Disney World’s Ratatouille Ride Gets an Opening Date

Epcot’s latest ride finally has an opening date. Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure will be opening at the France Pavilion in Epcot’s World Showcase on October 1, 2021—which is also the 50th anniversary of Disney World.

Covid knocked Pixar’s celebrity chef rat for a loop. Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure was originally going to open at Epcot in 2020, but as with so many other things, the pandemic impacted the timeline. Disney might’ve reopened its Florida theme parks back in July, but they’ve been operating at greatly reduced capacity and revenues, and the company has been hesitant to launch new attractions or experiences at a time when few people would get to enjoy them. Also other construction projects were paused or cancelled due to the pandemic, so many of the new attractions that were originally planned be in operation by this year’s 50th anniversary won’t be finished until 2022 or later. Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure was already deep into construction when the pandemic hit, so it makes sense to use its opening as part of the resort’s 50th anniversary celebration.

Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure will be new to Disney World, but if you’ve ever been to Disneyland Paris you might’ve ridden it already. The original version of the ride opened at Walt Disney Studios Park at Disneyland Paris in 2014; I wrote about it for Paste a few years ago. It’s a cute but slight dark ride that relies a little too heavily on screens. The best thing about it is the trackless ride system; your little rat-shaped cart zips around unpredictably, taking you from scene to scene (and screen to screen) in a new storyline featuring the characters from Brad Bird’s film. It’s probably not something you’ll want to wait in line for hours for, but it should be a nice little addition to a park that needs more rides.

Right now it’s a little difficult to get into Disney World. You need reservations to get into the four theme parks there, and they’re all booked solid this week. Disney’s Hollywood Studios, the site of Star Wars—Galaxy’s Edge, has no availability throughout all of March. The parks still operate at 35% capacity due to the coronavirus, but hopefully by October 1 the vaccine will have rolled out enough for the parks to be running at full capacity again.