EPCOT Big changes coming to EPCOT's Future World?

[stuart]

Here's video of this.

I must have been right by them when taking that video tonight.

Such a shame to see it in the state it's in compared to how it looked when it debuted. There was a bit more life to it when it was green and blue, but not much.

Adding to what has been said ad nauseam, it really does miss a fountain, even if it was something relatively small - like along the sides of the planter with the chrome railing. I remember initially thinking it might have been from Bio's aerial pics.

I do find myself quite liking the area for walking through though which wasn't sure I would until seeing it in person. The loop works for the area to me, even though I can't help missing the innoventions one.

Hopefully they can get those ground lights working again!

 

[ChrisFL]

The problem, if they don't find a quick/cheap solution, it will probably sit like that for YEARS until the next "overhaul"

 

[stuart]

Phone snap from tonight

 

[Squishy]

View attachment 797909

Phone snap from tonight

Do the multiple tiny leds imbedded into the ground infront of the walt statue still work?

 

[trainplane3]

I must have been right by them when taking that video tonight.

Such a shame to see it in the state it's in compared to how it looked when it debuted. There was a bit more life to it when it was green and blue, but not much.

Adding to what has been said ad nauseam, it really does miss a fountain, even if it was something relatively small - like along the sides of the planter with the chrome railing. I remember initially thinking it might have been from Bio's aerial pics.

I do find myself quite liking the area for walking through though which wasn't sure I would until seeing it in person. The loop works for the area to me, even though I can't help missing the innoventions one.

Hopefully they can get those ground lights working again!

They barely worked on debut night and only got worse. Basic color cycling was all they could do.

Honestly without a fountain, during the day it feels really bad. I've started calling it a budget cut community college campus at this point.

 

[Brian]

View attachment 797909

Phone snap from tonight

It just keeps getting worse.

 

[stuart]

Do the multiple tiny leds imbedded into the ground infront of the walt statue still work?

They were on one of the paths the other night, leading to Walt, and going off/on in a wave. Will look properly next time though.

 

[vikescaper]

I finally got to see CommuniCore Hall in person, and it is what it is, a flex space. I know things changed due to the original festival center being canceled, but this feels like a lateral move in what used to be here. That said, my mom enjoyed having a nice, cool spot to sit and eat some popcorn and drink a beer while my sister and I went on rides.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Do the multiple tiny leds imbedded into the ground infront of the walt statue still work?

Yes. Last week...

 

[SoFloMagic]

There was a time -- I want to say it was around 1995 or so, during F&G -- that the Communicore building(s) were indeed used for festival programming. I distinctly remember there being booths of some kind for the festival when we were there for a HS band trip.

I'd imagine they offered far more space and infrastructure for those offerings than the current shed does.

I remember one of the rooms off of the poop hallway being used for the food and wine booth themed to a lab with color changing drinks and donuts maybe 5-7 years ago too

 

[Incomudro]

Here's video of this.

Disaster.
Hey, if they at least kept or replaced the fountain - there would be a sense of life and movement there.

 

[James Alucobond]

I’m confused as to why this isn’t fixed yet. Is it an issue of waiting on new materials, or is some fundamental rethinking going on because the whole design was flawed (instead of just the installation)?

Surely the work is guaranteed or insured in such a way that the contractor has to address such a catastrophic failure so early in the lifecycle.

 

[Beacon Joe]

Here's video of this.

That's really bad. It's kind of mindboggling that they keep it running in that state instead of turning off the embedded lights completely.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I’m confused as to why this isn’t fixed yet. Is it an issue of waiting on new materials, or is some fundamental rethinking going on because the whole design was flawed (instead of just the installation)?

Surely the work is guaranteed or insured in such a way that the contractor has to address such a catastrophic failure so early in the lifecycle.

If they really were damaged by something like pressure washing then that’s not necessarily a defect with the product or its installation.

Then you can get into all sorts of questions and finger pointing. Let’s say it was damage due to pressuring washing. Who did the pressure washing, the general contractor, a subcontractor or Disney? Did the vendor have any hand in the installation? Did Ops originally agree to something that can be pressure washed? Did the landscape architect have some sort of custom detail involved? All sorts of things to argue over.

This wouldn’t be the first major show element to be sunk by in fighting of who is to blame.

 

[Virtual Toad]

From a design perspective, I don't understand why pressure washing wasn't taken into consideration. They had to know that pavement in a theme park is going to be pressure washed. The materials used and the rundown look of the light covers so early in the project's life cycle points to value engineering or overall lack of competency. Both are a bad look considering the time, expense and disruption that went into this project in the first place.

 

[lazyboy97o]

From a design perspective, I don't understand why pressure washing wasn't taken into consideration. They had to know that pavement in a theme park is going to be pressure washed. The materials used and the rundown look of the light covers so early in the project's life cycle points to value engineering or overall lack of competency. Both are a bad look considering the time, expense and disruption that went into this project in the first place.

Not being able to be pressure washed isn’t actually something new or all that unusual. It’s a harsh process that can easily destroy a lot of scenic design work.

 

[Virtual Toad]

Not being able to be pressure washed isn’t actually something new or all that unusual. It’s a harsh process that can easily destroy a lot of scenic design work.

