Why is there not more love for the Original EPCOT Center in today’s media?

[HMF]

Epcot, as others have mentioned, is a tricker one. It's inherently fascinating and dull to many at the same time. It's message is simple and complex simultaneously. A

EPCOT was a niche park in that you either love it or you don't, depending on the type of person you are and where your interests lie, that is inevitable. The problem is they tried too hard to please everyone and it ended up ticking off the people who loved it and ended up just turning it into a random jumble of ideas that don't really go together or make much sense as a whole. People don't understand that unlike MK, parks like EPCOT, MGM and until recently DAK were basically all one complete thought.

 

[Pizza Moon]

Probably because it hasn’t really lived up to that since the early 1990s.

 

[Jrb1979]

Probably because it hasn’t really lived up to that since the early 1990s.

That's cause Disney didn't know what to do with it. Now the answer seem to be make all parks and extension of the castle parks.

 

[WaltsTreasureChest]

Epcot center tees now appearing in gift shops make me yearn for it again. Why market something you’ve taken away?

 

[HMF]

Epcot center tees now appearing in gift shops make me yearn for it again. Why market something you’ve taken away?

They have been doing that for the last 19 years. When most of the classic EPCOT attractions were retired, they legitimately didn't realize the love for EPCOT that had existed. Of course, since they realized there was a nostalgia market for EPCOT back in 2007 they have ruthlessly exploited it ever since, even if they really don't have an understanding of why that nostalgia exists.

 

[Goofyernmost]

When I think about it, EPCOT was given a lethal injection not to long after it opened. That injection was the internet. Epcot was an information, edutainment reality. It was supposed to highlight new thing as they were developed and even if the internet hadn't been there it still would not have been able to keep up with the speed of technological change that started in the 70's but blossomed in the 80's and 90's. If internet could catch up at the touch of a button and be in our homes just as quickly. The companies that paid handsomely to display their newest technological products could get the information to the public almost, instantly, entirely free. Who needed Disney's high costs.

Even if Disney had been able to keep up with the idea's they couldn't build things fast enough to have them completed before they became obsolete. Without the ability to theme around edutainment, it was left with a slack jaw inability to figure out what to do next. They tried for awhile and then gave up because it was just impossible. Those of us with memories of what was, were not in large enough quantities to support the original concept. Imagination became a pitiful show along with the entire pavilion (a place where once you could spend hours). Now about six minutes! Horizons was being shown to a smaller and smaller number of people. We learned about the Big Bang by a TV sitcom so Energy declined, They did add to the land with Soarin' and Motion by a thrill (kinda) car ride. It had to do something and will have to continue to upset long time Epcot fans until the last of us all head for the big theme park in the sky. Sad, in many ways, but also reality.

I think we underestimate how few of us that really remember the beginning of EPCOT still exist as actual participating theme park users. We are all blocked by nostalgia and can't accept that we are not living in the 80's anymore and the demands of the public when connected to EPCOT changed. Epcot transitioned into things like Drink around the world events, food and flowers and now trying to find something to make the place family fun instead of vomit in the shrubs. I do miss EPCOT, but I also like most of the things that replaced what we had back then. It is still fun and still my favorite park or at least equal with MK.

When EPCOT was designed no one really had any idea of what the future decade was going to bring. MK is expanding, Epcot is still trying to find it's way and identity, change caused by world events. DHS was a mistake to begin with and built for all the wrong reasons, but it has still managed to keep its theme as movie connected. DAK is an example of pure brilliant experiences and I think it is great, however, if they don't do something about increasing the desire that people have to go there, we will someday see all those animals shipped to yesazoo's and a whole new theme park will come into being or the whole place will go back to being a swamp. That place is a massive profit eater so I suspect the latter will be the thing. Might be a good place to keep all those alligators and maybe put in a few swamp boats to see them up close and personal.

 

[Goofyernmost]

That's cause Disney didn't know what to do with it. Now the answer seem to be make all parks and extension of the castle parks.

Probably to at least 95% of the people that go to WDW an extension of MK is exactly how they envision it. I don't remember when Disney stopped sending out VHS and then CD's free on request. The were know as planning video's. I used to get them every but after 2005 the quality and entertaining CD's started a downhill path. Cost to much to produce probably.

I took my family all 11 of them from Vermont to a week in Florida including 7 day tickets for everyone. My grandkids watched that CD over and over and over. BTW, Dave is now selling heart monitors in TV commercials.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

EPCOT is the greatest park idea ever conceived and built

And it will never get credit for it…mostly because the fanbase (and the public as a whole) has been dumbed down and become frivolous.

 

[Brer Panther]

I'm still not convinced that EPCOT had to/has to be turned into an IP Land in order to survive.

