News Big changes coming to EPCOT's Future World?

[MisterPenguin]

This isn't the EPCOT you remember: Top Imagineer explains why the park 'will never be completed'

EPCOT is undergoing one of its biggest transformations since its debut. The project's leading Imagineer explains everything Disney fans should know.

www.usatoday.com

World Celebration​

World Celebration will give EPCOT's festival programming space to "blow out their ideas, something they've never been able to do before," according to Mallwitz.​

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The neighborhood's new CommuniCore Plaza will feature a garden with seating and space for guests to enjoy entertainment from a covered performance stage, snacks from festival kiosks inside the plaza or simply, conversation.​

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"We can host something as small as a violin duet or a Burning Man installation," he said.​

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Adjacent CommuniCore Hall will offer roughly 8,000 feet of climate-controlled exhibit space for additional festival offerings that won't depend on Florida weather.​

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"What better place than in the front, right? " Mallwitz said. "On grade, accessible at all points, and then the space itself as well is subdividable in two, so we can actually have two different sets of programming happening at the same time. Oh, and by the way, that programming can then be broadcast to the external component, to the external courtyard, or shared in whatever format we'd like ... Our opportunities shouldn't be limited by our facility, so let's let our facility help us get where we want to be."​

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The building itself will be embedded with LED paneling so "that we can change color, we can pulsate, we can reflect what's happening in there," Mallwitz said. "We can defer or lean into any programming that is happening on Spaceship Earth and kind of create that celebration, create that connection."​

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Two other World Celebration areas of note are Mickey & Friends, a permanent location where guests can meet Mickey Mouse and his pals, and Dreamer's Point, which will feature a new statue of Walt Disney.​

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World Discovery​

...Disney is reevaluating the concept of its previously announced PLAY! pavilion, which had been eyed for the former Wonders of Life site.​

 

[UNCgolf]

I don't think any of the original EPCOT buildings could be classified as brutalist architecture. That seems like a stretch.

I also think it's a little funny to say Future World was hard to understand -- it certainly wasn't any harder to understand than World Nature, World Discovery, and World Celebration.

And I thought Zach Riddley was in charge of EPCOT?

 

[MagicHappens1971]

And I thought Zach Riddley was in charge of EPCOT?

He is. I don’t know why he’s gone all quiet

 

[Vinnie Mac]

"We can host something as small as a violin duet or a Burning Man installation"​

BAHAHAHAHA

 

[MisterPenguin]

I don't think any of the original EPCOT buildings could be classified as brutalist architecture. That seems like a stretch.

rounded brutalism - Google Search

www.google.com

 

[HauntedPirate]

What a pile of .

 

[UNCgolf]

He is. I don’t know why he’s gone all quiet

The synopsis describes Mallwitz as the leading Imagineer for EPCOT, which is why I asked. I notice the article itself doesn't specifically call him that, though -- it just calls him an executive creative director in general.

rounded brutalism - Google Search

www.google.com

Yeah, I don't think rounded brutalism is an accurate description for any of EPCOT's original structures either. Horizons is the only one someone could potentially stretch into a brutalism framework IMO, but I still don't think it applies. The other original buildings aren't even remotely close to brutalism. He talks about big buildings, but big doesn't mean brutalism (also let's just ignore the massive Guardians of the Galaxy building...).

 

[EPCOTCenterLover]

Take USA Today with a grain when it comes to Disney. They're more like a promotional outlet than a real news source. @marni1971 is a much more reliable source.

 

[hpyhnt 1000]

This isn't the EPCOT you remember: Top Imagineer explains why the park 'will never be completed'

EPCOT is undergoing one of its biggest transformations since its debut. The project's leading Imagineer explains everything Disney fans should know.

www.usatoday.com

World Celebration​

World Celebration will give EPCOT's festival programming space to "blow out their ideas, something they've never been able to do before," according to Mallwitz.​

​

The neighborhood's new CommuniCore Plaza will feature a garden with seating and space for guests to enjoy entertainment from a covered performance stage, snacks from festival kiosks inside the plaza or simply, conversation.​

​

"We can host something as small as a violin duet or a Burning Man installation," he said.​

​

Adjacent CommuniCore Hall will offer roughly 8,000 feet of climate-controlled exhibit space for additional festival offerings that won't depend on Florida weather.​

​

"What better place than in the front, right? " Mallwitz said. "On grade, accessible at all points, and then the space itself as well is subdividable in two, so we can actually have two different sets of programming happening at the same time. Oh, and by the way, that programming can then be broadcast to the external component, to the external courtyard, or shared in whatever format we'd like ... Our opportunities shouldn't be limited by our facility, so let's let our facility help us get where we want to be."​

