EPCOT Big changes coming to EPCOT's Future World?

HauntedPirate

Park nostalgist
Premium Member

Bocabear

Well-Known Member
It is clean and modern...I will give you that, but as a whole those pictures show me a modern mall food court or a corporate campus dining room.... not the leader in creative entertainment's big dining venue in the core of a world class theme park....
I don't mind Connections.... I don't really have an argument for it, but I would not hold that up as a marker of Disney creativity....
 

Bocabear

Well-Known Member
I had to stare at these for a moment. If there was no windows I would have not known it was in EPCOT.
In fairness I am not sure if I even stepped into this place yet. Its very......... Sanitary.
Which is really the whole failure point... If it is not unique...it is not placemaking, it is not easily identified as a Disney Park, it is a brand failure... Yes, I know a bathroom is pretty much a bathroom, but this is a dining room...a HUGE dining room. I don't dislike it, but it certainly doesn't feel very "on brand"...especially during a time when there is an IP mandate.... you would think all dining, shops, resorts etc would be embracing what we had come to know as the Disney style... Thematic and unique... They are pushing IP, and letting all the rest become de-themed and ordinary.... Which feels wrong somehow....
 

osian

Well-Known Member
I suspect AI might have been used.

Contemporary school cafeteria design with natural light

Or here's a real office cafeteria.


Or how about this.


If what they were going for was "contemporary cafeteria" rather than "fitting for a park themed around future, discovery, human innovation with existing retro-futuristic design" then it's been a remarkable success.
 
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Disstevefan1

Well-Known Member
I suspect AI might have been used.

Contemporary school cafeteria design with natural light

Or here's a real office cafeteria.


Or how about this.

Holy Cr@p! You are right! This is sad.
 

Disstevefan1

Well-Known Member
I was thinking, this renovation was designed at the time when Disney had quietly resolved its self to serve mainly the Disney Adult. We see that here in EPCOT and we see in with all the bars popping up all around WDW still.

Then along came EPIC. Now Disney must put their focus back on the family. It’s too late for the EPCOT renovation, we are sadly stuck with this 💩 for another 20 years or so.
 

Bocabear

Well-Known Member
I would be curious to know what kinds of examples those who are so critical of Connections would cite as a more appropriate aesthetic for a quick service dining facility in that location.
to cite examples would mean we are looking for something in the Disney meets modernist plus whimsical, placemaking and interesting.... Which I have not seen anywhere.... But that is the point of a Disney theme park... They were always known for being a destination like no other.... Something unique and special in the world...
not to be the guy comparing things to Epic Universe, but their Atlantic restaurant...the signature restaurant of their Celestial Park....(which is most similar to this area in EPCOT) definitely has a more unique and special feel... You know that you are not in just another cafeteria... Unique thematic touches, Lots of imaginitive details...and not like a restaurant in anytown USA...
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ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
to cite examples would mean we are looking for something in the Disney meets modernist plus whimsical, placemaking and interesting.... Which I have not seen anywhere.... But that is the point of a Disney theme park... They were always known for being a destination like no other.... Something unique and special in the world...
not to be the guy comparing things to Epic Universe, but their Atlantic restaurant...the signature restaurant of their Celestial Park....(which is most similar to this area in EPCOT) definitely has a more unique and special feel... You know that you are not in just another cafeteria... Unique thematic touches, Lots of imaginitive details...and not like a restaurant in anytown USA...
View attachment 855208View attachment 855209
The ceiling looks like something my cat would vomit up. Don’t eat the yarn!
1745515336532.gif
 

James Alucobond

Well-Known Member
to cite examples would mean we are looking for something in the Disney meets modernist plus whimsical, placemaking and interesting.... Which I have not seen anywhere.... But that is the point of a Disney theme park... They were always known for being a destination like no other.... Something unique and special in the world...
not to be the guy comparing things to Epic Universe, but their Atlantic restaurant...the signature restaurant of their Celestial Park....(which is most similar to this area in EPCOT) definitely has a more unique and special feel... You know that you are not in just another cafeteria... Unique thematic touches, Lots of imaginitive details...and not like a restaurant in anytown USA...
That’s just maximalist. It doesn’t answer the question. The original EPCOT core was not adorned to this extent; it just had really interesting and elaborate tech and merchandise displays within the buildings.
 

Bocabear

Well-Known Member
That’s just maximalist. It doesn’t answer the question. The original EPCOT core was not adorned to this extent; it just had really interesting and elaborate tech and merchandise displays within the buildings.
I know they are drastically different thematically... I can't seem to find an example of something modern and clean aside from dining venues on cruise ships.... But the elaborate tech is gone.... So how can they create something new and engaging... I think the mural is beautiful....the rest... just kind of plain....
I think if the Core area outside had been the more elaborate plan with a water feature and visually exciting things to see and explore, there would be no concentration on this cafeteria....but with the current state of the outside it leaves people looking at everything else.....and all of the is pretty uninspiring.
 

osian

Well-Known Member
Oddly enough, Electric Umbrella (and before it, Stargate), Odyssey, Cosmic Rays, Tomorrowland Terrace have the fitting aesthetic I think. The former two obviously already fitting with the EPCOT design language. I don't know what exact style this is, I'm calling it retro futuristic, and IMO it doesn't date. It's simply a style. What dates it is when you put contemporary design into it. Electric Umbrella decor screams 90s doesn't it, but circular bays, raised platforms, shapes etc, give it the timeless style. The Communicore buildings were built that way, Odyssey too, and of course every ex-Future World pavilion has its own avant-garde take.

In close proximity to Connections you have Spaceship Earth (and Project Tomorrow), the wedge-shape ex-Energy building which is now Cosmic Rewind, Mission Space which is a later addition but still has that retro-futuristic, whimsical style. Of course, the Connections buildings externally retain the same style, but internally they've gone for a style that matches what they were intending to do with the new central gardens and what is probably the same contemporary look that they are remodelling other areas of WDW with (World of Disney, Creations, hotel rooms).
 

James Alucobond

Well-Known Member
I know they are drastically different thematically... I can't seem to find an example of something modern and clean aside from dining venues on cruise ships.... But the elaborate tech is gone.... So how can they create something new and engaging... I think the mural is beautiful....the rest... just kind of plain....
It just seems like people either post something completely unrelated or projects that cost billions like Jewel Changi whenever this is brought up. It would make more sense to me if people were going after the programming within each building rather than the overall aesthetic. Each time it has been redone, the interior design bones have been in line with contemporary standards; that's not new. It was always the content that elevated it.
 

Bocabear

Well-Known Member
I think my relation point was the fact that the Atlantic Restaurant is the main restaurant for the park core of Epic...much like Connections is the main restaurant for the park core of the front half of EPCOT.... they are similar use areas....
but yes it should always be contemporary and fit the aesthetic of the modern building... It just could have been so much more interesting.... My problem with the area is really everything else...." Celebration Gardens Corporate Business Quad" and the Communicore Hall Cafeteria and Flex Building... If those areas had been more engaging, Connections would not even be noticed as not being so "Disney"...
 

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