Bob Chapek Confirms Disney Will Overhaul Epcot

HMF

HMF

Well-Known Member
scud said:
If I worked for WDI, I'd go rogue. I would be insubordinate until I was fired. I care more about protecting great experiences than changing things just to make a quick buck.

Chapek sees the parks as nothing more than an IP dumping ground.
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I would be surprised if there weren't some factions in WDI working to minimize the thematic damage to the best extent possible.
 
FrankLapidus

FrankLapidus

Well-Known Member
jt04 said:
Easy to say. But the problems are significant. I think Eisner recognized this 20 years ago. To his credit.
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You really don't know what you're talking about. Are you actually being serious here?

This time 20 years ago, Paul Pressler was put in charge of Walt Disney Attractions, so let's give Eisner the credit he deserves for that marvellous decision and not pretend that he was somehow ahead of the visionary curve in recognising supposed issues at Epcot - he wasn't.
 
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CinematicFusion

CinematicFusion

Well-Known Member
tree123 said:
Imagination has been referenced quite a bit in pop culture. South Park's Imaginationland: The Movie was heavily inspired by it. Admittedly, even that is somewhat old now...
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True...South Park Imagination land came out in 2007. 11 years ago.
Dream Finder hasn’t been in the park for 20 years.

Journey into Imagination was a solid pavillion/ride back in 1982, it’s a ride that needs to be closed today.
 
bcoachable

bcoachable

Well-Known Member
Because this has turned into a catch all thread (I guess they all are)
How much do the theme parks “spy” on each other. For instances, how much does universal know about the likelihood of a poppins dark ride vs how much is disney aware of what universal will do with there new land acquisitions?
Wondering if knowledge of one over the other makes an impact on fiscal decisions to do (or not do) cap ex expenditures...
 
epcotWSC

epcotWSC

Well-Known Member
I'm all for making Epcot more appealing. I honestly don't know anyone except for diehards who don't go to Epcot for anything more than test track, soarin (which I still think the new version is inferior to the original), and world showcase. Most kids also find the place boring.

I don't want MK 2.0, but I don't care if they bring IP in if it makes sense thematically. We live in the age where the only thing that sells are comic heroes and sequels and no one wants to take chances Do you honestly expect anything original that's going to be good?
 
MisterPenguin

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
HauntedMansionFLA said:
They need something to fill in the gap between the end of F&G and the start of F&W. Something the length of Festival Of The Arts.
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Well, if they stick to the FW area and put in outdoor ice rinks and large, fun splash pads, and utilized Innonventions for an ice room and had food booths which served cold and frozen foods...


MisterPenguin said:
⭐ Pixar Summer Chill Festival ⭐​

Epcot finally gets its Summer festival with the theme of water and ice as Pixar takes over Future World's southwest quadrant from the central fountain through Innoventions West to the Land and heading south past Imagination to the gateway to the World Showcase.

Pixar favorites show up in various ways: large Nemo and friends sculptures appear in the fountains and ponds; Riley's hockey rink (actual ice or synthetic) for real outdoors ice skating with the emotions taking turns on the ice; a Frozone ice room with real blocks of ice; snow cones from an Adorable Snowman; food booths with gourmet ice creams and chilled desserts from Chef Remy which includes the translucent raindrop cake that's like a giant water drop from A Bug's Life.

And Epcot gets upgraded water pads for the summer with a Cars car wash and a water pad with the Toy Story characters having a giant water fight with their toy water guns that shoot water at one another and everywhere!

​
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​
 
yensidtlaw1969

yensidtlaw1969

Well-Known Member
Reading this thread is such an education in how abysmally few people these days seem to understand what EPCOT Center was about or where it came from, why that should matter to the park today, and to what extent.

The park used to be filled with original, exciting, unique experiences, and many of them. In these days the park saw its greatest success.

Now the park does not have any meaningful number of the above mentioned. The park is not doing as well, and has been on a downwards slide for 25 years since they started doing away with what made the park unique and fulfilled the identity it was shaped in.

Some festivals have come along in the meantime that have propped up the numbers enough to keep them from implementing real solutions to the guest experience issues the park has had for two decades since a short-sighted directional turn was taken.

Trying to “fix” the park by migrating to a thematic plan that relies on the pop cultural successes of the day seems to be the direction they’ve now chosen — this is conceptually very similar to the plan that began devastating the theme of the park back around 1994, though it relies more on “Disney brand” properties than popular personalities. It’s perhaps as near-sighted of them now as it was then . . . probably more, because the park has had to replace all those attractions in the time since, so they should know how cashing in on today’s big thing pays out down the line. It’s not automatic, it’s about making great, unique experiences that suit the established theme of the park you’ve chosen to visit that day.

It seems to be tremendously forgotten that the Theme-part of Theme Park is so central to it’s success. That is what gives you the sense that you might want to go to a place like that to begin with. If your first exposure to the park was walking around it today, how would you have any idea what an “Epcot” even is? If the park’s name was once esoteric, it is now gibberish. The name doesn’t tell you and the park offers no further clues. Everything they’re offering up these days as forthcoming additions only serve to dilute this further rather than come to support it - it’s a nonsense name for a place that will have some of your “favorite characters” but isn’t Magic Kingdom or Hollywood Studios. Also there are countries in the back?

