The construction walls are down and the Communicore Hall is finally open! But does it live up to the hype, was it worth the wait?! Well I guess that can be a personal opinion but I personally think it’s great! There are characters to meet and festival foods to et and shows to watch and even a nice air conditioned, quiet place to chill out. What more could you want?? There are a lot of moving parts to this area so let’s dive into it all!
Mickey & Friends
The first thing you are going to see on this building when you come in from the main entrance is the Mickey & Friends sign. This is where you can go in to meet Mickey, Goofy and Minnie in a super cute area. They are super interactive and you get a decent amount of time with each character without feeling rushed. There are PhotoPass photographers with each character most of the time to help you take your pictures which is nice too! This was really fun to me and a nice little AC break on a hot day in EPCOT!
Festival Favorites
This is a really cool part of this Communicore area to me! Who else wishes you could get some of your favorite festival food and drinks after the festival is over?! I definitely do! From what the Cast Members told me, the options here will change seasonally so it will be interesting to see what ends up being here at different times of the year. I grabbed the Tres Leches cake that you can usually get during Flower & Garden Festival while I was there. This was cool because I actually missed out on getting this item this year but I really like it so I was happy to see it on the menu! I hope they change this menu out a lot throughout the year to offer lots of different festival favorites!
Communicore Plaza
This is the outdoor stage area where you can see different shows. Right now there is an Encanto show that’s super fun and interactive but from what I understand this will change seasonally and with the different festivals in EPCOT! The best part about this area to me is that there is so much shaded seating! Whether it’s under umbrellas or just a whole covered area, there is a lot of seating in this place! I’m excited to see what the shows are throughout the year but the Encanto show happening right now has Miracle and Bruno and gets the audience involved in all parts of the show! It is really fun!
Communicore Hall
So this part has been met with mixed reviews. Some have pointed out that this hall is very bland and kind of looks like your middle school cafeteria. While this is not an entirely wrong observation, I kind of like the chillness of this hall. When I have been there, it’s very quiet and not super crowded. Probably because it’s just seating in the AC, nothing else really. BUT, let’s not downplay how nice it is this time of year to have a nicely air conditioned place to just sit and chill for a minute! It might not have a bunch of bells and whistles but it has a good amount of comfy seating and great air conditioning….I don’t need much more honestly! Plus, if you like to work form “home” this is the perfect spot! There are plenty of places to plug in and work and like I said, it’s air conditioned and quiet! I am interested to see if they decorate this space for the holidays, it could be really pretty!
Amenities
All in all this are provides some great spaces to meet characters, get a snack, see a show or just chill out and relax for a moment in the AC or just the shade. What is also nice is that there are restrooms here right next to the Festival Favorites window and a water fountain with a water bottle fill station in the same area! That fill station is awesome to me because I do not love having to fill my water bottle up in the water fountain.
Conclusion
Y’all know I don’t usually have a lot of negative reviews on things and I was kind of expecting this to be the first one based off what I had seen and read from others. I was pleasantly surprised though! I guess it depends what you are expecting in this space but I thought the character area was adorable, Festival Favorites is such a great idea (as long as they deliver on it and really change things out regularly), the show area is awesome with a great show right now (again, hopefully they change it out regularly) and I really enjoyed just chilling out in the Hall. I think a lot hinges on how they utilize this space during and in between the festivals and how often they change things out. My hope is that they change things out a lot and keep it interesting! If you are coming to EPCOT you should absolutely check this space out and not overlook it, I feel like kids will really like this addition to EPCOT.
As always, I thank you all for reaching along! I hope this gave you a little glimpse into the new space in EPCOT. There is a lot to enjoy here! Make sure you are subscribed to the blog and have us added to your contacts so you don’t miss any posts, there are so many exciting things coming up! Have a magical day!
