News Big changes coming to EPCOT's Future World?

tparris

Well-Known Member
New unsubstantiated theory - they brute forced some temporary way to make the ground lights work for the flyover filming they just did the last couple nights.... Can't have broken lights in a new Soarin' finale and/or marketing materials!
Well if that’s the case, they failed because there are still a few segments not working
 

Moth

Well-Known Member
Lighting and railing have been installed in the area near the Imagination Pavilion - photos from today.



Here's another look at the lighting from the bridge leading to World Showcase.

Just got reminded of this. Did we ever figure out what this is?
 

HauntedMansionFLA

Well-Known Member
With Communicore Hall now open, does anyone think they will remove the World ShowPlace Pavilion for something new? I feel like having both venues available is redundant.
The park stopped having big events in this space like Party of the Senses a few years back. It used to be a big money maker when an outside vendor paid/sponsored for the food/drinks. Once that sponsor backed out, PotS lost money and they did away with it. Just like the cupcake parties Epcot use to have in the past. If it doesn’t have a bunch g return on investment, they have walked away from it.

worldShowPlace would be perfect for a big attraction. Lots of space back there.
 

"El Gran Magnifico"

Bring Me A Shrubbery
Premium Member
I’m not sure enhanced wayfinding is really worth complaining about, nor is improving it indicative of general trends in intelligence. There are plenty of things that humanity managed just fine with in the past that still had a lot of room for improvement.

They may as well create a sign like this. Let the guest choose.

1718572645178.png
 

Virtual Toad

Well-Known Member
Saw all the changes with walls down in person this weekend and the new hub is just... strange. It felt lifeless, claustrophobic and closed in during the day. Too hot and barren, even with all the trees. The old hub, with its wider vistas, grace, symmetry and kinetics (provided by the fountain and excited guests headed off in different directions) built anticipation and excitement. The new hub felt to us like a competent city park or downtown core redevelopment, well-intentioned but value engineered and lacking true inspiration or excitement.

Communicore Hall had interesting architectural "add-ons" in the form of the triangles, but aside from the facade, it's a fairly cookie-cutter building. The stage was... there, and the concert was... also there? Too hot to enjoy much of this and the choice of entertainment seemed a total mismatch for the area or theme of the building. The inside of Communicore Hall is... a lifeless wasted effort. It really did look like a hospital waiting room, community college student union or a local rec center activity area but nothing more. It's not even large enough to really do anything with so... why did they bother? A waste of time and resources for something that could and should have been more.

At night, the hub did seem more expansive due to the interior and exterior lighting on the surrounding structures providing an illusion of depth. The central planter lighting was... okay. Still not fully functional and definitely value-engineered. The white plastic covering the in-ground LED lights was already scuffed, worn and molding underneath in several spots. I fear this area will not age well.

A couple of additional thoughts. Journey of Water seemed popular but claustrophobic and again, woefully out of place. Incongruous. A wonderful diversion at Animal Kingdom but not in the heart of Epcot.

And that seems to be the biggest takeaway from the entire re-do. As the gateway to the lands and attractions beyond, the reimagining of Epcot's hub should excite, inspire, build anticipation and provide a clear set of choices. We found it closed in, lifeless, discordant, disorienting, insufficiently inspirational and completely lacking charm.

At the end of the day, the two
biggest sins are the lack of a water feature and the destruction of Comminicore West and the grandeur, grace and symmetry it provided. Why engage in the wholesale destruction of classic architecture when a reskin would have been far less expensive, more fiscally responsible to shareholders, less disruptive to guests, and less destructive to the park?

What remains is a feeling of lost opportunity and a questioning of the company's leadership, vision and priorities. More than a half decade and untold millions for... something I guess.

What was gained and/or lost in the process is open to debate, but I have to wonder--would it have been wiser to simply spend a modest amount of time and money on a less-destructive refresh of the hub, building on its inherent strengths without throwing out the baby with the bathwater?

What if Disney had, instead, spent just a portion of all that time and money restoring and refreshing Journey Into Imagination and Spaceship Earth?
 

mightynine

Well-Known Member
If you can dream it, CommuniCore Hall can do it… the future of this gathering and event space is limited only by the boundaries of imagination. We’re all about the magic of possibilities here at EPCOT, and our imaginations are pretty spectacular.


If CommuniCore Hall is an example of their boundless imagination - yikes
 

TrainsOfDisney

Well-Known Member
Saw all the changes with walls down in person this weekend and the new hub is just... strange.
You summed this up really well.

They did a great job at the entrance, removing the legacy tiles and bringing back the crystal and the flags - they needed to continue that on the backside of the park as well!

Removing the fountain of nations is the biggest mistake - right there we should have known this would be 100% wrong.
 

Virtual Toad

Well-Known Member

If CommuniCore Hall is an example of their boundless imagination - yikes

There's corporate PR, and then there's arrogant hubris which almost seems as if it's masking a deep-seated insecurity. They should have been honest and said "limited only by the boundaries of imagination, the inexplicably low ceilings and woefully small footprint of what we ultimately decided to build."
You summed this up really well.

They did a great job at the entrance, removing the legacy tiles and bringing back the crystal and the flags - they needed to continue that on the backside of the park as well!

