Figments Friend
Well-Known Member
Electric Umbrella had this thing called ‘ambiance’.
Neon ‘ambiance.’
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Neon ‘ambiance.’
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EPCOT Big changes coming to EPCOT's Future World?
- Thread starter djkidkaz
- Start date
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
Nostalgia for an ugly mezzanine being poorly crammed into a space is a hot take.
WorldExplorer
Well-Known Member
I have no nostalgia for the old area. I only went to Epcot like two or three times in my childhood and I have no strong memories of the center or any emotional attachment to it. If I even went in Electric Umbrella I don't remember doing so.
Not every preference for something old is nostalgia.
Not every preference for something old is nostalgia.
Centauri Space Station
Well-Known Member
If you like a dated bowling alley serving frozen burgers better than an open space with floor to ceiling windows, hand painted mural, and 100x better food options than different strokes i guess.
Centauri Space Station
Well-Known Member
I can respect that, i love neon. Tomorrowland and Hollywood/ sunset blvd at night are my fav places at WDW! I just never saw it as timeless looking like those, it was supposed to be futuristic but by 90s standards.
I think personally the finished product of the overhaul is still better than the purple esiner 90s vibe. but think it's a far cry then what we are promised. However am hopeful they make the area WAY better in the future. As I think we all agree the biggest issues are no fountain, and Comminicore hall interior.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
The interior of CommuniCore Hall is at least air conditioned. That wasn’t going to be most people’s experience of the Festival Center.
Weird. I could have sworn that EU had large windows, plenty of seating, and a rotating menu that had more options than the stale menu now at the hospital cafeteria. But a random mural and 8 menu items definitely makes the place light years better…
WorldExplorer
Well-Known Member
Yes, I find modern design boring as all get out and the generic mural doesn't help. If anything I just pity them for handpainting something so unbelievably boring. What a waste of effort.
And I also don't get the obsession with floor to ceiling windows. Of the many, many hours I have spent camping out in almost every other quick service on property, with their regular windows, at no point have I ever found myself going "OH MY GOD WHERE'S THE SUN THE SUN IS GONE I CAN'T SEE IT!".
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artvandelay
Well-Known Member
And carpeted walls!
Centauri Space Station
Well-Known Member
Hahaha! The windows seeing out into the park is what’s cool for me, you can people watch, and see the monorail go by.
Centauri Space Station
Well-Known Member
Yeah the frozen burgers, random salad, and nuggets were really unique. General tso salad, fresh grilled burgers that don’t taste like generic pucks like most of disney burgers with mushrooms, grueyre, and caramelized onions, home made desserts like Baumkuchen and waffles? Nothing on glorified Mcdonald’s!Weird. I could have sworn that EU had large windows, plenty of seating, and a rotating menu that had more options than the stale menu now at the hospital cafeteria. But a random mural and 8 menu items definitely makes the place light years better…
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lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
This is kind of like asking why it matters that the China Pavilion has swoop-y roofs and complaining that it looks too Chinese. Future World was always more contemporary with the CommuniCore being more Modern than the individual pavilions themselves. The entire complex, from dining to shopping to the exhibit spaces, all embraced natural light and visual openness between the interior and exterior.
Bocabear
Well-Known Member
The Entire Communicore wing with dining and Shop look better...Trusting the original architecture was the key...( while I find the store just too bland, the building as a whole looks and works much better.
Sadly they didn't do the same with the other half of Communicore... The Innoventions end of the building was large enough to host a decent attraction, the rest could have been opened up for the desperately needed (lol) flex space... JOW could have been placed actually directly next to the Seas allowing it to feel more a part of it. The center courtyard could have had the fountain moved to the actual center, beautiful landscaping and basically a better version of what exists now... THen an outdoor stage attached to the far en of Communicore West where it kind of is now.
It would have all looked better, saved a ton of money, and we would be looking at 2 attractions right there in the hub instead of just JOW which has nothing to do with anything....
