News Big changes coming to EPCOT's Future World?

[MrPromey]

meaning a big chunk of it is probably going to end up like world showplace and not open to the general public, once park ops get their hands on it...thats going to be a major downer if thats how they end up treating it.

Wonder what the views are from that new seating area for Spaceship Earth and the new stage at night.

Can anyone say new desert party?

 

[Brian]

There are plenty of places in all the parks with less light. E.g., new fantasyland between Pooh and 7DMT.

I considered that, and I haven't been in that area in a while, but subjectively it seemed like less light in World Celebration. That said, I was in the space when the lights were mainly blues, so maybe it's a bit better when they have some lighter colors.

 

[MrPromey]

I’m not so sure. It’s too prime real estate for it to close off to the public...

You mean like the lawn area in the MK hub that was part of another big multi-year construction project in the middle of a park?

 

[Centauri Space Station]

You mean like the lawn area in the MK hub that was part of another big multi-year construction project in the middle of a park?

Fireworks viewing is ideal in the hub. At Epcot it’s the lagoon

 

[MrPromey]

Fireworks viewing is ideal in the hub. At Epcot it’s the lagoon

True but two points:

1) There is and will be more event based stuff going on in this area than in the past potentially making that seating a prime (for upcharge) space. (and they already move people from the desert party area over to the lawn to view the fireworks when it's time so why wouldn't they do that here to a reserved area at the lagoon?)

2) There is complete precedent for them building something nice that was said to be for the general ticket-buying public in a prime area of the park that was actually said to address an issue of crowding, in fact, that went away the moment they discovered they could make a dime off it.

Sure seems like it would be easy to put up a roped off area for this whole side and direct public traffic around the creations side if they wanted to - just like they did for how many years before the walls came down?

If I were a skeptical person, I'd almost say that could have been... by design this time.

 

[Brian]

Beautiful.

 

[Indy_UK]

I was too lazy to read as it was on the ‘other site’ but apparently the lighting in the ground was malfunctioning last night? Anyone know?

 

[James Alucobond]

I was too lazy to read as it was on the ‘other site’ but apparently the lighting in the ground was malfunctioning last night? Anyone know?

Same issue as the night before. A couple of tracks were switching between the wrong colors.

 

[Timothy_Q]

Remember when looking at construction photos people were complaining there wasn't gonna be any seating areas lmao

 

[FigmentFan82]

I can't tell if you're joking but I can name 5 parks that look like this just in New York City alone. Chicago, Philly, Boston, all have parks with similar street furniture and modern landscaping as well. Sections of the The High Line, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Hudson River Park, Bryant Park, Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, I could go on. And those parks do it better than whatever this is.

I love how all those places also have a Spaceship Earth next to their parks as well! Totally identical! No need for a trip to WDW anymore, the highline beckons!

 

[FigmentFan82]

It is fairly disorienting at night due to the lack of actual light (versus show lighting). I'd imagine at some point, one too many trip and falls will happen and they'll make some changes.

Don't get me wrong, I love the show lighting, but it isn't enough to safely walk around.

this seems like a stretch at looking for things to poke holes at

weak

 

[Incomudro]

I can't tell if you're joking but I can name 5 parks that look like this just in New York City alone. Chicago, Philly, Boston, all have parks with similar street furniture and modern landscaping as well. Sections of the The High Line, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Hudson River Park, Bryant Park, Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, I could go on. And those parks do it better than whatever this is.

I walked through Brooklyn Bridge Park twice a week for years from the day it opened 'till I retired three years ago.
I worked for the Supreme Court at Montague street for 36 years.
While I loved Brooklyn Bridge Park, it didn't remind me of this at all - and it's certainly not better than this.

 

[networkpro]

I love how all those places also have a Spaceship Earth next to their parks as well! Totally identical! No need for a trip to WDW anymore, the highline beckons!

Not going to happen. You do realize there are reasons why people leave those places.

 

[monothingie]

I was too lazy to read as it was on the ‘other site’ but apparently the lighting in the ground was malfunctioning last night? Anyone know?

Same issue as the night before. A couple of tracks were switching between the wrong colors.

Don't worry, it will be broken and turned off permanently in a couple of weeks.

It's the Disney way of repairing things.

 

[monothingie]

SO you could say that the new Epcot blows??

 

[Brian]

this seems like a stretch at looking for things to poke holes at

weak

Have you been in person yet?

 

[FigmentFan82]

Have you been in person yet?

if you can't handle the LED lighting package, stay out of the kitchen

 

[Brian]

if you can't handle the LED lighting package, stay out of the kitchen

I'll take that as a 'no.' I've been in person - twice, actually. It's dark. That's subjective, but considering that it is a main artery of the park, I stand by my comments that changes may have to be made once accidents happen.

That's not even a criticism of the design. I think it's lovely, and a much-needed change to EPCOT.

 

[zipadee999]

This is a great aesthetic upgrade that the park needed in my opinion. However, I still think that Disney is far from done if they want to finally ‘fix Epcot.’ The park looks great and that’s a start, but it still struggles in the form of content. I do think guardians was a good move, as it replaced what was the weakest of the OG pavilions IMO. Some changes still feel pointless though. Ratatouille and Moana are good for what they are, they just felt unnecessary when you have an abandoned pavilion, an outdated Omnimover, a severely unpopular pavilion, and a pavilion that’s a shell of itself all rotting away.

I go by the belief that you should fix what you have before getting anything new, and it seems like Disney avoided that. This is the ‘new’ Epcot but you can still see outdated clips of Nigel Channing and barely hear the spaceship earth audio over the squeaking of the ride system. Disney didn’t bother to ‘fix’ Epcot, they just added onto it. The new additions are great, I just feel that they shouldn’t have even broken ground until all existing attractions and infrastructure spaces were up to their highest potential.

The gardens and the new center of the park look awesome though, love the lighting packages.

 

[Fear]

Who believes they can keep up with slightly-inebriated festival goers/locals? Trust me, I’m the first to recognize good CM’s when I’m there.

So how is this space different from any other space in EPCOT? Custodial works hard and does a good job at other, more problematic areas.

You can feel however you want about the executive level decisions on this project, but leave the boots on the ground CMs out of it.