News Big changes coming to EPCOT's Future World?

Bocabear

Well-Known Member
Epcot never was what Walt envisioned. I suggest that many of you appear to be grieving 35 years too late.
no, it never was the living community, but the Epcot Center Theme Park was ambitious, beautifully designed and singularly unique...though it was not the project that Walt had envisioned, it carried the spirit of his genius for storytelling, cutting edge attraction design and optimistic vision for the future... It was, more than the sum of it's parts...
 

ChrisFL

Premium Member
no, it never was the living community, but the Epcot Center Theme Park was ambitious, beautifully designed and singularly unique...though it was not the project that Walt had envisioned, it carried the spirit of his genius for storytelling, cutting edge attraction design and optimistic vision for the future... It was, more than the sum of it's parts...

Exactly. I can't imagine any other company working tirelessly to come up with a concept for something that couldn't be the same, but in the same spirit, and work on it for a full 16 years after the creator's passing.
 

smile

Well-Known Member
I mean - if being "Disney" means embodying the ideas, passions, and foibles of Walt Disney, EPCOT is already the most Disney park in Florida (or it was) - far moreso than WDW's MK. So that statement is even more insulting, tone-deaf nonsense than I thought at first glance.

i was but a wee lad the last time that poor old dead guy mattered to anyone not an imagineer or in marketing

Exactly. I can't imagine any other company working tirelessly to come up with a concept for something that couldn't be the same, but in the same spirit, and work on it for a full 16 years after the creator's passing.

and certainly not the twdc of today, amazingly -
but that depends... what roi are we talking, here?


tldr:
all roy/no walt makes twdc a listless company...
and i love me some roy (both of em)
 

mikejs78

Premium Member
i was but a wee lad the last time that poor old dead guy mattered to anyone not an imagineer or in marketing



and certainly not the twdc of today, amazingly -
but that depends... what roi are we talking, here?


tldr:
all roy/no walt makes twdc a listless company...
and i love me some roy (both of em)
I've said it before. We've seen all Walt and no Roy (Eisner after Frank Wells'), all Roy and no Walt (Iger), and both together (Walt and Roy, Eisner and Wells). You need both.
 
Hollywood Studios is generic and unless you have been there it is forgettable. Heck I know lots of folks that still call it “MGM.”

On the other hand, Epcot at this point is nearly ubiquitous. No reason to change it. I don’t know of any non-initiated folks that don’t know what it is.
Oh man, I still call it MGM all the time! Same with Downtown Disney!
 

MerlinTheGoat

Well-Known Member
I would never place Iger on the same level as Roy Disney. Roy was accurately seen as a more financial half of the two brothers, but that is heavily underselling the man. The way he conducted business was vastly different than Iger. Unlike Iger, Roy actually seemed to legitimately care about the company on a personal level. He showed an admiration and respect for Walt and his creative mind in spite of being a "financial" guy. He clearly seemed to value brother's ideals, even if not everything Walt envisioned came to pass.

https://www.mouseplanet.com/9562/The_Forgotten_Brother_Who_Built_a_Magic_Kingdom

Roy didn't run the company solo for a particularly long time before his own death. But during this relatively brief time, Roy accomplished some incredible feats. Roy oversaw the planning, construction and opening of Magic Kingdom along with developing the surrounding areas. He seemed to share at least some of his brother's creativity (not to that same high degree perhaps, but few can claim that).

I liked the first half of Eisner's era and don't disregard what he accomplished, but I also definitely would not place him alongside Walt. During Eisner's worst years immediately following Wells' death, he began enacting policies of quality cuts to the parks to promote profit growth. The very antithesis to everything Walt stood for. Eisner was far more of a financially-centered person than Walt was, even if he did enjoy the company he oversaw.

As a side note that may or may not be accurate- There's little known about Frank Wells beyond being the "financial half" during the Eisner era. But I suspect that similar to Roy, there was more to him and his involvement with Disney than that. Though I am unsure if he he had any of Roy's own creative talent. I'll also mention that Jeffrey Katzenberg was massively important in getting Disney's film studio back on track. And his firing was probably a significant part of the studio's decline in the late 90s to early 2000s.
 
