Epcots empty buildings?

[speck76]

Soarin' is actually a good example of a "Pavilion attraction".

The Entrance is on the lower level of "The Land"

The Land contains two other attractions, along with shopping and dining.

Also, The location of Soarin' is ideal, as the entrance in on the lower level of The Land, so one can not just walk in, ride, and leave without noticing the other attractions.

That was the problem with WoL, you could ride Body Wars without paying attention to the other attractions.

 

[cloudboy]

The ride inside SSE was really cool in the 80s, but today it bores first time riders.

See, I don't get this. I am not directing this at you, just trying to understand. The whole subject of Spaceship Earth is the story of communication. It's history - it's not something that gets dated. If you were to retell the story today, it would be the same thing. The only difference is the last couple of scenes which supposedly protray today.

BTW, don't think of Spaceship Earth as a sphere building. That is just the shell. The building inside is actually a spiral ramp (think circular parking garage). The shell is just hung on the outside.

I think one thing they could do is start bringing back good post shows. It's like they have the ride, the big gift shop, then ship everyone off to the next marketing opportunity. Sorry, attraction.

 

[Chefjason1974]

Does anyone agree that the pavillion concept is probably a bad move with the era of FP & park hopper tickets being jammed down everyone's throats. My opinion is that WDW is so large & diverse that the average vacationer (by average i mean non- annual pass holders) doesn't want to spend as much time with one attraction. Much less an entire pavillion of attractions. The pavillion concept to me seems great if i lived 20 minutes from WDW & went every othe week to see all of the nuances of each attraction. Someone made a good point about the land & how guests stand at the entrance scratching their heads wondering what to do. This is true I see it everytime i go.

Epcot moving away from the pavillion concept & moving to an attraction based park will create a more user friendly atmosphere. This is i'm sure what WDW is trying to create.

As for SSE the ride itself is awesome. The sets are great & i love to ride it. However the fact that it is inside the icon of Epcot wouldn't matter. If WDW moved the entire attraction to a flat space & created a better queue area the ride would be even better. Then they would be able to use the ball building more appropriatly.

I think the country pavillions are great. One idea that I had while i was there was:
What if the Epcot pavillions were all tied together by a monorail or train system, Heck a wedway system like Walt wanted with The original Epcot. I guarantee more people would utilize & want to explore the greast architecture & shopping that is available. This would truly make Epcot a world class experience in my opinion. Everybody can agree that exploring the World pavillions require way way way too much walking in Florida's hot sun!

 

[cloudboy]

But what would the point be of taking out the ride, rebuilding it somewhere else, tearing down the old building while leaving the shell (if you could) and then building a new ride in that? Why not just build the new ride in a new building? At elast Communications makes the world go round its a decent tie-in to Spaceship Earth.

I think the Land, as far as a true pavilion goes, is'nt a great example. Yes, it has multiple rides, but other than the rides themselves there is not much to do. Fastpast if anything gives people more time that they need to fill until their pass time is available. I don't quite get the point that people awant to move from one attraction to another - the pavilion IS the attraction - there is more to do than just stand in line for something. And that is the whole point. They need more filler content. Not big blockbuster wow wow wizzbang, just more stuff to do.

 

[speck76]

That is why WoL was such a great pavilion...too bad it was not kept current.

Hopefully, they wil can make a few more interactive kiosk areas inside the land before Soarin' opens....

The land could either use better signage to direct people, or force direction (only allow ppl to enter and go in one direction).

 

[Dayma]

Does anyone agree that the pavillion concept is probably a bad move with the era of FP & park hopper tickets being jammed down everyone's throats.

I disagree. I am not the type of person that "RUNS" from ride to ride. I like to get off them and enjoy the postshows/pavillions. Walt designed Epoct this way I think that they should honor this by revamping all the postshows.

Epoct is nice that you ride something and then learn something after. It expands on the ride and gets people interested. The problem is that this is not currently happening at all.

 

[Expo_Seeker40]

What SSE needs is a great face lift on both the outside and inside. Yes I would first take out the wand and stars. It is a beautiful sphere, it should be left like that. I would clean and fix up the tiles on the shell, etc.

Inside would need a state of the art track systm, sound system, light system, and updates on the sets and AA's to make them look far better than before.

As far as the modern communication, once we pass the 1960s scene of the family in their living room watching multpiple TV's, we could then restore the original ending of the men and women working inside like some huge station. This would represent 1970s communication. A home office of the 1980s would be on the lift to the top. Then an entertaiment room of the 1990s. Then there would be two scenes. The next scene would be 2000 and the dawn of the 21st century. The last scene could be "tomorrow" with two children using high tec gadgets, so the narrator could say something like...

"As we enter the 21st century, we are at the dawn of a new era. Our lives have and will change more rapidly then ever before, now we can only wait until tomorrow, for it is our youth that will achieve that ever demanding goal..."

We reach the top with all the stars, etc, and then "Tomorrow's Child" begins to play. On our way down we see the futuristic city, the TV screens with current media, and then the unload belt.

I'd say we need a brand new Earth Station. EPCOT is lacking a large and pleasent information center.

 

[Dayma]

We reach the top with all the stars, etc, and then "Tomorrow's Child" begins to play. On our way down we see the futuristic city, the TV screens with current media, and then the unload belt.

I agee but they need to update "Tomorrow's Child" a little

 

[esauerh]

Goodness, I love me some SSE, and -- like others who have posted here -- Epcot is my favorite park at WDW.

I first went to Epcot back when it was EPCOT Center about 4 months after its grand opening. I was hooked. One of my favorite things to do is ride the monorail from TTC just to catch that first glimpse of SSE emerging from behind the trees. It's just breathtaking. And, then riding around FW on that "highway in the sky"...aah.

I think the pavilion concept has always been a good thing. In terms of newer architectural structures in which there is only 1 thing to do, some of the original attractions only had 1 thing to do, and they were outdated from when they opened. Anyone remember the theme song to Universe of Energy and the mirrored walls with the psychedelic colors? :animwink: In fact, at UoE there is still only 1 thing to do, but it is entertaining and -- more importantly -- educational.

The pavilions at Epcot are iconographic representations of the topics housed within, regardless of the number of things to do inside: the greenhouse of The Land, the wheel of WoM (now TT), etc.

At the same time, I do agree with other posts that it's a shame that there is some wasted space. Watching the sun set while in the pyramids of Imagination was great when I was a kid. I am still nostalgic for that and hope that it'll be opened again some day.

Even so, I'll keep coming back to Epcot. In fact, I'll be at WDW in less than 2 weeks for my follow-up job interview. :sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy: