News Big changes coming to EPCOT's Future World?

owlsandcoffee

Well-Known Member
It’s reasonable to hate the new direction. But I don’t understand how one can’t see why they’re doing it.

Oh I fully understand WHY they're doing it. EPCOT is failing to bring in people and keep them there. Obviously bad for an amusement park. My problem is with the choices they make. If you go back to EPCOT Center it's easy to see the underlying message and goal. Future changes should be made with that in mind. Instead we have the Energy Pavilion, dedicated to one of the most important social issues on earth, turned into a comic book roller coaster that will probably be paying tribute to how great the old EPCOT was. So they know people like EPCOT Center but don't seem to get that maybe they should be doing more to bring it back.
 

Mac Tonight

Well-Known Member
It's really apparent that no one with any true decision making power today, understands what made Epcot Center such a joy to experience in the late 80's - early 90's. Though to be fair, they probably inherited that thinking from their bosses who came before them in the late 90's - early 2000's when Epcot had already entered a state of decline.
 

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
I think it’s more that the new crop says “Epcot is about to get passed by USO in annual attendance and IOA isn’t far behind. It’s obviously broken. How to we drastically overhaul it?”.

Y’all call yell and scream for years about how Disney let it get that way, and it is a VERY valid criticism, but it *is* a half empty park with attendance boosted by festivals, not attractions, so I think it’s baffling when people ask “why is Disney looking to make changes”. Its broken! When things are broken people don’t usually make incremental changes or go back to what worked in the past, that’s just not how people think. They make sweeping overhauls.

It’s reasonable to hate the new direction. But I don’t understand how one can’t see why they’re doing it.
You don’t start ripping out your foundation because you broke some windows and let the roof fall into disrepair.
 

CastAStone

5th gate? Just build a new resort Bob.
Premium Member
You don’t start ripping out your foundation because you broke some windows and let the roof fall into disrepair.
This is how big companies think. I was in brand management in the food industry for a decade. All the big companies spent years cutting costs, or in other words, making their products taste worse and spending a ton less on advertising. Then they sat on their thumbs wondering why people weren’t buying Golden Grahams anymore. Well it’s because you don’t tell them to, and you made the product bad. How did the companies respond to falling sales? They cut advertising and product quality more and used the savings to buy natural brands, like Kashi and Kind and Annie’s and Odwalla and Bolthouse Farms and Stonyfield and so on, because that’s what was growing.

What’s my point? This is how *everyone* in corporate America thinks. Bob Chapek started his career in brand management at Heinz. He’s going to process the situation based on what can I go after, not what can I go back to. IP has been growing for Disney.
 

bcoachable

Well-Known Member
If they aren’t careful, they will not have enough experienced employees-err cast members around to remind them how they got to be the envy of themed entertainment.
 

wdwmagic

Administrator
Moderator
Premium Member

Haymarket2008

Well-Known Member
Wonder what more they will announce on World Discovery. We could use more information on the status.

Id presume they are going to have to move forward with the “plaza”. They’re going to need something to look at with those brand spanking new windows in Creations Shop. My guess is we’ll find out about the new story fountain & Dreamers Point next.
 

Incomudro

Well-Known Member
I've posted about that place many times as we lament what has happened to Epcot. It's funny that there was a time when they even got the shops right. It's not just the House of Magic that was a major loss. Damn the Bobs

From my perspective, more ornate Disney shops draw me in.
I'll come into the shop for the shop's sake, and when in I'll likely buy something when there.
I can't help but to think that this new direction with modern, and stark shops will have the opposite effect than intended.
I'd imagine people spending less time in the shops, because there's less there to hold their interest.
 

ImperfectPixie

Well-Known Member
From my perspective, more ornate Disney shops draw me in.
I'll come into the shop for the shop's sake, and when in I'll likely buy something when there.
I can't help but to think that this new direction with modern, and stark shops will have the opposite effect than intended.
I'd imagine people spending less time in the shops, because there's less there to hold their interest.
I agree 100%. Themed shops are much more attractive because you can't find them anywhere else.
 

ImperfectPixie

Well-Known Member
They draw you in, and hold you there longer.
Disney's betting that more bare shops will move more product because the focus will be on the product.
We'll have to see, but I'm skeptical.
They definitely won't have that effect on me. The themed shops demanded that I look around to make sure there were no little discoveries I missed, which often led to me finding items that I would usually overlook.

You should see me in regular stores, lol. I step in, look around really quick...if nothing catches my attention, I'm gone.
 

Incomudro

Well-Known Member
They definitely won't have that effect on me. The themed shops demanded that I look around to make sure there were no little discoveries I missed, which often led to me finding items that I would usually overlook.

You should see me in regular stores, lol. I step in, look around really quick...if nothing catches my attention, I'm gone.
My thoughts exactly.
Give me an attractive shop, and I'll browse, look around and likely pick something up.
Give me a stark store, and I'll only go in it specifically to get something.
 

sedati

Well-Known Member
My thoughts exactly.
Give me an attractive shop, and I'll browse, look around and likely pick something up.
Give me a stark store, and I'll only go in it specifically to get something.
How would you categorize any OG Future World shop. Or Future World quick serve while we're at it?
 

DoleWhipDrea

Well-Known Member
The only slightly exciting thing from this update was what little information there was about Club Cool returning. Where’s that concept art? Or are they afraid that we’re going to tear it apart? (That hasn’t exactly stopped them with anything else...)

I’ve hardly ever been excited about the look of a store, but this is particularly architect modern generic. I guess the one good thing is the use of windows streaming natural light in again.

There’s something to be said for overusing the same mascot in every Disney location... I miss the days when the various parks had their own identities. Mickey really doesn’t need to be plastered everywhere.
 

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