I agree as well. A Horizons T-shirt I'd be fine with, might even consider ordering. It's the "30th Anniversary" that gets me riled up.
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Celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Horizons!!!
- Thread starter sshindel
- Start date
I agree as well. A Horizons T-shirt I'd be fine with, might even consider ordering. It's the "30th Anniversary" that gets me riled up.
Communicore
Well-Known Member
"It's only a ride that was torn down, it's nothing important. You know, you have Martin's videos there if you want to reminisce."
pmaljr
Well-Known Member
Or, you all could enjoy the moment, buy the shirt, wear it with pride, and take that as a sign that maybe some of the folks there they think they messed up when they took it down and that they too have a fond memory of the attraction and wish they could experience it again also. If they also included a letter of apology for tearing it down, would that make anyone here want the tee or is there no hope?
Slowjack
Well-Known Member
I think it's the cake-and-eat-it-too element that's galling. We don't think the ride is popular enough to keep in the park, but we do think it's popular enough to make a few bucks off of it. Or, to put it another way, they aren't willing to consider improvements to Epcot that would give "Epcot Center" fans a reason to be excited about the park again, but they are willing to give them ways to spend money.
To be clear, I don't fault Disney for getting rid of Horizons, because as ABQ says, it was a ghost town at the end. But I grow weary of the shameless hucksterism. What next? Will the Magic Band Emporium at the Studios sell you a shirt that says "Remember when this was a cool store?" A Wild Ride shirt at the Pooh ride gift shop? Maybe they could open just the front of the Wonders of Life just to sell trinkets representing the lost parts of the pavilion.
To be clear, I don't fault Disney for getting rid of Horizons, because as ABQ says, it was a ghost town at the end. But I grow weary of the shameless hucksterism. What next? Will the Magic Band Emporium at the Studios sell you a shirt that says "Remember when this was a cool store?" A Wild Ride shirt at the Pooh ride gift shop? Maybe they could open just the front of the Wonders of Life just to sell trinkets representing the lost parts of the pavilion.
Communicore
Well-Known Member
What a mockery this is. Like the other poster said, let's make anniversaries out of anything that has been replaced. I want a McDonald's Fry Cart anniversary pin and a Doug Live! anniversary shirt.
^^^ This.
Specifically
And I've fallen prey to it as well. I own an EPCOT center T-shirt, with the original pavilion logos on it, because I loved that park more than any other when I was young and it still had a clear mission and vision. I saw that and had to show my support to it. BUT, from what we can tell, Disney is not willing to spend a dime to improve Future World in any way (aside from adding a Starbucks), but they are sure willing to make a play at my nostalgia dollars. Nostalgia dollars I would be ok with as suggested above, if they had not added the offensive (IMO) "30th anniversary" tag line.
abeachchick
hi
This picture breaks my heart.
While I wholeheartedly agree, I'm still buying all three shirts. 
Disney posted a new T-Shirt available online today:
http://www.disneystore.com/disney-p...MP=DTPM-CMR&att=PARKS_Horizons_Flash_Facebook
So, let me get my venting done here, because it's kinda filled me with a special kind of rage.
This T-shirt is a slap in the face to anyone who loved EPCOT in it's glory years. Why would we want to celebrate the anniversary of something that DIDN'T MAKE IT TO IT'S ANNIVERSARY. As I said elsewhere, if I'm married, and I decide to get a divorce, I do not get to continue to celebrate my anniversary!
What other attractions should we start celebrating random anniversaries for? Toad? 20k? WoM? River Country "Celebrating 12 years of neglect and rot!"
Sorry, please feel free to join in and discuss if you feel strongly on one side or another of this.
CDavid
Well-Known Member
We didn't divorce Horizons; It was taken from us, and people do find it appropriate to commemorate people and things they have lost. While it is wholly insensitive to compare the loss of an attraction, beloved as it was, to the loss of a person, death really is a better analogy here than divorce.
While you don't celebrate an anniversary after a divorce, you do remember the anniversary dates of things you lost that you wish we still had with us - like Horizons. Rather than a slap in the face, I'd tend to see this as a gift; Horizons went before it's time, and is fondly remembered. It would have been 30 had it survived, but regardless of how you look at it - the attraction still opened thirty years ago! It remains the 30th anniversary of the pavilions opening date whether the place survived for one year or all thirty.
I don't understand the anger. Why should we not remember the anniversary dates of things we can't experience anymore? Forgetting them would be the far greater offense. In fact, if there is anything at all to be upset over, it would be the fact this commemorative shirt is (apparently) only available four days. It ought to be available an extended period - and sold in Epcot for that entire time as well.
LorangeJuice
Active Member
I got one of each shirt. I eat, sleep, and shower in t-shirts . I collect them for everything. When I was a kid I could buy a Figment hat & plush but nothing from Horizons. As a kid, all I wanted a Horizons t-shirt. As a teenager, all I wanted a Horizons t-shirt. As an adult, I mourned the loss of my favorite attraction and bought every fan-made shirt I could find . I made a point to wear them in the parks, and I would get comments and meet fellow fans all the time.
