A really great post on the state of Epcot

[AEfx]

I also don't understand why Disney isn't doing something (well, actually I can) with 3-D printing technology. Many of us have heard of it, but haven't yet got to see it in action. Disney is doing research, according to their own website to create a soft fabric (I didn't even know they had a research website) https://www.disneyresearch.com/publication/a-layered-fabric-3d-printer-for-soft-interactive-objects/ but no place for it in Epcot. They also work on things like this http://gizmodo.com/disneys-new-rolling-robot-climbs-walls-like-a-gecko-1750083587 .

3D printing is in it's infancy. A single item can take hours to make and unless you have a perfect pre-fab design, often you end up with several "duds" before you actually get a success - and if you are just working on pre-fab, tested designs, there really isn't any reason to use a 3D one-off printer.

Someone mentioned software versions, I also saw on an out of order car on Spaceship Earth and the Figment Musical thingy that those run on XP, and I think the Figment thing might have even been NT! I should have taken a picture when they had maintenance out trying to reset it, but I think I was too dismayed by how ancient everything is. There are still places, like I think the Muppets queue, which still has old tube tvs but sophisticated youth must be all okay with that stuff.

You are looking at this from a consumer point of view. I'm sure a lot of that stuff still runs on old DOS/UNIX line command type systems - because that is how they were designed. So those Windows installs are likely only running DOS shells to begin with and just run Windows at all for only that purpose and whenever the last new machine was installed. Given that these are closed systems (not connected to the Internet, etc.) on rides, there is no reason to upgrade to Windows 10 or whatever because it's just going to cause problems. Newer operating systems largely come out to fix security holes, which are largely a concern only with Internet connected machines.

You would also be shocked at how much business and industry isn't using the latest/greatest, for many reasons. The power plant that sends you electricity likely runs on software written in the 1980's. Why? Because a) it works, and b) it's so costly to upgrade for the sake of upgrading. Basically, if it ain't broke, why "fix" it - especially when doing so will just create more and more problems which you cannot afford when running something like a theme park attraction.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

One thing Epcot has is a Ton of Memorable Quotes than any other park..

What Quotes are Memorable from the 90's and Up???

 

[RobbinsDad]

I know I'm late to this party, but as a kid who visited Epcot several times in the 80's, it was just cool. My friends and I talked about Horizons, Spaceship Earth, World of Motion and Communicore all the time. It was literally a place where you could get lost in your imagination, unlike MK which was awesome too, but it was mostly about the rides. Epcot was about imagination; immersing yourself in what life really could be like in the future. Communicore was my favorite - I loved the show about how audio animatronics worked and the microchip maze. And then when the Wonders of Life pavilion opened - oh my GOD! I could have spent an entire day there.

I say all of this with an additional thought - Epcot is not bad today. Test Track and Soarin' are fantastic experiences. Innoventions is still pretty amazing. But each attraction has a specific purpose - thrills, fun, education, exploration, and all of the new ones are missing that essential ingredient that made Epcot so awesome before - imagination.

 

[The Tuna]

Sorry but this is very misinformed. WDI blows their budgets constantly. They get things approved with very workable funding and then they go insane. See Expedition: Everest.

And how many projects have had their budgets slashed by half or more (DCA)? Not misinformed at all. Goes both ways on many projects I'm sure, but you can't tell me that they don't have great ideas ready to go that have been cut and slashed to death.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

And how many projects have had their budgets slashed by half or more (DCA)? Not misinformed at all. Goes both ways on many projects I'm sure, but you can't tell me that they don't have great ideas ready to go that have been cut and slashed to death.

The number of cuts that have come strictly for the sake of making cuts is remarkably small. 95% of the time, a cut in one place is due to cost overruns in another.

 

[FigmentJedi]

Damn, is this thing for real?!?!?!?!

Apparently the plan is for the first one to be finished later this year and the eventual goal is to have around nine of them to cover all the major points of the ocean.
http://seaorbiter.com/

 

[Mike S]

One thing Epcot has is a Ton of Memorable Quotes than any other park..

