News EPCOT Parking Plaza refurbishment?

[Andrew C]

You suggested that Wall-E and Eve were added to the lot because there was still some coherent plan for the Play Pavilion (or its replacement) and that Disney's development process was effective enough that the group deciding on these signs would have any idea even if such plans existed. I see absolutely no reason to believe any of that.

Well now that you mention it, they do have two space pavilions on one side and two earth pavilions on the other side (plus the moana thing). And spaceship earth in the middle. So having space and earth side of the parking lot make absolute sense!

 

[Animaniac93-98]

I'm absolutely baffled as to how anyone can look at the staggeringly shambolic EPCOT "makeover" and still believe there is anything like a coherent plan behind it.

They've changed plans multiple times since the original 2019 announcement.

Not even Disney knows what it's doing to EPCOT...besides spendin money.

 

[lazyboy97o]

These melodramatic responses are hilarious!

A character is infinitely more identifiable than an abstract verb like discover. How do you visualize discover? You can try with a symbol, or picture, or an original character, but it's not going to saturate like a recognizable IP. This is a quality-of-life feature.

That said, excluding Figment and Remy, two defacto mascots for the park, is confusing.

So after 40 years this is suddenly a problem? That’s the excuse we’re going with?

 

[RobWDW1971]

Remember the WDI motto: "Every park is a Magic Kingdom and every land is Fantasyland!!!"

This is an embarrassing joke. Why people still have any hope or confidence in today's WDI is beyond me.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Also weird that they chose the characters they did, but not Figment, Elsa, Olaf, Remy or Donald...all of whom are more familiar and from more substantial EPCOT attractions than Hei Hei or Eva.

 

[Andrew C]

Also weird that they chose the characters they did, but not Figment, Elsa, Olaf, Remy or Donald...all of whom are more familiar and from more substantial EPCOT attractions than Hei Hei or Eva.

According to Disney. One side of the lot is space. One side is earth.

Will be good to know if they ever start the trams again!

 

[SplashJacket]

There are other things that are easily identifiable beyond characters. Again. THE WORLD SHOWCASE COUNTRIES. Literally 5 seconds of thought to come up with something that works just as well and is in line with the park's (alleged) purpose.

DAK's lots are the perfect example. "Giraffe" is easy to remember. But I can't wait until they are renamed Flik, Nemo, Dug, Jake Sully, Simba", etc.

Humans are hardwired to recognize and remember faces. These are heavily personified characters that drastically vary stylistically. What symbol do you use for a country? A flag? German, French, and Italian flags are all very similar. It's not that you should treat your audience like they are idiots, but good design should mean anyone can use them without prior knowledge. "Oh we parked at the raccoon thing, the robot, the turtle," etc, is possible without any prior knowledge of the individual IPs. You want to give people as many things to grab onto to remember something like this.

So after 40 years this is suddenly a problem? That’s the excuse we’re going with?

Did the original scheme have any purpose? Colors do the trick. Sure, could set the tone for what you're about to expect in the park, but function over form in this situation without hesitation.

 

[Jambo Dad]

This is fine. Actually better than fine. The graphics are bold, the names will well serve remembering where you parked and it’s fun. This is a Disney park - tying it to the size of the presence of a specific character in Epcot is not needed. The level of hate relative to them dropping the ball on the state of Epcot generally is understandable, but these comments are just cranky people who are determined to hate everything.

Fixing Epcot will take years, but the recent moves give me hope. They are dismantling Stargate and the tacos - I thought we would be stuck with those for at least a couple decades!

 

[Tom Morrow]

Humans are hardwired to recognize and remember faces. These are heavily personified characters that drastically vary stylistically. What symbol do you use for a country? A flag? German, French, and Italian flags are all very similar. It's not that you should treat your audience like they are idiots, but good design should mean anyone can use them without prior knowledge. "Oh we parked at the raccoon thing, the robot, the turtle," etc, is possible without any prior knowledge of the individual IPs. You want to give people as many things to grab onto to remember something like this.

Did the original scheme have any purpose? Colors do the trick. Sure, could set the tone for what you're about to expect in the park, but function over form in this situation without hesitation.

I get the idea behind but, but ultimately the simplest, easiest thing to remember would be naming the parking lots after a color. "You are parked in the Purple lot." It doesn't get easier to remember than that. These designs are somewhat abstract and having them all be one of two color schemes kind of muddies the attempt to make them more easy to remember.

"You are parked in Mexico". Everyone knows what Mexico is. It's easy to remember.

"You are parked in Hei-Hei." A character hardly even mentioned by name in its own movie.

This is fine. Actually better than fine. The graphics are bold, the names will well serve remembering where you parked and it’s fun. This is a Disney park - tying it to the size of the presence of a specific character in Epcot is not needed. The level of hate relative to them dropping the ball on the state of Epcot generally is understandable, but these comments are just cranky people who are determined to hate everything.

Fixing Epcot will take years, but the recent moves give me hope. They are dismantling Stargate and the tacos - I thought we would be stuck with those for at least a couple decades!