And it's not like IPs have no place in EPCOT at all - they can be used to enhance the science theme of the park. Just... not the way they're doing it.

 

[snaggle]

Is it being celebrated less? Theme park history as a whole is a pretty niche interest. I think 2020’s Class Action Park is the only nonfiction work about theme parks to get some mainstream attention since 1955’s “Dateline Disneyland”. And even then, that's because it was really more like a true crime documentary. And when a YouTube video about theme parks reaches a general audience, the topic is always a giant failure or something weird and abandoned.

So I’d say the low volume of old Epcot content is sort of par for the course. There’s quite a bit of Disney theme park stuff from the Travel Channel, and that’s pretty evenly divided between Disneyland, the various parks of Disney World, and specials about overseas parks, the cruise line, and even specific hotels. And the more recent Disney Plus content is similarly broad, with single shows covering a bunch of different parks and subjects.

Maybe park specific content will be coming, especially if Disneyland Handcrafted has been pulling some decent numbers. But when it comes to content focused on Epcot specifically, it’s worth remembering that:

1. Epcot wasn’t the first theme park ever built, and people are much less likely to be interested in or celebrate seconds or thirds, and
2. If you celebrate old Epcot and say “Old Epcot was so great!", someone is bound to ask “Then why did you get rid of so much of it?” Disney might just want to keep all their Epcot material neatly in line with their current strategic vision for the park.

And as evidence for Point 2? Disney does have a documentary that's focused just on Epcot streaming on Disney Plus: “Epcot Becoming.” And it’s all about how they’ve been remaking Epcot into something newer and better which today’s guests are gonna love even more. So I wouldn’t hold my breath on getting anything official.

That said, niche interests still prosper in the digital age, and there’s plenty of blog content and YouTube content about old school Epcot that is loving and celebratory. It’s not winning any popularity contests, but it’s definitely out there if you’re looking.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I'm still not convinced that EPCOT had to/has to be turned into an IP Land in order to survive.

And it's not like IPs have no place in EPCOT at all - they can be used to enhance the science theme of the park. Just... not the way they're doing it.

Agreed…it just can’t be used stupid

Ratatouille…a movie set in Paris dealing with a food culture (even if cartoonish portrayed)…fits in the environment

I’d argue Nemo fits…though I understand the complaints there

Fake ice princesses? Marvel cause you have no rights to the others and you let an old pavilion collapse and needed something?
Absolutely no

 

[HMF]

And it's not like IPs have no place in EPCOT at all - they can be used to enhance the science theme of the park. Just... not the way they're doing it.

Indeed, Circle of Life was really the only time they used IP the "right" way at EPCOT. Nemo really opened the floodgates to shoehorning in attractions into EPCOT where IP tie-ins became more important than the actual subject that the pavilion is supposed to be about and the trend has only gotten worse in the years since.

 

[HMF]

1. If you celebrate old Epcot and say “Old Epcot was so great!", someone is bound to ask “Then why did you get rid of so much of it?” Disney might just want to keep all their Epcot material neatly in line with their current strategic vision for the park.

It was a combination of bad long-term planning, listening to the wrong people, corporations refusing to invest and a lack of optimistic futurism on the part of modern popular culture. Also, they have no "Strategic Vision" for the parks, all the non-castle parks have just become random dumping grounds for any IP picked at random whether it hypothetically fits the larger whole or not.

 

[HMF]

That said, niche interests still prosper in the digital age, and there’s plenty of blog content and YouTube content about old school Epcot that is loving and celebratory. It’s not winning any popularity contests, but it’s definitely out there if you’re looking.

That's the only real way to visit EPCOT now, in my book.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

It was a combination of bad long-term planning, listening to the wrong people, corporations refusing to invest and a lack of optimistic futurism on the part of modern popular culture. Also, they have no "Strategic Vision" for the parks, all the non-castle parks have just become random dumping grounds for any IP picked at random whether it hypothetically fits the larger whole or not.

I always said the internet killed a lot of the appeal of Epcot…

You can see anything you want with a click/tap…so mockups in the sun aren’t as capturing. I think that had a lot to do with a straight decline in appeal to sponsors

 

[marni1971]

Because to remember it when it was good you have to be at least in your 40s? Bloggers, vloggers and journos in their 30s wouldn’t have a clue.

Scary I know.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Because to remember it when it was good you have to be at least in your 40s? Bloggers, vloggers and journos in their 30s wouldn’t have a clue.

Scary I know.

What's scarier trying to send my brain back to that time. I'm just a few months away from turning 78 so for me to completely remember stuff requires exploring through a massive amount of brain cobwebs.