DreamfinderGuy
Well-Known Member
Most likely not, partly because it's a mess back there and partly because of the aforementioned ADA issues.
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EPCOT New Play Pavilion to replace Epcot's Wonders of Life
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
Areas of refuge are still allowed even in new construction.
In that case I don’t know why there was a push for an alternate exit.
Frankly, I don't WANT a new version of Imag, figment, or anything else.
I'll roll the dice and say what we have now, is about as good as we will ever get.
I have ZERO faith in Disney being ever able to top (or even match) the amazingness that was the original version.
I'll roll the dice and say what we have now, is about as good as we will ever get.
I have ZERO faith in Disney being ever able to top (or even match) the amazingness that was the original version.
DreamfinderGuy
Well-Known Member
I dunno, it’s a pretty low bar.
owlsandcoffee
Well-Known Member
The annoying thing is the unwillingness to admit that, yeah, the original was actually pretty much perfect and just needed some updates and maybe a new ending.
DreamfinderGuy
Well-Known Member
I mean I don’t see where they’ve been unwilling to admit that at all, especially recently. Point your finger at Kodak if you want someone to blame.
owlsandcoffee
Well-Known Member
I must be out of the loop then! Sorry, statement retracted then.
Rich Brownn
Well-Known Member
Well that and the original contracts stated to renew the pavillion must be signifigantly altered.
DoleWhipDrea
Well-Known Member
Add to the fact that WDI were still the ones that ultimately came up with the terrible design for Journey Into YOUR Imagination. Disney was pushing Kodak to pay up for having something new for the Millennium Celebration, even though Kodak was doing terribly financially. From what I've heard about that pitch session, there wasn't any models or concept art - they tried to wow them with some lighting and sound effects.
If there had actually been a smart person in that room that day, they would have said that the budget Kodak could offer couldn't build a brand new, impressive attraction, and that the money would have been better spent on refurbishing the original attraction as it was, updating some special effects. Sadly there were imagineers too focused on making a name for themselves as opposed to looking at the bigger picture.
There seem to be plans to have Figment in some sort of VR experience in the PLAY! Pavilion, but he is the park's mascot, after all. No need to kick him out of his actual home. I would really love to see the concept of imagination with Figment and the Dreamfinder fully embraced in an update, but who knows when that will happen.
If there had actually been a smart person in that room that day, they would have said that the budget Kodak could offer couldn't build a brand new, impressive attraction, and that the money would have been better spent on refurbishing the original attraction as it was, updating some special effects. Sadly there were imagineers too focused on making a name for themselves as opposed to looking at the bigger picture.
There seem to be plans to have Figment in some sort of VR experience in the PLAY! Pavilion, but he is the park's mascot, after all. No need to kick him out of his actual home. I would really love to see the concept of imagination with Figment and the Dreamfinder fully embraced in an update, but who knows when that will happen.
Brer Panther
Well-Known Member
Didn't somebody on here say that the Splash Mountain retheme stole the budget for a fourth version of Imagination?
FigmentsBrightIdeas
Well-Known Member
It was ‘NOT’ Kodak to blame for what happened to Journey Into Imagination… it was Disney’s upper management/parks ops and they used Honey, I Shrunk the Audience queue ropes, monorail spiels, & advertising to intentionally downplay the ride’s role within the pavilion in order to artificially get attendance numbers to drop. That way, they could show those attendance numbers to upper management to say “Honey I Shrunk the Audience is more popular than Journey Into Imagination”. And ‘that’ is how Journey Into YOUR Imagination got greenlit.
Had they not changed the guest flow or way they advertised both the Journey Into Imagination ride (along with ImageWorks) & Magic Eye Theatre film (in this case, Honey I Shrunk the Audience) back around ‘96-98.. Imagination I believe would’ve been enhanced/updated the way it was supposed to back in ‘98. Minor spfx updates, possibly upgraded AAs, aswell as other minor additions (elements initially planned for the ride but scrapped due to budget when originally built in 82/83.) You can’t blame Kodak for WDI’s creative choices and the way WDI ‘spent’ the little budget they received to do it.
