News Big changes coming to EPCOT's Future World?

[The Aracuan Bird]

I honestly think the east overindexes on thrill at this point. Cosmic Rewind, Mission: SPACE, and, to an extent, Test Track are not especially kid-friendly. PLAY! is probably an attempt to balance this somewhat, but I wouldn't like to see the same philosophy overtake other sections of the park. Honestly, aside from Imagination, I find most of World Nature to be completely fine. The interiors of The Land and The Seas could definitely do with a modern refresh (carpeted walls—really?), but the attractions are either good (The Land) or good enough (The Seas), I feel. I kind of like the triangle of thrill, theater, and traditional dark ride, though World Showcase could undoubtedly do with much more and Imagination is far beyond the point of just needing a facelift.

I wouldn’t disagree that there’s too much thrill on one side, but the other side has lacklustre attractions in general. Figment as is just isn’t very good, and it has the potential to be amazing. The theatre is playing cartoons you can get on YouTube and Disney +. The Nemo ride isn’t that amazing as far as dark rides go. Soarin and LWTL are fine, but aren’t enough to carry one side of the park.

 

[James Alucobond]

I wouldn’t disagree that there’s too much thrill on one side, but the other side has lacklustre attractions in general. Figment as is just isn’t very good, and it has the potential to be amazing. The theatre is playing cartoons you can get on YouTube and Disney +. The Nemo ride isn’t that amazing as far as dark rides go. Soarin and LWTL are fine, but aren’t enough to carry one side of the park.

I personally spend more time in the west when I go because I find everything in The Land to be relaxing. Living with the Land, Soarin', and even Awesome Planet are attractions I really enjoy, plus they're tightly packed together in a climate-controlled space. In my opinion, the interior needs the same sort of overhaul as CommuniCore (brighter, whiter, exposed wood beams) with the addition of living walls and impressive indoor planters, but that shouldn't cost a fortune. The Seas, while not terribly exciting for adults, has always been excellent for the kids when I've gone. I even like the Pixar festival, but I wouldn't necessarily mourn its passing to make Imagination something worthwhile.

In the east, I basically just single rider Test Track and generally skip Mission: SPACE altogether. I imagine I'll try Cosmic Rewind, but I'm not the biggest coaster person.

 

[Incomudro]

I think the park is going to flop harder. Higher cost of admission for stuff you can get without admission cost at the Springs? What’s the incentive? A coaster based on C-List comic characters? Yeah, that’s going to work out well I’m 10 years when we’re years past their peak relevancy.

It's all a much needed improvement in a park that was stuck in the 80's.
I loved - loved the original Epcot, but it was over.
Building languished unused for years, and infotainment the way we knew and loved it way back then is not coming back.
Face it.
The GotG will be great, and an excellent attraction can do well for many years beyond the relevance of the movie it was based on.
And, as far as that is concerned - it's quite likely that the Marvel movies will have a lasting impression for a very long time, just Like Star Wars.
My son's (19 year old twins) have essentially grown up with that series of movies as a part of their lives.
I'm sure those movies will have relevance to them in ten years time, when they are thirty, and therefore they will pass those films on to their own children.

 

[The Aracuan Bird]

It's all a much needed improvement in a park that was stuck in the 80's.
I loved - loved the original Epcot, but it was over.
Building languished unused for years, and infotainment the way we knew and loved it way back then is not coming back.
Face it.
The GotG will be great, and an excellent attraction can do well for many years beyond the relevance of the movie it was based on.
And, as far as that is concerned - it's quite likely that the Marvel movies will have a lasting impression for a very long time, just Like Star Wars.
My son's (19 year old twins) have essentially grown up with that series of movies as a part of their lives.
I'm sure those movies will have relevance to them in ten years time, when they are thirty, and therefore they will pass those films on to their own children.

I’m sure it will be great. But can it seriously carry the park 10 years from now when the franchise isn’t as relevant? Remember, the Guardians aren’t the core Avengers nor are they Spider-Man. They’re popularity was quite the surprise, but it’s always going to pale in comparison to the titans of that franchise.

 

[James Alucobond]

I’m sure it will be great. But can it seriously carry the park 10 years from now when the franchise isn’t as relevant? Remember, the Guardians aren’t the core Avengers nor are they Spider-Man. They’re popularity was quite the surprise, but it’s always going to pale in comparison to the titans of that franchise.

