EPCOT's Journey of Water Inspired by Moana is now open to all guests

Oct 06, 2023 in "Journey of Water Inspired by Moana"

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Journey of Water Inspired by Moana soft opening October 6

Posted: Friday October 6, 2023 9:33am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Construction walls are down, and Journey of Water Inspired by Moana is now open to all guests as EPCOT's latest attraction begins soft openings.

Journey of Water Inspired by Moana soft opening October 6

Journey of Water Inspired by Moana officially opens on October 16, but Disney is making the attraction available to all guests as part of a soft opening period from October 6 through October 15. Note that Journey of Water will not be available on October 11 and 12.

An in-depth look at EPCOT's Journey of Water Inspired by Moana

Journey of Water Inspired by Moana overview

Although Journey of Water Inspired by Moana does not have a Lightning Lane, Disney may use a Virtual Queue to control access to the experience during busy periods.

When a virtual queue is available, you may join throughout the day starting at 9:00 am, using the My Disney Experience app. You must be in EPCOT to join the virtual queue and can request to enter this virtual queue at most once per day during regular park hours.

Disney is using the Virtual Queue today; wait times at 9:30 am are 70 minutes.

The new Moana character meet and greet has also opened today.

Moana character meet and greet at Journey of Water in EPCOT

An in-depth look at EPCOT's Journey of Water Inspired by Moana

Journey of Water Inspired by Moana overview

Discuss on the Forums

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BocabearMar 10, 2024

but then again, it should have been instantly corrected before people started tripping over them...Anyone can see it would be a problem... That is the biggest problem when we do installations...people tripping over our stuff as we are working...and even if they are beyond the barricades we installed, they will still blame us... So we have become hyper aware of this issue...I am shocked someone at Disney did not see this and flag it .... and come up with something for it... Tiny bench surround, etc.

retr0gateMar 06, 2024

I could be completely wrong here, but I find it hard to believe the mounds were an intentional part of the design. It seems far more likely that there was an issue with the grading and they decided to just leave it as is / improvise something during construction. I've worked on similar projects (albeit, not in theme parks) and what we draw does not always reflect what's actually built on site. You can usually expect to see a lot of small discrepancies like this, especially when it comes to site work like pavement, lighting fixtures, etc., usually because something was overlooked during installation, not the design process.

Disstevefan1Mar 03, 2024

LOL. This is why I love these boards! 🏆

_calebMar 02, 2024

*concrete

Cmdr_CrimsonMar 02, 2024

How bout this....😏

Disstevefan1Mar 02, 2024

I don’t know what this means, but the mounds of cement the designers chose as lamp post bases in World Malformation in EPCOT was a tripping hazard and they looked ugly. It makes you wonder, did they run out of time and/or money and the cement mounds was just a cost cutting mistake? Maybe a CFTOD inspection flagged it and made them fix it? LOL! Whatever the reason, they are ending up spending even more money to correct it.

Cmdr_CrimsonMar 02, 2024

CntrlFlPeteMar 02, 2024

I found it crazy when I was there the other day in the way they had Pluto out in the walkway right across from Daisey (who was in one of the sections). Each time I needed to go through that area, I needed to dodge folks going between the two characters while the crowd is trying to walk in the walkway. Just looked/felt like a cluster that did not need to be.

SoFloMagicMar 01, 2024

Or just ban double wide strollers

HauntedPirateMar 01, 2024

That would make much more sense, and I sincerely hope your guess is correct and that there is work being done in that area to move the queue. Without a change in the queue placement, that walkway is going to be miserable during busier times. Even when it's not terribly busy, it only takes a few families and a few dozen people going each way to clog things up.

James AlucobondMar 01, 2024

If you look back at the plan from when the festival center was still a thing, it did appear to include the M&G oriented in that way (see below for flow). We basically have the exit area on the right, and I suspect they're working on some variation of the proposed queuing area right now, though it might ultimately be a bit more of a straightaway that also provides backstage access rather than what was originally proposed. I could be wrong, though.

HauntedPirateMar 01, 2024

That would definitely be a preferable area for that queue.

James AlucobondMar 01, 2024

I'm hoping they intend to swap the queue to the opposite side between the M&G and Coral Reef once that area is done. They're doing a lot of paving over there that wasn't in the original site plan, so I have to imagine it's in support of the M&G, which also wasn't in the plan.

HauntedPirateMar 01, 2024

I really wish they had better placement for the meet and greet. In its current spot, the line has a tendency to create a choke-point on that walkway when things are busy. Or when you have a couple of families with double-wide strollers and they don't see the need to move close to the side. ;)