Rumor Figment, well, to be replaced by Figment

[Homemade Imagineering]

Never say "settle for anything", that's how you get a lazy attraction that has no lasting appeal.

Great point. I completely agree with you, I just feel less hopeful they'll ever do anything with the Dreamfinder in the future, based on the fact that management has shown no mercy for Epcot, and what 1982 Epcot stood for. Figment is extremely popular and marketable, we've seen evidence of this through merch sales. The type of sales the execs want to see. They'd be stupid not to include Figment in whatever is to come within the next 7 or so years. If handled properly, the least they can do is to revert Figment back to his original personality in whatever is to come. Just because I'll settle for it doesn't necessarily mean I want for that to happen. I'm practicality desperate for anything 1982/83 Epcot, or rather anything that remains respectful to 1982/83 Epcot at this point.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I'm not sure who said it, but I believe someone recently said that an exec was pushing for it a few years in the future.

If the coffee table is axed, is there even a plan for the future?

Where's that facade redo of the Hyperion Theater at Disney's California Adventure that was going to come in a later phase? The Cars Land Dine-In Theater? Later phases have a tendency to not happen.

 

[trainplane3]

Great point. I completely agree with you, I just feel less hopeful they'll ever do anything with the Dreamfinder in the future, based on the fact that management has shown no mercy for Epcot, and what 1982 Epcot stood for. Figment is extremely popular and marketable, we've seen evidence of this through merch sales. The type of sales the execs want to see. They'd be stupid not to include Figment in whatever is to come within the next 7 or so years. If handled properly, the least they can do is to revert Figment back to his original personality in whatever is to come. Just because I'll settle for it doesn't necessarily mean I want for that to happen. I'm practicality desperate for anything 1982/83 Epcot, or rather anything that remains respectful to 1982/83 Epcot at this point.

They could've easily gotten Dreamfinder to do the narration for EF but chose not to. There's literally no reason for him not to host the show. That says a lot right there.

I could see them ditching Figment as an attraction and use him strictly as marketing and merch. But then you'll have the future issue of people asking "who's that" and merch sales falling through the floor. Then again, WDW doesn't think about long-term any more. They're strictly short-term, after the hot item of the day.

If there's one thing that could get me to overlook the overhaul in the middle of the park and the oil rigs in WS, it would be a fully budgeted, E-ticket level, hybrid omnimover rebuild for Imagination. It'd show they at least know what their fans want instead of showing off the shiny object of the day, letting the bloggers do 20 videos to cover it, and then forgetting about it by next week. Too bad the people that actually run and are in the parks aren't in charge.

But hey, half billion dollar rollercoaster go whoosh. Something anyone can build. 10/10.

 

[Homemade Imagineering]

I know I mentioned Inside Out (though I wish I hadn’t)

Since Pete Doctor shot the idea down, do you think management would ever decide to revive this idea, or do you think they’d find some other IP to shoehorn into the pavilion five years down the line? Last I heard, wasn’t the Inside Out proposal completely dead?

 

[UNCgolf]

Since Pete Doctor shot the idea down, do you think management would ever decide to revive this idea, or do you think they’d find some other IP to shoehorn into the pavilion five years down the line? Last I heard, wasn’t the Inside Out proposal completely dead?

I think it's incredibly unlikely they would use Inside Out.

It will be at least 5 years before any kind of new attraction is open at Imagination, and probably much longer than that. That would mean it would be 10+ years since Inside Out was released. I'm not sure it has the kind of long-term popularity/staying power to justify an attraction at that point, although we will see. Regardless, I think they'd be more likely to either use something that's already proven to have that kind of long-term support or something more contemporary to help push merch.

 

[Haymarket2008]

I’m happy to say if we see Bobs folly - aka the Bar on legs - I’ll be surprised.

Regarding what you may be privy to, do you think the direction the central spine/World Celebration is ~currently~ heading towards (Bob’s Folly excluded) is a positive one? Is the announced overhaul better with the exclusion?
I’m talking post-Covid, too.

 

[marni1971]

Regarding what you may be privy to, do you think the direction the central spine/World Celebration is ~currently~ heading towards (Bob’s Folly excluded) is a positive one? Is the announced overhaul better with the exclusion?
I’m talking post-Covid, too.

Sadly I personally think we’re beyond a positive outcome. Now it all depends on just how bad it’ll be.

IMHO of course.

 

[DreamfinderGuy]

Sadly I personally think we’re beyond a positive outcome. Now it all depends on just how bad it’ll be.

IMHO of course.

So uh, it won't be too terrible right? At least an improvement over two mostly vacant buildings?

 

[marni1971]

So uh, it won't be too terrible right? At least an improvement over two mostly vacant buildings?

Those two buildings should both still be standing. Anything less will always be a loss IMHO.

 

[DreamfinderGuy]

Those two buildings should both still be standing. Anything less will always be a loss IMHO.

I hate that you're right.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Can I inject the requisite joke about WDI social media darling Zach Riddley absolutely needing to do the Imagination refurb since he “gets it” because he once wore an Epcot t-shirt?

I’ll see myself out now.

