News Big changes coming to EPCOT's Future World?

[trainplane3]

What's the word on Tom Fitzgerald? I know he was an imagineer while EPCOT Center was being built, but wasn't he behind the Time Racers idea for a replacement of SSE? Also he looked like a total suck up to Chapek during D23. It seems he doesn't really "get" the original idea of Epcot IMO.

Probably a case of "I want to keep my job so I'll do whatever management wants".

 

[Dapper Dan]

Exactly. Just like Spaceship Earth and American Adventure.

Am I the only one that's kind of bored on Test Track?

I remember when Test Track 1 opened and 15 year old me was like, we lost 200 animatronics for this garbage?

 

[EPCOTCenterLover]

I always loved Gary Owen's narration of WoM. It's Fun to Be Free!

 

[No Name]

Exactly. Just like Spaceship Earth and American Adventure.

Am I the only one that's kind of bored on Test Track?

On the new one? You certainly aren't alone.

 

[HMF]

What's the word on Tom Fitzgerald? I know he was an imagineer while EPCOT Center was being built, but wasn't he behind the Time Racers idea for a replacement of SSE? Also he looked like a total suck up to Chapek during D23. It seems he doesn't really "get" the original idea of Epcot IMO.

He competes with Universal's Thierry Coup as the Themed Entertainments world biggest proponent in using video screens in lieu of Animatronics. On the other hand he did write the scripts for Horizons and the Cronkite Version of Spaceship Earth and he may have been Producer on the Irons Version but I am not sure.

 

[Timothy_Q]

TBH, in the early 90s, the Imagineers couldn't foresee how the clean, minimal lines of 70s and 80s monolith architecture would be the true future, and the whirling colors of the late 80s and early 90s would be considered tacky. But they really cut off the nose to spite the face.

There's no "true future".

We're just far away enough that the 80s are back in style. Hence so many shows and movies nowadays either set in the 80s or inflienced by the aesthetics.

Late 90s and 2000s are still too close so it's considered tacky. But give it 10, 15 years and it'll be cool again.

Endless circle.

In style > tacky and outdated > retro and cool

 

[lazyboy97o]

Also he looked like a total suck up to Chapek during D23.

There seems to be this misconception that Walt Disney Imagineering is some sort of autonomous unit answerable only to itself. Walt Disney Imagineering is part of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, which means it is ultimately under the purview of men with less prior industry experience than a Cast Member who was fired after a week.

 

[mimitchi33]

Wait, you're telling me my monster truck corvette isn't efficient?!
View attachment 220980
(It'd be nice if their programmer could've accounted for negatives)
View attachment 220981
It has SOME efficiency. Look, it's pointy! That should count for something right?

That's funny. Your vehicle (or something similar) was a chooseable default design the last time I visited Disney (I was in the single rider line).

He competes with Universal's Thierry Coup as the Themed Entertainments world biggest proponent in using video screens in lieu of Animatronics. On the other hand he did write the scripts for Horizons and the Cronkite Version of Spaceship Earth and he may have been Producer on the Irons Version but I am not sure.

How ironic!

 

[clemmo]

If fw really gets changed as much as the concept art shows I wonder if they'd redo the finale on soarin

 

[PizzaPlanet]

I'm annoyed. The fake 'test your car design' doesn't fit the ride... it doesn't have anything to do with the ride. Chose a monster truck and it scores high on power but low on gas efficiency... who would have known? And it's not like you're experiencing how a monster truck handles at all. I just hope TT's sponsor pulls out some day and they go back to the previous show rather than this extended car commercial.

Edutainment my foot.

I find designing your own car really to be really entertaining, and my friends had a blast with it last time I visited. Sure it doesn't tie into the ride as much as it should, but it's far better experience than the TT 1.0 preshow. That had to be one of the most boring preshow videos Disney has ever done. Listening to those people read off their boring check list of vehicle tests was the worst.

 

[PizzaPlanet]

I remember when Test Track 1 opened and 15 year old me was like, we lost 200 animatronics for this garbage?

Let's hope we don't have the same reaction when Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway opens.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Wait, you're telling me my monster truck corvette isn't efficient?!
View attachment 220980
(It'd be nice if their programmer could've accounted for negatives)
View attachment 220981
It has SOME efficiency. Look, it's pointy! That should count for something right?