Why should it have to carry the park for a decade? That assumes they won't improve anything else. The attraction itself can hold up, and it's replacing an attraction that was well past its "sell by" date with regard to the on-screen talent involved anyway. If Cosmic Rewind is all they add for the next 10 years, then yes, there will be a problem, but the problem won't be Cosmic Rewind.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Why should it have to carry the park for a decade? That assumes they won't improve anything else. The attraction itself can hold up, and it's replacing an attraction that was well past its "sell by" date with regard to the on-screen talent involved anyway. If Cosmic Rewind is all they add for the next 10 years, then yes, there will be a problem, but the problem won't be Cosmic Rewind.

They’re not going to follow up billions of dollars in spending with a few more.

 

[The Aracuan Bird]

They’re not going to follow up billions of dollars in spending with a few more.

This. They never have. Even if everything else is a flop aside from Cosmic Rewind and Ratatouille, I think the best we could honestly expect is an Imagination refurb in the next 8 years. Even after that, the park still has a lot of issues that need to be addressed.

 

[James Alucobond]

They’re not going to follow up billions of dollars in spending with a few more.

Never said that they would, just that we shouldn't be expecting Cosmic Rewind to carry EPCOT in the first place, so fears of its potential to dwindle in popularity aren't particularly important in the grand scheme of things. Even if they had built a far more compelling, timeless attraction in its place, the net effect would likely be fairly similar. The fundamental problem at EPCOT is quantity, not quality. The World Showcase has always been sparse from an attractions standpoint, and too much of Future World has been allowed to lapse into irrelevance or nonexistence. WS needs at least 2-3 more attractions, and Imagination and Three Caballeros need overhauls, in my opinion.

Even blaming reluctance to spend on Cosmic Rewind being over budget is overblown, I feel. Admittedly, I know absolutely nothing about how Disney allocates funds, but having worked at large corporations myself, being over budget doesn't mean the budget of your next product gets cut, and being under budget doesn't mean you get that money back to spend elsewhere. At worst, it means similar projects won't be funded in the future, and I for one wouldn't be sad to see the overbuilt coaster-in-a-box go the way of the dinosaur at Disney.

In short, if they build nothing else in the next 10 years, they were never going to build anything else, and neither Cosmic Rewind (on budget or otherwise) nor anything that would have gone in its place could have done anything substantial about it.

 

[sedati]

Ugh. Seeing all these photos of absolutely nothing happening in the crater is pretty disappointing.

Crater? It's flat now- well at least half of it is. It was more a crater before.

 

[sedati]

Sigh...

The lighting isn't causing the stains. But I am confused as Bioreconstruct showed this as a before and after a few weeks ago:

From the great Bioreconstruct, a before and after.
View attachment 550321

View attachment 550322

Never knew you could see the supporting structure underneath.

Perhaps they'd mis-identified the spot claiming it was cleaned before. Anyways, stains have appeared with fair regularity and should be cleaned eventually.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Never said that they would, just that we shouldn't be expecting Cosmic Rewind to carry EPCOT in the first place, so fears of its potential to dwindle in popularity aren't particularly important in the grand scheme of things. Even if they had built a far more compelling, timeless attraction in its place, the net effect would likely be fairly similar. The fundamental problem at EPCOT is quantity, not quality. The World Showcase has always been sparse from an attractions standpoint, and too much of Future World has been allowed to lapse into irrelevance or nonexistence. WS needs at least 2-3 more attractions, and Imagination and Three Caballeros need overhauls, in my opinion.

I'm not sure I entirely agree with that. Quantity is a problem, but it is at almost all if not all of WDW's parks. EPCOT has quite a lot to see and do, but I don't think many of its attractions are really draws in their own right. Maybe Soarin' and FEA qualify, but the big thrill rides (Test Track and Mission: Space) are possibly the two least memorable thrill rides at WDW. Spaceship Earth is one of the strongest dark rides in all of WDW, but the rest are mostly forgettable to bad. I like the Three Caballeros ride, though it doesn't seem too popular.

I agree that the park needs more attractions. I think a bigger problem for the park, though, is that they've let the attractions become almost an afterthought relative to all the other offerings such as the festivals, shopping and dining in WS, the nighttime spectaculars, etc. Concentrating their efforts in those directions has meant they've ended up with an array of rides & pavilions that mostly feel quite tired with things such as JIYI that are allowed to limp on into eternity instead of being turned into something worthwhile.

