On Aug. 31, 2023, Mouse Trap News published an article claiming a new ride called "Moana's Epic Voyage" would be coming to Epcot, a theme park in Walt Disney World Resort. The ride was supposedly based on the 2016 Disney animated movie "Moana":
Moana's Epic Voyage – New Water Ride Coming to EPCOT
Since its opening in 1982, EPCOT has been one of the most popular Disney World parks. This is due to its innovative blend of education and entertainment. More recently, Disney has announced great changes to EPCOT, like the Star Wars ride coming to Spaceship Earth. In fact, they just announced another thrilling addition to EPCOT, Moana's Epic Voyage, a new log flume ride like Splash Mountain.
The website also posted about the claim on its social media accounts, including posting a TikTok video that had 1.8 million views at the time of this check:
@mousetrapnews Moana's Epic Adventure may be one of the coolest Disney rides ever! #disneyworld #disneynews #epcot #moana #moanaride ♬ How Far I'll Go - Auli'i Cravalho
But "Moana's Epic Voyage" isn't a real ride being built at Epcot. And Mouse Trap News isn't a real news site. On its About page, the website says that every story on its website is fake:
Mouse Trap News is the world's best satire site. We write fake stories about Disney Parks stuff. From Disney Park announcements to Disney Hotel and resort news to made-up Disney partnerships, you can be assured that anything you read here is not true, real, or accurate, but it is fun.
Mouse Trap News says the same thing on its social media accounts. For example, its TikTok bio says "‼️Real Disney News That is 100% FAKE‼️"
The website also acknowledged the "news" wasn't real. In the comments to Mouse Trap News' TikTok video about the claim, one account commented, "Nah that would have been so cool though." Mouse Trap News replied to the comment, "We know."
Although "Moana's Epic Voyage" is not real, a Moana-inspired attraction is indeed coming to Epcot. "Journey of Water" is scheduled to open in late 2023 in the park, according to the official Walt Disney World website. The website described the attraction as visitors being able to walk along an outdoor trail and learn about the global water cycle. This real attraction was mentioned in the Mouse Trap News article.
We've previously fact-checked other satirical claims from Mouse Trap News before, including if Disney World was requiring guests to wear pronoun pins, or if Disney had cancelled the upcoming live-action "Snow White" movie.
For background, here is why we sometimes write about satire/humor.