​

The building itself will be embedded with LED paneling so "that we can change color, we can pulsate, we can reflect what's happening in there," Mallwitz said. "We can defer or lean into any programming that is happening on Spaceship Earth and kind of create that celebration, create that connection."​

​

Two other World Celebration areas of note are Mickey & Friends, a permanent location where guests can meet Mickey Mouse and his pals, and Dreamer's Point, which will feature a new statue of Walt Disney.​

​

​

World Discovery​

...Disney is reevaluating the concept of its previously announced PLAY! pavilion, which had been eyed for the former Wonders of Life site.​

For World Celebration, man, that's an awful lot of words to say, "Yeah, we're basically rebuilding the thing we just demolished, only smaller and worse."

 

[Bocabear]

It is a carefully crafted word salad to make their mistake of tearing everything down into a "we meant to do that" moment...

 

[marni1971]

I don't think any of the original EPCOT buildings could be classified as brutalist architecture. That seems like a stretch.

Indeed. Calling it brutalist is plain wrong.

Says a lot.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Yeah, I don't think rounded brutalism is an accurate description for any of EPCOT's original structures either. Horizons is the only one someone could potentially stretch into a brutalism framework IMO, but I still don't think it applies. The other original buildings really aren't even remotely close to brutalism. He talks about big buildings, but big doesn't mean brutalism (also let's just ignore the massive Guardians of the Galaxy building...).

Yes, it's weird to image they could even think that Disney would have built a "brutalist" theme park. I would think Future World's original architecture could probably be described as late modernism, but certainly not brutalism.

 

[James Alucobond]

A lot of the things quoted in this article are phrased really oddly, to the extent that I wonder if the author spliced some weird thoughts together. Also, it’s kind of out of character for them to dwell on things past instead of just commenting on what they’re building now and how it relates to the overall vision.

 

[lazyboy97o]

A lot of the things quoted in this article are phrased really oddly, to the extent that I wonder if the author spliced some weird thoughts together. Also, it’s kind of out of character for them to dwell on things past instead of just commenting on what they’re building now and how it relates to the overall vision.

It’s really not that odd because this entire project has been wrapped up in the image of EPCOT Center.

 

[James Alucobond]

It’s really not that odd because this entire project has been wrapped up in the image of EPCOT Center.

I don’t mean that it’s odd for them to invoke the past as justification for their current actions, more that it’s tonally different for them to be overtly negative about the past architecture of the park, particularly when they’re keeping half of it.

 

[Bocabear]

The fact remains that the original communicore buildings were beautiful modernist structures, and timeless, honestly. The lack of meaningful programming and poor management caused them to look as bad as they did by the end (That Paint Job!!!) As shown with the half they did keep, when brought back to their original aesthetic, the structures were beautiful... They could have added the outdoor performance venue to the backside of southwest quadrant and achieved the same thing they are building now.

 

[UNCgolf]

I don’t mean that it’s odd for them to invoke the past as justification for their current actions, more that it’s tonally different for them to be overtly negative about the past architecture of the park, particularly when they’re keeping half of it.

That struck me as odd too. He (inaccurately) decries the "brutalist" nature of the original buildings but almost all of them are still there. They recently tore down half of Communicore and Horizons was demolished decades ago; that's it. Everything else is still there in this new version of the park.

 

[tparris]

I don’t mean that it’s odd for them to invoke the past as justification for their current actions, more that it’s tonally different for them to be overtly negative about the past architecture of the park, particularly when they’re keeping half of it.

That’s what I found odd as well, considering the building they chose to keep now looks more like it did when it was originally built than it has for the past 25 years or so, and especially after the 2014 paint job. Weird to harp on an architectural style you’re trying to harken back to with the overhaul.

 

[Epcot82Guy]

It's really feeling like justifications to what has become very poor spatial design. There really is no way to fix the lack of balance in the center now, especially using a 3/4 circle design. While I much prefer it to the Table, the rebuilt Innoventions SW is actually creating a lot of problems. The central garden is based on a circle. Dreamer's Point is based on that circle. Connections/Creations is very symmetrical off that circle... Communicore Hall is as well.... Then we have a random forest with nothing. This would be like building the Hub, but just leaving out Adventureland and putting some trees there. Except - you can't expand there in the future because of Moana... This whole thing is very poorly planned.

Yet... let's pull in architectural styles to sound relevant and elevated...

 

[HauntedPirate]

It's someone trying to defend bad choices. Mr. Mallwitz started his career at Six Flags, 5 years there from 1993-98. He worked a total of just under 4 years in theme parks after 1998 before being hired as an Executive Creative Director at WDI in 2015.