National Geographic took a deep dive into all parts of the massive transformation of EPCOT with EPCOT Becoming: Inside the Transformation, an informative hour-long documentary. Over the course of several years, EPCOT was transformed with new districts at the front of the park, new attractions and a new nighttime spectacular – all of which are showcased in this special.
The special began with a look back at the creation of EPCOT through the lens of Imagineer Tom Fitzgerald, who has worked on the park in one way or another since its inception. As with most Disney projects of this era, a way is always found to tie things back to Walt Disney himself, with his words describing EPCOT as always being in a state of becoming” especially taken to heart with the transformation.
Instead of focusing on one element of the park’s transformation at a time, this special bounced around from items such World Celebration, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Journey of Water and Luminous The Symphony of Us. A big portion of the runtime was given to the nighttime spectacular Luminous, with the December 5th, 2023 premiere of the show ending the program.
Among the many interviewees was composer Pinar Toprak, who talked about the creation of the beautiful new EPCOT Anthem and how its been integrated into the park, as well as Luminous. We also get to hear from Sheléa Melody McDonald, who co-wrote the opening song “Heartbeat Symphony” in addition to performing it and other parts of the soundtrack. She even sings a little of the song in the documentary. The recording of the soundtrack took place all around the world, with recording in Glasgow and the Disney Live Entertainment facility in Florida being showcased. A local Florida choir was brought in to add an extra dramatic element to the music.
The massive undertaking that was the construction of Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind was showcased – from the construction of the big blue show building, to testing of the vehicle concept on a “test track,” to the installation of the real track in the already completed building. The program offers up some great shots inside the attraction’s show building, showcasing just how massive it really is.
More details are given on the creation of other new additions to EPCOT, such as Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, with concept stemming back to the original installation of the attraction at Disneyland Paris. On the other side of the park, we get to see some fun shots of Imagineers testing the water features created for Journey of Water, Inspired by Moana. A neat fact revealed in the documentary was that Imagineers considered creating the statue of Te Fiti as a fully live topiary, before shifting gears towards a more artificial sculpture.
EPCOT Becoming does a great job of showing off the changes to Walt Disney World’s second theme park to those with a basic interest in the park, while also offering some fun details that fans may not have known before. I for one am looking forward to streaming this special on Disney+ and Hulu (which you can do on July 19th) to comb through some of the details I might have missed the first time around!
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