Sadly they didn't do the same with the other half of Communicore... The Innoventions end of the building was large enough to host a decent attraction, the rest could have been opened up for the desperately needed (lol) flex space... JOW could have been placed actually directly next to the Seas allowing it to feel more a part of it. The center courtyard could have had the fountain moved to the actual center, beautiful landscaping and basically a better version of what exists now... THen an outdoor stage attached to the far en of Communicore West where it kind of is now.
It would have all looked better, saved a ton of money, and we would be looking at 2 attractions right there in the hub instead of just JOW which has nothing to do with anything....
WorldExplorer
Well-Known Member
I'm not asking anything. I know they did it because they just followed modern design trends (it's the acting as if it's automatically a positive I don't understand, but I guess the answer is "it's the modern trend" there too). That's why it's so boring. Modern design is boring. It was boring at college. It was boring at the hospital. It's boring at McDonald's. It's boring at Epcot, but I paid extra to get into Epcot.
People complain that Electric Umbrella was dated because it followed 90s design trends, then praise Connections for following 2010s design trends as if that's not going to end up causing the exact same problem. Are we supposed to expect them to redo it in a timely manner this time? Because a ton of places in the park that they have made no mention of messing with are still following older design trends. Are we thinking we as a species have finally figured it out and Warehouse Style is the be all and end all of design to the point where we won't move on? I sure hope not.
In a decade or so we're going to end up right back where we started except "not enough floor to ceiling windows; what is this, 2000?" becomes "too much floor to ceiling windows; what is this, 2015?".
The best quick services, as far as I'm concerned, are the ones that have a theme, stick to it, and offer you a reason to roam and explore. Pinocchio's Village House, Restaurant O'saurus, Backlot Express, etc. None of them look like modern buildings and most don't have the all-so-important hallmarks (note that Backlot Express has some floor to ceiling windows and actually uses them well to balance with drab colors in the interior, without putting them everywhere), but none of them get called dated because they aren't; they are themed spaces in a theme park. They are well themed spaces in a theme park.
That's what should have happened. Instead of replacing the dated place by starting the clock over with something that looks like places people already regularly encounter they should've made it actually themed. Make something unique. But they can't do that because despite it being part of an Epcot overhaul they never actually figured out what the heck the theme of Epcot is, or "World Discovery" or "World Celebration" for that matter. So now we have this because Future World should be contemporary, but it's not Future World anymore, and it's just a random mash up of crap where no one knows what the point is supposed to be other than Baby's First Motivational Calendar (ft Guardians of the Galaxy and Moana and Nemo and Random Old Epcot Stuff!).
And they sure as heck can't make something unique nowadays.
"But WorldExplorer, Electric Umbrella didn't do that either!" I didn't say it was the be all and end all of quick service decorating. Just that I like it better than what we ended up with. I am a sucker for two leveled quick services.
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jah4955
Well-Known Member
Tell us you never ate there without telling us you never ate there.
You could have saved yourself the embarrassment by actually looking online for pics of EU’s menus. But we thank you for not doing something that smart.
Something you could have done at EU, as well. But please, continue to enlighten us with all the things EU didn’t have.
WorldExplorer
Well-Known Member
What about Columbia Harbour House?
Columbia Harbour House
That's actually my favorite Magic Kingdom one! I just highlighted Pinocchio's because it has the whole Cleo's room, Jiminy's room thing going so the different areas are more easily distinguishable from each other and encourage looking at each of them more.
James Alucobond
Well-Known Member
Modern design is not "less unique". You personally find it more boring, but Electric Umbrella was not any more unique or special, especially in the context of its time. You could go to basically any theater or arcade and find the exact same thing.
Despite the breakdown into neighborhoods, the general visual identity and theme of former Future World is still modern and forward-thinking. They've made that clear with every update. I'm not really sure how the presence of IP has any affect on that, nor am I convinced that you wouldn't still be complaining about modern design even if the IP weren't there and the theme still more straightforward. It is as much the theme of Connections and Creations as tourist trap is the theme of Dinoland and Restaurantosaurus.