Awesome Planet

Awesome Planet: attraction at EPCOT, Walt Disney World — live wait times, operating status, and planning data on MouseHub.

Wait time history

Historical wait patterns for Awesome Planet accrete daily as MouseHub records waits every 15 minutes. Charts appear here once enough history exists.

Visitor sentiment

4.0· 39 Google ratings

The MouseHub take

Awesome Planet is a ten-minute film in the Harvest Theater, inside The Land pavilion in EPCOT's World Nature neighborhood. It opened on January 17, 2020, taking over the screen that had been running Circle of Life. Ty Burrell narrates, Industrial Light & Magic created the imagery and the space sequences, and Academy Award winner Steven Price wrote the score. Disney made it with the Disney Conservation Fund and built it as a call to action for protecting the Earth, and the theater backs the footage with wind, scents, and water.

It works best as an afternoon sit-down rather than a destination. Reviewers who like it talk about the cold, dark room and the photography as much as the message, and the wait comes down to how much of the current showing is left. There is no height requirement and no pass to plan around, so a whole party walks in together whenever they arrive. The visitors who leave unhappy came in expecting an attraction. There are no characters, no animatronics, and a conservation lesson that some people find heavy-handed by the closing minutes.

At a glance

Best for
Families who want a cool, seated break in the middle of an EPCOT day, and anyone who watches nature documentaries at home.
Skip if
You have one day at EPCOT and headliners left on the list, or you came for characters and animatronics.
Ride type
Sit-down nature film in an indoor theater
Intensity
Gentle. No height requirement, a dark room, and in-theater wind, scent, and water effects.

The good

  • Ten cool minutes off your feet
    Reviewers come back to the cold theater and the padded seats more than to anything on screen. After a lap of World Nature that trade is worth making.
  • Any height, and nobody waits outside
    Disney lists the film as Any Height. Infants, toddlers, and grandparents all go in on the same showing, so there is nothing to plan around.
  • Industrial Light & Magic built the space footage
    ILM created the imagery and the sequences shot from orbit. That work is what separates the wide views here from stock nature footage.
  • Steven Price scored it, Ty Burrell narrates
    Price is an Academy Award-winning composer and the orchestral track does a lot of the lifting. Burrell carries the narration start to finish and keeps the tone lighter than the subject would suggest.
  • The photography is what people remember
    Even reviewers who shrug at the film praise the cinematography. The wide landscape shots fill the screen and hold up in a theater this size.
  • Ten minutes costs a park plan nothing
    The runtime is short enough to slot between two rides in the same pavilion. You can sit through the whole film and still make a return window.

The bad

  • The message turns preachy by the end
    Reviewers describe the conservation lesson as heavy-handed once the film reaches its closing stretch. Some visitors want the storytelling Disney does elsewhere instead of the lecture.
  • No characters show up
    This is real-world nature footage from the first frame to the last. Families who promised the kids a Disney film have a hard ten minutes.
  • Visitors compare it to a classroom video
    A recurring complaint is that the film could air on any nature channel. Reviewers looking for something only Disney could make do not find it here.
  • You wait on your feet in the lobby
    Miss the start of a showing and you stand outside the doors until the next one. The holding area has little seating, which undercuts the point of stopping in.
  • The theater effects are easy to miss
    Reviewers who went in expecting a 4D show report noticing almost nothing. The wind and scents are subtle rather than physical.

Veteran tips

  • Lightning Lane does not cover this one
    Awesome Planet is not on EPCOT's Multi Pass or Single Pass lineup, so there is no selection to spend and nothing to book. Walk up and wait out whatever is left of the current showing.
  • Save it for the worst heat or a storm
    The theater is indoors and dark, which makes it a reliable stop when afternoon lightning shuts the outdoor attractions. It keeps a park day moving instead of stalling it.
  • Build it around lunch in The Land
    Sunshine Seasons and Garden Grill Restaurant are both in this pavilion. Eat, catch a showing, and never step back outside.
  • Wheelchairs and ECVs roll straight in
    Disney classifies the theater as May Remain in Wheelchair/ECV, so guests using mobility devices stay in them for the film. No transfer, no boarding step.
  • Ask about captioning before the doors open
    Disney lists assistive listening, audio description, and handheld captioning for this theater. Sort the equipment out ahead of the showing rather than in a dark room ten minutes long.
  • Take a seat toward the middle
    Reviewers recommend the center of the house for the best look at the wide screen. Seats along the side walls are the ones people complain about.
  • Fill the gap before Soarin' Across America
    Soarin' sits in the same building and in EPCOT's second Multi Pass group. A showing here covers the wait for a return window without leaving The Land.

MouseHub editorial, written from visitor reports and official Disney sources. Last reviewed .

Sources