 

[James Alucobond]

I guess I've always just assumed Test Track and Mission: SPACE are relatively popular because they tend to look busy, but I admit I have no actual knowledge of guest satisfaction scores and whatnot. I'm not terribly interested in them, but then they're not really my kind of ride, so it's hard for me to judge. I just think what's there (and will be there in the near future) is fairly solid, just not enough. You have a glaring hole with Imagination, and World Showcase has always needed help from an attraction perspective. Their solution to fill the omnipresent void was festivals, but I think it's coming to the fore that those can't help forever.

 

[Little Green Men]

I'm not sure I entirely agree with that. Quantity is a problem, but it is at almost all if not all of WDW's parks. EPCOT has quite a lot to see and do, but I don't think many of its attractions are really draws in their own right. Maybe Soarin' and FEA qualify, but the big thrill rides (Test Track and Mission: Space) are possibly the two least memorable thrill rides at WDW. Spaceship Earth is one of the strongest dark rides in all of WDW, but the rest are mostly forgettable to bad. I like the Three Caballeros ride, though it doesn't seem too popular.

I agree that the park needs more attractions. I think a bigger problem for the park, though, is that they've let the attractions become almost an afterthought relative to all the other offerings such as the festivals, shopping and dining in WS, the nighttime spectaculars, etc. Concentrating their efforts in those directions has meant they've ended up with an array of rides & pavilions that mostly feel quite tired with things such as JIYI that are allowed to limp on into eternity instead of being turned into something worthwhile.

What’s not memorable about designing your own car and seeing it’s score along side the ride, or going on a realistic astronaut experience.

The park has a lot of big and small attractions. SSE, Test Track, Soarin, Frozen, American Adventure and I’m sure GOTG and Rat will be big draws. Grand Fiesta, Nemo, Mission space, and Figment are nice side attractions. LWTL depends on your perspective but I find a 15 min half dark ride half innovative green house a big draw. Then there’s tons of films like Canada and China 360 films, turtle talk, awesome planet, etc. You can spend hours easily in most WS pavilions, as well as The Seas aquarium and The Land.

 

[CastAStone]

So does Innoventions East have a new name as like a building/pavilion?

 

[lazyboy97o]

So does Innoventions East have a new name as like a building/pavilion?

Parti Pavilion

 

[Squishy]

Parti Pavilion

Meet & greet with Drunk Chapek

 

[Rich Brownn]

6 “solid” rides isn’t great for a park that’s much larger than Magic Kingdom. Especially since 4 of those rides haven’t done much to keep Epcot up to pace with the popularity of the other parks.

Of course, plenty of us hardcore fans on the message boards enjoy doing the smaller stuff. But a major complaint about the park with the average guest is the lack of must do attractions.

You’re going to have Guardians, Test Track and Frozen on the East Side of the Park with Mission Space, Play and Three Cabs as support. On the West side, you have lacklustre Figment and Nemo attractions with Soarin as the main pull, but we are 20 years past that technology being new and fresh.

Sure you have Rat in the back West corner, but guess what? There’s an exit to the park right there. When the dust settles in 5-10 years, and most of the guests are spending their time in the East end, the lacklustre design and planning is going to be quite clear.

The issue is the original design called for rides that lasted 10-15 minutes. So on one side you had Energy (45 min) Horizon (12) and World of Motion (12) not counting post-shows at Motion. So thats 69 minutes of ride/show - not counting standing in line. Now its Guardians (3) Mission:Space (6) and Test Track (6) for a total of 15 minute total ride time. Big difference.

 

[Movielover]

I’m sure it will be great. But can it seriously carry the park 10 years from now when the franchise isn’t as relevant?

It's a rollercoaster. It will be popular for a very long time. Do people solely ride Rockin for Aerosmith? (I love Aerosmith, never replace them!). Contrary to some on here that have a disdain for any type of rollercoaster but they are a very popular ride type that are a big draw for any park. Combine that with what I'm going to assume to be very catchy effects and the gimmick of controlled spinning and I have no doubt Guardians will still be very popular 10 years down the road.

 

[marni1971]

they are a very popular ride type that are a big draw for any park.

Bingo.

 

[Movielover]

Bingo.