These are the first official Horizons t-shirts ever sold by Disney, and they are MINE! I can't wait to wear these bad boys in the parks!
I went to EPCOT on October 1st of this year to celebrate Horizons' birthday knowing there would be no fanfare nor recognition from the company. I was shocked to see these shirts posted nearly 2 months later. I imagine this was no easy task to get them up in the Disney Parks online store. I think Steve Miller's blog post is authentic, and I feel these shirts were designed by a genuine fan of the attraction.
I am so sick of the generic Disney Parks merchandise that isn't even resort specific, let alone park or attraction specific (although I noticed an improvement on my last trip). I want to see more stuff like this.
Everyone has the right to vote with their wallet. I voted with mine.
. I collect them for everything. When I was a kid I could buy a Figment hat & plush but nothing from Horizons. As a kid, all I wanted a Horizons t-shirt. As a teenager, all I wanted a Horizons t-shirt. As an adult, I mourned the loss of my favorite attraction and bought every fan-made shirt I could find . I made a point to wear them in the parks, and I would get comments and meet fellow fans all the time.These are the first official Horizons t-shirts ever sold by Disney, and they are MINE! I can't wait to wear these bad boys in the parks!
I went to EPCOT on October 1st of this year to celebrate Horizons' birthday knowing there would be no fanfare nor recognition from the company. I was shocked to see these shirts posted nearly 2 months later. I imagine this was no easy task to get them up in the Disney Parks online store. I think Steve Miller's blog post is authentic, and I feel these shirts were designed by a genuine fan of the attraction.
I am so sick of the generic Disney Parks merchandise that isn't even resort specific, let alone park or attraction specific (although I noticed an improvement on my last trip). I want to see more stuff like this.
Everyone has the right to vote with their wallet. I voted with mine.
Tigger1988
Well-Known Member
People celebrate/commemorate anniversaries for things that no longer exist (or events) all the time. To be offended by this is silly at best, don't buy it then.
In my statement, I was not referring to US as the people who divorced Horizons, rather Disney. They were the ones who ended it's run, or "marriage", and for them to celebrate it's anniversary, IMO, is what is semi-offensive to me, and to make money off of it on the side is also kind of sick.
Again, to use your death analogy, this wasn't a natural death. Disney is the one who killed it. Now they are making money off it's death. (I could see the argument that it was a natural death due to it's decline in attendance, and that's a valid point of discussion, but it could always be argued that there were methods other than a wrecking ball to boost attendance while keeping the core of the attraction and it's vision intact).
But, to get to the heart of the matter, if Future World was improved by the removal of this pavilion, I'd have nothing to complain about at all. If Future World was better today than it was back then, progress would have been made, and we could potentially celebrate the death of a great attraction in the name of improvement. In my mind though, Future World has become a ghost town, a waste, and something that I would rather skip (and if the rest of my family didn't want to go to Akershus on our last trip, I would have gladly). Celebrating the death of Horizons among the shambles of Future World is just not something I can get behind.
And as suggested, I wont. I won't buy the shirt, and I also won't begrudge others who do. I would not ever forget Horizons, so reminding me of it's demise is rubbing salt in a wound that is strangely still open all these years later. To those who can see this as a celebration, please, by all means, enjoy your shirts, you'll not see me show up at your house and throw rotten tomatoes at you whilst you wear them. I promise.
ABQ
Well-Known Member
Good point, I may just have to buy one too for that very reason.
JEANYLASER
Well-Known Member
Horizons was my favorite ride in EPCOT!
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Bocabear
Well-Known Member
Was......
I agree with the sentiment that I would love the shirts without the "celebrate the anniversary" detail. If we're going to draw analogies with other celebrations there really isn't a good one since murderers don't sell t-shirts to celebrate the births of their victims. Now, if you told me that two Disney executives had a bet and if they sold 100,000 of these puppies they were going to build a big, expansive, grand, vista opening, dreamscape encouraging, people eating dark ride in FW, I'd plop down 3 grand on t-shirts in a heartbeat.
It would appear that all they hope is nostalgia sells....
Future Guy
Active Member
It's a mistake to attribute a singular corporate intent to everything that happens under the very large Disney umbrella. The company is like a very large and obese man being controlled by a disorganized committee of alien beings that are divided into several feuding factions. It can't muster the coordination to tie its metaphorical shoe. The simple truth is that the shirts exist because Steven Miller, who's a big Merchandising muckety-muck, is a Horizons fan and was able to make the case that enough of a demand existed to justify a limited run. I don't have a problem with that. It's nice to see a Disney management-level person with a passion for something besides a quarterly financial report or their own political advancement.
Does that mean I'll be buying one (or three)? Heck no. But I'm not going to get all offended at Disney for allegedly "trolling the fans", because that's giving them way too much credit.
Does that mean I'll be buying one (or three)? Heck no. But I'm not going to get all offended at Disney for allegedly "trolling the fans", because that's giving them way too much credit.