News Big changes coming to EPCOT's Future World?

[yensidtlaw1969]

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.

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]

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.

AB-SOLUTELY correct. Complete self immolation.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

AB-SOLUTELY correct. Complete self immolation.

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.

 

[𝕴𝖒𝖆𝖌𝖎𝖓𝖊𝖊𝖗97]

When is this supposed to be completed?

Epcot will never be complete.

 

[Disstevefan1]

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.

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]

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

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]

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.

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]

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.

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"

 

[Chef idea Mickey`=]

Epcot will never be complete.

EPCOT is and will always... be in a state of BeComing!

 

[Epcot82Guy]

Light watch... Tower lights working and in sync tonight. Logo rings barely lighting at all. (Looked pretty bad.)

Luminous B Mode continues. It didn't seem that windy, but tough to know the threshold. There were some gusts.

(And I will say starting to find all the details and symbols in Luminous on my second live watch was very nice.)

 

[_caleb]

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.

LOL as I was reading your previous post, I was literally thinking, "Is he saying that Future World could have survived untouched from 1994 to today?" I'm glad I kept reading before responding. Great post, followed by a great follow-up here.

 

[_caleb]

I may have missed this, but do we know if the ground would need to be torn up to replace whatever part of the light were affected by the water incursion?

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

EPCOT is and will always... be in a state of BeComing!

Hey now..Epcot is the place for the "Magic of Possibilities." Meaning it's "Im-Possible" to get anything done on time..

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

Light watch... Tower lights working and in sync tonight. Logo rings barely lighting at all. (Looked pretty bad.)

Dreamers Point..Circa 2 years from now...

 

[GhostHost1000]

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

you're hired

 

[Bocabear]

you're hired

Exactly...It needed re-landscaping and bringing back the original green heart of EPCOT...
Tearing down buildings and then rebuilding them was an epic mistake that cost us any new attractions and refurbs. Water under the bridge at this point sadly... Maybe they will tear out the central V Planter and put the
fountain-that-should-be-there in and repair the pavement lighting at the same time...

 

[Horizon1]

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

That is interesting but it does make sense. Hopefully at some point Epcot can find it’s roots so to speak.

 

[Bocabear]

Not under current leadership that is dragging it farther from it's roots and the park's identity...sadly.

 

[GhostHost1000]

Not under current leadership that is dragging it farther from it's roots and the park's identity...sadly.

I think they are trying to make future world an extension of the magic kingdom

 

[Andrew C]

I think they are trying to make future world an extension of the magic kingdom

How could they? There is no such thing as Future World. Not by name, not by identity....