EPCOT's DuckTales World Showcase Adventure Is Under Refurbishment and May Run in a Limited Format
Walt Disney World has flagged Disney's DuckTales World Showcase Adventure as under refurbishment, warning that the free Play Disney Parks treasure hunt may be available in a limited format. No end date has been published, and the listing still shows 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM hours across seven World Showcase pavilions.
EPCOT's free phone-based treasure hunt is running in a reduced state. Walt Disney World has added a refurbishment notice to the listing for Disney's DuckTales World Showcase Adventure, the Play Disney Parks game that sends guests chasing lost artifacts through the World Showcase pavilions, warning that the experience "may be available in a limited format" while the work is under way. Hours on the page are unchanged at 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM.
What the Refurbishment Notice Actually Says
The attraction page for Disney's DuckTales World Showcase Adventure carries one line of warning: the experience is currently under refurbishment and may be available in a limited format. Disney has not published an end date, has not said which pavilions are affected, and has not pulled the listing down. Everything else on the page reads as normal, including the 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM operating window and the note that the game is open to guests of any height.
That vagueness is worth reading carefully, because this attraction is not a building. It is a software layer stretched across the entire World Showcase promenade, played on a guest's own phone through the free Play Disney Parks app. A limited format here most likely means fewer missions rather than a closed door, and unlike a ride refurbishment there is no construction wall to tell you which part is down. The only way to see the current state is to open the app inside the park.
Key Details
- What: Disney's DuckTales World Showcase Adventure, an interactive game played in the Play Disney Parks app
- Where: World Showcase at EPCOT, across seven country pavilions
- Status: Under refurbishment, and Disney says it may be available in a limited format
- Listed hours: 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM
- Height requirement: None
- Cost: No extra charge, and the Play Disney Parks app is a free download
Seven Pavilions, Seven Lost Magic Treasures
The premise Disney publishes for the game is a straight caper. Scrooge McDuck is hot on the trail of some of the world's most precious ancient artifacts and needs help finding them, so he sends guests and his relatives around World Showcase on a quest to recover the 7 Lost Magic Treasures and return them to their rightful owners. Along the way you assist Huey, Dewey, Louie and Webby as they follow clues, take on a few villains and uncover the missing artifacts.
One treasure is hidden in each of seven country pavilions:
- Mexico
- Norway
- China
- Germany
- Japan
- France
- United Kingdom
That leaves four World Showcase pavilions outside the game entirely: Canada, Italy, Morocco and The American Adventure. If you are pacing a lap of the lagoon around the hunt, those are the stretches where the phone goes back in a pocket.
The Third Cast to Run This Quest
World Showcase has hosted an interactive quest since 2009, when the Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure handed guests a device called a Kimmunicator and turned pavilion facades into props that responded to it. Agent P's World Showcase Adventure took the idea over in 2012 with the Phineas and Ferb cast, and the DuckTales version is the third group of characters to work the same beat. What changed with this generation is the hardware: there is nothing to pick up and nothing to return, because the whole thing lives in an app you already have on you.
For families, that combination has always been the point. It is one of the few things in World Showcase that costs nothing, needs no reservation, has no height requirement and no Lightning Lane, and it gives younger guests a reason to keep moving between pavilions on an afternoon built mostly around food, film and shopping for adults.
Open the App in Mexico Before You Plan the Afternoon Around It
The practical takeaway is small but specific. Disney has committed to no return date, so treat the adventure as a bonus rather than a fixture on your next EPCOT day: start the game at the first pavilion on your route, see how many of the seven treasure hunts actually load, and plan the rest of the walk from there. Nothing is booked and nothing is paid for, so a limited format costs a guest time rather than money. We will update this story when Walt Disney World lifts the notice or names the missions that are back.