Timeless, relevant and Disney?
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News Big changes coming to EPCOT's Future World?
- Thread starter djkidkaz
- Start date
Tony the Tigger
Well-Known Member
Maybe I'm thinking of the wrong building - the big, mostly empty one over there that I most often find myself in to get a flight of beer and sit down at a table in a very empty, big hallway.
eliza61nyc
Well-Known Member
Very few things should be "timeless", the only constant is change.
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eliza61nyc
Well-Known Member
And it some times smells, why not tear it down
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Tony the Tigger
Well-Known Member
So I can see how suits in an office said, "Hey, all we're using this for is a booth during all the festivals. Let's just go with that and make it a bar.
Not saying I agree/disagree. That's just how these things go sometimes.
Putting something somewhere for the sake of putting something somewhere is not the best idea, either. Maybe when they have a story to tell, the bar can be moved or built around or eliminated. It seems they either don't have a story to tell to suit that building, or can't/won't spend the money on one right now. In the meantime, pouring liquor is like pouring jewelry when it comes to margins, so...
This is true about the smell.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
Then why not build a bigger bar for less money using what is there? The new festival center was not something that could be moved and was less flexible than the CommuniCore building it is replacing.
BatStang2000
Active Member
You know what's funny (or maybe sad)? I was there a couple of weeks ago and even though the building is gone, that awful smell is still there......
Horizons1
Well-Known Member
Fortunately for the rest of us, neither does your nonsense.
UNCgolf
Well-Known Member
I don't think it's big enough for that, but I do wish they would reopen it permanently as a restaurant or something else beyond just the EPCOT preview.
Tony the Tigger
Well-Known Member
I am not up on exactly what they are replacing it with - something more open air, something traditional, a square box - I honestly just haven't heard.
Maybe it's because of things like the smell, or the building itself needing attention. Maybe it was just time to go - clean slate, new style. Maybe they just want as many things as possible to look new and fresh for whatever the 50th might end up being. I could hear the reviews: "For Disney's 50th celebration, they stuck some booths in an old building [snicker] that smells a little. Not very magical!" (Although I suppose that's what will happen if the new bar isn't open by then. Is it scheduled for 2021?)
What I do know is it never felt "right" or "intentional" in there lately. You could tell the building was not being used for that which it was originally intended. The festival thing was shoehorned in, not terribly well. You knew you were in a leftover space. That's not very Disney show, IMO. Temporarily is one thing, but not long term.
Same scenario. Yes, you can use the space. Any caterer in any city can use any space and make it work for an event. But when you have given up on the original use of a space and don't renovate it, whatever comes next will never be that for which it was intended. That could be charming in the case of a local gas station that was turned into a drive-thru or something. It's a pretty glaring "sore thumb" in the middle of Disney World, which is supposed to have such high standards, which folks here are always complaining about and acting like their standards are higher than Imagineers because a red flower should be a blue flower or it's "out of place."
The obvious "bad show" is when you have these buildings that were designed for one purpose, clumsily adapted to something that doesn't quite fit right - like the festivals in the Odyssey building. Like what we just discussed above.
If you can remove all the structure of the previous gas station and build your drive-thru from scratch, it's going to look more purposeful, less dated, and most likely be more functional as a drive-thru.
Rich Brownn
Well-Known Member
Without going into details, EPCOT (the painting) was just a thrown together backdrop for a film to be made for the Florida Leg and wasn't designed by be seen by the public until someone decided to air it as a trubute on TWWOD. John Hench made the remark once "We're haunted by that <expletive> painting" EPCOT could never have worked. You simply cannot experiment with peoples lives. Once built the E, P and T would be gone. Imagine if they had built a city using that garbage system for the MK/Cont that always clogs up? Or a prototype kitchen that forever breaks down (One Imagineer said "Can you imagine telling people 'well its only a prototype' when the can't make dinner?") Once they got down to brass tacks, as they say, they realized the concept was unworkable unless people were there for just a day. Much of that concept was worked into building WDW. Celebration is what Disney built as a planned community.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
Garden Cities of To-Morrow is still read, studied and understand by urban designers today. EPCOT was more than just a painting and there is enough direct and related information to understand it as an urban form.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
Epcot new central spine concept art - Photo 7 of 7
Epcot new central spine concept art - Photo 7 of 7
www.wdwmagic.com
It seems you may be confusing the CommuiCore/Innoventions building that is being demolished with the Wonders of Life pavilion (the gold domed building). Wonders of Life is what was long serving as the Festival Center with various events held amongst the attraction remnants.
