Electric Umbrella to close February 16 along with the remainder of the center of Future World

Feb 14, 2020 in "Electric Umbrella Restaurant"

Electric Umbrella overview
Posted: Friday February 14, 2020 12:58pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

The Electric Umbrella will have its final day of operation on February 15 2020 as the center of Future World closes.

Beginning February 16, Electric Umbrella will be closed, along with Pin Central and the surrounding merchandise carts.

Guests will be directed to use the newly created walkways on each side of Spaceship earth, with the right hand-side leading to The Seas, The Land and Imagination!, and the left-side walkway between Guest Relations and Gateway Gifts leading to Mission: Space and Mouse Gear.

With the closure of Electric Umbrella, Sunshine Seasons will offer burgers, the Epcot Experience will serve chicken nuggets and salads, and the Taste Track kiosk will offer burgers and fries near to Test Track.

A new quick serve location will eventually be built in approximately the same area as Electric Umbrella as part of the redevelopment of the center of the park.

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    Basil of Baker Street57 minutes ago

    It feels incomplete.

    Epcot82Guy2 hours ago

    I enjoy it, but it feels like a nice lead in to nothing. It would be like the Hub with no Castle. It's a lovely backdrop setting missing an icon or reason to exist. The fountain helped with that originally along with the original, open concept, symmetrical architecture. And, I'm not saying it needs a single iconic thing. But, then it needs a number of compelling components to discover. It doesn't have either, sadly.

    Bocabear3 hours ago

    We were all underwhelmed with it when it finally reopened... It just doesn't add up to much, and we were noticing that while there are trees, most of the areas that were shaded were just the plant beds themselves... if you were on the walking/public areas they were still completely unshaded. That might have been the time of day we were walking through... maybe later in the day it is not as bad? But overall the area felt lackluster and uninteresting... Certainly not like a world class theme park....it felt neither inspirational or fun... Just like an office park... as if designed by people who had never actually been to a theme park, and had no direction other than a modern corporate non-descript space.

    dmc49320 hours ago

    The Starlight streaming announcement jogged my memory, didn't they claim way back that they were going to release the new Epcot loop on streaming services?

    Disgruntled Walt22 hours ago

    Spent quite a bit of time in Future World (never forget) this past week, and it's very meh. Why couldn't they have simply put the gardens in alongside the fountain? And please put the old music loop back into rotation. The new one is fine, but it's so dang repetitive.

    HMF2 days ago

    I think the song Big Yellow Taxi would best describe EPCOT's situation today.

    Bocabear2 days ago

    Spencer's Gifts? lol...I think most of them are gone now too..... Last time I saw one in NC, it was all sex toys.... Not the Spencer's I went to as a kid....

    Incomudro2 days ago

    I agree, even though fiber optics were an older tech, they still looked more modern. Additionally, fiber optics which were all the rage back then - lots of fiber optic lamps sold for home use - has more or less vanished now. Everything old is new again. My twin son's for instance have never seen a fiber optic lamp as far as I know. I'm certain they would find one to be really cool if they saw it now, and not dated.

    James Alucobond3 days ago

    I think it’s also worth noting that, while they did malfunction, their malfunctions were nowhere near as obvious because of how they were designed. I am continually baffled by their decision to design things in such a way that one light being out or off-color is extremely obvious while not dedicating the resources necessary to maintain them.

    Bocabear3 days ago

    the old tech with the fiberoptics was not only durable, but it felt a lot more magical... diffused color changing lights are everywhere....but magical sparkling patterns appearing in the pavement.... That was special... high tech is not always the answer..... The sparkling patterns also added kinetics to the setting in a way that the pavement lights never really did....even though they moved a bit and changed color....

    GhostHost10003 days ago

    Remember when they had working fiber optic tiles in Epcot for years along with a great fountain ambiance. Those were the days (they cared)

    mattpeto3 days ago

    The light situation is utterly embarrasing.

    trainplane33 days ago

    There's some good lyrics that cover this whole situation: But if you close your eyes Does it almost feel like Nothing changed at all? And if you close your eyes Does it almost feel like You've been here before? How am I gonna be an optimist about this? How am I gonna be an optimist about this? Thanks Bastille:

    Incomudro3 days ago

    This area isn't getting fixed unless they really get in there and fix it. I don't believe that one day we will simply see it working overnight if you will. They really ought to wall the whole center off again and tackle it the right way - with a fountain.