidays, FWIW

tparris2 hours ago

The ones closest to Connections/Creations aren’t fully working, the sides are stuck on a bright white

Squishy10 hours ago

trainplane311 hours ago

They were plates that could be lifted up I believe. They weren't actually concreted into the ground. They had a hollow feeling when you walked over them.

Cmdr_Crimson13 hours ago

We can't have nice things can we?

DCBaker14 hours ago

From one of the photos @wdwmagic posted:

Ayla14 hours ago

Seriously?!

MisterPenguin15 hours ago

It's like they ran out of (budgeted) money. The elements for Dreamers Point got installed very late (compared to the lateness of the rest of the projects), the stage elements were also delayed in finishing up (the back-facing display put in late), they aren't fixing the lights, the central planter was supposed to have a nice display that synced with whatever festival was happening, and Communicore Hall is bare. At least we know there will be an attempt to rightfully decorate Communicore Hall for the holidays.

dmc49315 hours ago

How did they used to repave the concrete sections that had the fiber optics in them? or did they just never get repaved, and miraculously survived all those years...