Epcot needs refurbishment

[martinthesparta]

Originally posted by Expo_Seeker40
Certainly agree with you on that.

My only fear as that eventually is that Disney might not want to keep those slow rides. There is a reasonable balance in future world right now of both thirll and slow rides.

World showcase can get E rides. Norway is a good example as a "thrilling" type ride, while Mexico is a placid ride. Now of course there is room for improvement, I just don't know where a possible coaster could go in there, or wether it will be inside, or outside, and how big.

With future world I think the land pavilion will do fine. Soarin will help it.

So I guess that's my point overall. I hope Disney does keep the slower more traditional EPCOT Center attractions like UoE and SSE, and will take good care of them, instead of adding more thrill rides, if they decide to do it. I feel that we need to remember the past from EPCOT Center, and keep, atleast SSE as a slow moving ride.

So that's were I going with it. Epcot certainly must welcome change, but there must be a balance of what type of rides will go in, or what the themeing will be, so the fair majoirty can be satisfied.

I totally agree.

A coaster in Future world would have to be inside. The only place i could really see one working is in the imagination pavilion, but I doubt they have room. For world showcase, not nessisarily inside, and it wouldn't be real tall at all and as out of sight as possible while still being outside (dragon coaster)

My thought on the dragon coaster is you would ride through the streets of china as if part of a parade past buildings and spectators and maybe even cruise the chinese country side and on the great wall. But if you could see it from the outside of the pavillion I say forget it.

And the only way SSE is going anywhere is if they take the geoshpere down which isn't likely, it does need a good rehab though.

And I think they need one more good dark ride to keep things balanced. A new horizons in place of WOL would be nice. I was thinkin too, for the back round of a scene where they used to just paint a meril, how about have a screen instead with a computer generated scene.

 

[BalooChicago]

Originally posted by Expo_Seeker40
It was too the world's first geodesicsphere. It was the first one to be complete, and also to be lifted off the ground due to that.

No. It was not. I may have been the first geosphere as a building (Though even that I am fairly certain it was not, but I'll have to do some more digging to prove), but it certainly was not the world's first geosphere.

Edits: The "Perisphere" from the 1939 World's Fair could be considered a geosphere. (Not that this is the only case, but it's one) Interesting to note that it was 180' tall...

And yes, it was lifted off the ground. At least the trylon didn't have a wand on it

 

[martinthesparta]

Could it have been the world's first free standing geo sphere, because I know it was the first something, and use of the inside isn't it. Or it could be it was the first full geo sphere. I dunno.

 

[cloudboy]

The perisphere was not a geosphere. A geosphere is made up of triangles, formed esentially into pewntagons, that whem put together form either a dome, or continued all the way around, a sphere. The worlds fair pavilion was a straightforward sphere. Also, it (like the one for the Montreal Expo) were not "true" spheres - they actually rested on the ground and so at the ground actually had a flat section to lay on.

Of course, if you really, really want to get technical, Spaceship Earth isn't a true sphere either - they built the supports about a quarter of the way up, and it is really a 3/4 dome on top and a 1/4 dome upside down onthe bottom.

But that is cutting hairs. But domes are neat, and it's too bad there aren't more of them.

 

[BalooChicago]

Originally posted by cloudboy
The perisphere was not a geosphere. A geosphere is made up of triangles, formed esentially into pewntagons, that whem put together form either a dome, or continued all the way around, a sphere. The worlds fair pavilion was a straightforward sphere. Also, it (like the one for the Montreal Expo) were not "true" spheres - they actually rested on the ground and so at the ground actually had a flat section to lay on.

All the information that I have on the Perisphere shows that it was raised off the ground, and if you look at the construction rendering of it (By Hugh Ferris, one of the greatest architectural perspectivists of all time) you can see that it was, in fact, made of triangles (Though it was clad to be a smooth sphere, the exterior skin on SSE isn't exactly part of the geosphere either. (You can also see in the drawing that it did not touch the ground). Are you confusing the Perisphere with Bucky's American pavilion from Montreal? (It does touch the ground)

Edit: On second glance at the Ferris drawing the structure may not be geodesic, though it is certainly similar. (You can see it here.)

But I am still fairly certain that there were "geosphere's" prior to SSE, though as you say, even SSE isn't really a geosphere (but rather a geodesic dome with another structure suspended beneath it to complete the sphere.) So it seems we may be getting to semantics.

P.S. I'm all for preserving/restoring SSE.

 

[cloudboy]

The Perisphere was constructed by curved steel grid. Needs more steel and is heavier. But it provides a smooth sphere. I apparently am mistaken - my understanding was that the final Perisphere was actually resting on the ground (like slicing the very bottom off of an orange) so it would stand up better.

Spaceship Earth apparently was very, very expensive to construct that way. So I have a feeling we will not be seeing any like that gain, from Disney or Not. So they better not tear it down!

It would be nice, however, if they redesigned the entrance to the ride so that you got on on the core side. This would require totally redesigning the track at the bottom, but I think a lot more people woudl go on it. that way.

 

[scottnj1966]

it was easy to show a great future in 81

It was easy to show people the future in 81. No one knew what a computer was and things like lasers and touch screens, etc etc.

They were able to easily show us these things in 1981. I remember playing with there touch screen computer system that were all over there park at that time. Think it was called blip.

But what could they do to show us the future now? Even sci fi looks like things we can almost do now.
They did a little jumping with space and they have alot of cool computer ideas you can actually touch, like the wearable computer. Got to try that last weekend. Pretty cool.

But what big change could they show, only thing I see for our future now is cars running on electric or hydrogen.

Anyone have any good ideas what would be something futuristic at Epcot?

 

[speck76]

two words....Logan's Run