News New Park Entrance coming to Epcot

WondersOfLife

Blink, blink. Breathe, breathe. Day in, day out.
Wanna see my badge? 😂

Just pointing out an(other) error by a particular poster. Inspirational and aspirational are the words I’d use to describe EPCOT Center.

I would definitely argue that Epcot was about change, PLUS the other words you used to describe it. Inspiration leads to change.
  • "Experimental Prototype Community of TOMORROW"
  • "FUTURE World" - The changes and future of technology, living, and earth.
  • Spaceship Earth: (After numerous scenes of how communication has changed over the years) "Today our search for understanding is unbounded by space and time. Vast stores of information, knowledge from everywhere, standing ready at our beck and call to reach us in an instant. With our great network, we harness our knowledge, give it shape and form to serve us, to help create and communicate a better awareness of ourselves, and our world." - The changes and future of communication
  • Horizons: "And I'll tell you something ... if we can dream it, we really can do it. And that's the most exciting part." - Represented by the words you chose, but it also reflects on the future and changes of tomorrow.
  • World of Motion: (After numerous scenes of how transportation has changed over the years) "We have engineered marvels that take us swiftly over land and sea, through the air, and into space itself. And still bolder and better ideas are yet to come."
  • Universe of Energy: "In our ever-changing world, the road to tomorrow's energy is indeed long, complex and challenging."
  • The Living Seas: Ya got me there, I guess. But today it's definitely themed around conservation and the future of keeping the ocean healthy, listen to Crush.
  • Kitchen Kabaret: Encouraging people to change their eating habits and be more healthy in the future.
  • Listen to the Land: Educating people on different environments, while also showing people how farming has changed and evolved overtime, up to modern day.
  • Symbiosis: Focusing on preservation of the earth: "It is in our power to address these issues... ect." Encouraging people to change the issues and ways we affect the environment.

I'm just saying... Even my 72 year old dad who visited Epcot on opening day just told me yesterday, "Epcot Center was the most amazing thing... My friends and I would go to Magic Kingdom and immediately want to go back over to Epcot Center. And the problem with it is, all of that advancement of technology is here today, and it's just kind of... There. Everything they predicted, happened. What was spectacular back then is just sort of ho-hum today... So I understand why they're putting the movies and stuff there. It doesn't get outdated as quickly, and it's not quite as boring."
 

OvertheHorizon

Well-Known Member
I completely agree with what WonderOfLife just wrote. I was 36 when Epcot opened and watched its progress from the moment it was announced. My first visit was within six months of opening. I was overwhelmed. It's hard to keep up with the future. We barely had personal computers when Epcot opened and everyone still used a landline. I find amazement in every Disney park, but Epcot will always be special for me.
 

WondersOfLife

Blink, blink. Breathe, breathe. Day in, day out.
Point being, Epcot was like a gigantic DisneyQuest... It cost Disney much more time and money to keep up with growing technology and changes than they would have liked to keep up with.

Same with MGM Studios and the advancement of how films are created nowadays, hence why we get Toy Story Land and Star Wars Land jumping "into" the movies instead of "how" the movies are made. Same thing.
 

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
I was just quoting my father... You're being a bit too literal there. I'm sure he was talking more about the smaller stuff: He went on and on about how communicating with someone in a different country on a screen in front of you was an amazing idea and unimaginable, and here it is today and it's just, here.
No disrespect to your father. The “global neighbourhood” always makes me chuckle. And that was 1994.
 

dreday3

Well-Known Member
I was just quoting my father... You're being a bit too literal there. I'm sure he was talking more about the smaller stuff: He went on and on about how communicating with someone in a different country on a screen in front of you was an amazing idea and unimaginable, and here it is today and it's just, here.

I get it. When I went on Horizons back in the early 80s (9 or 10 yrs old) - I couldn't believe all the stuff that was possible. And now here we are. :) (well, we aren't living underwater yet, but you know what I mean...)
 

MadTeacup

Well-Known Member
I get it. When I went on Horizons back in the early 80s (9 or 10 yrs old) - I couldn't believe all the stuff that was possible. And now here we are. :) (well, we aren't living underwater yet, but you know what I mean...)
We're also not in the "Year 3000" quite yet. Just you wait...

For the sake of the discussion, I wouldn't exactly consider Change a theme of EPCOT, but more a side effect of the theme. EPCOT's theme word is Discovery. Discovery leads to knowledge-based change. Therefore, I wouldn't exactly count change based on a person's whim as a central part of EPCOT, but change based on knowledge, invention, and innovation are exactly what EPCOT's theme intends to drive guests towards (in its truest, least IP-suffocated form).
 

