josh_e_washie
New Member
I always thought el rio wasn't anything more than decoration for that great restaurant inside of mexico. I'm sorry, but i mean that's all I think it was good for!
![Stick Out Tongue :p :p](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Man, you all are really not comprehending what I posted.
It was obvious that I wasn't directly referring to El Rio, but rather the makeover Epcot has been recieving over the past
decade.![]()
3) Now you say "it's obvious I wasn't directly talking about El Rio...", after 1) and 2). Huh? I guess there I go being slow again...It's a good thing I took a lot of pictures back in the day, because the "slow" people of Earth have spoken. Goodbye, classic, wonderful EPCOT Center. Hello, 2nd park with no originality to set it apart.
Uh, I'm here to talk about Disney and El Rio. Again, if you actually read what I said, I do recognize and miss the Epcot that has gone. However, if you really look at it...we lost Horizons and WoM, which were epic and beautiful, but there wasn't THAT much education to begin with.Oh, and if you think America hasn't been dumbed down with the crap I talked about in my other post, then I'd like to knwo where you've been living. All you have to do is open your eyes. You all can call it "opinion" all you want, and say that I don't think others have valid points..................but you'd be wrong.![]()
That is not the only reason people go to Disney. Walt Disney himself said he didn't like to replicate his successes, he liked to move on to something new. When Disneyland opened you weren't surrounded by Disney character driven rides. You had new and original stories being told like Pirates and HM. You wanted characters? You had Fantasyland. Everything else was original, and that is what people fell in love with.
Well, I'm not going to sit here and argue with you. I have pictures from 1984 of me and characters at Epcot. Got the 3 Callebros autographs at Mexico, met Minnie at SSE in her space suit. Was this RIGHT THE SECOND of opening? Nope. So you may be right it wasn't the FIRST DAY, but why oh why should the park be stuck where it was on opening day?I don't know where you get your information from, but this is true. It wasn't until a few years later that the characters began appearing in the park.
Oh someone please get me a drink, LOL.A theme park that is in danger of losing it's original theme.
The majority of Epcot's guests don't deserve better. They're the only reason it's become what it has.
Well, I'm not going to sit here and argue with you. I have pictures from 1984 of me and characters at Epcot. Got the 3 Callebros autographs at Mexico, met Minnie at SSE in her space suit. Was this RIGHT THE SECOND of opening? Nope. So you may be right it wasn't the FIRST DAY, but why oh why should the park be stuck where it was on opening day?
The parallels between people that believe that MGM was ever a working studio and that Epcot was this educational haven are astounding.
Yes, they tried to sell you that Epcot was "educational" because the attractions generally moved slower and tried to put a bit of information out there to inspire people to learn more. That didn't work for very long, because PEOPLE DO NOT GO ON VACATION for that. It's just that simple.
The park had one of the lowest attendance ratings of the three parks
Test Track was opened, the park's rate shot up. Mission:Space followed in this tradition and Soarin' has done the same
you were among those tricked into thinking Epcot was "educational".
hold on to your mouse ears, guys - PEOPLE WANTED THEM
Epcot and MGM have both been trying to evolve and cope with these restraints put on them by marketing during their respective openings to actually become successful theme parks. They are more popular than ever
If you consider two out of three to be "one of the lowest," then cool beans. But come on, Epcot Center's average attendance was higher than MGM's maximum capacity. The two parks were never in the same league. I can remember when having 20,000 guests at Epcot was considered an "oh my god we should just close the park and issue rain checks" slow day. Now it is a pretty average day for the off-season.
Do you honestly think Epcot's spike in 99/00 had to do with Test Track, or did it have to do with the wildly successful entertainment offerings during the Millennium Celebration? Considering WDW as a whole started slipping towards the end of 2000, I'm gonna credit it to the new millennium. For what it is worth, Test Track does at least try to educate. I consider it to be the best compromise when it comes to appealing to the lowest common denominator.
Mission Space did next to nothing for the park's attendance aside from a small bump the month it opened. In fact, it is widely regarded to be one of their biggest failures from both a financial and creative standpoint.
Soarin has done a lot for the park, and while it isn't really a triumph from a story telling perspective, it is a hell of a lot closer to the park's original spirit than anything else they've done for the park in a decade.
I've always believed that Epcot Center's intent was more to inspire than to educate. However, those that are inspired usually want to know how to make the world a better place. That requires the educational element that the park had. Look at Future World. Future World's driving force was to show that humanity was doing wonderful things and that maybe one day the world will be a better place. You also had a lot of education in World Showcase too, even though that was a wonderful bonus next to the real focus of WS, which was to create living embassies of counties where theme park guests could step into the culture of another country. A place where a guest could shop in a Chinese street-mall and enjoy a real English pub. That was what WS was built for. That most people are learning about other cultures speaks less about the park's intent to educate and more about how completely ignorant and inept most theme park guests are. However, again, Epcot was not built for them. That's the Magic Kingdom's job.
Yes, but what Disney did in Florida was create a self-sustaining marketing machine. The Disney characters do not have nearly as much of a presence in Disneyland.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. Epcot has been and will continue to be in a slump until the day that a competent executive at Disney realizes what they have and takes advantage of it, but to even call MGM successful right now is a joke. That park is widely considered to be the park in most in need of help around Team Disney, and its attendance is falling so fast that is about to leave the ranks of what is considered a Disney park and move into the Universal bracket. And we all know how Universal is doing these days...
Just speaking for myself, I thought Tijuana was a lot more interesting than that boat ride.
Just speaking for myself, I thought Tijuana was a lot more interesting than that boat ride.
