A leaked survey give us new details on Epcot's next big attraction

click to enlarge A leaked survey give us new details on Epcot's next big attraction
Image via Disney
When Epcot’s new Ratatouille ride opens ahead of WDW’s 50th Anniversary, it will be the first built-from-scratch ride in the World Showcase in more than three decades, and will be the first such ride to feature fictional characters.

While both Mexico and Norway now feature Disney animated characters, the France ride is different due to the scale and impact of the new attraction.

At the back of the current France pavilion, the 3D trackless Ratatouille ride will be part of a small addition that will also include a Parisian-style covered outdoor queue, a build your own crepe stand, and a standalone restroom building. A new guest pathway along the side of the current pavilion will funnel guests to the new area.

Although the ride itself is believed to be nearly identical to the Ratatouille attraction at the Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris, there are still numerous other details yet to be confirmed regarding the upcoming attraction. A newly leaked survey give us some hints about one of the biggest, still unanswered aspects of the attraction.

Despite most of the current offerings within the French pavilion at Epcot having French names, Disney looks to be moving ahead with using an English name for the new attraction.

Len Testa, founder of Touring Plans, recently posted a screenshot of what he claims is a Disney survey regarding 12 possible names for the ride. The 12 names are really six, with each having “Chef” added or removed.

The names include:
• Ratatouille: Remy’s Crazy Kitchen Adventure
• Ratatouille: Chef Remy’s Crazy Kitchen Adventure
• Ratatouille: Remy’s Culinary Adventure
• Ratatouille: Chef Remy’s Culinary Adventure
• Ratatouille: Remy’s Culinary Chase
• Ratatouille: Chef Remy’s Culinary Chase
• Ratatouille: Remy’s Dinner Dash
• Ratatouille: Chef Remy’s Dinner Dash
• Ratatouille: Remy’s Kitchen Chase
• Ratatouille: Chef Remy’s Kitchen Chase
• Ratatouille: Remy’s Mealtime Madness
• Ratatouille: Chef Remy’s Mealtime Madness

In Paris, the ride is known as Ratatouille: L'Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy or Ratatouille: Remy’s Totally Crazy Adventure. The French name is a play on words: In French, "crazy" and "chef’s hat" have similar spellings.

Previously released official artwork showed the attraction entrance with signage calling the ride Kitchen Calamity but that is likely only a placeholder until an official name is decided upon.

The survey has the term “Ratatouille” featured prominently in the name, similar to how it's titled in France, and, in all honesty, most guests will likely just refer to the ride by this name. The term “Ratatouille” is not found anywhere in the signage on the officially released artwork, but it’s doubtful the name won’t include the term. Both “Ratatouille” and whatever is found after the colon is important for marketing, especially for use on merchandise.

Interestingly, the merchandise is another area where little is known. At Walt Disney Studios the Ratatouille ride has no exit gift area with only a small retail store and bakery found in another section of the mini-land. Instead, the ride exits to a hallway that runs along the side of a Remy-themed restaurant.

Artwork and permits for Orlando indicate that no such restaurant will be a part of the addition here – the only new food option that is known of is the crepe stand. The ride building in Orlando is nearly the same size as the attraction part of the Paris one, so unless the ride here is dramatically shortened, there is no room for an exit gift shop.

One possibility, as mentioned on here in June, is remodeling the Souvenirs de France gift shop and the Les Halles Boulangerie-Patisserie to allow guests to access that retail space from the expansion area. The same artwork that shows the “Kitchen Calamity” signage also shows open doorways on the back walls of where that retail space is located. It’s unclear if those are just faux doors to keep with the theme of the French street or if these doors will actually open into the pre-existing retail space. Currently, the area where the doors would open into is used for the bakery’s kitchen and for some back-of-house storage. To allow guests access to this retail space from the new Ratatouille area would require some interior remodeling, of which, currently no permits have been publicly posted.

Sources familiar with Disney Imagineering have said Disney is aiming at late 2019 for the attraction’s opening. That’s roughly the same time period that both the new Disney Skyliner gondola system and Hollywood Studios’ Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge land are expected to open. But it is thought the France Pavilion expansion area, sans ride, may open to guests as early as the end of this year, roughly six to nine months ahead of the attraction.

D23, Disney’s official fan club, is hosting a two-day event at WDW this November. It has already been confirmed that Disney will be giving new details regarding the soon to open Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway attraction that is currently under construction at Hollywood Studios. It’s believed that new information about Epcot’s future, including Ratatouille, may be shared at this event as well.

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