The fact is, it NEVER should’ve been changed to a Honey, I Shrunk/Medfield College film IP based experience AT ALL to begin with. Because Dreamfinder, Figment, and the original attraction never genuinely lost love or popularity.. and that has clearly been proven by the amount of complaints they received when they first changed it... and ‘still’ receive to this day with the mean spirited, half-assed version they have there now where Figment’s portrayed as a negative, “upside down thinking” interference that gets his way by making a big stink and a huge blast by the Friends of Figment, finally convincing Dr. Channing by the very end .. it’s literally Tiki Room: Under New Management with the roles in reverse (mocking Figment and the fans’/Friends of Figments’ complaints with the bad redo rather than New Management’s views/plans on the classic Tiki Room)… Infact, that was literally the inspiration behind it if you read old news articles about “Figment’s Return” in ‘02. ;
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FigmentsBrightIdeas
Well-Known Member
I personally believe if upper management changed and they weren’t so hell-bent on a strict film IP mandate & basically suppressing nearly all the free-spirited creativity that made the company thrive in the first place… they’d greenlight a return to the original attraction with the updates it should’ve received years ago.
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FigmentsBrightIdeas
Well-Known Member
Speaking of which.. Journey Into Imagination isn’t the only one that had this artificial attendance drop done to it. Horizons & World of Motion did also… using park maps with star ratings listed next to all the attractions, unironically receiving the lowest star ratings compared to the rest. Couple that with the excuse of them being “too expensive to maintain”.. and they were forced to close.
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DreamfinderGuy
Well-Known Member
Also Kodak didn't have the money to foot for a good Institute ride so yeah that too.
The model in the Odyssey Pavilion of the Epcot "reimagining" shows Miguel's guitar by the Mexico Pavilion, and it shows the exterior of the Imagination Pavilion.
Clearly, those were two projects that were happening at one time for the New Epcot, but, then got cut. If they were still in the queue to happen, it wasn't going to happen for, at the very least, another 3 years.
And this happened way, way before the announcement of Splash's retheme.
Then with the pandemic, more cuts (or indefinite delays) were made: Poppins, 3-tiered Festival buildings, SSE retheme.
Splash's retheme budget could have just as easily come from the other cuts as from a not-really-happening-soon-at-all Imagination re-do. Or Imagination could have been cut to finance Harmonious, or repairing Wonder's roof four times over, or all the stuff that was supposed to happen for the 50th anniversary (of which a rethemed Imagination wouldn't have 'fit'). But now all budgets are pandemically tight.
But that's the history of any Imagination retheme: as Disney dithers over what exactly to do with Imagination, other projects ready to go keep cutting the line (according to insiders). If Splash 'stole' Imagination's budget, so did a lot of other projects in the past decade.
Oh, the irony of a Kodak attraction hyping the importance of photography called "Forever Film"!
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FigmentsBrightIdeas
Well-Known Member
Even with higher budget spfx, the concept itself was flawed & didn’t fit the imagination pavilion. It basically insulted guests’ creativity the moment they boarded.. and the whole theme of strictly sensory based illusions being what’s supposed to supposedly “make us more imaginative” is just overall flawed and not at all inclusive or telling what or how imagination works or how it’s abilities are able to improve or unlock possibilities within other creative mediums and in turn, our society & discoveries. As I’ve said before, the original never should’ve been removed to begin with.. why replace a clearly beloved ride rather than use that very budget, despite how low it would’ve been, to simply enhance what was already there?
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DreamfinderGuy
Well-Known Member
By that logic neither did HISTA. If people liked HISTA they could've liked a ride based around it if it didn't suck. Plenty of people miss The Great Movie Ride but you don't hear Imagination or Horizons-level complaints about it because it's replacement wasn't total garbage.
FigmentsBrightIdeas
Well-Known Member
And I believe you’re right in regards to the logic of it not fitting Imagination.. it didn’t.. would’ve fit MGM Studios or possibly Innoventions if anything. But not the Imagination pavilion. Also, HISTA never returned after Captain EO came back.. so I can’t help but feel that, that was more telling than we might think it is. If it was truly that beloved or popular, they would’ve brought it back. It’s just a film after all essentially and they never removed the spfx equipment in the theatre