ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The days appear to be numbered for Epcot attraction Ellen’s Energy Adventure, commonly known as Universe of Energy, according to plans filed with the South Florida water management district.
The permit application filed by the Walt Disney Company seeks approval to fill in the canal and pave part of the forest directly behind the attraction on the eastern edge of the EPCOT parking lot.
Plan maps show the roughly 1.2 million square-foot project area includes the attraction within its boundaries.
According to drainage design documents, the purpose of the project is, “to provide a more-contiguous area for possible future changes to parking capacity and back of house areas.”
An email in the plan documents states Walt Disney Imagineering is behind the project.
Disney did not immediately return request for comment.
The plans do not reference any demolition or construction work on the attraction itself, only the area behind it.
The Universe of Energy pavilion opened with the park in 1982 and was updated to its current version with Ellen DeGeneres as host in 1996.