Creations Shop opening this summer

[MorphinePrince]

I guess I’m the only one, but this shop is almost exactly what I want from a revamped Epcot. I haven’t seen the finished project, but it seems like a vast improvement on the dated Mouse Gear and a worthy successor to the classic Centorium.

Same. Mouse Gear was an abysmal, ugly, eyesore that needed to be put out of its misery long ago. I cannot believe that people are genuinely mourning over such a trashy store. I love the sleek new direction Disney has taken with their merchandise stores over the last few years.

 

[Haymarket2008]

Same. Mouse Gear was an abysmal, ugly, eyesore that needed to be put out of its misery long ago. I cannot believe that people are genuinely mourning over such a trashy store. I love the sleek new direction Disney has taken with their merchandise stores over the last few years.

I'm not a particular fan of, say, the new World of Disney designs. I think that is a bit soulless, and I can understand the concern by a lot of people on these message boards. But Creations actually seems like they are riffing on the 80's futurism that is so prevalent in Epcot and making it fresh. I mean, come on, that ceiling design is straight out of 1982. Also, restoring that space back to some semblance of its original glory is a win for Epcot fans.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Are we at the point where, because it's aesthetically pleasing and fairly whimsical, we have to search for other things to complain about? Every light fixture in Future World doesn't have to blow your mind with the technology behind it.

Yes, it's getting a little performative. There are certainly legitimate critiques of what they're doing with Epcot, but it gets a bit much when people are jumping all over themselves to criticise Disney for not reinventing the lightbulb as they apparently did when they first built the park.

 

[Bocabear]

Are we at the point where, because it's aesthetically pleasing and fairly whimsical, we have to search for other things to complain about? Every light fixture in Future World doesn't have to blow your mind with the technology behind it.

no, but something should... In a remodel full of things that are fairly common, Some things should look unique and amazing...
Some things should be as unique as the park they are in... Not like everything we live with on a daily basis... That is all I am saying.

 

[HauntedPirate]

… and a worthy successor to the classic Centorium.

Incorrect. This new shop isn’t even in the same galaxy as Centorium. This is a Bob Special - the modern bland industrial look with some Disney characters added to make it “Disney”. No amount of THE Zach posting PR-written-and-approved Instagram posts is going to change that. If I want modern bland industrial shopping, I can go to my neighborhood Target, or dozens of other stores that have copied that look.

 

[Haymarket2008]

Incorrect. This new shop isn’t even in the same galaxy as Centorium. This is a Bob Special - the modern bland industrial look with some Disney characters added to make it “Disney”. No amount of THE Zach posting PR-written-and-approved Instagram posts is going to change that. If I want modern bland industrial shopping, I can go to my neighborhood Target, or dozens of other stores that have copied thatCentorium, apart from some the merchandise it was selling and it’s multi-levelness, was entirely unremarkable.

Centorium, apart from some of the merchandise and the multi-level elements, was entirely unremarkable. Neither am I saying Creations IS. I just like it more than MouseGear. That’s just my opinion. That I am not labeling as correct because it’s weird.

 

[Little Green Men]

Hexagons and a few character statues?

Incorrect. This new shop isn’t even in the same galaxy as Centorium. This is a Bob Special - the modern bland industrial look with some Disney characters added to make it “Disney”. No amount of THE Zach posting PR-written-and-approved Instagram posts is going to change that. If I want modern bland industrial shopping, I can go to my neighborhood Target, or dozens of other stores that have copied that look.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Hexagons and a few character statues?

Did you ever visit it, or are you relying on someone else’s pictures on Twitter?

 

[Little Green Men]

Did you ever visit it, or are you relying on someone else’s pictures on Twitter?

Visited between 95-99

 

[Inspired Figment]

Same. Mouse Gear was an abysmal, ugly, eyesore that needed to be put out of its misery long ago. I cannot believe that people are genuinely mourning over such a trashy store. I love the sleek new direction Disney has taken with their merchandise stores over the last few years.

The majority isn’t mourning MouseGear. They’re mourning the fact that they wasted the opportunity to take that store & make it distinctly more EPCOT themed & instead repeated the generic Mickey Mouse theme but made it more “sleek & modern”. That there is the problem

 

[G00fyDad]

The majority isn’t mourning MouseGear. They’re mourning the fact that they wasted the opportunity to take that store & make it distinctly more EPCOT themed & instead repeated the generic Mickey Mouse theme but made it more “sleek & modern”. That there is the problem

What if they ARE making it more Epcot themed? What if they are retheming all of Future World to something similar?

