News Big changes coming to EPCOT's Future World?

Movielover

Well-Known Member

That's Sir Idiots thank you very much!

college.jpg
 

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
Gotta agree with that, Martin. EPCOT is becoming one giant bar crawl disguised as a year-round festival. It was once my favorite park.But, hey, we got the acrylic pylons back out front. At least that's a plus.
The irony that the most well redeveloped part of the park is the entrance / exit can’t be lost on them.

Oh wait. They think they’re doing a good job.
 

jeanericuser001

Well-Known Member
Gotta agree with that, Martin. EPCOT is becoming one giant bar crawl disguised as a year-round festival. It was once my favorite park.But, hey, we got the acrylic pylons back out front. At least that's a plus.
Um its always been that in all honesty. The difference is there is now more variety to choose from. Besides the more they use the festivals the more they can build a profile on what foods and drinks guests liked and disliked the most. These decisions in turn can be used for future menu item decisions. If a particular item is extremely popular then they may feel tempted to make it a permenent item you can find at one of the restaurants.
 

TikibirdLand

Well-Known Member
Um its always been that in all honesty. The difference is there is now more variety to choose from. Besides the more they use the festivals the more they can build a profile on what foods and drinks guests liked and disliked the most. These decisions in turn can be used for future menu item decisions. If a particular item is extremely popular then they may feel tempted to make it a permenent item you can find at one of the restaurants.
Maybe I'm a bit naive, jenericuser001. But, in the late 90s and early 2000s, Future World had plenty to do. I don't need fancy food and I don't need alcoholic drinks to enjoy a park. Indeed, our family enjoyed the food offerings at the various pavilions. And, yes, we even liked The Electric Umbrella (shocking, I know!). The booths simply blocked the walkway as we made it around the showcase. Of course, during this season, you gotta do something back there to bring in the guests with none of the pavilions hosting natives and having no shows.
 

DreamfinderGuy

Well-Known Member
At the risk of stating the blatantly obvious, what gets to me most about this project is that enough people thought it was a good idea to fully develop the plan and get it greenlit. The point of the CommuniCores on a basic scale is to compliment each other. With one gone, the purpose of the other is nullified. If they insisted on removing West, I almost wish they would've finished the job and removed East. Almost.
 

trainplane3

Well-Known Member
The irony that the most well redeveloped part of the park is the entrance / exit can’t be lost on them.

Oh wait. They think they’re doing a good job.
Excuse me, Zach said "Dreamfinder" and had classic Epcot art in his livestream a few months ago. He definitely doesn't have Chapeks hand up- I mean, he's definitely not a puppet.

Um its always been that in all honesty. The difference is there is now more variety to choose from. Besides the more they use the festivals the more they can build a profile on what foods and drinks guests liked and disliked the most. These decisions in turn can be used for future menu item decisions. If a particular item is extremely popular then they may feel tempted to make it a permenent item you can find at one of the restaurants.
Difference is now they've vomited booths all over WS and created congestion.
 

jeanericuser001

Well-Known Member
Maybe I'm a bit naive, jenericuser001. But, in the late 90s and early 2000s, Future World had plenty to do. I don't need fancy food and I don't need alcoholic drinks to enjoy a park. Indeed, our family enjoyed the food offerings at the various pavilions. And, yes, we even liked The Electric Umbrella (shocking, I know!). The booths simply blocked the walkway as we made it around the showcase. Of course, during this season, you gotta do something back there to bring in the guests with none of the pavilions hosting natives and having no shows.
Um wasn't it the park with the weakest attendance during that period? Then there is the fact that the food and wine festival always seemed to bring in a lot more people. Who could blame disney for wanting to bring in more people with more enticements besides a few rides and some over priced restaurants. Sure there was cheaper stuff like the electric umbrella but it was just not enough and disney had to make changes. Some may hate them but alas that is what it takes to keep a park at its best. Evolve or go extinct.
 

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
Um wasn't it the park with the weakest attendance during that period? Then there is the fact that the food and wine festival always seemed to bring in a lot more people. Who could blame disney for wanting to bring in more people with more enticements besides a few rides and some over priced restaurants. Sure there was cheaper stuff like the electric umbrella but it was just not enough and disney had to make changes. Some may hate them but alas that is what it takes to keep a park at its best. Evolve or go extinct.
It wasn’t evolving. It was a cheapest option to prop up the park whilst ignoring the neglect.

