The thing that intrigues me most about the D23 blue sky concept art for Future World is the apparent removal of Earth Station.
What made Spaceship Earth a true marvel of engineering was how they took the concept of a geodesic dome and pushed it to a full geodesic sphere. Only you wouldn't know that from inside the park. From outside we are greeting by the inspiring ball held aloft in the distance. From within that park what we really see is far more akin to what had been done before, such as the dome from the 1967 Montreal Expo:
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Compare that with this image taken from
http://www.disneytouristblog.com/spaceship-earth-vintage-photos/ where you can find many more great examples of the visual obstructions that have existed from day one:
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The load and unload sit at the back base of Spaceship Earth, but it seems this only occupies about 1/4 of the Earth Station structure, and more importantly, half its height. I'd be very curious what views would be afforded if we stripped the backside down to the bare essentials (and following that thought, what kind of views might the loss of the massive Communicore buildings offer?)
Try an experiment and look up Spaceship Earth images. Now, once you get over the fact that a great many of those still show the horrendous wand, note how many of the top hits are from the front. Then look at those taken from within the park, and particularly those from Future World- can you see what makes this structure stand out from any that came before? All that ingenuity, innovation, and hard work, and yet they never bothered to show it off from the places most guests will be spending the majority of their park day. Go as far back as Japan, and at best you see 7/8ths of a sphere. I hope something can be done to better show of this true jewel, because some day I'm going to get hurt as I always leave Epcot by walking backwards as I try to savour the amazing view that's only offered from the entrance of the park.
