It looks like the concept art for a planned Mary Poppins attraction in EPCOT has been leaked. A portfolio belonging to a former Walt Disney Imagineer was uploaded to Issuu (page 38-39), and within it are concepts for a Mary Poppins spinning tea cup ride.
The indoor attraction would have been located within EPCOT’s United Kingdom Pavilion. The concept art reveals plans for two pre-show rooms leading into the tea cup ride itself.
Additional art shows the ride vehicles and the cutouts that would surround the spinner.
The Mary Poppins attraction was originally announced in 2019. Bob Chapek, who was the Disney Parks, Experiences and Products Chairman at the time, hyped up the announcement of “an entirely new neighborhood” that’d be added to the UK Pavilion.
In 2019, it was widely believed that the Mary Poppins ride was a spinner attraction of some sort. But, the hype in the announcement made some hope it was something more akin to a dark ride.
Early reports suggested the ride was an indoor carousel, with plans ranging from a single-story carousel to a two-story carousel. The carousel was expected to be surrounded by screens and projections, though some reports indicate that concept caused substantial motion sickness.
Other rumors indicated the ride was later cut down to a simplified tea cup spinner, with flats replacing screens and projections. This appears to be the concept Disney was evidently planning to go with based on the leaked concept art.
In 2022, Bob Chapek, who had risen to Disney CEO at this time, announced that the Mary Poppins ride was in a holding pattern. Chapek said he had hoped the project would be “refunded” in the future, which indicated budgets had been cut.
Now, the Mary Poppins ride is indefinitely postponed. Disney is tightening their budget across all areas of the company. That, combined with the negative backlash from Disney fans who expected more for the attraction, might keep this concept firmly on the shelf.
