I do feel a bit cold after these announcements, but perhaps a lot of that was how it seemed they were teasing a lot more but ended up not really revealing much that wasn't already expected. I give them points for at least being bold with their redesign ideas, even if I don't totally agree with the choices, and appreciate that the idea does seem to feel a bit like creating a community center (CommuniCore?) in a 21st century model, but it's just hard to stay too excited when you know pavilions like the Seas and Imagination are crying out to be given new life, but there's not even a word on them.
Ultimately, I think it comes down to only having so much faith in the current management to deliver something that feels like true Disney, as opposed to their current idea of what "more Disney" is: recognized movie characters. I'm glad they don't seem to have gone overboard on that front for the EPCOT redesign, but it'd be nice to get an announcement of something totally new to the park, or any of the parks, for that matter, that's an original concept and not a film tie-in. To me, "true/more Disney" means a million different things, from the films and TV to weird cartoons about math to nature documentaries to Walt being obsessed with urban mass transit options and other new tech, so Chapek saying "more Disney" mostly in reference to "more characters" is always dispiriting.
Heck, we're so on our toes about this that some of us are freaking out that something in the Spaceship Earth refurb concept art looked too much like something from Moana, but I can't blame people for being jumpy. I'll admit, the idea that HarmoniUS is going to pretty much be Disney movie music was a huge downer for me, considering I can hear those tunes literally almost everywhere else on property, especially with how beautiful Illuminations has always been in both content and message.
Still, the work has only just begun, so I hope to visit there some time in the next few years and feel good about what's going down. It's just, again, I have a hard time giving the current management the benefit of the doubt.
Maybe that there's a natural disasters going on in that country right now and that they didn't think that the timing would be good? Or maybe some issues came up with the sponsor?
Hate to say it, but I don't think there's too much "natural" about what's happening to the forest right now, which might've made it an even touchier subject to bring up at the presentation.
