Never Built Japan Omnimover: Epcot Center's Cancelled Attractions

Epcot Center's Cancelled Attractions

Epcot Center went through a variety of different planned versions before the park that we ended up getting, and most attractions and pavilions were redesigned at least once before they ended up getting actually built.

One of the pavilions that went through the most changes was Japan, which while a part of Epcot from its earliest stages, would end up looking very different than many of its planned versions when it was finally built in the final version of the World Showcase, without any of the attractions planned for it over the years from Meet The World to Mt. Fuji.

Welcome to Epcot Center's Cancelled Attractions where we take you through the history of never built rides and attractions from Epcot at Walt Disney World. Today we are taking you through the history of the never-built omnimover attraction from Japan. Be sure to check out the rest of the series here.

Initially, many of the pavilions of Epcot Center were intended to be more modern, focusing on the current world of their host countries. We previously explored this concept with Modern Germany.

Japan also was originally going to explore the modern world of the country and a variety of companies from the host nation. Notably, this version of the land would have featured an ommnimover style attraction with bright red ride vehicles.

Not much is known about this ride beyond its setting in modern Japan and that it would have passed by several guest pathways.

Eventually, as World Showcase shifted to a more historical approach, this design would be retired and replaced with the pavilion we experience at the park to this day.

This new design was also supposed to hold an attraction that we will dive into next week.

Overall it is probably best this version of the Japan Pavilion never ended up happening. A pavilion taking place in the present is inevitably going to end up being dated. This could remain today as a dated extremely 80s attraction, or have required an expensive retheme. The pavilion we have today is timeless and a great look at historical Japan.

Thanks for reading and be sure to come back next week when we reexplore the built but never opened Epcot attraction Meet The World. Be sure to check out the entire series thus far here.