If you consider two out of three to be "one of the lowest," then cool beans. But come on, Epcot Center's average attendance was higher than MGM's maximum capacity. The two parks were never in the same league. I can remember when having 20,000 guests at Epcot was considered an "oh my god we should just close the park and issue rain checks" slow day. Now it is a pretty average day for the off-season.
Do you honestly think Epcot's spike in 99/00 had to do with Test Track, or did it have to do with the wildly successful entertainment offerings during the Millennium Celebration? Considering WDW as a whole started slipping towards the end of 2000, I'm gonna credit it to the new millennium. For what it is worth, Test Track does at least try to educate. I consider it to be the best compromise when it comes to appealing to the lowest common denominator.
Mission Space did next to nothing for the park's attendance aside from a small bump the month it opened. In fact, it is widely regarded to be one of their biggest failures from both a financial and creative standpoint.
Soarin has done a lot for the park, and while it isn't really a triumph from a story telling perspective, it is a hell of a lot closer to the park's original spirit than anything else they've done for the park in a decade.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. Epcot has been and will continue to be in a slump until the day that a competent executive at Disney realizes what they have and takes advantage of it, but to even call MGM successful right now is a joke. That park is widely considered to be the park in most in need of help around Team Disney, and its attendance is falling so fast that is about to leave the ranks of what is considered a Disney park and move into the Universal bracket. And we all know how Universal is doing these days...
Wrong, wrong, wrong. Epcot has been and will continue to be in a slump until the day that a competent executive at Disney realizes what they have and takes advantage of it...
Mission:Space boosted Epcot's attendance like you couldn't believe. The chance to be an astronaut and fly to Mars attracted both adults and children alike-and the attendance charts definitely showed it. Soarin' did the same for the park. Mission Space is only a financial failure because of the bad publicity it recieved making it unsuitable for cloning at the other resorts (which was part of the plan for it).
Actually, when you are running a world class theme park, 2/3 is not so good, trust me on that one.
Considering that Test Track was opened as part of the Millenium Celebration offerings and still holds plenty of the speed and length records at Disney parks
Sorry to tell you but Test Track is still the busiest thrill ride in the park
How can you say that WDW started slipping after the Millenium Celebration? That is a biased statement with no support.
Parks & Resorts results reflect increased theme park attendance and
guest spending at the Disneyland Resort, growth at Disney Cruise Line
and reduced costs at Walt Disney World, partially offset by pre-opening
and other cost increases at the Disneyland Resort and decreased theme
park attendance at Walt Disney World. At the Disneyland Resort,
increased theme park attendance and higher guest spending and preopening
and other cost increases were driven by the opening of Disney’s
California Adventure, Downtown Disney District and the Grand
Californian Hotel during the quarter. At Walt Disney World, decreased
attendance reflects the prior-year success of the Millennium Celebration
which concluded in December 2000. Reduced costs at Walt Disney World
also reflect the Millennium Celebration in the prior year, as well as current
period cost reduction initiatives.
Mission:Space boosted Epcot's attendance like you couldn't believe.
Epcot is not in a slump. It hasn't been in a slump since 1997.
If you think that WDW's attendance is falling rapidly then you haven't been watching the parks during the Happiest Celebration on Earth, nor what has gone on so far during the Year of a Million Dreams.
talk in these grand terms of what "Epcot was!" and fail to realize that that idealized idea was never really there to begin with.
EPCOT WAS RUNNING SECOND TO THE MAGIC KINGDOM!!! What more could you want? Do I think that if Epcot was operated like it should be that its attendance would squash the Magic Kingdom? Hell yes! But still, it was running second to the most popular theme park in the world. Hell, to this day it still outdraws Disneyland Paris.
Test Track was supposed to open in 1997. Had a rogue ride vehicle not flown off the ride track and redesigned a few walls it probably would have. And what do speed and length records have to do with anything?
Aside from Mission Space, it is the ONLY thrill ride in the park. With all that has happened with Mission Space, it will never, ever, ever, ever come close to matching Test Track's counts again anyway, so its a moot point.
From the 2nd quarter earnings report of Fiscal Year 2001:
http://media.disney.go.com/investorrelations/quarterly_earnings/2001_q2.pdf
September 11th aggregated WDW's slipping attendance to a very large extent, but the damage was already being done folks.
It spiked Epcot's attendance ahead of the curve for one quarter. After that the park's attendance rose with the general tide thanks to a half-way decent economy and a weakening dollar. And that does not even take into account Mission Space's actual attraction counts, which have been perpetually falling ever since it opened.
Epcot's attendance is down by a 1/3 from 1997. You're right, its not a slump at all. Its been in a freefall.
I never said WDW's attendance has been falling rapidly. It has grown moderately since September 11th, but it is not growing nearly as fast as Las Vegas, Hawaii, or even the Disneyland Resort. Neither of the original three parks have drawn anything close to what they received pre-AK, except for the Magic Kingdom. And year of a million dreams? Please... Attendance is already off this quarter.
The idea to inspire is what Epcot Center was built around. Marc Davis was quoted saying that if Epcot were built right it had the potential to change the world. The Imagineers involved with that project believed in what they did and loved what they were doing. The product that was on display during that time showed it.
Let's get this thread back on track. I'm thinking a Dinosaur-type dark ride. Guests are taken on a wild ride along the Texas-Mexico border at night in a US Border Patrol vehicle. The vehicle is hijacked by a bandito, much like The Great Movie Ride.
Just speaking for myself, I thought Tijuana was a lot more interesting than that boat ride.
Thrill Rides: Mission:Space, Test Track, Maelstrom, Body Wars, Soarin'. There are more than just two.
did you see the woman with the goat too?
Eh, I wouldn't really consider Soarin' and Maelstrom thrill rides. I guess you could say Soarin' is a thrill ride for people who don't like thrill rides.
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