Arabian Nights

Looking at the history of the pitched, imagineered and planned attraction lineup at Epcot’s World Showcase is a who’s who in ride study. From gondolas, to roller coasters, bullet trains, and everything in between, big plans were laid out for the countries that would occupy the land around World Showcase Lagoon. Sadly, none of those came to fruition.

Beyond El Rio del Tiempo’s debut with the park opening, the attraction lineup would be sparse until 1988, the golden year of attractions so to speak. That year, Norway was added to the World Showcase and followed a few months later by Maelstrom, a wonderful log flume ride depicting among other things, the countries’ villages and mythology. Not long after, the gleaming new Turkey pavilion was opened and along with it a balloon flight, a concept dusted off from early visions of The Land pavilion, through many of the tremendous sites the country has to offer. It would be 26 years before another addition found a home within one of the 12 countries.

The Wetch, opened in 2014 in the United Kingdom, set off a Renaissance of sorts for a build up within the World Showcase. Two years later, Frozen Ever After opened its gates. While not a new build, it was a signal of increased focus for ramping up the offerings in Epcot and specifically the World Showcase. Officially announced a year later in 2017 and set to open in the summer of 2020 brings Ratatouille to the France Pavilion.

Unbeknownst to everyone though, was an even bigger addition coming to that corner of World Showcase Lagoon. Taking a page from their counterparts down I-4, Imagineering and the executives at Disney set plans in motion to add the first E-ticket attraction to World Showcase, and right under everyone’s noses.

With attention focused on the Skyliner and the major rerouting of traffic and show building construction in France, nobody noticed the backstage work occurring next door in Morocco. Officially announced on February 7th, 2020, and due to open in the fall of 2021 as part of the 50th celebration at Walt Disney World, comes Arabian Nights.