Connections Cafe and Eatery

Casper Gutman

Casper Gutman

Well-Known Member
If EPCOT wasn’t a gutted mess devoid of substance, a shell that has had a host of classic attractions ripped out and replaced by staggeringly lackluster replacements, a rudderless ship whose entire guiding philosophy was discarded and replaced with nothing… maybe then, the flowery PR department pablum positioning management as SUPERFANS!!! just like you who totally love theme parks wouldn’t be as intensely grating.

It’s the same reason I find D’Amaro more infuriating then Chapek - if you’re intent on reducing something that was once great into the bare minimum that still provides profits, don’t pretend you’re my friend while you do it.
 
Mac Tonight

Mac Tonight

Well-Known Member
Casper Gutman said:
If EPCOT wasn’t a gutted mess devoid of substance, a shell that has had a host of classic attractions ripped out and replaced by staggeringly lackluster replacements, a rudderless ship whose entire guiding philosophy was discarded and replaced with nothing… maybe then, the flowery PR department pablum positioning management as SUPERFANS!!! just like you who totally love theme parks wouldn’t be as intensely grating.

It’s the same reason I find D’Amaro more infuriating then Chapek - if you’re intent on reducing something that was once great into the bare minimum that still provides profits, don’t pretend you’re my friend while you do it.
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See, the ironic thing is, I agree with you 100%.
Even though I live in CA, I consider Epcot my “home” park, since it was the place I first fell in love with Disney theme parks back in the late 80’s-early 90’s. I left in ‘94, went back in ‘98, then not again until 2011, and then finally returned last November. Seeing it now, knowing what it once was, is nothing short of heartbreaking.

I guess when it comes down to it for me though, the park is so fundamentally broken, that the blame for its current shape and direction are greater than the sum of Zach’s Instagrams. Trust me, I get that they’re easy targets and they annoy the hell out of people here. But I also know that ultimately, our frustration should be directed much higher up the ladder.
 
yensidtlaw1969

yensidtlaw1969

Well-Known Member
The issue with the posts on Zach's instagram is that they're insult on top of injury.

Their cloying and ingenuine nature is so readily apparent - given how many problems EPCOT does have that actually need solving it's insulting to see them tout things like ordinary floor tile as any sort of meaningful component of those problems' solution.

They're spending millions and millions of dollars on a supposed rebirth of the park, not actually fixing it, and attempting to sell us on generic new hardware as exciting developments. And looking visibly smug while doing it.

Is it the end of the world? Of course not. But it's enough to get anyone peeved about the turn things have taken. It's a particularly pungent symptom of a festering problem, and they shouldn't be patting themselves on the back for applying a shiny new bandaid.

Treat the wound and then we'll talk, Zach et al.
 
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Casper Gutman

Casper Gutman

Well-Known Member
Mac Tonight said:
See, the ironic thing is, I agree with you 100%.
Even though I live in CA, I consider Epcot my “home” park, since it was the place I first fell in love with Disney theme parks back in the late 80’s-early 90’s. I left in ‘94, went back in ‘98, then not again until 2011, and then finally returned last November. Seeing it now, knowing what it once was, is nothing short of heartbreaking.

I guess when it comes down to it for me though, the park is so fundamentally broken, that the blame for its current shape and direction are greater than the sum of Zach’s Instagrams. Trust me, I get that they’re easy targets and they annoy the hell out of people here. But I also know that ultimately, our frustration should be directed much higher up the ladder.
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I don’t think these boards lack for anger directed higher up the ladder. But quite frankly, imagineering, of which Zach is a key part, bears it’s share of responsibility for the current state of the parks. And his messages - which are really a product of corporate PR, not a personal expression, as discussed above - are part of a larger phenomenon in which nostalgia for the once-great park is cynically leveraged by the same decision-makers who destroyed it. Other manifestations abound, from Figment popcorn buckets to endless waves of retro merchandise.

Old EPCOT is dead, sadly - the entire park needs a new, unified philosophy, to be reimagined from the ground up. But instead of concrete action, we get condescending rhetoric leveraging empty nostalgia. And while Zach isn’t the chief author of this problem, he is one of the most public peddlers of nonsense.

On a side note, I fully endorse Joe Wilkinson as the new narrator on SSE.
 
mightynine

mightynine

Well-Known Member
castlecake2.0 said:
One thing I’m really looking forward to with this will be the removal of the cargo container Starbucks at the entrance to world showcase. That pathway is always a clogged mess with the masses waiting for their coffee syrup and sugar frappées.
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Do we know if that is truly going away?

As an aside, that corner is absurdly overcrowded now with all the kiosks. Epcot has quite the cluttered feel in spots.
 
MisterPenguin

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
mightynine said:
Do we know if that is truly going away?

As an aside, that corner is absurdly overcrowded now with all the kiosks. Epcot has quite the cluttered feel in spots.
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You know what EPCOT needs? A wide open grassy area somewhere in the middle of the park where they can put up all the festival kiosks they want!!
 

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