WondersOfLife

Blink, blink. Breathe, breathe. Day in, day out.
change based on knowledge, invention, and innovation
Ohhhhh.... Change!!!

tenor.gif
 

sedati

Well-Known Member
I'm consistently shocked at how dirty the sphere gets whenever I see close-ups...it never looks that dirty in person.
You wouldn’t want to go through your home with a microscope. So, while it’s great to see zoomed in details like this, it shouldn’t be used to exemplify the guest experience as is so often the case on these forums.
 

ImperfectPixie

Well-Known Member
You wouldn’t want to go through your home with a microscope. So, while it’s great to see zoomed in details like this, it shouldn’t be used to exemplify the guest experience as is so often the case on these forums.
Oh, I'm aware, lol.

The minute we see Spaceship Earth for the first time on a trip...at night...all lit up and beautiful...the last thing on my mind is how dirty it gets. ☺️
 

Brer Oswald

Well-Known Member
We're also not in the "Year 3000" quite yet. Just you wait...

For the sake of the discussion, I wouldn't exactly consider Change a theme of EPCOT, but more a side effect of the theme. EPCOT's theme word is Discovery. Discovery leads to knowledge-based change. Therefore, I wouldn't exactly count change based on a person's whim as a central part of EPCOT, but change based on knowledge, invention, and innovation are exactly what EPCOT's theme intends to drive guests towards (in its truest, least IP-suffocated form).
The theme is (was?) focused around humanity. How we communicate (Spaceship Earth), what our minds our capable of (Imagination), how we use the planet we were given (the Land and the Seas), how we travel (World of Motion), what we could be (Horizons). Wonders of Life was added, and it was about the human body. You can’t get more literal than that.

The World Showcase was about human culture. So yes there was a sense of discovery in all of these, but it was us discovering more about the wonders of humanity than we even knew.

What is the park supposed to be about after this overhaul? How Disney franchises impact humanity? How does World Showcase connect to miscellaneous franchise land?
 

Rich Brownn

Well-Known Member
I would definitely argue that Epcot was about change, PLUS the other words you used to describe it. Inspiration leads to change.
  • "Experimental Prototype Community of TOMORROW"
  • "FUTURE World" - The changes and future of technology, living, and earth.
  • Spaceship Earth: (After numerous scenes of how communication has changed over the years) "Today our search for understanding is unbounded by space and time. Vast stores of information, knowledge from everywhere, standing ready at our beck and call to reach us in an instant. With our great network, we harness our knowledge, give it shape and form to serve us, to help create and communicate a better awareness of ourselves, and our world." - The changes and future of communication
  • Horizons: "And I'll tell you something ... if we can dream it, we really can do it. And that's the most exciting part." - Represented by the words you chose, but it also reflects on the future and changes of tomorrow.
  • World of Motion: (After numerous scenes of how transportation has changed over the years) "We have engineered marvels that take us swiftly over land and sea, through the air, and into space itself. And still bolder and better ideas are yet to come."
  • Universe of Energy: "In our ever-changing world, the road to tomorrow's energy is indeed long, complex and challenging."
  • The Living Seas: Ya got me there, I guess. But today it's definitely themed around conservation and the future of keeping the ocean healthy, listen to Crush.
  • Kitchen Kabaret: Encouraging people to change their eating habits and be more healthy in the future.
  • Listen to the Land: Educating people on different environments, while also showing people how farming has changed and evolved overtime, up to modern day.
  • Symbiosis: Focusing on preservation of the earth: "It is in our power to address these issues... ect." Encouraging people to change the issues and ways we affect the environment.

I'm just saying... Even my 72 year old dad who visited Epcot on opening day just told me yesterday, "Epcot Center was the most amazing thing... My friends and I would go to Magic Kingdom and immediately want to go back over to Epcot Center. And the problem with it is, all of that advancement of technology is here today, and it's just kind of... There. Everything they predicted, happened. What was spectacular back then is just sort of ho-hum today... So I understand why they're putting the movies and stuff there. It doesn't get outdated as quickly, and it's not quite as boring."
The pavillions at EPCOT for the most part were designed to be updated easily if they wanted. Energy, The Land, and WoL either mad film/post-show displays that could be swapped out. Imagination was more or less timeless. The Seas displays could be updated easily. Spaceship Earth's decent has been. That's because most of the rides were set in the past leading up to the future. The only one that could not have been updated easily was Horizons, but the post-IMAX section was always set in the way distant future anyways.
 

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