Epcot closings, man it bites!

[Blizz]

This was posted on Screamscape today:

EPCOT
Orlando, Florida (Abbreviation: EP)
Formerly: E.P.C.O.T. Center
(Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow)

Park News - (4/10/03) From time to time, Disney management has a tendency to make some really bad choices... such as the staggered opening times for attractions they tried at Disneyland a few years back. Another one was Epcot’s response to 9/11 when they chose to start closing Future World two full hours before the rest of the park closed at 9pm. Those evil villains are up to their antics again and for the months of April and May (except the 2 weeks of Spring Break) Future World will now be closing at 6pm... THREE HOURS before the start of Illuminations. At this point Disney’s message is painfully clear... you will be forced into World Showcase to Shop and Eat while you wait three hours for the 9pm fireworks show... or you can just pack your stuff and get the hell out of Epcot. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more rude “message” sent to the paying guests of a theme park before. With the start of Daylight Saving Time when the Sun doesn’t even set until after 7pm, it doesn’t make sense to force people into World Showcase to eat dinner long before they are ready. I know I don’t even start to think about dinner until its dark outside... so when faced with this choice I really hope people elect to leave and have dinner elsewhere... even if it means park hopping to the other Disney parks. Form what I understand Magic Kingdom will be open until at least 7pm or later for this entire period and MGM will be open until either 8:30pm or 9pm each night as well. Illuminations is a great show, but I certainly wouldn’t want to spend three hours waiting in World Showcase for it.


Does anyone have an e-mail address for Paul Pressler, I want to give him an ear full? This bites because I love Epcot and Future World... hopefully by Augest they will change their minds.

 

[RogueHabit]

I read you topic title and thought they were closing down EPCOT!!!! :hammer:

 

[bgraham34]

That does stink but whenever I went to Epcot I always hung at the World Showcase at night so that really would not effect me.

Not a nice move but I can see it since attendance is down.

 

[wdwfan22]

Sending an e-mail to Paul probably won't do much good but if they really want it over at Screamscape I believe it's something like....Paul Pressler@gap.com

 

[castlecake2.0]

Only selected Future World attractions will be closing early.

The Living Seas, The Land, Journey into IMAGINATION with Figment, Universe of Energy, and Wonders of Life will close at 6pm.

Test Track, SpaceShip Earth, and Honey I Shrunk the Audience at IMAGINATION will remain open untill 9pm.

Just so you know

-Tyler:king:

 

[Mickeyman819]

Oh that good. I thought maybe it would be for them to work on Mission: space but then i remembered that there is not alot much exterior left. well i was wrong like most times. :lol:

 

[ArchiDanDisney]

Who knows, hopefully it is just for the slower spring period. I'm sure once summer rolls around, attendances will sky rocket once again.

 

[FLcastmember]

When FW started closing at 7, Living Seas (Coral Reef stayed open to 8), Land, WoL, and Energy was ALL that closed. TT, Both inoventions, SSE, JIYI with Figment, HISTA, Image works, Mouse Gears, Electric Umbrella ALL STAYED OPEN TO 9PM. So most people did not really care.

Now its 6pm, AND no longer is JIYI, Image Works, or eather Inoventions open past 6pm.

Add Mission Space to the 9pm list when it does open, and that will help some, but not enough.

I didn't have a problem with the 7PM closings, but the 6PM AND the lack of Inoventions and JIYI and Image works is IMHO a bad move. You could kill 90 min by playing in those 3, now closed at 6, attractions.

BTW, this nothing new, they started this a few weeks and it was mentioned a few time on various other threads. Including my weekly updates (sorry about the shamless plug)

But anyway, we really dont need those 4 attractions open to 9pm, but not 6 either. It should be 7pm offseason, 8pm summers, 9pm Easter/Christmas. Would that make anyone else happy?

 

[ArchiDanDisney]

I think those hours would be mor sufficient. But the attendance needs go up as well. No sense in having an open attraction with no one around to use them.

 

[Fievel]

This is why I don't like screamscape. That article sounds like a 14 year old kid wrote it.

WAAAAH...I don't like World Showcase...there's NOTHING to do there..no rollercoasters, no good rides....just education and learning and dinner.


Grow up you whiny little.......eh...not worth it.

Y'know what, if you don't like it and want to "get the hell out of epcot" - see ya. I like WS...I spend a lot of time there when I go to Epcot. Probably double the time as in FW. If you're not there, it's one less person saying "This blows...where are the rides....I need thrills...change my diaper...WAAAH"


Time to grow up, Timmy.

 

[DMC-12]

Originally posted by Fievel
This is why I don't like screamscape. That article sounds like a 14 year old kid wrote it.
WAAAAH...I don't like World Showcase...there's NOTHING to do there..no rollercoasters, no good rides....just education and learning and dinner.
Grow up you whiny little.......eh...not worth it.
Y'know what, if you don't like it and want to "get the hell out of epcot" - see ya. I like WS...I spend a lot of time there when I go to Epcot. Probably double the time as in FW. If you're not there, it's one less person saying "This blows...where are the rides....I need thrills...change my diaper...WAAAH"
Time to grow up, Timmy.

LMAO :lol: too funny Fievel,
I agree...
I spend a TON of time in WS! Heck, after every trip, when I come back... I have about 10-25meg worth of pictures of just WS alone.