Removing the fountain of nations is the biggest mistake - right there we should have known this would be 100% wrong.
^^ This exactly. They nailed one part of the project only to botch the other. It's almost as if we are seeing a schizophrenic struggle for the soul of the company playing out in real time. One group that cares about building on the inherent strengths of the resort and its legacy, the other completely committed to bulldozing everything in its path in favor of whatever they consider to be the "new" and the "now." Is it telling that the two truly inspiring things from my visit yesterday were Awesome Planet and Canada Far and Wide? Both delivered with modest budgets and doing more with less by simply staying true to Epcot's message and mission.
 

HauntedPirate

Park nostalgist
Premium Member
Saw all the changes with walls down in person this weekend and the new hub is just... strange. It felt lifeless, claustrophobic and closed in during the day. Too hot and barren, even with all the trees. The old hub, with its wider vistas, grace, symmetry and kinetics (provided by the fountain and excited guests headed off in different directions) built anticipation and excitement. The new hub felt to us like a competent city park or downtown core redevelopment, well-intentioned but value engineered and lacking true inspiration or excitement.

Communicore Hall had interesting architectural "add-ons" in the form of the triangles, but aside from the facade, it's a fairly cookie-cutter building. The stage was... there, and the concert was... also there? Too hot to enjoy much of this and the choice of entertainment seemed a total mismatch for the area or theme of the building. The inside of Communicore Hall is... a lifeless wasted effort. It really did look like a hospital waiting room, community college student union or a local rec center activity area but nothing more. It's not even large enough to really do anything with so... why did they bother? A waste of time and resources for something that could and should have been more.

At night, the hub did seem more expansive due to the interior and exterior lighting on the surrounding structures providing an illusion of depth. The central planter lighting was... okay. Still not fully functional and definitely value-engineered. The white plastic covering the in-ground LED lights was already scuffed, worn and molding underneath in several spots. I fear this area will not age well.

A couple of additional thoughts. Journey of Water seemed popular but claustrophobic and again, woefully out of place. Incongruous. A wonderful diversion at Animal Kingdom but not in the heart of Epcot.

And that seems to be the biggest takeaway from the entire re-do. As the gateway to the lands and attractions beyond, the reimagining of Epcot's hub should excite, inspire, build anticipation and provide a clear set of choices. We found it closed in, lifeless, discordant, disorienting, insufficiently inspirational and completely lacking charm.

At the end of the day, the two
biggest sins are the lack of a water feature and the destruction of Comminicore West and the grandeur, grace and symmetry it provided. Why engage in the wholesale destruction of classic architecture when a reskin would have been far less expensive, more fiscally responsible to shareholders, less disruptive to guests, and less destructive to the park?

What remains is a feeling of lost opportunity and a questioning of the company's leadership, vision and priorities. More than a half decade and untold millions for... something I guess.

What was gained and/or lost in the process is open to debate, but I have to wonder--would it have been wiser to simply spend a modest amount of time and money on a less-destructive refresh of the hub, building on its inherent strengths without throwing out the baby with the bathwater?

What if Disney had, instead, spent just a portion of all that time and money restoring and refreshing Journey Into Imagination and Spaceship Earth?

You misspelled, "Everything they did is great and awesome and the park has never been better!".

Thank you for the write-up. I'm rather tired of reading how everything that's been done is great and the park has never been better and anyone who disagrees gets shouted down.
 

HauntedPirate

Park nostalgist
Premium Member
There's corporate PR, and then there's arrogant hubris which almost seems as if it's masking a deep-seated insecurity. They should have been honest and said "limited only by the boundaries of imagination, the inexplicably low ceilings and woefully small footprint of what we ultimately decided to build."

^^ This exactly. They nailed one part of the project only to botch the other. It's almost as if we are seeing a schizophrenic struggle for the soul of the company playing out in real time. One group that cares about building on the inherent strengths of the resort and its legacy, the other completely committed to bulldozing everything in its path in favor of whatever they consider to be the "new" and the "now." Is it telling that the two truly inspiring things from my visit yesterday were Awesome Planet and Canada Far and Wide? Both delivered with modest budgets and doing more with less by simply staying true to Epcot's message and mission.

It feels like the mistakes made in Epcot are the poster-children for the Gensler-fication of WDI. And no one is learning from those mistakes so they are continuing to be repeated. Probably because so many people, like many of those in these forums, continue to heap praise with no sense of history or experience of what Disney used to be capable of.

They did right by the entrance fountain. Once you walk past that... Let's just say the words I want to use aren't going to pass forum censors.
 

Virtual Toad

Well-Known Member
You misspelled, "Everything they did is great and awesome and the park has never been better!".

Thank you for the write-up. I'm rather tired of reading how everything that's been done is great and the park has never been better and anyone who disagrees gets shouted down.
Absolutely, and before I'm accused of being a hyberbolic hater, let me with full disclosure say I had a great time at Epcot with my family yesterday. A treat on Father's Day watching my (almost fully grown) sons enjoy their time in the park like they did when we were younger. I can like some things about something and dislike others simultaneously. Studying architectural decisions with a critical eye and discussing those decisions can be a useful endeavor separate from my enjoyment of a new Circlevision film or a relaxing beverage with a classic view of World Showcase.
 

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