Am I the only one that thinks the vehicle design in Test Track is the most EPCOT Center-y thing Disney has done in 20 years?

 

[RSoxNo1]

He is also a terrible actor. You can catch his lone supporting role as the boyfriend in Horizons.

Do you think he's going along with the exact inverse of EPCOT Center for any other reason than to keep his job? There's a great interview with Tony Baxter on the Season Pass podcast that has been referenced here several times. In the interview he discusses that the Magic Kingdom is where fantasy becomes real and Epcot is where real becomes fantasy.

At the D23 EXPO, Fitzgerald assigned both concepts to Epcot, and then somehow lumped Soarin' in with the "Fantastic becomes Real". It told me that he is either doing as he's told, or simply doesn't understand the original EPCOT Center.

Here's the dedication plaque for EPCOT Center

To all who come to this Place of Joy, Hope and Friendship

Welcome

Epcot is inspired by Walt Disney's creative vision. Here, human achievements are celebrated through imagination, wonders of enterprise and concepts of a future that promises new and exciting benefits for all.

May EPCOT Center entertain, inform and inspire and above all, may it instill a new sense of belief and pride in man's ability to shape a world that offers hope to people everywhere.

 

[trainplane3]

Am I the only one that thinks the vehicle design in Test Track is the most EPCOT Center-y thing Disney has done in 20 years?

I'm not gonna lie, I think it fits pretty well. It establishes the idea of creating something for the future of car based transportation in a very loose way. Sure, it's not super in depth but I think it's the best they could do for a re-skinning of TT. Also, it got the WoM logo back even if it is only used on the trash cans and ugly overhang.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I think WOM suffered from being one too many "slow moving dark [rides]" in EPCOT Center, but if Disney had kept those omnimovers and simply added some thrills instead of replacing the original masterpieces, and if Disney had kept the park's original aesthetic instead of jumping into the garish 90s, Epcot would be in fantastic shape today.

TBH, in the early 90s, the Imagineers couldn't foresee how the clean, minimal lines of 70s and 80s monolith architecture would be the true future, and the whirling colors of the late 80s and early 90s would be considered tacky. But they really cut off the nose to spite the face.

I think that's a very fair assessment. Disney fanboys complain that all Universal rides put you in front of a screen and shake you around. What you need is a balance of different types of attractions. Epcot (and other parks) are evolving to the point where from a simple "difference in experience" standpoint, there is a bit more diversity.

I don't criticize a specific ride type if it's the appropriate medium for telling the story. There are complaints of Flight of Passage being "yet another screen based ride in Orlando" yet, it's in a park where it's the only screen based ride. You don't feel screen fatigue in Disney's Animal Kingdom like some guests might have felt "long AA driven ride fatigue" in EPCOT Center.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I'm not gonna lie, I think it fits pretty well. It establishes the idea of creating something for the future of car based transportation in a very loose way. Sure, it's not super in depth but I think it's the best they could do for a re-skinning of TT. Also, it got the WoM logo back even if it is only used on the trash cans and ugly overhang.

The ride itself feels slightly off to me (sterile, not enough integration of the actual vehicles we made, something else I haven't nailed down), but the pre-show and post-show are very well done.

 

[FigmentForver96]

The ride itself feels slightly off to me (sterile, not enough integration of the actual vehicles we made, something else I haven't nailed down), but the pre-show and post-show are very well done.

You know what I thought would be cool. Use the car track and tell the history and future of transportation. Like for example: instead of testing simulated icy road conditions, how about go to Egypt and race aside a chariot. Weave back and forth through the town dodging new motorist etc. It could still be fast, informative and true to the old EPCOT Center roots.

 

[Mike S]

You know what I thought would be cool. Use the car track and tell the history and future of transportation. Like for example: instead of testing simulated icy road conditions, how about go to Egypt and race aside a chariot. Weave back and forth through the town dodging new motorist etc. It could still be fast, informative and true to the old EPCOT Center roots.

I say it should be JttCotE and RSR style with a dark ride interior and speedy exterior. The transition to the outside would be "speeding towards the future." Essentially a fusion of WoM and TT taking the best parts of both.

 

[Haymarket2008]

The Transportation Pavilion does deserve better. Test Track is cold and tired.

 

[Kman101]

I agree with everyone on Test Track. But am I the only one who could care less about designing a car? lol