Disney Should Completely Cancel This ‘Mary Poppins’ Ride

These days, drinking “around the world” and visiting rides like Frozen Ever After might be the be-all and end-all for some Walt Disney World Resort Guests who pay a visit to the World Showcase in EPCOT.

The United Kingdom pavilion isn’t necessarily the star of the show (even though it’s a great location for Mary Poppins weddings, if you consider you and your significant other to have a lot in common with Bert and Mary Poppins!).

The United Kingdom’s Ill-Fated Addition

However, there was one very big update that was coming to this EPCOT country.

Rumors and tidbits of official news about a Mary Poppins attraction (inspired, of course, by the 1964 film starring Julie Andrews and the more recent 2018 Mary Poppins Returns film starring Emily Blunt) have been swirling around the Internet since 2019.

A Mary Poppins attraction was indeed going to come to the United Kingdom pavilion in the World Showcase, but a combination of factors have now resulted in the perfect storm for this attraction’s cancelation.

The Perfect Storm

Disney’s behind-the-scenes financial struggles were part of why Disney CEO Bob Chapek paused any Mary Poppins plans last year, and current Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger has made it clear that he plans on cutting back drastically in an effort to create new Disney offerings with a “quality over quantity” ethos in mind.

This certainly did not bode well for Mary Poppins — but considering just how underwhelming the new ride looked, this indefinite postponement was actually a just-barely disguised blessing!

The attraction would have included two themed rooms and a teacup ride, which is shown in the leaked concept art that can be seen below.

Misusing Mary Poppins’ Potential

Since Walt Disney World Resort already has a teacup ride in the form of the Mad Hatter’s Mad Tea Party ride in the Fantasyland portion of the Magic Kingdom, teacups seem like an odd choice for this attraction.

When you consider just how many fantastical elements and incidents occur in the original Mary Poppins, spinning around in teacups seems even more ridiculous!

After all, Mary Poppins takes Bert, Jane, and Michael on adventures that range from trippy animated chases to street-painting-teleportation to comical levitation!

Since plenty of Disney Fanatics have already established their love for virtual reality-themed rides like Flight of Passage or Soarin’, a ride that involved jumping through sidewalk artwork would have a lot more promise than a ride that could be found at plenty of other theme park locations (not to mention the Magic Kingdom).

Many Disney Fanatics also has a soft spot for old-school 2D animation, so taking a journey through an animated world inspired by Disney’s older animated films could be a big hit with EPCOT visitors.

Sorry, Not Sorry

Tea and tea parties are not even a big part of the Mary Poppins tale — aside from being a part of general British culture — so while a tea party ride might make sense for the Mad Tea Party ride inspired by the Mad Hatter, it certainly doesn’t make sense for this 1964 film’s attraction!

A colorful and whimsical tea party also doesn’t mesh well with Mary Poppins overall. The film does have some lighter moments, but it also contains many somber or bittersweet scenes.

The movie is definitely not a fluffy story about having fun with a happy-go-lucky nanny, so a teacup ride like the one shown below seems even less suitable.

Did you “hope that the UK Pavilion will be saved from this embarrassment” when you first learned about the potential Mary Poppins attraction and teacup ride?

Do you agree that Disney could have chosen a much better Mary Poppins ride that didn’t involve spinning teacups? Mary Poppins herself would probably agree — and she would probably thank Disney for finally putting the nails in her ride’s coffin!