I've was around at the earliest days of EPCOT, it was amazing, bold, innovative and so incredibly different. I'm not starting the "back in my day" point of view, but I think what many others here feel, and believe, it's that very difference that made EPCOT, well, EPCOT. I don't hate outside characters, I love them, but for me, being inside this park sort of undermines the whole point. The world we live in, real, imagined or theoretical is grand, on a scale that only a park like EPCOT could showcase. A a child I was entertained and delighted by the Magic Kingdom, but I was inspired and awestruck by EPCOT. I completely understand changing times, expectations and a different audience, but at the same time, don't sell short our willingness to be enthralled by the "mission" of EPCOT. I never missed the characters, never thought they belonged, I, and others like me, were to caught up in the wonder around us to notice. I'm not advocating a return to the past, but building on what made it great, optimistic and audacious proclamations regarding our shared future with a nod towards the fantastic.
