Annoying EPCOT Rumor

[john7994]

I'll freely admit that i'm coming into this conversation really late into the game and may have missed a lot.

but i wanted to point out that there are a lot of 80s kids that are now adults, that EPCOT is still their favorite park because of the educational portion of that theme park back in the day.

EPCOT should be about innovation, education, culture, and technology. I dont want EPCOT to be like any other theme park, it should be different and thats why people love it.

with that being said, im not completely against IP's in EPCOT, in fact i would love the Mexican boat road to be overlayed with CoCo.

You didnt miss much and your addition agreed with both sides

 

[Genie+]

EPCOT should be about innovation, education, culture, and technology. I dont want EPCOT to be like any other theme park, it should be different and thats why people love it.

Totally agree with this.

I feel like EPCOT is based in our civilization. The pale blue dot. Brotherhood of humankind. A look at where we’ve come from and where we’re going to.

Whatever combo any of our vacations take between fun, relaxing, exploring, learning, amusement… we look to be re-invigorated. WDW does a great job of balancing those things across 4 parks. EPCOT needs to keep its niche. I’m not against all the newer changes but definitely understand sentiments of EPCOT needing to keep its flavor.

 

[starlite_]

I'll freely admit that i'm coming into this conversation really late into the game and may have missed a lot.

but i wanted to point out that there are a lot of 80s kids that are now adults, that EPCOT is still their favorite park because of the educational portion of that theme park back in the day.

EPCOT should be about innovation, education, culture, and technology. I dont want EPCOT to be like any other theme park, it should be different and thats why people love it.

with that being said, im not completely against IP's in EPCOT, in fact i would love the Mexican boat road to be overlayed with CoCo.

And that's fair, we can all want the amusement park to be a certain way and nostalgia is a good motivator for sure, as a reference I'm a 90s kid and everything not in the Test Track section(but the aquarium) in the education pavilions bored me and my siblings when we went as kids.

Yes in an ideal world EPCOT could indeed be everything you mentioned but I simply don't trust an entertainment company to deliver accurate information about science when it's money motivated without stagnating. Plus I'll be honest, the price is a big motivator as well, if I'm paying $$$ I want $$$ entertainment, not whatever the education section of EPCOT is now. Now a disney themed interactive museum where maybe they didn't have rides but more things like what the Journey of Water will be and taught similar concepts that couldn't stagnant or could be updated easily that costed $ instead of $$$ would be really cool and as I keep thinking about it maybe that's what EPCOT was supposed to be and something went wrong along the way. As it is, for me it doesn't work but it honestly doesn't have too. I can simply enjoy Test Track and it's neighbors and move along to the World Showcase if I ever return to WDW.

 

[john7994]

And that's fair, we can all want the amusement park to be a certain way and nostalgia is a good motivator for sure, as a reference I'm a 90s kid and everything not in the Test Track section(but the aquarium) in the education pavilions bored me and my siblings when we went as kids.

Yes in an ideal world EPCOT could indeed be everything you mentioned but I simply don't trust an entertainment company to deliver accurate information about science when it's money motivated without stagnating. Plus I'll be honest, the price is a big motivator as well, if I'm paying $$$ I want $$$ entertainment, not whatever the education section of EPCOT is now. Now a disney themed interactive museum where maybe they didn't have rides but more things like what the Journey of Water will be and taught similar concepts that couldn't stagnant or could be updated easily that costed $ instead of $$$ would be really cool and as I keep thinking about it maybe that's what EPCOT was supposed to be and something went wrong along the way. As it is, for me it doesn't work but it honestly doesn't have too. I can simply enjoy Test Track and it's neighbors and move along to the World Showcase if I ever return to WDW.

The internets happened

 

[starlite_]

The internets happened

And greed probably haha. Honestly thought ideal EPCOT sounds cool af, too bad it hasn't materialized since the 80s apparently.

 

[john7994]

And greed probably haha. Honestly thought ideal EPCOT sounds cool af, too bad it hasn't materialized since the 80s apparently

Haha - and here we are!

 

[Jrb1979]

I would have loved to see them finish World Showcase as planned.

 

[john7994]

I would have loved to see them finish World Showcase as planned.

Interestingly - as a teen - it was the only part of Epcot that I was actually fascinated by. People refer to these other areas and attractions from early Epcot and for the life of me - other than spaceship earth - I have very little recollection of.

 

[jade1]

I would have been fine with non IP but would have HATED a big bang theme,

You would have?

 

[jade1]

You think the culture war over Disney is bad now? Imagine if they had tried to do a ride that elevated the Big Bang and took a stance on the existence of the universe? LOL

I haven't heard much on this. Has it created a culture war?

 

[OppR2nist]

Why isn't WALL-E in EPCOT? You've had years.

And that's how you re-theme and add interest to The Land

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

Yes, 100%! As a kid, I loved all the things I learned while having fun at EPCOT and as an adult, it's even more fun to see it in my kids eyes! EPCOT is it's own entity and unlike the other parks and I don't need it to be a thrilling place (I can go to Six Flags for rides), I like it as the trek around the WS and seeing the areas that were ahead of it's time, like the smart house before it became normal! LOL!! Yes, EPCOT has always been good to me and is probably why it's our favorite park!! We usually stay at Boardwalk resorts for easy access.
Oh and don't get me started about missing Maelstrom...yeah....life was good back then!!!!

Totally agree with this.

I feel like EPCOT is based in our civilization. The pale blue dot. Brotherhood of humankind. A look at where we’ve come from and where we’re going to.