 

[DreamfinderGuy]

Can I inject the requisite joke about WDI social media darling Zach Riddley absolutely needing to do the Imagination refurb since he “gets it” because he once wore an Epcot t-shirt?

I’ll see myself out now.

Not only did he wear the shirt, but he also has Dreamfinder and Figment under his Spaceship Earth. He's gotta do it.

 

[Brer Panther]

The "Inside Out characters replacing Figment" idea is still being considered? I thought Pete Docter's rejecting the idea put the kibosh on that...

 

[RSoxNo1]

I think I would prefer they not use the trackless tech. It almost requires gigantic rooms in order to take full advantage of the technology (otherwise the ride would probably work on a track), and also seems to need large ride vehicles in order to keep the hourly capacity up. I believe Imagination needs something a bit more intimate.

Mystic Manor looks great, but even it occasionally feels like the scale is too large for what they're trying to do.

It really depends on what they do with it. Something like the original turntable effect could be accomplished easier with the trackless tech now for example.

 

[Homemade Imagineering]

The "Inside Out characters replacing Figment" idea is still being considered? I thought Pete Docter's rejecting the idea put the kibosh on that...

I’m pretty sure it’s dead, thankfully. They wouldn’t want to use an IP that old anyways, they’d probably want to find something else to shoehorn into the pavilion. Considering that Figment was rumored to appear in the Play Pavilion after we saw that One Day at Disney short, is another good sign aside from merch that he has strong staying power within Epcot, although the claims @marni1971 made earlier today regarding classic Epcot make me think otherwise. Hopefully he was just referring to the current state of Epcot in general, which of course resembles the corporate amalgamation that TWDC is nowadays, instead of Imagination specifically. I’ll leave that there for him to elaborate on...

 

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ✨ ᗩζᗩᗰ]

When one of the more popular Google queries regarding Figment is: "What Disney movie is figment from?" there's a cause for concern. Disney has done little to bring this character out of his cult following and into the masses. There's just a limited understanding of the character; Dreamfinder even less so. Doesn't help that the attraction is garbage. It's no wonder why it hasn't been updated. Figment has poor brand awareness outside the fandom.

The solution: It would definitely benefit Disney to make a Disney+ series or movie to reintroduce Dreamfinder and Figment. I can't see a solid path to a successful attraction reimagining without using the IP to it's fullest potential first. It's just the way of things now. It might be a bit unorthodox but it would probably yield better results and a larger attraction budget. Why Disney hasn't made the effort to make a Disney+ series or some kind of CGI animated Pixaresque movie is kind of surprising. The characters would be bankable... if Disney would put in the effort! But, if they can't see the value in the characters why would they waste time and money reworking the attraction!?

 

[UNCgolf]

It really depends on what they do with it. Something like the original turntable effect could be accomplished easier with the trackless tech now for example.

It could, but I still feel like the scale would be off. I'm sure it's not impossible to do, but I have not yet seen a trackless ride where the scale felt consistently right outside of Rise of the Resistance -- they all have areas where it feels like you're in a giant warehouse. And with Rise they were blessed by having a setting that's supposed to consist of gigantic rooms so the scale wasn't an issue.

I get the impression that almost everything they've tried to do with trackless could be accomplished in other ways that would probably cost less and be more reliable, and would not require massive rooms and huge ride vehicles. There definitely seem to be a few things that are unique to trackless (although I don't know that that's true), but at least with what's been built up to this point I don't think those unique features are strong enough to really outweigh some of the negatives.

 

[Haymarket2008]

The real insiders seem to hint that Figment is the frontrunner IP for the Version 4 ride, yet.....Dreamfinder doesn't seem to be on the table with him?

I'm not sure why they would go with this idea. Spending millions of dollars on a full out revamp and not including Dreamfinder is bizarre?

That is, if they even go this route, but I have noticed it when people in the know talk about it.

 

[lazyboy97o]

It could, but I still feel like the scale would be off. I'm sure it's not impossible to do, but I have not yet seen a trackless ride where the scale felt consistently right outside of Rise of the Resistance -- they all have areas where it feels like you're in a giant warehouse. And with Rise they were blessed by having a setting that's supposed to consist of gigantic rooms so the scale wasn't an issue.

I get the impression that almost everything they've tried to do with trackless could be accomplished in other ways that would probably cost less and be more reliable, and would not require massive rooms and huge ride vehicles. There definitely seem to be a few things that are unique to trackless (although I don't know that that's true), but at least with what's been built up to this point I don't think those unique features are strong enough to really outweigh some of the negatives.

There are only two things I can think of that would be unique and require true trackless vehicles. The first is the "black box" concept where you can change the ride and its layout "quickly" but I doubt the ability to actually save time and money while still delivering quality. The second would be autonomous vehicles driving themselves but that is going to require even more open space for the computer to have any sort of meaningful choice.

 

[Homemade Imagineering]

The real insiders seem to hint that Figment is the frontrunner IP for the Version 4 ride

Either this or a proposal sans Figment, sans Dreamfinder, which could very well be the outcome 7 years from now. Like I've said earlier, I really think I need to temper my expectations, because there is a very good chance I'll be extremely disappointed. Again, if they don't handle this attraction with care, this will be the final nail in the coffin for Epcot imho.