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mikejs78

Premium Member
I would never place Iger on the same level as Roy Disney. Roy was accurately seen as a more financial half of the two brothers, but that is heavily underselling the man. The way he conducted business was vastly different than Iger. Unlike Iger, Roy actually seemed to legitimately care about the company on a personal level. He showed an admiration and respect for Walt and his creative mind in spite of being a "financial" guy. He clearly seemed to value brother's ideals, even if not everything Walt envisioned came to pass.

https://www.mouseplanet.com/9562/The_Forgotten_Brother_Who_Built_a_Magic_Kingdom

Roy didn't run the company solo for a particularly long time before his own death. But during this relatively brief time, Roy accomplished some incredible feats. Roy oversaw the planning, construction and opening of Magic Kingdom along with developing the surrounding areas. He seemed to share at least some of his brother's creativity (not to that same high degree perhaps, but few can claim that).

I liked the first half of Eisner's era and don't disregard what he accomplished, but I also definitely would not place him alongside Walt. During Eisner's worst years immediately following Wells' death, he began enacting policies of quality cuts to the parks to promote profit growth. The very antithesis to everything Walt stood for. Eisner was far more of a financially-centered person than Walt was, even if he did enjoy the company he oversaw.

As a side note that may or may not be accurate- There's little known about Frank Wells beyond being the "financial half" during the Eisner era. But I suspect that similar to Roy, there was more to him and his involvement with Disney than that. Though I am unsure if he he had any of Roy's own creative talent. I'll also mention that Jeffrey Katzenberg was massively important in getting Disney's film studio back on track. And his firing was probably a significant part of the studio's decline in the late 90s to early 2000s.
My intent wasn't to put either of them on the same level with Walt and Roy - more to point out that Disney works best when you have both a creative and a business person running it.
 

MerlinTheGoat

Well-Known Member
My intent wasn't to put either of them on the same level with Walt and Roy - more to point out that Disney works best when you have both a creative and a business person running it.
Ideally it probably would work best in that format, but it's still incredibly important to get the right people involved. The financial people STILL need to have some level of creativity as well, and a respect for the creative forces in the company. Roy was able to run the company well on his own for several years, and I think it's because he also had some creative blood in him too. He definitely held a reverence for his brother's core ideals.

Either way, Roy was at the company from the very beginning and probably understood it more than almost anyone else besides Walt and his original senior creative team. It would have been interesting to see how the company would have turned out had we gotten longer with a solely Roy-run Disney company.

Many of the problems that eventually came to mess the company up were probably not entirely (or even wholly) due to the absence of the two-person creative and financial dynamic. But instead caused by power grabs within executive leadership to grab control of the machine following the era of Walt and Roy. Far too many competing egos desired power just for the sake of power. These executives lack humility, understanding and respect for the company and its original core ideals established by Walt and Roy. I blame Iger AND Eisner for a lot of this, and everyone else involved (the strategic planning group). Though Iger is unquestionably worse.
 

P_Radden

Well-Known Member
So as of right now, the only confirmed changes coming to Future World are the GotG/Energy coaster and the Space restaurant. The fact the spine/entry project has been delayed gives me a glimmer of hope at least a portion of the CC buildings may be kept. But even so, it seems this overall larger project may be on hold due to the entry resort? Could this be the case?
 

larandtra

Well-Known Member
My personal opinion is I expect to see a lot of revamping of schedules as some things are moved up the list, some moved down, based on allocation of funds. Some projects scrapped, even announced ones, new ones put into place, others modified, and some final decisions and direction on where money will be spent, how much, and in what order.
 

HauntedPirate

Park nostalgist
Premium Member
My intent wasn't to put either of them on the same level with Walt and Roy - more to point out that Disney works best when you have both a creative and a business person running it.

Wait, you mean the current Tweedledee and Tweedledum aren't considered "a creative and a business person running" the company? ;)
 

RobbinsDad

Well-Known Member
My personal opinion is I expect to see a lot of revamping of schedules as some things are moved up the list, some moved down, based on allocation of funds. Some projects scrapped, even announced ones, new ones put into place, others modified, and some final decisions and direction on where money will be spent, how much, and in what order.
So what you're saying with lots of commas is don't trust anything.
 

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