The idea Eisner choose him as a replacement is almost funny. I think it would be more accurate to say, "Iger chose Eisner to pick Iger as his replacement".
I think that this fact is why he got off to a rough spot with a lot of fans - I'll admit that I was incredibly skeptical as well. He's definitely surprised me by making a lot of clean breaks with the past.
Evidence of this would be promoting the former head of WDI's R&D Technology group to run the entire creative side of WDI. He expects creativity to come from more than just one side of the house and sees R&D as part of that picture. It's the technology application as well. To me, this is the area of the company where there is real growth. If you didn't think technology played a big role in how stories would be told in the future would you have made that choice? I think symbolically that moves says alot about his thinking.
That's true, and I hadn't really thought about it that way. One can definitely see the increased role of R&D tech in recent years, from the Living Character Initiative to the Kim Possible thing at EPCOT to the RFID rumors floating around. I don't always agree with the way the tech is implemented, but there's not doubt that they're pushing the envelope.
But then there's Steve Jobs. Just look at what he did within a public company. Made the "computing experience" important to the consumer, pushing the PC makers to try harder. iTunes blew up the record industry, made media portable so we watch anything anywhere, and reinvented the ultimate convergence device (so far) with the iPhone. He made us appreciate good clean design. What I love most is the fact that Apple is so small in market share, but their impact on the industries they enter is gigantic and ultimately improves all the products around them by raising the stakes. If EPCOT could be the iPhone (meaning "raising the stakes" in all areas) of theme parks, THE PLANET WOULD TAKE NOTICE.
That makes me want to stand up and salute, because that's exactly what it should be. The iPhone of theme parks. And again, the fact that the iPhone has become such a big deal and has been embraced by non-techies as well as gadget nerds shows that the public is even more in tune with EPCOT's vibe than in 1982.
Which would mean an everchanging Epcot due to the inventions changing.
That was the original intent, after all, and I think there's no reason why some attractions can't be more permanent, as you mention below:
I guess you would have to have your CORE rides in place. The Seas, The Land, Imagination, Space Ship Earth, Space, Transportation and Energy but the displays available could be ever changing with the times. Innoventions would be a great showcase also. Like ES said if EPCOT could market unvelings of new tech .. They could take over things like E3, Tech conventions, etc... They have the hotel space for it and would mean a greater changing dynamic for guests and make it more .. "MUST SEE".. Your core rides could stay the same specifying about the CORE Issue etc but your pavillions and such could be the changing dynamic.
I think this is exactly right, and what I was kind of dancing around before. It's important that EPCOT present both the long- and medium-view. Often the long-view is more exciting and inspiring, and allows attractions to stay relevant for a long while with minimal cosmetic changes. After all, Horizons would have been much less exciting if it had been about laserdiscs and 9600 baud modems, or if today it was about 3G iPods or the XBOX360.
But the medium-view is also exciting, more relevant to guests' everyday lives, and more dynamic. I think it's exactly right that postshow areas or Innoventions are the place for these ever-changing exhibits. That's what Communicore was for in the first place; it was meant to bring all the messages from the pavilions together and relate the current advances in those fields to guests.
I love your idea of bringing concepts like E3 or CES to EPCOT; this too was part of EPCOT's original vision - having events and conferences based around advances in the fields discussed.
Maybe the WDW property overall and it's transportation system between the Resorts, Parks etc should be the first place to demo the "future" and improve the overall experience? Traffic and confusing roads is not very Walt. What if the busses were reinvented? Boats? Peoplemovers? Lead by example.
Exactly right. For all the PR spin from the 70s to cloak the fact that WDP was bailing on Walt's plan for an actual EPCOT, one thing that was true was that, in may ways, the entire WDW property is EPCOT. From the water hyacinths/tree farm, AVAC/pyrolysis, and RCID solar installation to the WEDway and monorail, the technology underlying WDW was publicised almost as much as the park itself in 1971. Things like the first fiber optic phone system were actual selling points for the innovation WDW represented. All this stuff was very forward looking, and it'd be great to see this outlook again resort-wide.