Who would know this whole place was meant to be an experiment in global community? And what on Earth or Xandar does Guardians of the Galaxy have to do with it? My faith that they will find a way to make sense of it has been run thin by their demonstrated lack of interest in the endeavor.

Meanwhile, over at Animal Kingdom, the theme of the park has been kept largely in elegant profile with its original intention, and after being permitted to flower over (perhaps a few too many) years the park is finally holding its own and doing better than ever in its history. Shocking.
 
DisneyGentlemanV2.0

DisneyGentlemanV2.0

Well-Known Member
yensidtlaw1969 said:
Reading this thread is such an education in how abysmally few people these days seem to understand what EPCOT Center was about or where it came from, why that should matter to the park today, and to what extent.

The park used to be filled with original, exciting, unique experiences, and many of them. In these days the park saw its greatest success.

Now the park does not have any meaningful number of the above mentioned. The park is not doing as well, and has been on a downwards slide for 25 years since they started doing away with what made the park unique and fulfilled the identity it was shaped in.

Some festivals have come along in the meantime that have propped up the numbers enough to keep them from implementing real solutions to the guest experience issues the park has had for two decades since a short-sighted directional turn was taken.

Trying to “fix” the park by migrating to a thematic plan that relies on the pop cultural successes of the day seems to be the direction they’ve now chosen — this is conceptually very similar to the plan that began devastating the theme of the park back around 1994, though it relies more on “Disney brand” properties than popular personalities. It’s perhaps as near-sighted of them now as it was then . . . probably more, because the park has had to replace all those attractions in the time since, so they should know how cashing in on today’s big thing pays out down the line. It’s not automatic, it’s about making great, unique experiences that suit the established theme of the park you’ve chosen to visit that day.

It seems to be tremendously forgotten that the Theme-part of Theme Park is so central to it’s success. That is what gives you the sense that you might want to go to a place like that to begin with. If your first exposure to the park was walking around it today, how would you have any idea what an “Epcot” even is? If the park’s name was once esoteric, it is now gibberish. The name doesn’t tell you and the park offers no further clues. Everything they’re offering up these days as forthcoming additions only serve to dilute this further rather than come to support it - it’s a nonsense name for a place that will have some of your “favorite characters” but isn’t Magic Kingdom or Hollywood Studios. Also there are countries in the back?

Who would know this whole place was meant to be an experiment in global community? And what on Earth or Xandar does Guardians of the Galaxy have to do with it? My faith that they will find a way to make sense of it has been run thin by their demonstrated lack of interest in the endeavor.

Meanwhile, over at Animal Kingdom, the theme of the park has been kept largely in elegant profile with its original intention, and after being permitted to flower over (perhaps a few too many) years the park is finally holding its own and doing better than ever in its history. Shocking.
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You nailed it, but not quite in the way you anticipated.

EPCOT is true to its name more than ever. "...a thematic plan that relies on the pop cultural successes of the day..." is PRECISELY the community of tomorrow. EPCOT captures that in its lack of attention, its pandering to the moment, and its focus on a fleeting sense of what is popular. It has become us.
 
DisneyGentlemanV2.0

DisneyGentlemanV2.0

Well-Known Member
yensidtlaw1969 said:
Some festivals have come along in the meantime that have propped up the numbers enough to keep them from implementing real solutions to the guest experience issues the park has had for two decades since a short-sighted directional turn was taken.
Click to expand...
For me, the "aha moment" was watching the quasi-geriatric crowd rise up from their ECV seats trying to relive long past days of drug-induced euphoria. Many had been hobbled by excesses of food and drink, and they swayed to the music they experienced through their cochlear implants whilst supported on their titanium knees and waving their cell phones in the air. "Ah yes, the future has arrived" I thought.

Have you ever looked beyond today into the future?
Picturing a world we've yet to see
The wonder of finding new ways
That lead to the promise of brighter days

Horizons 2018...
 
sedati

sedati

Well-Known Member
I
yensidtlaw1969 said:
The park used to be filled with original, exciting, unique experiences, and many of them.
Click to expand...



Disney's storytelling set it apart from the World's Fairs, but it was the World's Fairs it was emulating. The theme is industrial film writ large.

Like Futurama above, there was ambition and wonder at EPCOT Center, but little laughter, thrill, fear, or tug of the heart-sting to be found. Dreamfinder tells us of such things, but they're presented more as concepts. Craftsmanship aside, Disney still left many of its most important storytelling tools in the toolbox.

Narration is impersonal. Moving about on a glorified conveyor belt puts efficiency above all else and makes it feel less like a ride, and more like a manufacturing process. Here we aren't the guests so much as the product. Companies paid big money to have us hear their message. Communication/Phones. Energy/Oil. Motion/Cars. Imagination/Film. Land/Food.

If Star-Lord wants to give me a tour of the Galaxy then fine. I'd love to see a supernova in person. Feel the force of a black hole. Explore colorful Nebulas ;). I'm not sure what where getting, but I could see it work. Besides, you don't have to sell me on Guardians of the Galaxy becaue I've already bought it.

World of Motion told me it was fun to be free, but Test Track's outdoor loop made me believe it. I think Horizons, Energy, and Spaceship Earth each included footage of the space shuttle taking off- Mission Space put me on it.
 
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