The Magic Returns: Celebrating the Soft Opening of Spaceship Earth

Spaceship Earth surprised everyone by opening its doors to guests October 18, 2025, after months of refurbishment at EPCOT.

People who managed to catch a ride said it felt just like it did before the August shutdown—same narration, same scenes, no big changes that guests would notice.

Even though the ride is spinning again, Disney’s official site still lists Spaceship Earth as closed until October 24, with normal hours picking up on the 25th. Right now, nobody’s really sure if this early opening is the start of a soft launch or just another round of testing before the official reopening later this month.

The refurbishment kicked off back on August 25. Disney aimed to tackle ride system maintenance and backstage improvements, with maybe a few small tweaks to those in-vehicle screens. Nothing major, at least from what guests can see.