A Spirited Perfect Ten

[CaptainAmerica]

World Showcase
Mt Fuji E-ticket in Japan
Mulan dark ride in China
Matterhorn E-ticket clone with Switzerland pavillion
Mary Poppins dark ride in UK
Rhine River Cruise in Germany
Gondolas in Italy
Relocated IASW
Russia or Greece pavillion (D/E-ticket included)
World Showplace bulldozed for Canada river rapids E
Odyssey reopened

Future World
Mission Space fixed
Jr. Autopia added by Test Track
Energy updated
WoL reopens (D-ticket Omnimover, E-ticket family coaster, stage show, exhibits) - uses Energy expansion pad
New show to replace Kitchen Kabaret
Train of Thought PeopleMover added to second level of Innoventions
Innoventions update
Spaceship Earth update
Imagination overhaul (trackless dark ride for Figment, new Bing Bong show to replace EO)
Weather Pavillion with show and E-ticket EMV dark ride added between Land/Nemo

The only reason Epcot does 55-60% of MK's attendance is because Soarin', Spaceship Earth and Test Track are the only major attractions in the entire park. Mission Space and the rest are either mediocre or too small-scale to be considered a draw.

You say that MK needs less crowds... expanding Epcot is a way to do so. Yet you say it's impossible for Epcot to truly grow. If the entire park were made appealing beyond Test Track and Soarin', it could easily do at least 75-80% of MK's numbers. Unlike DHS and AK, Epcot has the potential to fit 200,000 people at once.

LMAO. You're right. I stand corrected. Epcot could absolutely match MK if they spent $10 BILLION on new crap. Silly me, I thought we were talking real world possibilities.

 

[mahnamahna101]

LMAO. You're right. I stand corrected. Epcot could absolutely match MK if they spent $10 BILLION on new crap. Silly me, I thought we were talking real world possibilities.

I was just saying it's possible. You made it sound like it wasn't remotely possible for Epcot to ever do 80-85% of MK's numbers. If TDO actually bothered to make the place fully fleshed out and appealing, it could even equal MK the same way DisneySea equals Tokyo Disneyland roughly. With $4-5 billion of course. $10 billion is hyperbole, especially since 50-55% of the stuff I said is just enhancing already-standing attractions.

That $4-5 billion should have been spent over the last 20-25 years.

Beyond replacing the people-eating World of Motion/Horizons with lower-capacity thrill rides, or kiddifying The Seas, or adding a low-capacity E on a near-dead side of the park, or neutering Figment to the point that it's always a walk-on.

I didn't say Epcot would reach those levels overnight or this decade or the next. TDO has neglected it for far too long for that to happen. Same goes for DHS and even AK.

My point is that Epcot SHOULD have increased more than 3-5% over a 25 year period. It should be at 14 million-15 million/year right now, if TDO had properly invested in it over the years and kept FW fresh and added a few new things to WS.

Others have pointed out (insiders) that Epcot has almost double MK's capacity yet it gets half its annual numbers roughly. Regardless of how much moolah F&W, F&G bring in, that's a huge missed opportunity.

Epcot is what needs to soak people away from MK. They even have a nifty monorail specifically designed for that! DHS and AK may become full-day parks, but 60,000-70,000 is the absolute most I can ever see both being able to hold on a given day. Epcot could do 180,000-200,000 if its expansion pads/dead space were maximized.

 

[RayTheFirefly]

Interesting... I thought it was one of the weakest recent shorts. Inside Out was fantastic. The short just didn't match or live up IMO.

I liked the short a lot, and thought it was a nice sort of precursor to Moana. But, and I admit this is super nitpicky, the look of the female volcano really bothered me (not even going to mention that gendering volcanoes is kind of silly anyway).

The male volcano looked great, like a real Polynesian volcanic island. Then when the female one came into the picture, she was "pretty," with HAIR, a head with a neck, and that same freakin' "button" nose Disney puts on EVERY female character. Why was the male one simply a volcano with a face in the rock formation, but the female had an entire head complete with hair?? Why was she not also just a volcano with a face? Why is Disney afraid to make a female character that isn't their stereotypical view of what a "pretty girl" should look like, even when it's a land formation?

It just doesn't make sense.

I know I'm reading way too much into it, but still, it annoyed me.

 

[asianway]

Epcot could build 12 new countries and it would still do 55-60% of MK's attendance because MK is MK and Epcot is not.

@ParentsOf4 you have the 82-89 attendance stats perchance?

 

[PhotoDave219]

@ParentsOf4 you have the 82-89 attendance stats perchance?

I actually I have some that are courtsey of someone who's name I forget, you'll have to check the TEA thread... I'll post them from my laptop.

Edit: OOOOOPS. No I dont. Crap.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Most of the Odyssey building is the kitchen and the Cast Member cafeteria it serves - the actual onstage footprint of the Odyssey is *tiny*, enough for a festival center but no way big enough for a show building, let alone one that would need a water system like IASW or Maelstrom.

Even if they demolished the whole thing and relocated CM dining, it's cornered by Test Track and Gran Fiesta so there's little room to expand back, install pumps etc., so not a chance of any ride going in there unfortunately.

The Millenium Tent however is *enormous*, and could easily hold all the Festival Center events with room to spare *and* have areas roped off for private parties at the same time, so they really should move it there.

Considering they are likely filling in Echo Lake, I would think the same would also be possible near the Odyssey. Here is an aerial view of both from Wikimapia. I still say it's possible to fit it's a small world into that space.

 

[ford91exploder]

Could one not bring one of these along and wire it up for the duration of your stay? Then replace with the original prior to leaving?

Lets just say there is a swiss army knife in my checked bag, and my college nickname was MacGuyver because of all the stuff I fixed with said tool.

