Walt Disney World has announced the return of Spaceship Earth, which has been closed for a refurbishment of indefinite duration since the start of the off-season. We now have a reopening date before the start of the popular Christmas season at EPCOT. Here’s everything we know; plus commentary about why you should temper your expectations about the reimagining, which still might be coming in 2026.
As background, Spaceship Earth temporarily closed for a routine refurbishment beginning August 25, 2025. When announcing that closure over the summer, Walt Disney World declined to share a specific return date, but did indicate that Spaceship Earth was expected to reopen later in 2025.
Since closing, Spaceship Earth has been surrounded by rolling planters (no construction walls) at its front entrance with Cast Members stationed in the area to explain the closure to guests and redirect them elsewhere. The post-show has also been closed, again with rolling planters and curtains. This is despite the exit doors being open, because the new GEO-82 Lounge (which is accessed through said exit doors) has remained operational during the refurbishment.
The latest development is that Walt Disney World has revealed that Spaceship Earth will reopen on Saturday, October 25, 2025.
This news comes not via a press release or update to the alert bulletin on the top of the Spaceship Earth attraction page, but via a quiet update to the park hours. Spaceship Earth has been added to the existing schedule beginning on October 25, 2025. The ride will reopen during Early Entry starting at 8:30 am as of that date.
While Walt Disney World has a spotty track record with calendar updates, this is probably accurate. Someone had to proactively add it to calendar that’s already posted, and it’s less common for that to occur in error. With that said, refurbishment dates are always subject to change, and it’s not uncommon for delays–or reopenings to be moved forward by a few days.
Honestly, we were hoping the closure would last about one month longer. Although October through December is EPCOT’s busiest stretch of the year, the true peak of that is during the EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays, from November 28 through December 30, 2025.
Spaceship Earth is going to be closed for the fall break spike, so at that point, it might as well stay offline until at least Veterans Day, if not Thanksgiving, to get as much TLC as possible. The ride needs it, badly. It has needed it for the last 5+ years, long before COVID cancelled the planned multi-year project.
The bad news is that this is not the big ride reimagining and refurbishment planned for Spaceship Earth. That much should be evident from Disney dubbing it “routine,” but also that it’ll have only been closed for 2 months when the ride reopens on October 25th.
In other words, you should not expect a “Story Light” or new show scenes. That won’t happen during this refurbishment. Both due to the tight timeframe and its routine nature, which is Disneyspeak for saying it won’t encompass major substantive changes.
Our expectation is that this Spaceship Earth will include the restoration of broken effects, an improved descent, upgraded cameras, and lighting. There are also widespread rumors of swapping out the screens on the ride vehicles for OLED, which has already occurred with a test vehicle.
With that said, we do know that something happened during the refurbishment beyond just basic TLC because Walt Disney World filed construction permits. One of those was assigned to Engineering Design Services, a firm that “specializes in the technical backbone of themed attractions.” That suggests Spaceship Earth received infrastructure work on its underlying ride system.
The good news is that the fully-fledged Spaceship Earth ride reimagining might still be on the horizon.
While we have no insider information, our suspicion is that this is similar to the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster refurbishments over the last couple of the years. Those occurred in two phases and addressed the underlying ride system without reimagining the roller coaster. That laid the groundwork for the switch from ‘Starring Aerosmith’ to ‘Starring the Muppets’ to occur in a more condensed timeframe in 2026; that project can now focus on the thematic window-dressing as opposed to the underlying infrastructure.
It’s been our understanding for a while that Walt Disney World has refurbishment and reimagining projects lined up for EPCOT. The first of those was obviously Test Track, which reopened from its year-long reimagining earlier this summer. Test Track 3.0 is a smash success, averaging the highest wait time (75 minutes) at Walt Disney World in the last month. This increased popularity could bode well for the prospects of other ride reimaginings.
Although there are zero rumors to corroborate as much, our hope is that Walt Disney World is taking a similarly phased approach to an overhaul of Spaceship Earth as was done with Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster.
Start by accomplishing infrastructure work during the off-season, then bring the ride back online during peak season dates before closing it for a reimagining in 2026. That project then would not have to be as lengthy thanks to the prior refurbishment, and could conceivably be completed by the 2026 EPCOT Festival of the Holidays. All in theory, of course.
It’s probably wishful thinking, but we sincerely hope that’s what’s happening with Spaceship Earth. That Walt Disney World recognizes that Spaceship Earth badly needs more than just routine maintenance, and did this refurbishment to lay the groundwork for a fully-fledged reimagining.
Alternatively, the plan might be to accomplish a ‘duct tape’ refurbishment of Spaceship Earth to keep it coasting through 2026 and 2027, during which time Journey into Imagination finally gets the year-plus ride reimagining treatment. If we’re really daydreaming, might as well throw that in as the best-case scenario!
As you might recall, Spaceship Earth’s “Story Light” reimagining was announced at the 2019 D23 Expo after over a year of rumors. In late February of the following year, Imagineering revealed that Spaceship Earth would close a couple of months later. Before that could happen, all of Walt Disney World closed due to COVID and remained closed until mid-July. When EPCOT reopened, Spaceship Earth returned with it.
When EPCOT reopened after its four month closure, Walt Disney World had quietly removed concept art and scenes from the Epcot Experience overview video and released this statement: “As with most businesses during this period, we are further evaluating long-term project plans. The decision was made to postpone development of the Mary Poppins-inspired attraction and Spaceship Earth at this time.” That was the last official update on the Spaceship Earth reimagining. Obviously, a lot has changed in the last ~5 years.
The concept for the eventual reimagining of Spaceship Earth will surely ‘evolve’ from what was previously announced. It’s been over 5 years since the Spaceship Earth reimagining concept was developed, and a lot has changed since then–from leadership to budgets to technology.
While there could be elements of the Spaceship Earth: Our Shared Story project that come to fruition, it’s also likely that there are major changes to what’s planned. About the only thing we can be certain of is that the descent will be overhauled. Hopefully, it’ll actually have show scenes again, rather than resting on the crutch of screen-based interactivity.
Ultimately, we’re still looking forward to more changes to Spaceship Earth, and left wondering when the inevitable reimagining project might happen. Test Track is finished and is proving to be a smash success, and there’s nothing else on deck for EPCOT in 2026 or 2027…or at any point in the next few years.
Aside from GEO-82, there was nothing for EPCOT in Walt Disney World’s 5-year Plan that was revealed at last year’s D23 Expo. Obviously, that will have to change. EPCOT cannot coast with nothing new until 2030. And since it doesn’t appear to be getting any brand-new rides or pavilions during that time, ride reimaginings will have to fill the gap.
The reimagining of Spaceship Earth could then be part of a second phase of the EPCOT overhaul, joining Journey into Imagination and [insert whatever else is on your personal wishlist here]. With nothing announced at Destination D23, it doesn’t seem like either of these projects are on the horizon in the near term, but we’ll keep you posted as more becomes known!
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Your Thoughts
Excited that Spaceship Earth will reopen on October 25, 2025? Pleased that the closure is ending after 2 months, or wish it were lasting longer and were a fully-fledged ride reimagining? Thoughts on when the reimagining project will actually occur–if at all–now that it’s been delayed indefinitely? Do you agree or disagree with our thoughts here? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