What Quotes are Memorable from the 90's and Up???

Isn't that SSE quote from the current version though, not the 80's? Still a good quote. Just wanted to point that out.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Isn't that SSE quote from the current version though, not the 80's? Still a good quote. Just wanted to point that out.

I think it dates to Irons. Still not the eighties though, you are correct.

 

[FigmentForver96]

One thing Epcot has is a Ton of Memorable Quotes than any other park..


What Quotes are Memorable from the 90's and Up???

Ahem....allow me.

"We had the best nickname for her in college...Stupid Judy".

"Let it Go".

"Thank you for Sorian with us!

"So as you can clearly see, Imagination works the best when it's set free!"

"Welcome to the Sim Track"

 

[Clamman73]

Isn't that SSE quote from the current version though, not the 80's? Still a good quote. Just wanted to point that out.

Both Dench and Irons say the same two lines at the beginning. In the Cronkite version, it's essentially the same first two lines, but worded a little different.

 

[Mike S]

I think it dates to Irons. Still not the eighties though, you are correct.

I miss Irons. That version of Spaceship Earth was my Horizons

 

[Mike S]

Ahem....allow me.

"We had the best nickname for her in college...Stupid Judy".

"Let it Go".

"Thank you for Sorian with us!"

"So as you can clearly see, Imagination works the best when it's set free!"

"Welcome to the Sim Track"

 

[ThemeParkJunkee]

Is it wrong that I read that article with a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye? That is exactly how my 10 and 11 year old reacted to Epcot many years ago. They loved Horizons and the Wonders of Life Pavilion. The aquariums were so much better with a futuristic theme instead of Nemo. I was the same way as a 30 something adult.

 

[Marc Davis Fan]

What Quotes are Memorable from the 90's and Up???

"Space sickness bags are located on the instrument panel..."

 

[dnylla]

That was an interesting article, thanks for posting it!

I think some of it is also just the fear of taking big risks anymore. Whatever the reason, and I'm sure there are many (Wall Street's focus on quarterly profits, the Internet, etc) right now it seems like Disney isn't as willing to take big risks as they have been at other times. Because big risks can cause big success, or big failure. So they, and other big companies in Hollywood, often try to play it safe. I hope that this changes though, and the imagineers are again able to dream as big as Walt did

 

[MinnieM123]

While following along with this interesting thread, a random thought came to mind. I wonder if Disney's creative concepts team for EPCOT Center ever had any discussions, about whether children would embrace this new type of theme park, or be bored by it. My guess is that these types of discussions did occur, and the consensus must have been that many children would enjoy the park with their parents, so they built it. (Bravo!)

Fast forward to the present—some people feel that even an updated Future World may not appeal to "today's" youth. Yet, how would we really know that answer, if today's youth are not even given the opportunity to experience it? I think back to 1985 as a young adult. At that time, I only had a minor interest in science or technology, but once I visited EPCOT Center, I was so excited about what I saw! Presently, I'd love to see an updated park that could inspire both younger and older visitors.

 

[pumpkin7]

I was watching Martins Video on the tours at MGM Studios. I'm absolutely dumbfounded at what they have done to that park since opening day. The original tours looked amazing! I can't believe what the Backlot Tour eventually became compared to what it used to be. I just don't understand it. In 27 years that park has become unrecognisable, and even more so now with the new lands. Now that's one park I wish I'd have seen in the early days. The Walking Tour too... brilliant! I didn't know that you could still follow the original walkways (by eye anyway) around the front of TSMM etc.
I think Epcot is the same. Wonders of Life! I mean why, why close that? 3 great attractions.. poof gone. The changes to SSE. The narration, the ending. Horizons, World of Motion. Why Disney, why?!?! I wish I hAF a time machine to visit Disney in the late 80s, early 90s. That seemed like the best time to visit.

