As we here at BlogMickey.com continue to document and share with you the demolition of various structures around Epcot, we wanted to take a step back and post a sort of “before and current” article that recaps how far the project has progressed.

In this “then and now” post, we’re going to take a look at the phase one demolition that saw the southwest corner of Innoventions (or Communicore) removed completely to make way for a new structure. The new structure is the World Celebration Festival Center. For more on the Festival Center, check out our post where we detail everything we know (so far) about the project.

As a short recap, here’s a look at some concept art that shows what the southwest portion of Innoventions West will transform into.

These first two photos showcase the original Epcot Center concept art and the concept art for the reimagined EPCOT.

A closer look at the Festival Center.

Ok, with that out of the way, let’s take a look around the Innoventions West area just a few days before it closed for good. In the photo below, we see the now completely demolished Fountain of Nations with Innoventions West on the right, and MouseGear on the left, looking south.

Here’s a look at the reverse, looking north.

At the time of it’s closure, Innoventions West housed a merchandise location, dining location, and a character meet and greet.

As of publish time, the only thing left in this photo is the breezeway and everything to the right. Of course, all of this will eventually be demolished, but that’s part of the phase two of demolition that is yet to start.

We’ll start with a look at the first portion of Innoventions West to be demolished – Fountain View Starbucks. Fountain View earned its name thank to the elevated and close position to the Fountain of Nations.

Also nearby was a merchandise location called Club Cool. Inside Club Cool, guests could sample Coca-Cola flavors from all over the world and buy Coca-Cola merchandise.

There was also a Character Meet and Greet area called Character Spot.

Finally, the Innoventions West area was also used as a “D-Zone”. A D-Zone is Disney speak for a rest area. The concept started in Magic Kingdom and was expanded to Epcot as a place for guests to break up their day a bit and get some air conditioning.

Let’s walk in from the west side of the building.

With a look back at the final days of Innoventions West, let’s take a look at the demolition process.

Shortly after Innoventions West closed, construction walls popped up around the building and Fountain of Nations. The Fountain of Nations demolition occurred first, presumably to give Disney a flat area to place some of the demolition debris.

Here are a couple of photos of the Fountain of Nations demolition.

The first section of demolition took place at Fountain View Starbucks.

Along with the removal of Fountain View, we saw some gutting of the Innoventions West structure.

Eventually, more of the walls would be torn open as Disney continued to gut Innoventions West.

A fallen construction tarp eventually gave us a peek inside the fully gutted building.

Exterior walls eventually came down and we started to see the steel skeleton of the structure, a sight that would become quite common.

More sections of the walls continued to be torn open.

Walls eventually disappeared and we were left with just the steel skeleton sitting where Innoventions West use to be.

Slowly but surely, the steel was removed.

More and more of Innoventions West simply disappeared overnight.

Finally, the entire phase one demolition was completed, some 4+ months since it closed to the public.

And this is just the start! This phase one demolition is only half of the demolition that needs to be completed.

For continuing coverage of the Epcot Overhaul Project, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com in the days, weeks, months, and years ahead!

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