Guardians of the Galaxy coming to Energy Pavilion at Epcot

[MaximumEd]

Most of that looks 2nd or 3rd generation with invasive species and a drainage culvert that has collected runoff from the parking lot for decades. Looking forward to them cleaning up that patch of scrub brush while adding proper water retention ponds.

Just curious, but why would one be looking forward to Disney clearing up a patch of scrub brush that one would rarely see?

 

[DznyRktekt]

If it winds up being GOTG as the replacement, can you imagine a giant DCA-style eyesore sitting in the middle of Epcot? Good grief, that would stick out like a giant hideous sore thumb.

Did someone say "sore thumb" in the middle of Epcot?

 

[danlb_2000]

Just curious, but why would one be looking forward to Disney clearing up a patch of scrub brush that one would rarely see?

Because jt has to put a positive spin on anything Disney does, it's just his way.

 

[Haymarket2008]

If it winds up being GOTG as the replacement, can you imagine a giant DCA-style eyesore sitting in the middle of Epcot? Good grief, that would stick out like a giant hideous sore thumb.

That's what concerns me the most. Sleek, elegant pavilions and then a garish atrocity sitting there? No thanks.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Most of that looks 2nd or 3rd generation with invasive species and a drainage culvert that has collected runoff from the parking lot for decades. Looking forward to them cleaning up that patch of scrub brush while adding proper water retention ponds.

The permit is for detention ponds. Do you even know the difference?

 

[Clowd Nyne]

Well, everything in the Disney parks does have a story at is root. This is a fundamental of Imagineering going back to Walt Disney. The real question is whether or not everything needs to TELL a story.


Thanks!

Lou Prosperi,
Author, THE IMAGINEERING PYRAMID

Just joined the forum to plug my book

 

[LouP]

Just joined the forum to plug my book

I've been a member of this forum since 2005. I just don't post often. When I do post, it's most often in discussions about Imagineering principles and practices.

And yes, since the discussion had moved to talking about Imagineering principles, I mentioned my book as I thought readers might be interested.

I apologize if I've violated forum rules or protocols.


Thanks!

Lou Prosperi

 

[V_L_Raptor]

I remember people talking about Vekomas new coaster design possibly being used for the ride. Well, they were running it last month. It'd make sense this could be Disney's doing since they've been using Vekoma for a while now.
This guy has been keeping track of it since they started building it: http://vekoma.webklik.nl/page/vekoma-nieuws

I don't expect the testbed to run at full speed, but the video does make me wonder... Is there some thought toward the eventual Energy ride slowing down to be a hybrid coaster/dark ride?

 

[V_L_Raptor]

It was surprisingly easy, I just had to regurgitate what I've seen plenty of times on the interwebs. And not anger, just disgust at the entitlement mentality that permeates within all walks of life these days.

And please, it's been stated ad naseum about how millennials want "experiences", not to mention most have the attention span of a gnat. Ask them what they did and it's all over multiple social media platforms. Ask them to describe what they saw and you get "uhhh... buildings...", or a blank stare. Disney is giving them "experiences", in 2-3 minute bites, because that's all that matters to them.

I totally agree - if TWDC hadn't neglected Epcot for a decade it would likely be in much better shape than it is. However, they didn't, and the current corporate mindset will likely take what little soul of the original is left.

I just realized how good I feel when I say "Epcot Center" and think back to everything it had to offer... It's sad that we'll likely never be able to have those feelings about the park ever again.

I remember the day a geriatric CM at the Kidcot stop in Seas told me all about how everything in Future World (especially Seas, natch) needed to be changed to the low attention span crap that it is now, because "that's what the kids want." Speaking as one of those millennials who happened to enjoy the original EC/FW quite a bit, the more I listen, the more I find that it's not the millennials who are crowing for the "experiences" to fit their "entitlement mentalities." There may be a few, sure, but mostly it's been the boomer set and older. Not that this itself is news, because when you look at the contingent of the population who might be okay with things like, say, "alternative facts," the age demographics don't point to the millennials.

