Hear hear!
Life can be so hard as a Disney fan and EPCOT fanatic.
True that. I grew up with Epcot when it was still in its heyday (early 90's) and witnessed its systematic butchery over a painful course of time. Even as a hyper nutty kid who loved his Magic Kingdom, Epcot STILL managed to consistently hold my attention and I adored it. Future World is a hollow shell of what it once was. I hate to sound like I dislike anything "new" but that's not it at all. I welcome and expect things to be updated at a theme park dedicated to our progress as a human race. But what I also expect out of attractions at Epcot
It doesn't help that the new Imagination caught me off guard. I hadn't visited WDW since 1997 (before Imagination was redone), until I moved down to Florida several years back. For the most part I had not kept up with Disney park related news during my long hiatus from WDW and up until I was actually on the ride itself I was unaware that they had changed it. So I thought I was going to ride the same old ride from my childhood. Oops, hated it outright. After giving myself time to process the sheer disappointment, I calmed my mind and decided to ride again with an open mind and distance myself from prior original expectations. I wanted to judge the ride on its own merits only. Rode again and still hated it even as a standalone ride. After again giving myself plenty of time, I gave it one more chance but still nothing changed in my view. I have now given up on it and haven't ridden it since that last time. The only way I could potentially see myself forced into riding it ever again would be if it were the peak of summer heat at 2 million degrees outside and I was dying for AC. And even then the choice between baking in the sun or being annoyed to death/farted on is a very debatable one, which is saying a lot considering my dislike of very hot and muggy weather (happy to say I have a plan C in cases like this with Living With the Land in such close proximity, so neither form of torture is necessary). My dislike of the current iteration goes far beyond my love of the original, even on its own merits the new version fails.
Though as '74 says, my first mistake with dealing with the modern Disney company was having expectations. Bless him, he's right, a sad but true statement.
The one thing I guess I have to concede that I'm incredibly grateful for is that Disney didn't go through with plans to gut Spaceship Earth and turn it into a roller coaster with video screens. The new script and descent sequence are admittedly terrible, but I still enjoy the ride and can deal with that far more than the concept of Time Racers. And I thank heavens Living With The Land is still present as well (which may now be my favorite ride at Epcot), very worried the short lines will eventually put this on the chopping block though.
Oh hey, I guess this thread became my personal Epcot venting session. Sorry 'bout that, but sometimes a dead horse can't be beaten enough.
Honestly, with a strong enough attraction as well as smart marketing, it's been proven perfectly possible to create a brand new original character that ends up being popular. Figment is a perfect example of this when he was originally introduced. Pirates of the Caribbean ended up evolving into a massive and profitable franchise. You don't need something familiar to sell if you yourself are capable of creating new imaginative characters and are skilled at marketing them. Pixar does it all the time in their movies by creating new and beloved popular characters, no reason there couldn't be a new original character come out of a ride. I think Figment AND Dreamfinder both show us it can be done. And I still feel they're BOTH relevant and should be Epcot's mascots if they can only do something with the ride and be more intelligent in marketing.