Agreed, but again, isn't pressure washing the pavement fairly SOP for a theme park? Why install the lighting in such a way that it wouldn't be able to withstand it? Was the plan to simply warn cleaning crews in perpetuity to be really super extra careful when cleaning around them? What alternative cleaning method would have been acceptable in terms of cleaning the pavement but not damaging the lights? Again, the materials used here look far too cheap for the environment they were placed into. And they're not holding up well. Perhaps the vendor made false promises in terms of durability. Perhaps the designers chose the wrong product to begin with, or pencil pushers forced the use of cheaper materials. Or the installers made mistakes. Or perhaps we should expect more from a global leader in themed entertainment?

 

[trainplane3]

Not being able to be pressure washed isn’t actually something new or all that unusual. It’s a harsh process that can easily destroy a lot of scenic design work.

I won't disagree but it's like they didn't think about how most of this area would work in general. To name some fun other issues:
- Brown rusted panels that can stain clothes
- Loose tables and chairs that needs CMs to check in on regularly
- A PhotoPass (or general CM) by the Walt statue at almost all times because at the media event someone climbed onto his lap and park ops went "oh that could be a problem".
- Tripping hazard when the SSE shows run and the middle area goes completely dark
- Don't power wash the light ribbon (they did and only damaged a smaller portion close to SSE and was repaired decently quick)
- And another fun story about construction issues in the middle area that were pretty minor but really sends home the point that no one thought much of this thing through. So minor that it shouldn't even be worth mentioning but something you'd expect to never be an issue.

If they couldn't consider the impact of the brown panels on clothes then it doesn't surprise me they told ops literally nothing. There's just a lot of weird ideas that didn't get any second thought about how guests could impact the area and how upkeep should happen.

 

[Incomudro]

Agreed, but again, isn't pressure washing the pavement fairly SOP for a theme park? Why install the lighting in such a way that it wouldn't be able to withstand it? Was the plan to simply warn cleaning crews in perpetuity to be really super extra careful when cleaning around them? What alternative cleaning method would have been acceptable in terms of cleaning the pavement but not damaging the lights? Again, the materials used here look far too cheap for the environment they were placed into. And they're not holding up well. Perhaps the vendor made false promises in terms of durability. Perhaps the designers chose the wrong product to begin with, or pencil pushers forced the use of cheaper materials. Or the installers made mistakes. Or perhaps we should expect more from a global leader in themed entertainment?

For sure.
The application of these lights had to be considered of course.
Or at least one would think.
A high traffic location in a hot and humid environment prone to frequent heavy rains.
A location that is going to receive its share of pressure washing - whether or not that was accidental.
If a lighting system was chosen that had specifics about not being power washed, that's a really boneheaded option to pick.
Just how careful and for how long was maintenance expected to remain that careful?
And these light lasted one night.
That kills me.
I don't think they're getting fixed.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Agreed, but again, isn't pressure washing the pavement fairly SOP for a theme park? Why install the lighting in such a way that it wouldn't be able to withstand it? Was the plan to simply warn cleaning crews in perpetuity to be really super extra careful when cleaning around them? What alternative cleaning method would have been acceptable in terms of cleaning the pavement but not damaging the lights? Again, the materials used here look far too cheap for the environment they were placed into. And they're not holding up well. Perhaps the vendor made false promises in terms of durability. Perhaps the designers chose the wrong product to begin with, or pencil pushers forced the use of cheaper materials. Or the installers made mistakes. Or perhaps we should expect more from a global leader in themed entertainment?

I won't disagree but it's like they didn't think about how most of this area would work in general. To name some fun other issues:
- Brown rusted panels that can stain clothes
- Loose tables and chairs that needs CMs to check in on regularly
- A PhotoPass (or general CM) by the Walt statue at almost all times because at the media event someone climbed onto his lap and park ops went "oh that could be a problem".
- Tripping hazard when the SSE shows run and the middle area goes completely dark
- Don't power wash the light ribbon (they did and only damaged a smaller portion close to SSE and was repaired decently quick)
- And another fun story about construction issues in the middle area that were pretty minor but really sends home the point that no one thought much of this thing through. So minor that it shouldn't even be worth mentioning but something you'd expect to never be an issue.

If they couldn't consider the impact of the brown panels on clothes then it doesn't surprise me they told ops literally nothing. There's just a lot of weird ideas that didn't get any second thought about how guests could impact the area and how upkeep should happen.

I don’t really have anything positive to say about this project beyond “It was supposed to be much worse”. I noted some prominent examples of weathering steel causing staining months ago when it first appeared.

What I do take issue with though is the constant gross oversimplification of design, construction and operations. It’s easy to say everything should be pressure washable but it’s not actually a true standard. Nor is pressure washing a singular thing, with variety based on actual pressure, nozzles and even technique. Saying everything should just be able to be hosed down at maximum pressure without concern is unrealistic and frankly even dishonest. That set of criteria is a huge hindrance to compelling themed design. That’s not to say designers don’t have a duty to provide some degree of ease of maintenance but theme parks by their nature are not easy to maintain.

This though is also all speculation which a big part of the issue. People just throw things out there, sometimes it sounds somewhat reasonable, and people just absolutely run with it.