If the building needed serious attention it stands to reason that its near identical twin would also need attention, which would be more important in a building with a major food service component. If it was about a new look, again, it’s ugly old twin will still be sitting right there.
The CommuniCore buildings were designed to be flexible, to host content that would change. They’re ultimately big open spaces. Being flexible seems like a desire in a festival center as it should be able to change seasonally with each festival. The new building is an elevated, likely post-tensioned structure that will be smaller and less flexible than what it is replacing.
UNCgolf
Well-Known Member
That new building is also never going to be built.
Its there for that. People sit on them, take pictures. Its not really meant to be something sacred. It is meant for kids what not to pose with. That's all ok. I guess my comment about it being just decoration is that a single statue in one place is more special - honoring - than many statues in many places. I don't fault Disney for putting it up, heck we'll be there getting a picture by it. But their not putting it there as some sort of honorific, some revered thing - they're putting it there for decoration, for the guests to pose etc with. Most of the statues around WDW are like that, accessible in that way.
Tony the Tigger
Well-Known Member
Elevated building at center right.Epcot new central spine concept art - Photo 7 of 7
Epcot new central spine concept art - Photo 7 of 7
It seems you may be confusing the CommuiCore/Innoventions building that is being demolished with the Wonders of Life pavilion (the gold domed building). Wonders of Life is what was long serving as the Festival Center with various events held amongst the attraction remnants.
If the building needed serious attention it stands to reason that its near identical twin would also need attention, which would be more important in a building with a major food service component. If it was about a new look, again, it’s ugly old twin will still be sitting right there.
The CommuniCore buildings were designed to be flexible, to host content that would change. They’re ultimately big open spaces. Being flexible seems like a desire in a festival center as it should be able to change seasonally with each festival. The new building is an elevated, likely post-tensioned structure that will be smaller and less flexible than what it is replacing.
Thanks.
Like the rest of us, I can only guess what they are up to. Maybe the other building is on the chopping block down the road.
Maybe these plans were revised recently, and a more open air concept is “the future.” (Do we think there will be no more airborne viruses?) Today, you’d be safer in that building than the other one. (It looks more “open” to me in the artwork.
We all know the future isn’t static, and the parks will always change. I don’t see these things as permanent or as threats, just something new for awhile until they do something different.
I do wish they’d do more adding than replacing. That seems to be a recurring thing which makes less sense to me.
Per usual, I’ll reserve judgment until I experience it myself. Unless/until they go after CoP lol.
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Goofy213
Well-Known Member
After processing this conversation for awhile here is what I'm getting from all this. First, Epcot needed an event center, we get Innoventions. Then the Millennium comes around and we need a larger area now we have the the giant tent as a event center. But, that was suppose to be temporary so we will use the former Life Pavillion that is structurally unstable for anything else. That doesn't work so let's build an all new event center and ruin the symmetry of the park by putting up a towering 3 story modern facility in place of the 3 decade old version of the future. Then 2020 happens and everyone is upset because the new building is put on hold and half of the old building is already gone. Let's recap. No new building, old building gone, and we still have 2 event centers still left. Let's stop crying like children that didn't get their new toy because mommy and daddy lost their jobs to the pandemic. We have been through this before. Change is scary. But it can be a good thing. The 3 story structure never fit the esthetics of the area anyways. Good it's gone. Innoventions was falling apart and ruined the traffic flow through the center of the park (ex: new central hub.) The fact that it has taken over a year to tear the old building down gives you enough evidence that Innoventions had some problems ( I'm assuming aspestist.) Epcot will go back to using the Millennium and Life buildings until a new plan can be built. Immagineering will come up with a better event center, perhaps a more clear glass dome structure that will open itself more to the sites of Epcot (especially the new night time fireworks.) The life pavilion has a new opportunity to become more than a giant video arcade, and the Millennium tent can then be torn down to add additional space for a Proper Practically Perfect Poppins Pavilion ( I love alliteration.) So let's forget this whole the sky is falling nonsense, and have faith that the right thing will be done. Let's face it Disney Springs came out better than what Hyperion Wharf was to be, or do you want them to get rid of the Boathouse?