News Big changes coming to EPCOT's Future World?

trainplane3

Well-Known Member
I noticed and someone in the comments mentioned it too...did part of the SSE legs get turned silver? They were still blue during my last visit.

Fun little thing on Ebay too:
 
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Rose&Crown

Well-Known Member
So they're pretty clearly opening up the center to guests again once they get it cleaned up, no? Also what's with the pathway to the Innovations West breezeway? Very interesting...
I thought the same not sure what else that would be for. Not for trucks that go back there.
 

Magic Feather

Well-Known Member
So they're pretty clearly opening up the center to guests again once they get it cleaned up, no? Also what's with the pathway to the Innovations West breezeway? Very interesting...
Those barricaded pathways are likely for vehicle traffic. We would be seeing the center path paved if it would end up being for guests. Plus, those corridors look way too narrow for guest traffic, especially in the age of keeping distance between groups.
 

Bocabear

Well-Known Member
Looks like they had some leftover pain from the Turrets at Cinderella's Castle...
1596470035492.png
 

sedati

Well-Known Member
Looks like they had some leftover pain from the Turrets at Cinderella's Castle...
View attachment 488809
Serious question, does that whole blue area even need to be there? It's not covering up any cross-bracing and seems to serve no structural need:
1596501169733.png

My guess is that it is there to shade the poorly thought out queue (welcome to EPCOT Center, here beneath our awe-inspiring geosphere, marvel at our switch-back of the future!) If we ever get this act one fail rectified with a new queue replacing Earth Station, perhaps those flanking elements could be removed and make this engineering marvel all the more impressive.
 

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
Serious question, does that whole blue area even need to be there? It's not covering up any cross-bracing and seems to serve no structural need:

My guess is that it is there to shade the poorly thought out queue (welcome to EPCOT Center, here beneath our awe-inspiring geosphere, marvel at our switch-back of the future!) If we ever get this act one fail rectified with a new queue replacing Earth Station, perhaps those flanking elements could be removed and make this engineering marvel all the more impressive.
Not queue shade, but weather protection.

And not quite regarding the queues, but one big name (Hench?) once said that for the most amazing park they managed to build the most lacklustre load areas ever.
 

The Empress Lilly

Well-Known Member
Not queue shade, but weather protection.

And not quite regarding the queues, but one big name (Hench?) once said that for the most amazing park they managed to build the most lacklustre load areas ever.
Which could be largely forgiven because for this most amazing park the philosophy was to invest in capacity, not queues. Lines were for the 50s 🏰 parks and their midget rides. Intimate and quaint, but inadequate for the 21st century. Where we're going, we don't need lines. Rather, you show up and get seated and off you go.

Every design philosophy has a drawback, or they wouldn't be a choice but an obvious standard. And the drawback of EPCOT's philosophy to me was not the sparseness of the queues, but the over-reliance on omnimovers. Theater settings, two boat rides, and otherwise omnimovers everywhere. All can swallow crowds whole. But left EPCOT lacking variety of ride modes.The one novel breakthrough was Energy's moving theater. Together with GMR so unceremoniously discarded.

I noticed in 87 that the Seas had a beautiful queue area, the first in EPCOT, apart from the show holding areas. Something had changed in the evaluation since 83.
 

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
Which could be largely forgiven because for this most amazing park the philosophy was to invest in capacity, not queues. Lines were for the 50s 🏰 parks and their midget rides. Intimate and quaint, but inadequate for the 21st century. Where we're going, we don't need lines. Rather, you show up and get seated and off you go.

Every design philosophy has a drawback, or they wouldn't be a choice but an obvious standard. And the drawback of EPCOT's philosophy to me was not the sparseness of the queues, but the over-reliance on omnimovers. Theater settings, two boat rides, and otherwise omnimovers everywhere. All can swallow crowds whole. But left EPCOT lacking variety of ride modes.The one novel breakthrough was Energy's moving theater. Together with GMR so unceremoniously discarded.

I noticed in 87 that the Seas had a beautiful queue area, the first in EPCOT, apart from the show holding areas. Something had changed in the evaluation since 83.
Technically there were only four Omnimovers, and 3 of these had enough innovation to differentiate them from the Haunted Mansion but of course the layman wouldn’t know this. Imag was a whole nother story. But I know what you mean.

There again, what other modes of conveyance were available to tell the stories the pavilions strived to?
 

sedati

Well-Known Member
Which could be largely forgiven because for this most amazing park the philosophy was to invest in capacity, not queues.
Energy, for example, was an odd one. A fantastic pre-show with large capacity but if you had to wait beyond that you were treated like a solar panel yourself and allowed to soak up the sun's rays in an open space positioned to get the most light.
 

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
Weather protection for the queue? Would it be needed if the queue were moved?
Protection for the area underneath the sphere.

As for the queue, it depends where it ends up. An earlier plan had the whole queue along the west side of Earthstations exterior. With plans being re-evaluated let’s see where it goes. With the buildings interior layout, load access would have to be as it is now, or to a new load location.

Or maybe a lack of Fastpass will mean not as much queue space is needed as anyone who was witness in the early 90s saw.
 

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