 

[Fievel]

Heh..it's the teenage mentality.

Life can (and usually does) slow down a bit for most of us as we grow older and learn to appreciate all of that "boring stuff"

Though....maybe that's why I like WS so much...no snotty, bratty kids. (and that includes 95%) of teenagers.

 

[Mission: SPACE]

Originally posted by Fievel
Heh..it's the teenage mentality.

Life can (and usually does) slow down a bit for most of us as we grow older and learn to appreciate all of that "boring stuff"

Though....maybe that's why I like WS so much...no snotty, bratty kids. (and that includes 95%) of teenagers.

HEY NOW!!!!! You better watch it!!! I'm 16 and I like TT...





j/k

I like World Showcase too, but I seem to always walk through and it seems to me that the countries are too small for a lot of time spent back there... But, I would wait three hours on the cement walkway with no cushion, no towel, no anything to rest on, just to see Illuminations...

(THREAD DRIFT WARNING)

BTW... I'm kinda glad GE doesn't sponsor Illuminations anymore... I never understood the "Because GE brings good things to life..." statement... Maybe it's just me!

Sorry... I just HAD to give you a hard time over the teenager thing!

 

[gcurling]

Funny, I don't read much whining in this thread. In fact, it sounds more like genuine concerns. Just curious Fievel and DMC, is there any closing time for Future World that you would find inappropriate? 5pm, 4pm, noon?

Y'know what, if you don't like it and want to "get the hell out of epcot" - see ya. I like WS...I spend a lot of time there when I go to Epcot. Probably double the time as in FW. If you're not there, it's one less person saying "This blows...where are the rides....I need thrills...change my diaper...WAAAH"

Explain to me again what "teenage" style writing is.

 

[Fievel]

Originally posted by gcurling
Funny, I don't read much whining in this thread. In fact, it sounds more like genuine concerns. Just curious Fievel and DMC, is there any closing time for Future World that you would find inappropriate? 5pm, 4pm, noon?

Explain to me again what "teenage" style writing is.

I guess I don't see the big deal in closing FW early, is all. Would there be a time that is "too early". Maybe. But that would depend largely on circumstances at the time.

There is no "teenage" writing style. Most kids are smart enough to use proper english on these boards, so it's tough to tell from language how old a person is by sentence structure.

It's more of a mentality. I liken it to the "give me more, you haven't given me enough....you MUST thrill me. I'm not at WDW to learn."

Stick around and read some posts...you'll see it...actually..it's hard to miss....mostly because this board is at least 50% posts like this.

 

[Moustronaut]

I'm not gonna debate the change from 7 to 6pm closing time. But correct me if I'm wrong, Doesn't WS open 2-3 hours later than WF ever day... since like the begining of Epcot Time?

So doesn't it just even out in the end.... each part's open the same amount of time per day.

 

[gcurling]

Moustronaut, at the beginning of Epcot time the entire park was open until 11pm during the busier times and until 9pm during the slower times. I cannot recall exactly when the 11pm nights went away. But, it was in about 1995 when World Showcase began the later opening.

Some have noted that Future World becomes a ghost town at 5pm, so why not close it. That's true, and the core reason is the fact that there has been a great reduction in the popularity of this part of the park. Why? Stagnation. Mission:Space will inject life, but it needs more. And the Figment attraction has shown that it is not enough. Sure, it was part of the later closure, but has now been dropped. It hasn't caught on in popularity.

But, since Michael has made it clear that capital investment in the theme parks is (for the most part) on hold as they "reap the benefits" of what is already built; I guess we'll just watch as Future World further slides into oblivion. The only hope I see is that (for some wacky reason) a couple of major corporations suddenly decide that a name on an attraction would be worth $50-100mil to them. Then we might see Time Racers, some version of Soarin' and maybe even Stormrider. That's the kind of overhaul Epcot needs to bring it back to the forefront where it once was.

 

[Michael72688]

It makes a lot of sense, Epcots attendance is down, so why keep the really boring parts of the park open for a long time, I'm glad they did it, maybe by doing that they will increase the other parks hours! ya right

 

[wizard12]

It's reasons like this the attendance is going down. They need to get a few more rides and do something else. It can't compete with other WDW parks.

 

[Blizz]

Originally posted by Fievel
Heh..it's the teenage mentality.

Life can (and usually does) slow down a bit for most of us as we grow older and learn to appreciate all of that "boring stuff"

Though....maybe that's why I like WS so much...no snotty, bratty kids. (and that includes 95%) of teenagers.

Well i am 15 and I actually perfer World Showcase because I hate thrill rides and roller coasters. I like the many different countries. Its just that my family usualy does not do future world until the evening and then we go back to WS for dinner and illuminations. I just like The Land (not a thrill ride) and SpaceShip Earth (which I hope remains not at thrill ride). I was not complaing, I just dont like how Disney is closing one of my favorite parts of my favorite parks.

Well now that I have explained that, I hope you dont consider all teens to act in a manner such as you have stated. I find that I usually go along with things and not complain even if it is boaring.

But back to the topic... I kinda figure writing Paul is pointless but oh well, leaves me more time to ride Malestrom and El Rio Del Tiempo.