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

Inspired Figment

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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Inspired Figment

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
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.
Also Kodak didn't have the money to foot for a good Institute ride so yeah that too.
 

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
Didn't somebody on here say that the Splash Mountain retheme stole the budget for a fourth version of Imagination?

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.
 

Inspired Figment

Well-Known Member
Also Kodak didn't have the money to foot for a good Institute ride so yeah that too.
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
Even with higher budget spfx, the concept itself was flawed & didn’t fit the imagination pavilion.
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.
 

Inspired Figment

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.
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
 

DreamfinderGuy

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
It fit as it's own wing of the pavilion, and this is coming from someone who doesn't particularly like the show. The Magic Eye Theatre has always been somewhat of a grey area considering just about anything can get a "Made with Imagination!" or "Filmmaking takes Imagination!" label stuck on it. Though sticking Pixar shorts in there kinda constitutes a lack of it.
 

Inspired Figment

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
Speaking of the Magic Eye Theatre in it’s current state. I can’t help but find it bizarre they decided to put in a couple Disney Animation shorts & Pixar shorts as a seemingly permanent replacement
It fit as it's own wing of the pavilion, and this is coming from someone who doesn't particularly like the show. The Magic Eye Theatre has always been somewhat of a grey area considering just about anything can get a "Made with Imagination!" or "Filmmaking takes Imagination!" label stuck on it. Though sticking Pixar shorts in there kinda constitutes a lack of it.
To be fair… if we really take a good look at the Journey Into Imagination ride, aswell as it’s relationship with Kodak. You’ll realize that while the ride is definitley about creativity & the mediums that best utilize it. It ends with Film as the finale (Figment becoming a film star, imagining himself in different roles… a cowboy, a rock climber, a super hero, a scientist, a ship captain, etc.)
When you combine Art, Literature, Performing Arts, and Science & Technology altogether.. it combines to create film… Kodak film 👀😉 (hence Figment’s yellow & red shirt)
Now if we keep that in mind.. it would make sense to have a Magic Eye Theatre there with films that truly inspire your creativity. Magic Journeys was a perfect representation of that.. not just in Kodak film technology.. but in showcasing free spirited creativity brought to life through the eyes of a child. Captain EO, as much as I adore it.. not sure how much that’d qualify as such despite it being a very creative space fantasy… and well, Honey I Shrunk the Audience.. you know how I feel about that.. but I feel like if perhaps they alternated between films at different times (sort of like how the France pavilion does now but with the number of showtimes being equal to eachother), maybe even having a brand new one starring Dreamfinder & Figment and being an expansion of both elements of the ride concept & Magic Journeys combined.. it could be really something.
 
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Inspired Figment

Well-Known Member
Yet still, even with that in mind.. the ending message of the original ride, before making it’s way to the film finale and after that, inviting us to ImageWorks to let us put our own creative abilities to the test. it’s that imagination itself is the key to unlock the world’s hidden possibilities & wonders that ultimately improves our lives & society as a whole and that we all have that ability to make our dreams come true. Imagination’s what made EPCOT, Disney as a whole, and really everything in the world come about & thrive… Which is what truly made it a perfect EPCOT ride.
 
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Bocabear

Well-Known Member
Now if Disney would just make a feature film about Dreamfinder (Starring Chris Pratt), how he discovered Figment and the Dream Port, then maybe we would have a better shot at getting a real complete overhaul to the franchise. The Bobs could be the master villains of the piece trying to drain imagination from the world in favor of corporate greed....
I HATE the idea of imagination being downgraded to the Play! pavilion...
I think the whole idea of the Play! Pavilion is about 12 years too late, and then completely rendered wrong in light of the Pandemic.
Make it a Weather Pavilion, Sky Pavilion, Extension to Mission Space Paviliion as the MarsPort...anything but this ridiculous placeholder of an idea.
They need to put some serious evergy into the Imagination Pavilion... Maybe moving One Man's Dream into the Theater lcocation with an Imagineering tie in...
 

DreamfinderGuy

Well-Known Member
Now if Disney would just make a feature film about Dreamfinder (Starring Chris Pratt), how he discovered Figment and the Dream Port, then maybe we would have a better shot at getting a real complete overhaul to the franchise. The Bobs could be the master villains of the piece trying to drain imagination from the world in favor of corporate greed....
I HATE the idea of imagination being downgraded to the Play! pavilion...
I think the whole idea of the Play! Pavilion is about 12 years too late, and then completely rendered wrong in light of the Pandemic.
Make it a Weather Pavilion, Sky Pavilion, Extension to Mission Space Paviliion as the MarsPort...anything but this ridiculous placeholder of an idea.
They need to put some serious evergy into the Imagination Pavilion... Maybe moving One Man's Dream into the Theater lcocation with an Imagineering tie in...
The entire concept of the Play Pavilion further shows that the new direction for the park is fundamentally flawed. EPCOT (or more particularly Future World) never needed a kids zone because almost everything there was suitable for all ages, save for a few things that might've been considered too boring for some. Wonders of Life used to be the only thing on that side of the park with a thrill ride, and even it was only one section of a much broader pavilion containing plenty of things for all ages. Flash forward to today, and it's the only thing little kids have to do there. Everything else in Future World East is a thrill ride that the little kids can't do. And is Play going to be that all ages experience that side of the park needs? Nope, exclusively catering to the demographic they conveniently excluded from everything else.
 

trainplane3

Well-Known Member
I don’t think it gets enough credit either. It is unique, non-IP based, and not geared toward 3-year olds.

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I'm sorry, I had to.
 

Bocabear

Well-Known Member
If they had actually built the complete SPACE pavilion I think it would have been the best attraction in the park, but as it stands, it is diminished by it's lack of a full story... Had you landed on Mars Base and exited into an entire Space Station Pavilion with additional attractions that were not a toddler climbing structure and a video game, it would have been amazing... If you boarded an Omnimover ( like Sea Cabs) that would have taken you through a tunnel and dropped you off inside the Wonders Of Life Dome, re-styled to be the interior of the Mars Station...Where you could board a simulator attraction (Body Wars) to tour the planet's surface, See exhibits about weightlessness in space, etc etc etc... It could have been epic, but instead we have a simulator inside a beautiful shell...and an exit to the gift shop.
 

aladdin2007

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.
and thats a big problem today more than ever, especially at Epcot...thanks to certain individuals they have been allowed to mutilate the park and undo it all with no cohesion and no common sense. :banghead:
 

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