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News Big changes coming to EPCOT's Future World?
- Thread starter djkidkaz
- Start date
Monoblanco13
Well-Known Member
Oct 1st 2021 is MK50th
SirLink
Well-Known Member
Like it is actually based off the book, well for one I am shocked who knew that for a series of BOOKS. There would be both movie and book rights for attractions.
No Name
Well-Known Member
DlpPhantom
Well-Known Member
PorterRedkey
Well-Known Member
I just ran across this B-roll footage on YouTube of 1994 Epcot - FW. This is what we have lost.
UoE, WoL, Horizons and WoM
The Living Seas, The Land, JII and Image Works
FW Overview, SSE, and Innoventions
All of this is from the RetroWDW YouTube feed.
UoE, WoL, Horizons and WoM
The Living Seas, The Land, JII and Image Works
FW Overview, SSE, and Innoventions
All of this is from the RetroWDW YouTube feed.
brb1006
Well-Known Member
See's Donald siting with a child
I miss the days when characters were wandering around the parks.
FigmentForver96
Well-Known Member
WildcatDen
Well-Known Member
I would not be surprised if we get some kind of banner be it at the turnstile or that general area. . .
WildcatDen
Well-Known Member
I pretty sure, at least for SWL, they will be using clones. . .
Most of it looks pretty dated. Innoventions, Wonders of Life and Imagination would be cool to still have around, but the rest doesn't look all that great from my 2016 eyes. It all must have been amazing in the 1980s, but Horizons and Motion seem to be mostly slow rides where you sit around and look at stuff. Replacing them with Mission Space and Test Track made good sense.
The basic problem with nostalgia is that the memory often exceeds today's reality. I remember my jazz band director in High School being all excited because he found this great old arrangement of 'Salina Come Home' for us. We ran through it, and soon realized it was a very dated piece of fluff. He recollected it after one play-through. Similarly, our minister a few years ago went searching for a 70's version of "Our Father" for the choir to do. None of us thought it was any good, and we never performed it. More fluff.
You then also have to realize that sometimes the replacement won't live up to expectations. There's no way to guard against that. The current Imagination ride probably sounded great on paper, but clearly is not as well liked as the original. Mission Space never quite lived up to the expectations, but still could if the scenarios rotated ala Star Tours. Yet Test Track has been a rousing success in each of its iterations. Yeah, if Horizon and WOM were still there, I would ride them for curiosity sake, but they don't look very repeatable. Once and done.
What the naysayers and complainers seem to want is both new things while also keeping the old. Impossible, unless you double the size of Epcot every few years. They also want perfect replacements, which of course is impossible to foresee and plan. Sometimes you hit a home run, and sometimes you don't. Test Track and Soarin' are generally considered to be home runs, and what they replaced are dim and not overly fond memories. In looking at the above videos, I can't imagine that many visitors would be gaga about the stuff they replaced, and I would also have to think that Mission Space would outdraw Horizons.
Earl Sweatpants
Well-Known Member
On the contrary, I (a "naysayers" as you claim) wouldn't want the 1980's version of Horizons in today's park, but rather Horizons with today's technology, and beyond. Horizons was a glimpse into the 21st century and now that we're in it, it could easily have been updated to look even further ahead and improve its technological aspects. We basically HAVE the communications the grandparents used when talking to their family (Skype, FaceTime) so it would have been neat to see that worked in and for the Imagineers to further explore their vision for what could come next.
I don't think you're going to find many people who want the original rides, as is, simply plopped into our modern society. That wouldn't work. But what would be nice is for them to have at least try and stick to Epcot's original principles as listed on the dedication plaque.
PorterRedkey
Well-Known Member
I simply stated this is what we have lost. I think it is sad because I rode all those attractions and really enjoyed them. You may prefer faster rides with more thrills and that's cool too.
WoM has a great show building with the exterior track that made you want to go on the ride. While TT is okay, I can drive 64.9mph in a convertible and have a similar effect. WoM had speed tunnels at the end and the future city at the very end along with the funny educational scenes.
