Bob Chapek Confirms Disney Will Overhaul Epcot

RSoxNo1

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
CinematicFusion said:
Universal changed it all. They threw big money at an IP and bet a big audience would come. It worked. Since then, Disney has revamped Fantasy Land, created Avatar Land and Toy Story Land, reworked Tower of Terror in DL to Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT (and it's a huge hit), creating Star War Land with concept hotel, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, Tron Coaster. Frozen Land and Marvel Land are coming to Paris. (From Times article) "Each of Disney’s six theme park resorts around the world is undergoing major expansion, along with Disney Cruise Line. Michael Nathanson, a longtime media analyst, estimates that Disney will spend $24 billion on new attractions, hotels and ships over the next five years. That’s more than Disney paid for Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm combined. "
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Disney didn't fully understand the lessons that needed to be learned then though. I have little confidence that Disney or Comcast is understanding why things are successful or not in the parks. Movie IP based attractions are easy to market, but at what point does that cease to matter? That gets people in the door for year 1, but these rides live on for 20+ years. The quality still needs to be there, the theme still needs to be there. They're building for year 1, not years 2-20.

I wrote this a few years ago: https://micechat.com/101023-tim-grassey-addicted-easy-money/

Now on to the "Can they make this work?" What if Disney created a S.E.A. type backstory that connected the Future World Pavilions? Extend the Marvel Theme Park Universe to include relevant characters and you've got a loose tie. I think you can call the Guardians Adventurers, Explorers, Discoverers or Dreamers, whatever word you want to use. Bringing in and bringing back similar concepts to existing pavilions could also work. Dreamfinder, the Land Keeper, etc could provide a blending of movie based characters mixed with theme park originals. It's loose, but it's a tie.
 
HMF

HMF

Well-Known Member
Cast Member Voice said:
Hot Take:
EPCOT needed an almost total gutting/reconfiguring much more than DHS/DCA did and EPCOT has needed an almost total gutting/reconfiguring for much longer than DHS/DCA went before their gutting/reconfiguring.

EPCOT truly is the Jan Brady of the Disney parks.
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I couldn't disagree more. Unlike DCA, Epcot and DHS had strong concepts. Obviously time changes things but Epcot and DHS were not profoundly broken as DCA was and (in my opinion) is again now. Between DHS losing GMR and Epcot losing ROE. I feel those are key parts of those parks identities and when you take them away it will make the whole park feel like a whole different animal.
 
mikejs78

mikejs78

Premium Member
The more I research things, the more I realize that Eisner is really the one who killed Epcot. Bulldozing Horizons and WoM; destroying Imagination, IP into the park (Ellen/Bill Nye/Jeopardy, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Nemo, Lion King, Martin Short - all happened under his watch). Even Illuminations 25(a) was a big change from what proceeded it and had some IP in it (luckily the backlash here led to a quick change to Illuminations 25b and eventually RoE)... Chapek and Iger are just really continuing what Eisner set in motion.
 
tparris

tparris

Well-Known Member
mikejs78 said:
The more I research things, the more I realize that Eisner is really the one who killed Epcot. Bulldozing Horizons and WoM; destroying Imagination, IP into the park (Ellen/Bill Nye/Jeopardy, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Nemo, Lion King, Martin Short - all happened under his watch). Even Illuminations 25(a) was a big change from what proceeded it and had some IP in it (luckily the backlash here led to a quick change to Illuminations 25b and eventually RoE)... Chapek and Iger are just really continuing what Eisner set in motion.
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However, even thought they were IPs, at least they tied in somewhat with the theme of the pavilion, except for Nemo and maybe Honey. Nemo definitely doesn’t get an excuse there.
 
Horizons '83

Horizons '83

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
tparris said:
However, even thought they were IPs, at least they tied in somewhat with the theme of the pavilion, except for Nemo and maybe Honey. Nemo definitely doesn’t get an excuse there.
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You could stretch nemo in saying it follows the theme of aquatic life, i.e. fish. But really it's a stretch.
 
mikejs78

mikejs78

Premium Member
tparris said:
However, even thought they were IPs, at least they tied in somewhat with the theme of the pavilion, except for Nemo and maybe Honey. Nemo definitely doesn’t get an excuse there.
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TJ Vazquez said:
You could stretch nemo in saying it follows the theme of aquatic life, i.e. fish. But really it's a stretch.
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So would you be OK with IP as long as it tied to the theme? Say, if they redid Seas and really made it about marine life (a la Finding Dory's Marine Life Institute), or with Mulan narrating a film about China history and culture? Or even Guardians if it were to talk about the Science of the Universe?
 
