News New Play Pavilion to replace Epcot's Wonders of Life

wdwmagic

wdwmagic

Administrator
Moderator
Premium Member
Original Poster
UNCgolf said:
Good.

It was always going to be a tremendous waste of pavilion space that we would be stuck with for decades; maybe now they'll design something that will actually be worthwhile for the park.
Click to expand...
I think it would actually have been quit a positive for the park. EPCOT is desperate for something to do with younger kids that last more than a few minutes. I think the result now is that the place sits empty, and the guests get nothing.
 
DreamfinderGuy

DreamfinderGuy

Well-Known Member
wdwmagic said:
I think it would actually have been quit a positive for the park. EPCOT is desperate for something to do with younger kids that last more than a few minutes. I think the result now is that the place sits empty, and the guests get nothing.
Click to expand...
I had a lot of mixed emotions about it, but as a whole pretty much anything would be a net positive over continuing to leave the building empty. Making everything in Future World East a thrill ride has killed that whole section of the park for lots of families, making Wonders the kids area would have helped at least. It did waste lots of space in the pavilion, but there's nothing saying future developments couldn't have gone into the Body Wars/Cranium sections. Doing nothing is wasting more space than Play would've.
 
UniversalIsMid98

UniversalIsMid98

Member
In the Parks
Yes
Gusey said:
I do hope something goes in this space at some point, but I think the Festival Pavilion becoming CommuniCore Hall and the new meet and greet location for Mickey probably started the extinction of PLAY
Click to expand...
Mickey and his friends were NEVER intended to be in the Play! pavilion, Joy, Ralph, and Baymax(the latter two wouldn't return at all) were
 
Gusey

Gusey

Well-Known Member
UniversalIsMid98 said:
Mickey and his friends were NEVER intended to be in the Play! pavilion, Joy, Ralph, and Baymax(the latter two wouldn't return at all) were
Click to expand...
Oh, I knew some of the characters from the Character Spot were meant to move to PLAY, just thought it was the Mickey side as his Imagination Pavilion meet and greet always felt temporary
 
UNCgolf

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
wdwmagic said:
I think it would actually have been quit a positive for the park. EPCOT is desperate for something to do with younger kids that last more than a few minutes. I think the result now is that the place sits empty, and the guests get nothing.
Click to expand...

It's essentially opportunity cost. The Play! Pavilion was a bad idea from the start and would have been incredibly outdated quickly -- possibly within 5 years of opening. If there was a guarantee Disney would then rework it, maybe it could have been okay, but that's pretty unlikely given their standard MO. It's more probable it would have operated more or less as it did at opening for 15-20 years.

Would EPCOT be better off right now if the Play! Pavilion existed? Sure, because it would have additional capacity. In the long run, though, EPCOT is better off if the pavilion sits empty for another few years and then opens with something that actually offers a full pavilion experience closer to Wonders of Life (not in specific health content; just in terms of attractions, snacks, etc.).

Look at Imagination as an example -- if they'd shut down the second iteration for several years to do a full reworking and open with an actually excellent attraction and side activities, EPCOT would have been worse off for the years it was closed due to a loss of capacity, but would be in much better shape right now.

The only reason it's still a potential negative IMO is that the pavilion has already been empty for well over a decade. It's absolutely possible that Disney just lets it sit empty for another 10+ years, and if that's the case, then obviously the Play! Pavilion would be better than nothing.
 
Skibum1970

Skibum1970

Well-Known Member
UNCgolf said:
It's essentially opportunity cost. The Play! Pavilion was a bad idea from the start and would have been incredibly outdated quickly -- possibly within 5 years of opening. If there was a guarantee Disney would then rework it, maybe it could have been okay, but that's pretty unlikely given their standard MO. It's more probable it would have operated more or less as it did at opening for 15-20 years.

Would EPCOT be better off right now if the Play! Pavilion existed? Sure, because it would have additional capacity. In the long run, though, EPCOT is better off if the pavilion sits empty for another few years and then opens with something that actually offers a full pavilion experience closer to Wonders of Life (not in specific health content; just in terms of attractions, snacks, etc.).

Look at Imagination as an example -- if they'd shut down the second iteration for several years to do a full reworking and open with an actually excellent attraction and side activities, EPCOT would have been worse off for the years it was closed due to a loss of capacity, but would be in much better shape right now.

The only reason it's still a potential negative IMO is that the pavilion has already been empty for well over a decade. It's absolutely possible that Disney just lets it sit empty for another 10+ years, and if that's the case, then obviously the Play! Pavilion would be better than nothing.
Click to expand...
And Disney would have spent untold millions on it which would have been subtracted from budgets for other rides. The worse alternative would have been that it proved unpopular in the way that you described and Disney used that as evidence that new rides don't move the needle in the way that popcorn buckets do.
 
Chef idea Mickey`=

Chef idea Mickey`=

Active Member
Pi on my Cake said:
Similarly the recent Baymax Disney+ series was faced with enough backlash for being "political" that the NYPost reported on it. Specifically the IP being discussed here for Wonders has this issue

Not saying that Wonders couldn't work today, it absolutely could. But let's not pretend that basic Health science isn't something a decent sized portion of this country considers political and controversial. Just look at how many cast members have stories of being yelled at about mask rules during the pandemic. Disney would have to be pretty careful in how they approach it OR they'd have to be ok with the likelihood of the NYPost writing articles about it being political
Click to expand...
None of that is Baymax or Hiro's fault as a character! If Big Hero 6 was so problematic then Cali would be the first not to retheme build a SanFransokyo and Big Hero 6 would be dropped like Song of the South.
 
Chef idea Mickey`=

Chef idea Mickey`=

Active Member
wdwmagic said:
I think it would actually have been quit a positive for the park. EPCOT is desperate for something to do with younger kids that last more than a few minutes. I think the result now is that the place sits empty, and the guests get nothing.
Click to expand...
Wasn't the Play Pavilion was also to hold return back several meet and greets such as Baymax and potentially maybe even bring over the Inside Out characters and ofc Venellope would have a new permanent home?..
 
S.I.R. the Robot

S.I.R. the Robot

Active Member
In the Parks
No
The fact they did this to Body Wars, which was perfect for people like me (insides are a sensory/comfort thing for me, as long as I know who we're inside) fleeping BOILS MY BLOOD!! And we still don't know who played the volunteer in the main show!! (They only did that to have the riders decide who it was, but I'd like to know the actual identity.)
 
S.I.R. the Robot

S.I.R. the Robot

Active Member
In the Parks
No
MickeyLuv'r said:
In the USA? It is absolutely a highly political issue.
Even the idea of healthy habits is highly political.
Click to expand...
I'm apolitical, but I've been gaining weight due to my medication, and exercising is tiresome for me. What I've been doing is putting coaster/ride POVs on the bike/treadmill screens at the gym so I can pretend I'm on them.
 
Chef idea Mickey`=

Chef idea Mickey`=

Active Member
S.I.R. the Robot said:
The fact they did this to Body Wars, which was perfect for people like me (insides are a sensory/comfort thing for me, as long as I know who we're inside) fleeping BOILS MY BLOOD!! And we still don't know who played the volunteer in the main show!! (They only did that to have the riders decide who it was, but I'd like to know the actual identity.)
Click to expand...
Haha you'd actually like to know who the individual they used to portrait the human they used for us to go inside of 😆...yeah tell us anyone
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom