Walt Disney World has quietly scheduled a refurbishment to the Palais du Cinema the France pavilion at EPCOT. This means there’s an upcoming closure to both attractions that rotate in the venue: international treasure Impressions de France and the unbelievably bad Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along. Here’s the latest details, along with our commentary.
According to Walt Disney World’s current operating schedule, Impressions de France currently opens at 9 am and closes at 9:30 am each day, and again from 7 pm to 8:45 pm each. The Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along runs the rest of the day, luring in unsuspecting prey from 10 am until 6:30 pm.
Regular readers might recall the Distinctly Unpatriotique Changes for Impressions de France from a few years ago. During what can best be described as an “international incident,” Impressions de France had its hours reduced to only that half-hour in the morning. After global outcry, the situation was de-escalated. Rumor has it that Disney+ is adapting the sordid saga into a feature film titled Fourteen Days, starring Kevin Costner and Bruce Greenwood.
Here’s the official announcement of the refurbishment posted on the official website for Impressions de France:
Impressions de France will be temporarily unavailable for routine refurbishment beginning February 22, 2026.
The bulletin is substantially the same for Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along, just with the titles swapped out.
A reopening date for Impressions de France has not yet been announced by Walt Disney World. Neither Impressions de France nor the sing-along has operating hours for as far out into the future as the operational calendar goes (currently early April 2026).
This is not necessarily indicative of the attractions going down for a multi-month refurbishment, but it could be. For whatever reason, Disney often inputs boilerplate hours in the calendar, which can result in end dates (or the lack thereof) reflected in the official calendar being inaccurate.
There have been countless examples over the last year or so of the official calendar being inaccurate. In fact, Frozen Ever After should end up being one such example; it also does not have hours through early April 2026, despite Walt Disney World previously announcing it would reopen this month.
The bottom line is that you can’t always rely on this calendar, especially for end dates that appear to extend beyond hours that are currently posted. It’s about 50/50 with such projects. (If you see a closure of a few days listed, that’s much more likely to be accurate–but even those are subject to change.)
Walt Disney World also hasn’t announced any details about the scope of the refurbishment, nor have any construction permits been filed. Theater projects typically involve technical upgrades to the projectors; seating, carpet and upholstery refreshes; and other fairly mundane things. WDW’s Facilities Asset Management does this type of project on a regular rotation, and to the best of my recollection, it’s been a while since the Palais du Cinema was refreshed.
It’s also possible a next exhibit is coming to the pre-show waiting room area. The current “Tales As Old As Time: French Storytelling on Stage & Screen” is now ~6 years old. This features 6 gallery cases honoring the costumes, music and artwork that brought French literature to life through cinema, theater, ballet and opera. Guests can catch a glimpse of how these stories inspired artists from around the globe, including those who created such timeless Disney classics as Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and—of course—Beauty and the Beast.
My hope is that they’re closing the Palais du Cinema as a subtext for quietly putting the sing-along out of its misery. Although that same logic could just as easily–and perhaps more likely–apply in the other direction. Which is part of the reason we’re bringing this to your attention.
As we’ve argued many times in past posts, Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along should be retired entirely. No one should be subjected to that abomination, not even the people who say Dino-Rama was good because of its (allegedly) brilliant backstory.
As a reminder/words of warning, this sing-along ranks #87 on our Rankings of All 87 Attractions at Walt Disney World. We gave it 0/10 in our attraction review; the next lowest attraction score is 3/10. There are only a handful of attractions that are below 5/10, and nothing else at any park in the world scores 0/10.
Those rankings concisely describe the sad sing-along as an “offensively bad piece of revisionist lore that spews forth the untold story of LeFou, which should have remained that way. Far worse than a direct-to-video sequel, and proof that fanfic authors might someday see their awful dreams turned into our painful realities.”
For the longer winded version, see New EPCOT Film Review: The Good & The Ugly. (Spoiler: it’s the ugly one!) This is not our bias speaking as diehard fans of Impressions de France. That sing-along is one of the worst things I’ve ever had to endure at any Disney park anywhere, and I visited the original Walt Disney Studios Park in (real) France.
With Walt Disney World killing off Dino-Rama and Star Wars Launch Bay last year, the gap between #87 and everything else has grown even larger. The extinction of Dino-Rama and reimagining of Animation Courtyard has actually given me optimism about this.
In the past, such a refurbishment would’ve put me on high alert; that it was a ruse for Disney to quietly kill off Impressions de France. But those closures in the last year suggest good taste is finally prevailing at Walt Disney World, which gives me hope that the wrecking ball (figurative, in this case) is coming next for that sorry sing-along.
It helps that the Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along is not particularly popular. It’s not like this is drawing huge crowds or lines, and I refuse to believe it’s scoring well on guest satisfaction surveys or families are clamoring to see it. I might be cynical, but I have not lost complete faith in humanity.
As a parent to a toddler whose current favorite toy is paper bag with a cat on it, I realize young children sometimes have questionable judgment. But even they have better taste than this. Playing with an Amazon shipping box is exponentially superior to this sing-along.
When the Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along was announced, it was a shock that the new offering would alternate showings with Impressions de France. Even when that announcement was made, I assumed it’d be a year or less until a blog post with, “due to its overwhelming popularity and feedback from our guests, the Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along will now have even more showtimes so more guests can enjoy this beloved attraction…”
Thankfully, that still has not happened ~6 years later, but it’s nevertheless importance to exercise vigilance when it comes to protecting the international treasure that is Impressions de France.
That is more or less why this post exists. Plus, both of the last couple times we’ve covered Impressions de France operational changes, readers have come out to voice their love for the underrated attraction.
Clearly many of the bright and beautiful readers of this blog enjoy Impressions de France and would want to know about this news. It’s also possible that feedback from the community has helped Impressions de France stick around for the last 6 years.
Second, we’re sharing out of selfishness. We see Impressions de France more than we do literally any other attraction in EPCOT. We’ve made a concerted effort to visit every filming location (that’s us in the photo above, recreating the scene in the photo above that), which remains a work in progess.
We’re probably the closest thing Impressions de France has to super fans, and I will never hesitate to use this blog as a platform for pro-Impressions de France propaganda. In my defense, our motives are pure of heart. Impressions de France is the best film-based attraction in EPCOT, almost completely timeless (only a couple of 80s outfits), as well as a beautiful and effective ‘sales pitch’ for visiting France.
By contrast, the Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along is an abomination to which no one should be subjected. So really, this post isn’t just selfish–it’s an act of community service, warning friends who might otherwise unwittingly see the sing-along.
Finally, as an act of selflessness, I’ll recommend starting or ending your day with a great ‘meal and a show’ experience in EPCOT’s France pavilion. Head over Les Halles Boulangerie-Patisserie at the beginning of the morning or end of the evening, enjoy an excellent and cheap meal, and then a presentation of Impressions de France.
You can even weave Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure into the mix for a more well-rounded experience. It’s the objective-best time to do both that attraction and the bakery for shorter lines, making this both a laid back way to slow down and savor World Showcase and also strategically-savvy. Win-win!
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of the refurbishment to Impressions de France? Optimistic that this is Walt Disney World’s face-saving way of quietly killing off Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along? Nervous that it’s actually how EPCOT will end Impressions de France? 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!