Horizons '83

Horizons '83

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
mikejs78 said:
So would you be OK with IP as long as it tied to the theme? Say, if they redid Seas and really made it about marine life (a la Finding Dory's Marine Life Institute), or with Mulan narrating a film about China history and culture? Or even Guardians if it were to talk about the Science of the Universe?
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Oh absolutely not, and for the record I'm just playing devil's advocate, I can't stand what the seas became, I am just glad that the exhibit tanks haven't been turned into something ridiculous.
 
W

wdwfan4ver

Well-Known Member
mikejs78 said:
The more I research things, the more I realize that Eisner is really the one who killed Epcot. Bulldozing Horizons and WoM; destroying Imagination, IP into the park (Ellen/Bill Nye/Jeopardy, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Nemo, Lion King, Martin Short - all happened under his watch). Even Illuminations 25(a) was a big change from what proceeded it and had some IP in it (luckily the backlash here led to a quick change to Illuminations 25b and eventually RoE)... Chapek and Iger are just really continuing what Eisner set in motion.
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I highly doubt Eisner had northing to do with Martin Short in Epcot. O'Canada debuted in 2007 and Iger was named CEO of Disney in March of 2005. Eisner was still CEO through he resigned on September 30, 2005. but Iger was the true Ceo of the Walt Disney Company for 6 months already.

The Seas with Nemo & Friends is very debatable it was approved by Eisner. My reasoning is while Nemo got its start under Eisner in Epcot, he likely had nothing to do with the Living Seas closed in August of 2005. All it seemed like Eisner approved was Turtle Talk.

My reasoning is The living Seas in August of 2005 was closed for transformation to Nemo and Iger became CEO of Disney in March of 2005. It is very possible that Iger approved the transformation as a result due to when the Living Seas was closed.

Lion King did not ruin Epcot. Lion King IP was used properly in Epcot by having it as an Educational film. Ellen did not ruin Epcot due to it being tied in with Energy.
 
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jt04

jt04

Well-Known Member
mikejs78 said:
The more I research things, the more I realize that Eisner is really the one who killed Epcot. Bulldozing Horizons and WoM; destroying Imagination, IP into the park (Ellen/Bill Nye/Jeopardy, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Nemo, Lion King, Martin Short - all happened under his watch). Even Illuminations 25(a) was a big change from what proceeded it and had some IP in it (luckily the backlash here led to a quick change to Illuminations 25b and eventually RoE)... Chapek and Iger are just really continuing what Eisner set in motion.
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Chapek and Imagineering are trying to fix FW. I think they will succeed.
 
jt04

jt04

Well-Known Member
RSoxNo1 said:
Disney didn't fully understand the lessons that needed to be learned then though. I have little confidence that Disney or Comcast is understanding why things are successful or not in the parks. Movie IP based attractions are easy to market, but at what point does that cease to matter? That gets people in the door for year 1, but these rides live on for 20+ years. The quality still needs to be there, the theme still needs to be there. They're building for year 1, not years 2-20.

I wrote this a few years ago: https://micechat.com/101023-tim-grassey-addicted-easy-money/

Now on to the "Can they make this work?" What if Disney created a S.E.A. type backstory that connected the Future World Pavilions? Extend the Marvel Theme Park Universe to include relevant characters and you've got a loose tie. I think you can call the Guardians Adventurers, Explorers, Discoverers or Dreamers, whatever word you want to use. Bringing in and bringing back similar concepts to existing pavilions could also work. Dreamfinder, the Land Keeper, etc could provide a blending of movie based characters mixed with theme park originals. It's loose, but it's a tie.
Click to expand...

Very good. Less reliance on Edutainment and more on Imagineering might work.
 

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