I get what you're saying.. It sucks, though. It's like if they said, "We're going to make Future World a traditional amusement park," I think people, overall, would feel about the same.. At least they'd be doing *something* even it it was to make it a nice Six Flags.
It just sucks to me that is where we are and we're here because the powers that be at Disney ignored the park for so long so anything seems like an improvement.
I even get the idea of, "old Epcot wasn't working," to a certain extent.
I've also wondered where people are with this. Some have already had enough and have given up and others love Epcot no matter what.
I actually thought it might be a fun thought experiment to ask: Take Epcot and now imagine that TWDC closes your least favorite attraction and raises prices some percentage (you can even pick the percentage), now, do you still go? Repeat.
- At what point do you say, "Ok, it sucks."
The other thing I've wondered is have we all just given up on themes? I say this because theme-encrouchment isn't new. I think you could go back to Splash Mountain and make a strong argument that it doesn't belong where it is (not sure where else would be better) but they seemed to kind of make it work. Tomorrowland has been hosed for a decade plus. Frozen is now a "country" (well, ride within a country but you get what I mean). What if they add, "The Daring Adventures of Pinocchio," to Italy? What if they put the old Snow White ride in Germany? Maybe they could put a Pooh ride in the UK or maybe Mary Poppins could take you on an adventure there?
My main thought on this is that, in the beginning, themes were important and they tried to stay true to the themes. Over time, and it's really not all that recent, they kind of fudged it and I'd argue that now we're basically abandoning the themes in favor of getting anything.
I see the GotG stuff and I think, "This would have made a great addition to DHS!" I see Pandora and think (well, first I don't think it's a strong IP - but secondly), "It would have been great in DHS!" There's a park for IPs which don't fit into MK and that's DHS. Now DHS is going to be, from what I can tell, a kind of weak Toy Story Land and Star Wars Experience (hopefully not weak).
All of this really goes back to the core of: Management didn't invest in the parks and, worse, doesn't seem to understand the uniqueness of the parks they have and are further doing damage by just ignoring the themes altogether. If Buzz Lightyear belongs in Tomorrowland then you can make a pretty good argument that he belongs in Fantasyland and, if you just buddy him up with Woody, now you can put him in Frontierland and now think about it: Buzz Lightyear (a space toy) is in Frontierland - it's OK because he's partnered with Woody and at least it's something.
I'm not knocking anyone here for this or that you feel something is better than nothing. I'm just saying that one of the important things that made this parks unique is being ignored and destroyed and we end up with this hodge-podge theming with Monsters Inc in Tomorrowland and Frozen in World Showcase.
You could put the new Tron Coaster in DAK at this point and I don't think management would get why it doesn't fit and I think others would say, "Well at least it's something..." (kind of defeated).
I just think that a few generations of bad execs are really doing some long-term damage and you can see it in people's defeated reactions. You still have leftovers from Eisner with, "People want to ride the movies!" and it's largely what we get these days. Not neat innovations but the next movie ride.