 

[djlaosc]

I'm a heading to bed a bit confused. I rode If You Had Wings many times. I was a kid....I remember the Eastern Airlines version, Disney's name being on it...maybe even a brief period of time where Delta was a sponsor...my history of navigation is not focused so much on flying to tropical locales. Unless your talking about the Cosmos thing in which case I'm even more confused.




Now across from If You Had Wings was the Flight to the Moon which later became Mission to Mars. Kind of cosomological, but really focused one space flight to one specific hunk of rock. Anyway, I'm confused but not concerned. Explain what I'm stupidly missing.




I should note, I'm not taking time to watch the video because I don't want that weird, ambient, repetitive If you had wings songs stuck in mind. I'm already fighting it just thinking about it.

I think that If You Had Wings/If You Could Fly was the tropical locales, Delta Dreamflight/Dreamflight/Disney's Take Flight was the history of aviation.

 

[George]

I think that If You Had Wings/If You Could Fly was the tropical locales, Delta Dreamflight/Dreamflight/Disney's Take Flight was the history of aviation.

That is generally correct. The Dreamflight song wasn't near as catchy as the If You Had Wings song. I think Mr. @AEfx was referring to (going off an ancient memory since I really don't want "If you had wings" lodged in my brain, I know the way my brain works and it would be stuck there if it was actually heard) is the end where you fly off into the clouds. Here's what I was thinking for the end of my boat ride (this is really dorky imagineering so I suggest skipping unless one is the mood to read some really goofball imagineering)...Each boat is kind of fitted with faux masts, riggings, etc. that for the first 17 minutes, 37 seconds of our journey don't serve a purpose except purtiness and the fact we're pulled along our watery track. There are several scenes along the way where we stop and take a gander at something. The last scene we're looking at a Disney cruise ship (synergy) and the captain we're told is examining his position and course relative to a hurricane and other ships navigating around the storm..."Boom" we're hit with strobe lights and suddenly it becames apparent that the all the fake crow's nests and the like are actually part of something attached to the ceiling and quite functional...we're lifted out of the water, exact a 90 degree turn and are slowly lifted into a darkened room. We're told that we've been turned into electromagnetic radiation (this will probably be edited into the less sinister and more specific radio waves by the script writers) and we're heading out to space so the Disney cruise ship can know its specific position on planet earth....the rooms brightens and we can see earth beneath us...in the distance is the International Space Station...the sky becomes filled with objects near and far....the moon looms ahead....we travel towards our specific satellite....we bounce off of it and travel back down towards earth...the last thing we see is our cruise ship with its distinctive Mickey stacks loom into view before we turn the corner and unload. There should be some kind of grand orchestral music going on in the background for this bit of the ride.

 

[Clamman73]

I was watching Martins Video on the tours at MGM Studios. I'm absolutely dumbfounded at what they have done to that park since opening day. The original tours looked amazing! I can't believe what the Backlot Tour eventually became compared to what it used to be. I just don't understand it. In 27 years that park has become unrecognisable, and even more so now with the new lands. Now that's one park I wish I'd have seen in the early days. The Walking Tour too... brilliant! I didn't know that you could still follow the original walkways (by eye anyway) around the front of TSMM etc.
I think Epcot is the same. Wonders of Life! I mean why, why close that? 3 great attractions.. poof gone. The changes to SSE. The narration, the ending. Horizons, World of Motion. Why Disney, why?!?! I wish I hAF a time machine to visit Disney in the late 80s, early 90s. That seemed like the best time to visit.

The one glimmer of hope for me is that it doesn't seem like that long ago from that late '80s time period (b/c high school seems like yesterday) when things at Epcot were at their peak and Studios was new. So I'm hoping things can change back to that in a similar time period, which Studios is looking like it has hope with the upcoming changes, but Epcot still needs that push of major refurbs to Future World. I'm just relying on time perception to get me through this low point of no real EPCOT Center at this point.