Horizons, where do I begin. The best dark ride ever? http://themeparkuniversity.com/disney/top-10-reasons-epcots-horizons-greatest-dark-ride-time/ Maybe, maybe not, but a lot of people believe so. To me, this represented Epcot Center better than even SSE. It was a masterpiece and could have lived well into the future if it was given the refurb that was at one time on the table.
JII had a great design. A 3-minutes show to introduce you to the characters and then a 9-minute dark ride with beautiful show scenes.
SSE still had the Irons narration, Living Seas was not a cartoon pavilion plus it still had the hydrolators and The Land still had the live guide, JII and Imageworks were both in tact.
Mission Space, sigh. I can ride it once a trip if I get around to it. It is not very re-rideable. You did mention that MS needs updating. Well so did the older rides. They just got knocked down instead. Disney can't keep every ride, in fact, they could rip out MS and I would have no sense of loss. There are a few rides like Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise, SSE that Disney has updated and they are still as popular as ever. Personally, I think Horizons and JII were in that same category.
End rant.
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Again, I wasn't there in the 80s or 90s, but nearly all the rides in Future World seemed to be a slow track type of experience where you sat down and saw stuff presented to you as you glided by. Before or after you could interactively engage with the tech, but it seems that the basic notion of a slow moving immersion was the modus operandi of every major attraction (other than Body Wars). Again, I wasn't there, but a Future World like that would be totally unacceptable today. In the 90s, Disney started to realize that attractions with more thrills was both needed and expected. The format absolutely had to change.
Yes, updates could have saved some of these, but a thrillier direction was taken. To my count, there were 7 slow moving attractions like that: SE, UofE, Horizons, WoM, JII, LwtL, and the Seas. It's like going to hear your favorite band in a concert, but every song they end up doing is a ballad. Yes, it's a different ballad each time with different music and lyrics, but they're still all the same--SLOW. One can now argue that some of the decisions didn't end up being as good as they could have been, but if certain slow rides had to be replaced, would anyone disagree with Horizons and WoM? Maybe, but that is perhaps more a matter of taste than objective reasoning.
Yes, updates could have saved some of these, but a thrillier direction was taken. To my count, there were 7 slow moving attractions like that: SE, UofE, Horizons, WoM, JII, LwtL, and the Seas. It's like going to hear your favorite band in a concert, but every song they end up doing is a ballad. Yes, it's a different ballad each time with different music and lyrics, but they're still all the same--SLOW. One can now argue that some of the decisions didn't end up being as good as they could have been, but if certain slow rides had to be replaced, would anyone disagree with Horizons and WoM? Maybe, but that is perhaps more a matter of taste than objective reasoning.
PorterRedkey
Well-Known Member
I see you don't like slow moving attractions and you didn't take the time to read the post about Horizons. You are judging something you have never seen. So your opinion is less than credible in my book.
You like thrill rides and hate dark rides I get it. I think you might have more fun at Universal.
Walt Disney wanted rides that the whole family could ride together, like Pirates and HM. Epcot Center rides went along with that idea and educated along the way.
Do you even like any ride at WDW? If so which ones?
PorterRedkey
Well-Known Member
The analogy is silly. Music can be heard at any time, and a dark ride can only be experienced in person. I think you equate slow-moving rides to uninteresting rides. If you would have ridden them you might have felt different, but since you didn't your opinion is uneducated.
I wish you could have been there in the early 90's when the park was at its peak. There were lines out the door for each pavilion, even though the rides may have been slow.
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FigmentForver96
Well-Known Member
Right cause we all know a fast ride is a great ride. Nothing says future and achivement then zooming though a warehouse.
Mike S
Well-Known Member
With neon lights. Don't forget the neon lights.
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
Or no lights at all. Save tons of money on theming. Dark costs nothing, shows nothing and means nothing. Doesn't even really need a story line... just speeding through the dark. What a concept.