Food and Wine is now failing. Thankfully.
 

jeanericuser001

Well-Known Member
Um it hasn’t.

If it had been they wouldn’t have been able to run the Tapestry parade
Incorrect. Epcot has been one of the few theme parks where you can get alcoholic drinks. You could visit each land and get some drinks. The difference is over time the amount of menu options has been constantly added to. Now you have hundreds of items as opposed to maybe a hundred at most.

 

TikibirdLand

Well-Known Member
Um wasn't it the park with the weakest attendance during that period? Then there is the fact that the food and wine festival always seemed to bring in a lot more people. Who could blame disney for wanting to bring in more people with more enticements besides a few rides and some over priced restaurants. Sure there was cheaper stuff like the electric umbrella but it was just not enough and disney had to make changes. Some may hate them but alas that is what it takes to keep a park at its best. Evolve or go extinct.
Couldn't they think of something more creative than moving Bourbon Street to the World Showcase? Look at what they did in Tokyo with Disney SEA. They're capable of really good ideas -- on someone else's dime...
 

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
Incorrect. Epcot has been one of the few theme parks where you can get alcoholic drinks. You could visit each land and get some drinks. The difference is over time the amount of menu options has been constantly added to. Now you have hundreds of items as opposed to maybe a hundred at most.
I didn’t say you couldn’t get an alcoholic drink. You could since September 1982. That’s well known.

The difference is the promenade has been systematically destroyed by the tacky space blocking booths.
 

jeanericuser001

Well-Known Member
It wasn’t evolving. It was a cheapest option to prop up the park whilst ignoring the neglect.

Food and Wine is now failing. Thankfully.
Not really. Epcot during its first few years was a strong success but over time it did start to break down. Attendance floundered as many preferred the standard amusement park attractions. To solve this problem disney had to bring in guests with more than just its attractions and restaurants. It had to find a way to bring people back with seasonal events that attracted attention. Celebrity chefs gave seminars on cooking. New food and drinks brought in regular visits from guests looking to try new things at decent prices. As attendance improved disney decided to invest more in the park and replace older attractions with new ones. If disney had not used the food and wine they likely would have allowed epcot to continue to fail until one day it would all get scrapped and what we would have then would be nothing like what we have now. In many ways seasonal events are what helped to bring new life to epcot and its why events like the food and wine always bring in the highest amount of traffic during a period normally when attendance would be at other parks like universal with its halloween horror nights. It also convinced other parks to follow similar routes which also had big success.
 

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
Not really. Epcot during its first few years was a strong success but over time it did start to break down. Attendance floundered as many preferred the standard amusement park attractions. To solve this problem disney had to bring in guests with more than just its attractions and restaurants. It had to find a way to bring people back with seasonal events that attracted attention. Celebrity chefs gave seminars on cooking. New food and drinks brought in regular visits from guests looking to try new things at decent prices. As attendance improved disney decided to invest more in the park and replace older attractions with new ones. If disney had not used the food and wine they likely would have allowed epcot to continue to fail until one day it would all get scrapped and what we would have then would be nothing like what we have now. In many ways seasonal events are what helped to bring new life to epcot and its why events like the food and wine always bring in the highest amount of traffic during a period normally when attendance would be at other parks like universal with its halloween horror nights. It also convinced other parks to follow similar routes which also had big success.
Like you said - Not really.

Park attendance actually drops thorough the day as evening arrives. During food and wine.
 
Last edited:

jeanericuser001

Well-Known Member
That is in part due to the current covid crisis marni. You have to remember that without park hopping many people are forced to remain at one park and with some of epcot being shut down there is a lot less options. Eating and drinking is also the best other option that disney has to keep people in the park. If they didn't have that many options then the park would be emptier than busch gardens during a hurricane. You have to also remember that the parks are not exactly open very late. Not like when they use to be open till 11 on select nights.
 

CastAStone

5th gate? Just build a new resort Bob.
Premium Member
That is in part due to the current covid crisis marni. You have to remember that without park hopping many people are forced to remain at one park and with some of epcot being shut down there is a lot less options. Eating and drinking is also the best other option that disney has to keep people in the park. If they didn't have that many options then the park would be emptier than busch gardens during a hurricane. You have to also remember that the parks are not exactly open very late. Not like when they use to be open till 11 on select nights.
I would bet that Marni1971 has actual attendance figures to work with over the last several years and is not guessing.
 

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

Back
Top Bottom