RUMOR: Epcot Friendship Boat Route to Change Again Soon

Epcot's Friendship Boat welcomes guests in Morocco

A transportation Cast Member recently shared with us a planned change to the route for the Friendship Boat that currently ferries guests between Canada and Morocco in the World Showcase. Sometime over the next month, the plan is to close the Morocco dock and instead shuttle between Canada and Germany, which would helpfully carry guests across the entirety of World Showcase. This is the route that the boat took while the dock in Morocco was being refurbished in 2024 and it does appear that the dock is overdue for another refurbishment. It’s also possible that this change is simply to provide a more useful destination for guests looking to travel across the showcase. Its current route only skips two of the eleven World Showcase pavilions, which makes it of limited utility as a form of transportation.

The dock in Germany is currently closed, but may be reopening soon

Prior to the pandemic closures in 2020, there were two Friendship Boats in operation at World Showcase Lagoon: one traveled between Canada and Morocco and the other between Germany and Mexico. While there are no plans to bring back the second boat, this change will at least make better use of the remaining boat and allow guests to save a lot more steps when venturing across the massive World Showcase.

The dock in Morocco does appear to be overdue for another refurbishment

According to the Cast Member we spoke with, there is little chance of the route changing to include all four of the docks while there is only one boat operating. Although it would be possible for the boat to visit all four docks and provide a more extensive transportation option, the concern is that the capacity is not large enough to accommodate the number of guests who would use the service. Not only would this route attract more guests, many of them would likely choose to stay on board for a full rotation or more – similar to the way guests ride the railroad in Magic Kingdom.

While it is possible that this change will only be temporary as a means to refurbish a dock, we hope it becomes a permanent route. If this more useful crossing proves to be popular, it may incentivize Disney to return the second boat to service and consider a full rotation that would allow guests to easily travel to any of the four docks in the park.