News Big changes coming to EPCOT's Future World?

C

Corylancaster

Active Member
So I took a few weeks off the board over the holidays and not sure if I overlooked it or there haven't been any new updates...but have the epcot logo rings been repaired or started working again?
 
D

DCBaker

Premium Member
tparris said:
I would love to know why Disney still insists on keeping the west construction bypass open when all main pathways have been open for almost a month now.
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The bypass has reportedly now closed permanently.

And that report was wrong! @tparris says it is still open.

tparris said:
I’m at the park right now, it’s still open.
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JohnD

JohnD

Well-Known Member
DCBaker said:
The bypass has reportedly now closed permanently.
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The EPCOT guide map certainly indicates that.
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yensidtlaw1969

yensidtlaw1969

Well-Known Member
_caleb said:
So are you saying everything at Epcot was just fine as it was?

I'm a huge fan of Epcot's original edutainment approach. I loved those classic attractions. One of my favorites is still Living with the Land. I really treasure Spaceship Earth. I'm just a bit more sober-minded about the impact those rides have on modern audiences vs. the impression they made on folks a generation ago.

From my own personal experience, I've observed that as those rides grew/have grown long in the tooth, they became less popular (beyond what can be explained by high throughput). This doesn't mean NOBODY rides them or that NOBODY likes them, or that they don't still draw guests, just that they don't resonate with guests the way they used to.

I'm surprised anyone would disagree with this assessment.
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Disney's issues at EPCOT, which started in the mid-late 90's, are largely self-inflicted.

Disney often invests time and money into refurbishing attractions to keep them fresh and sustain their appeal. Disney has done this successfully multiple times with Spaceship Earth, whose ridership remains higher than most WDW attractions. The only other EPCOT Dark Rides who recieved such efforts in the 90's were Universe of Energy and Journey into Imagination, both of which were marred by corporate meddling and poor foresight.

It's not a coincidence that the other Pavilions whose attractions were instead replaced outright still suffered from similar ills. The 90's/00's Future World rethink was largely an exercise in trying to make more by spending less. It set Disney on the path to having to spend less maintaining EPCOT's attractions, but it also created rot where there was none, and that wound is still being grappled with today. EPCOT's Ridership, Capacity, Guest Spending, and Guest Satisfaction were all higher in the late 80's/early 90's than they have been at any point since.

The issue wasn't that the park was losing guests' interest, it was that Disney tried to pull a fast one, didn't stick the landing, and never figured out how to recover.
 
Haymarket2008

Haymarket2008

Well-Known Member
yensidtlaw1969 said:
Disney's issues at EPCOT, which started in the mid-late 90's, are largely self-inflicted.

Disney often invests time and money into refurbishing attractions to keep them fresh and sustain their appeal. Disney has done this successfully multiple times with Spaceship Earth, whose ridership remains higher than most WDW attractions. The only other EPCOT Dark Rides who recieved such efforts in the 90's were Universe of Energy and Journey into Imagination, both of which were marred by corporate meddling and poor foresight.

It's not a coincidence that the other Pavilions whose attractions were instead replaced outright still suffered from similar ills. The 90's/00's Future World rethink was largely an exercise in trying to make more by spending less. It set Disney on the path to having to spend less maintaining EPCOT's attractions, but it also created rot where there was none, and that wound is still being grappled with today. EPCOT's Ridership, Capacity, Guest Spending, and Guest Satisfaction were all higher in the late 80's/early 90's than they have been at any point since.

The issue wasn't that the park was losing guests' interest, it was that Disney tried to pull a fast one, didn't stick the landing, and never figured out how to recover.
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AB-SOLUTELY correct. Complete self immolation.
 
yensidtlaw1969

yensidtlaw1969

Well-Known Member
Haymarket2008 said:
AB-SOLUTELY correct. Complete self immolation.
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And before anyone suggests it, I'm not at all saying that Future World could have survived untouched from 1994 to today. But what it needed wasn't a wholesale reconception of the land and it's attractions (it has now recieved 2 such rethinks, each in phases, and neither has solved more problems than they've created). It needed considered program updating in the form of refreshed classics and additional new attractions, just as any park does as it ages. But the park's concept was a hit out of the gate. Expensive though it was to keep up, it was also earning its keep.