Anytime someone suggests that "this one little thing isn't that big of a deal and you're just complaining for the sake of complaining" is forgetting that these "little things" keep popping up again and again and again. Ultimately one dumb, bad little change doesn't matter, but hundreds of them do.

 

[celluloid]

Anytime someone suggests that "this one little thing isn't that big of a deal and you're just complaining for the sake of complaining" is forgetting that these "little things" keep popping up again and again and again. Ultimately one dumb, bad little change doesn't matter, but hundreds of them do.

This, most things that matter in a theme park for Guest Experience to keep everything else flowing are based on Paper and Pencil situation.

This is a diminishing of that.

 

[fgmnt]

I'm absolutely baffled as to how anyone can look at the staggeringly shambolic EPCOT "makeover" and still believe there is anything like a coherent plan behind it.

The main thru line is that the current executive team want to go back in time and make Card Walker rue the day he greenlit this place.

 

[Brer Panther]

So, how much longer before AK's reimagining to Adventure Kingdom and renaiming all the parking lots to Navi, Dug, Timon, Indiana Jones, Judy Hopps, and Flik?

Don't forget Moana. They're shoving her into THAT park too.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

"You are parked in Mexico". Everyone knows what Mexico is. It's easy to remember.

"You are parked in Hei-Hei." A character hardly even mentioned by name in its own movie.

Do I have to say it....Simpsons Did it!

 

[Jambo Dad]

I get the idea behind but, but ultimately the simplest, easiest thing to remember would be naming the parking lots after a color. "You are parked in the Purple lot." It doesn't get easier to remember than that. These designs are somewhat abstract and having them all be one of two color schemes kind of muddies the attempt to make them more easy to remember.

"You are parked in Mexico". Everyone knows what Mexico is. It's easy to remember.

"You are parked in Hei-Hei." A character hardly even mentioned by name in its own movie.



Anytime someone suggests that "this one little thing isn't that big of a deal and you're just complaining for the sake of complaining" is forgetting that these "little things" keep popping up again and again and again. Ultimately one dumb, bad little change doesn't matter, but hundreds of them do.

in this case I don’t think it’s bad at all- that’s my point.

 

[Tiggerish]

pathetic, welcome to cartoon-cot. and they are over moana-ing everything really dont like it. You would think that was all they had in their arsenal to use...

Totally agree with you. And I love Moana.

 

[Tiggerish]

I like Figment and his unique “Epcot-ness”, but Dreamfinder hasn’t been in the attraction in decades. I’ve been to WDW approx 20 times, with each trip being 10+ days, and except for this forum, I’d have no idea who he is.

I just showed my son (the biggest Figment fan ever) a pic of Dreamfinder and he guessed he was an “early version of the Burger King king”. That’s on Disney.

I understand. But for some of us Figment is nothing without Dreamfinder. I remember meeting them both in the park. This was before the destruction of the original ride of course.

Circa 1999, I’m meeting Dreamfinder, who’s holding Figment.

Figment cheekily yanks my sunglasses if my face. One of my best memories. .

Forgive the glare of the picture frame glass.

 

[Tiggerish]

Soooo...

Two characters from one of the most lackluster and neglected dark rides on property.
Two characters from a purposeless and glaringly out-of-place walkthru that only exists because of a horribly broken development process and stock-price-tanking chaos in the executive suites.
Two characters from a fun coaster with an absurdly inflated budget and one of the worst pre-shows Disney has ever produced.
Two characters from an attraction that was so poorly conceived it was cancelled half way through construction.

Way to put your best foot forward, Disney!

I really hate that I had to like this. But it’s all true.

 

[Cliff]

I understand. But for some of us Figment is nothing without Dreamfinder. I remember meeting them both in the park. This was before the destruction of the original ride of course.

I would suspect that 95% of people that go to EPCOT today...have never heard of Dream Finder. 95% Dont even know what E.P.C.O.T even used to stand for. 95% call Speacship Earth "the golf ball". I could go on and on...

This is the way Disney likes it. These people are EASY to please for less money and their expectations are not high.

Us?...we are HARD to please. We notice EVERYthing. And when something goes off brand or we see something that we know is "bad show"...we call it out! In short..."legacy fans" just know WAY too much and we have expectations that cant be met anymore in 2023.

We "legacy fans" want Disney to be as good as it was in the 80's or 90's or 2000 or 2010...but Disney cant do that stuff anymore like it used to. Those days are gone. We "legacy fans" are too expensive to please and 95% of their customers dont care anyway the way we do.

Honestly, all those creative people that we love the most have left. I think Joe Rode was the very last person from that great breed of Disney creatives.

 

[Tiggerish]

German, French, and Italian flags are all very similar.

Really??





Yeah, those are all very similar.

 

[Tom Morrow]

Really??





Yeah, those are all very similar.

Even then, they don't have to use the flag. The country's name and a famous thing from it. Mexico - pyramid. Norway - viking ship. China - dragon. France - Eiffel Tower. Etc.