 

[J4546]

new shop is looking great! cant wait till its all finished

 

[Inspired Figment]

What if they ARE making it more Epcot themed? What if they are retheming all of Future World to something similar?

Well that there is the bigger picture… that the current vision/theme for the revitalization of EPCOT is not in line with the values & spirit it should inhabit. The vision it had initially was timeless and it simply should’ve been updated without compromising it’s original integrity & vision.. it’s a travesty watching it continue to be desecrated even further than it was in the mid-late 90s/early 2000s. Making it another Disney’s MGM/Hollywood Studios clone.

 

[sedati]

The vision it had initially was timeless.

The future is ever-changing. They already learned this with Tomorrowland. You're talking about a park in need of updates ad-infinitum.

 

[Inspired Figment]

The future is ever-changing. They already learned this with Tomorrowland. You're talking about a park in need of updates ad-infinitum.

The difference was EPCOT’s Future World was not neccesarily about what the ‘future’ itself held or predictions of what would happen in the future.. but rather the ‘subjects’ essential to ‘better’ & ‘shape’ our future. That’s the key difference

 

[Inspired Figment]

The idea of sponsors helping fund updates & enhancements to each pavilion every 10 or so years was not necessarily bad in-itself. It’s how Disney changed the way it managed those deals aswell as various operations within the park that would essentially force them to change the attraction the way they did later on.. sadly not for the better (Imagination pavilion is a perfect example of this..)

 

[Sir_Cliff]

The difference was Future World was not about what the future held.. but rather the subjects essential to ‘better’ our future. That’s the key difference

I do think changing the name of Future World is a good move as I'm not sure that part of the park ever quite lived up to what the name suggests for most guests.

In terms of the original vision being timeless, I'm not entirely sure of that. The 'permanent world's fair' conceit seems to have been a little out of time considering that world's fairs were already on their way out as a significant cultural phenomenon when the park opened. I do wish, though, they leaned more into making the front part of the park a little more science-based. It sort of is, but the big head scratcher in that regard is Guardians of the Galaxy. This will be an unpopular opinion here, but if the Journey of Water uses Moana characters to educate about the water cycle, that also really fits that front section being more a 'science & creativity" (as opposed to "future") zone.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

The future is ever-changing. They already learned this with Tomorrowland. You're talking about a park in need of updates ad-infinitum.

Here's the problem with that - not only is that not really true of the original EPCOT Center (Journey Into Imagination as it was in 83 could run today as a crowd-pleaser with only minimal updates), but there are also two more levels on which that doesn't pass.

1) Parks need updates no matter what. The Magic Kingdom is the most visited park in the world and is constantly being updated, even if not always in the ways we want or as often as we like. Disney still spends millions every year updating all of their parks, and EPCOT isn't unique in that regard.

2) Rocket to the Moon wasn't outdated because we all go to the Moon so often. It was outdated because the presentation felt stale. That update had nothing to do with the "ever-changing future" because we STILL haven't caught up to it. It was the execution that was failing, not the concept. Disney has *barely* touched Space Mountain since 1975 and it's the most popular thing in Tomorrowland by miles. Because the Space Mountain concept isn't one that we can "catch up" to - it riffs on Space Travel to such an extent that one day when the real thing becomes casually accessible Space Mountain will still be unique from it. And we're really not close to catching up anyway.

That has always been true of the attractions that worked best in both Tomorrowland and Future World - that they dabble in futuristic subjects doesn't automatically set them racing towards an expiration date. Not any more than any other attraction. If the core of what you're doing is both fun and far-flung enough that reality won't catch up you can still inspire guests with notions of the future without it becoming "Today-land". They've just got to act on some sort of wish-fulfilment for the guest that is tangential to the subject at hand.

They could do it - they HAVE done it - but instead they now chose not to.

 

[lazyboy97o]

The 'permanent world's fair' conceit seems to have been a little out of time considering that world's fairs were already on their way out as a significant cultural phenomenon when the park opened.

Fairs continue to do just fine. There’s a big one opening later this year. The US even rejoined the BIE a few years ago.

 

[sedati]

The difference was EPCOT’s Future World was not neccesarily about what the ‘future’ itself held or predictions of what would happen in the future.. but rather the ‘subjects’ essential to ‘better’ & ‘shape’ our future. That’s the key difference

Yes, buy Bell, Buy Exxon, Buy GM, Buy Kodak, Buy Kraft. The way to that better future was through consumerism.
My dream EPCOT has a Pavillion on Evolution. One of the Beginning of the Universe. One on Comparative Religions and the Power of Myth. One on Art History. Break the bonds of sponsorship and commercialism and stick to true ideals and knowledge. I don't expect it to happen, but it has a better chance through IP than past models.