The successive reconceptions have wiped away the things that were working upfront in favor of new and confusing menus that don't coalesce as a distinct "thing" in the guests' minds. Test Track may be fun, and Journey of Water may be cute, and Spaceship Earth is . . . still there, thankfully, but what those things have to do with each other isn't readily apparent.
 
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Disstevefan1

Disstevefan1

Well-Known Member
yensidtlaw1969 said:
And before anyone suggests it, I'm not at all saying that Future World could have survived untouched from 1994 to today. But what it needed wasn't a wholesale reconception of the land and it's attractions (it has now recieved 2 such rethinks, each in phases, and neither has solved more problems than they've created). It needed considered program updating in the form of refreshed classics and additional new attractions, just as any park does as it ages. But the park's concept was a hit out of the gate. Expensive though it was to keep up, it was also earning keep.

The successive reconceptions have wiped away the things that were working upfront in favor of new and confusing menus that don't coalesce as a distinct "thing" in the guests' minds. Test Track may be fun, and Journey of Water may be cute, and Spaceship Earth is . . . still there, thankfully, but what those things have to do with each other isn't readily apparent.
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Just my personal opinion -
The points of light on Space Ship Earth is great!
Both Innoventions buildings should have stayed.
Both gutted and I guess connections, creations, club cool are OK
The other Innoventions gets (maybe 2) cool omnimover rides in it.
Electric umbrella going away is OK.
Great to get rid of pin central and put it where it is now.
Add Walt's statue and a garden area.
KEEP the Fountain of Nations!!!! Update it with the latest fountain technology with a water screen; the fountain and SEE can do some cool shows together
 
yensidtlaw1969

yensidtlaw1969

Well-Known Member
Disstevefan1 said:
Just my personal opinion -
The points of light on Space Ship Earth is great!
Both Innoventions buildings should have stayed.
Both gutted and I guess connections, creations, club cool are OK
The other Innoventions gets (maybe 2) cool omnimover rides in it.
Electric umbrella going away is OK.
Great to get rid of pin central and put it where it is now.
Add Walt's statue and a garden area.
KEEP the Fountain of Nations!!!! Update it with the latest fountain technology with a water screen; the fountain and SEE can do some cool shows together
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Honestly, if they had announced this for the area I would have just about cheered. Simple. Sensible. About as close to reasonable perfection as could fairly be asked for. Barring poor execution, of course.

The outer Pavilions would still need love at this point, too, but for the spine this would have been close to ideal.
 
Haymarket2008

Haymarket2008

Well-Known Member
yensidtlaw1969 said:
And before anyone suggests it, I'm not at all saying that Future World could have survived untouched from 1994 to today. But what it needed wasn't a wholesale reconception of the land and it's attractions (it has now recieved 2 such rethinks, each in phases, and neither has solved more problems than they've created). It needed considered program updating in the form of refreshed classics and additional new attractions, just as any park does as it ages. But the park's concept was a hit out of the gate. Expensive though it was to keep up, it was also earning its keep.

The successive reconceptions have wiped away the things that were working upfront in favor of new and confusing menus that don't coalesce as a distinct "thing" in the guests' minds. Test Track may be fun, and Journey of Water may be cute, and Spaceship Earth is . . . still there, thankfully, but what those things have to do with each other isn't readily apparent.
Click to expand...

This is my major gripe with the EPCOT of the last 20ish years, the attraction "menu offerings" should all say something as a group and they haven't had that since the 90's. That is just how the park was designed. The disparate pieces of the puzzle, when put together, don't mean anything.
 
yensidtlaw1969

yensidtlaw1969

Well-Known Member
Haymarket2008 said:
This is my major gripe with the EPCOT of the last 20ish years, the attraction "menu offerings" should all say something as a group and they haven't had that since the 90's. That is just how the park was designed. The disparate pieces of the puzzle, when put together, don't mean anything.
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It's as if Executives in the 90's said "Let's build attractions that are about the same sort of things, but cheaper to run than the ones we have now", and then Execs this past decade said "Well THAT didn't work, so let's build attractions that AREN'T about the same sorts of things" but had no clear guiding objective about what they should be about. Other than "More Disney™️ ".

In the 90's it was "EPCOT is pretty good, can we get more money out of it?"
In the 2010's it was "EPCOT is pretty bad, we have to find a way to get SOME money out of it"
 

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