Whatever combo any of our vacations take between fun, relaxing, exploring, learning, amusement… we look to be re-invigorated. WDW does a great job of balancing those things across 4 parks. EPCOT needs to keep its niche. I’m not against all the newer changes but definitely understand sentiments of EPCOT needing to keep its flavor.

 

[Alicefan]

But doesn't Disney hold the levers to whether that's true or not. I think this is why an IP route tends to make more sense from a business perspective. We are kind of of seeing this with Avatar 2 right? Of course past performance is no guarantee of future returns.

I think you're right. Knowing everything is always and ONLY about money between giants at this point in time. I saw Pandora as nothing more that two mulitibillion dollar companies scratching each others backs while the rest of us were scratching our heads. Cameron and Disney simply came up with a plan to make each other richer. Nothing at all to do with what the public wanted. We're convinced into thinking it's something we never knew we needed.

 

[Alicefan]

I dont disagree about Frozen by the way - that was plain lazy IMHO - but it's not like I am missing Maelstrom either lol

True. I feel the same about the Runaway Railway. I can tell you what room of the Great Movie Ride that I'm in when I'm on that ride and it feels cheesy.

 

[mello]

Interesting, did they say how they know? It's not surprising really, a lot of ideas wind up morphing before they're completed.

IMHO, (and it's just opinion, not trying to ruffle any feathers, and didn't read through the whole thread, so don't know if I'm going against the grain here...) GOtG fits better in Epcot (what-used-to-be) Future World than Moana does. The sci-fi theme is at least close. I could have seen Moana at AK maybe. I loved the movie, but I don't really get how it fits in Epcot. I'm certain it will be beautifully done, as most things Disney does, but not terribly excited about the seemingly random changes to my favorite park.

Also, fwiw, just about everyone I know has ridden GotG and really liked it. (I'm not really a roller coaster lover, so I haven't ridden, but I might be convinced because I like the movies, and I'm told the music is good in the ride, lol).

 

[mello]

Personally I have come to the realization that the original theme of Epcot and emphasis on edutainment is more or less gone and Disney management is more focused on injecting IP into the park. This started with the retheme of El Rio Del Tiempo into Grand Fiesta Tour and the Living Seas adding Finding Nemo characters but didn't start getting criticized heavily until Maelstrom was replaced with Frozen. I don't have an issue with IP in the parks if it's done well and if I'm going to be honest a lot of it has ended up being underwhelming and that is the main reason in my opinion that a lot of people hate IP in Epcot.

I would've loved to see another non-IP ride added to Epcot but I know I'm in the minority. Most people want Guardians and yeah, the ride is fun but in my opinion the theming is very underwhelming. I don't love that it's mainly screen based and half of me wonders if that is so when the Guardians become outdated, they can just swap out the footage for another property for an easy retheme.

I was thinking the same thing.

 

[New Mouse]

Interesting, did they say how they know? It's not surprising really, a lot of ideas wind up morphing before they're completed.

IMHO, (and it's just opinion, not trying to ruffle any feathers, and didn't read through the whole thread, so don't know if I'm going against the grain here...) GOtG fits better in Epcot (what-used-to-be) Future World than Moana does. The sci-fi theme is at least close. I could have seen Moana at AK maybe. I loved the movie, but I don't really get how it fits in Epcot. I'm certain it will be beautifully done, as most things Disney does, but not terribly excited about the seemingly random changes to my favorite park.

Also, fwiw, just about everyone I know has ridden GotG and really liked it. (I'm not really a roller coaster lover, so I haven't ridden, but I might be convinced because I like the movies, and I'm told the music is good in the ride, lol).

Guardians was an OK coaster. Could have been a Lot better.

 

[mello]

My biggest pet peeve is the fireworks. The fireworks used to tell a story. Now they just cram in as much IP as possible and only a little of it makes sense.

You are so right.

 

[mello]

But it's not what Epcot always was.

It's not what MGM studios always was.


The great thing about Disney for many years was that it had 4 vastly different parks. Now I'd argue it's got Animal Kingdom and then 3 versions of Magic Kingdom with an oddball world showcase shown in which has been neglected for decades.

You're not wrong.

 

[Alicefan]

Interesting, did they say how they know? It's not surprising really, a lot of ideas wind up morphing before they're completed.

IMHO, (and it's just opinion, not trying to ruffle any feathers, and didn't read through the whole thread, so don't know if I'm going against the grain here...) GOtG fits better in Epcot (what-used-to-be) Future World than Moana does. The sci-fi theme is at least close. I could have seen Moana at AK maybe. I loved the movie, but I don't really get how it fits in Epcot. I'm certain it will be beautifully done, as most things Disney does, but not terribly excited about the seemingly random changes to my favorite park.

Also, fwiw, just about everyone I know has ridden GotG and really liked it. (I'm not really a roller coaster lover, so I haven't ridden, but I might be convinced because I like the movies, and I'm told the music is good in the ride, lol).

I agree somewhat about Moana not fitting. It feels like Moana the character is a misfit but the idea of the journey of water is kind of in keeping with the educational feel of Epcot. The thing that makes me not give two figs about it coming to Epcot is because of three words from where they lost me ...."walk through attraction". That's Disney cheaping out on us again in the same way they do by making the majority of new rides nothing but simulator/screen rides. The worst thing you can say to me at a theme park is, "you don't get to sit down for this". I don't know anyone who has trekked around WDW that doesn't absolutely yearn for that brief relief you get when you get to finally park your butt in a seat for a couple of minutes. I just cringe when I hear the stories of how things like Pirates and HM were "originally planned to be walk thru attractions" etc...Ugh, can you imagine? When I hear that, all I can think of is, "duds". lol