 

[DisneyDrum]

Considering they are likely filling in Echo Lake, I would think the same would also be possible near the Odyssey. Here is an aerial view of both from Wikimapia. I still say it's possible to fit it's a small world into that space. View attachment 98246 View attachment 98247

The story I heard that the lake in front of Odyssey is a sinkhole stabilized as a lake. I don't think they'd be able to build on it, even if you ignore the fact that Disney would never spend the money to move an old attraction...

 

[asianway]

Considering they are likely filling in Echo Lake, I would think the same would also be possible near the Odyssey. Here is an aerial view of both from Wikimapia. I still say it's possible to fit it's a small world into that space. View attachment 98246 View attachment 98247

Echo is a man made lake. Odyssey was purposely moved back due to the sinkhole in front if it. It swallowed earth movers IIRC

 

[P_Radden]

Echo is a man made lake. Odyssey was purposely moved back due to the sinkhole in front if it. It swallowed earth movers IIRC

Fascinating, I would love to know more. This makes 2 sinkholes in that area that I'm aware of. The other being under the back corner of the old Horizion building.

 

[asianway]

Fascinating, I would love to know more. This makes 2 sinkholes in that area that I'm aware of. The other being under the back corner of the old Horizion building.

I have seen that theory debunked @marni1971 Any idea?

 

[asianway]

I'm not disagreeing with you, because that's an article I've wanted to write for years. However...

1) even though I've been with the Weekly nearly 10 years, I'm only a freelancer (not staff) and must defer to my editors & publisher on those kind of decisions.

2) the bad blood between Disney PR and OW goes back long before me, to the days when Charlie Ridgeway was at WDW and Jim Hill wrote a critical column for the Weekly:
http://www.orlandoweekly.com/orlando/eye-drive/Category?oid=2240448

3) WDW does cooperate with us in the sense that I could request a comp park pass if I wanted (I don't, I pay for my AP). They just don't invite us to media events, but that doesn't stop me from covering them; I was as the Frozen Summer parade debut standing just outside the press corral, and had a better view than they did ;-)

4) I've tried addressing the issue in print a few times over the years, and always get a big backlash. Not only do most readers not care about media access, they think I'm a big whiner if I complain about it.

I'd love to think a front page article from me would bring the whole Disney PR machine crashing down. But realistically, it would barely merit a shrug...

Given one of their favored sons peddles soft core smut loosely based on Disney IP, I wonder what other skeletons are in the media invite list closet? You're close to the ground, there have to be some juicy stories

 

[Lord_Vader]

The secret is to to buy a cheap helium balloon and tie it to a chair in front of the ac fan, the fan keeps it moving and the ac stays on all night.

You can also override the system by pressing the up/down buttons at the same time until BP appears on the screen, this should provide a 24hr bypass.

 

[truecoat]

This isn't safe for work, but there is a fantastic Kevin Smith story related to Wild Wild West. I encourage Kevin Smith fans to look up "Kevin Smith John Peters" on youtube. It looks like the top clip with an offensive title is 19:28, that's the correct story.

One of my favorite Hollywood stories. I can't believe that Peters was as successful as he was hearing stories like this.

 

[PhotoDave219]

It's a done deal, Dave.

As to Marvel at DCA, that is happening too ... but to what extent I'm not sure.

When I see that thread has gone from 13 pages last night to 35-plus now, I don't even know whether to wade in.
Oh, but I am sure someone else here was going to break that news and all!

Hey now, I'm just trying to answer questions and keep that thing on topic. Believe it or not, its mostly on topic.

 

[SYRIK2000]

It's a done deal, Dave.

As to Marvel at DCA, that is happening too ... but to what extent I'm not sure.

When I see that thread has gone from 13 pages last night to 35-plus now, I don't even know whether to wade in.
Oh, but I am sure someone else here was going to break that news and all!

Any word on budget?

 

[ford91exploder]

In other news it appears that the TWDC cost cutting madness has spread to ESPN

This year while revenue increased 13% operating income dropped %2 - there is a familiar tale to WDW fans.

http://thebiglead.com/2015/06/24/disney-espn-cost-cutting-john-skipper/

 

[FigmentFreak]

USF has a few places to just chill. The lagoon side of Duff Gardens is nice. Lombard's deck is pretty chill. And I have spent way too much time holding down a bar stool in Finnagan's with my skinny backside. Also the Central Park area is pretty quite.

But my absolute favorite place to chill in all of Orlando (WDW included) is to share a bottle and a cheese board sitting harbor side with some friends at The Thirsty Fish at Portofino Bay. Blows WS out of the water in the relaxed themed entertainment environment category (mostly because WS is always so crowded).

My favorite spot also. Are they still doing the nightly opera performance from the balcony. Loved that, it was a fun way to get a brief glimpse into an art form I haven't had much exposure to.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Except that you are repeating the same line over and over. I get (and likely everyone hear gets) that your opinion is that nothing happening with Shanghai is any different than the bumps that have occurred with every international (or even domestic) park opening.

That is NOT the case. You want to repeat yourself? I'll repeat myself.

I'm not bothered by you repeating yourself. I'm hardly someone who can be described as one looking defend Disney or Iger, but when you go on your long rants (that you supposedly just don't have time for) against those ready to join on board it is always rather telling.

I have also not said things are just as bumpy as usual. My point all along is that the issues that normally arise with Disney are magnified and compounded because of how China operates. It's two entities used to getting to control and be capricious in how that happens. That none of this should be shocking or surprising if one considers the context of Disney and China.

It actually has so, so much to do with Disney's situation.

How so?

 

[ChrisFL]

I have seen that theory debunked @marni1971 Any idea?

I believe the final official word is that there WAS a sinkhole found and filled before Horizons was built