A good friend of mine likes to remind me of the modern/postmodern dichotomy, and he reminds me of how I'm "a postmodern." The mess we're seeing in Epcot right now isn't at the direction of the postmoderns, but of the moderns who would prefer the younger folks as scapegoats for the stercorial crockery they'd like to push. Seabase Alpha wasn't at all too smart for the kiddies, but it was too smart for Granny Gumdrops that day at Kidcot, and hers is the kind of refrain I hear/read again and again.

 

[Kman101]

I've been a member of this forum since 2005. I just don't post often. When I do post, it's most often in discussions about Imagineering principles and practices.

And yes, since the discussion had moved to talking about Imagineering principles, I mentioned my book as I thought readers might be interested.

I apologize if I've violated forum rules or protocols.


Thanks!

Lou Prosperi

An actual moderator will let you know if there's ever an issue ...

 

[Clowd Nyne]

I've been a member of this forum since 2005. I just don't post often. When I do post, it's most often in discussions about Imagineering principles and practices.

And yes, since the discussion had moved to talking about Imagineering principles, I mentioned my book as I thought readers might be interested.

I apologize if I've violated forum rules or protocols.


Thanks!

Lou Prosperi

No hard feelings. Thanks for the input

 

[lazyboy97o]

I don't expect the testbed to run at full speed, but the video does make me wonder... Is there some thought toward the eventual Energy ride slowing down to be a hybrid coaster/dark ride?

For the system itself, there is awareness that the upright seating before and after load could be utilized for show scenes.

 

[lazyboy97o]

It needed to be changed because no one wants to spend $500 with their family learning about GMO's (ironically that's the one thing that didn't change) when they can go to the other parks that don't put them to sleep. Don't get me wrong, i am sure old Epcot was great and it's a shell of it's former self. But come on, does sitting in a slow moving omnimover while looking at the history of transportation..you know, TRANSPORTATION, honestly a fun thing to do? Answer that question truthfully as a lot of people on here put on their nostalgic goggles when they reply back.

That is why you hire and maintain a big group of creatives to develop attractions.

 

[wdwfan4ver]

Disney's been using Vekoma forever. I think Space Mountain is a vekoma, but I'm not sure.

Space Mountain isn't a vekoma. Disney used Arrow Development Company for Space Mountain. It is the same company that Disney used for the Matterhorn in Disneyland. WDW's big thunder Mountain wasn't a Vekoma either and used Arrow Development also.

Walt himself used arrow development a lot for his park. He used them for many of Disneylands original and early rides such as Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Autopia, Mr Toad's Wild Rides Mad Tea Party and Snow White's Scary Adventures as examples.

 

[marni1971]

i am sure old Epcot was great..

You never experienced it?

 

[ToTBellHop]

You never experienced it?

He doesn't look old enough to have, does he? At the latest, you'd have to have conscious memories of the early '90s.

 

[MrRC]

Space Mountain isn't a vekoma. Disney used Arrow Development Company for Space Mountain. It is the same company that Disney used for the Matterhorn in Disneyland. WDW's big thunder Mountain wasn't a Vekoma either and used Arrow Development also.

Walt himself used arrow development a lot for his park. He used them for many of Disneylands original and early rides such as Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Autopia, Mr Toad's Wild Rides Mad Tea Party and Snow White's Scary Adventures as examples.

See here : https://rcdb.com/qs.htm?qs=space+mountain
for more information.
Some Coasters for Disney like in Paris is from Vekoma as well in Hongkong.

 

[rnese]

IMO, IP's should NOT be in EPCOT. When discussing parks I prefer comparing it to its self, at different moments in time. EPCOT of my childhood was not IP driven - it was inspiring, educational and made you marvel about the future. As much as I love GotG, I'm hoping any new Energy incarnation is not IP driven. GoTG belongs in Tomorrowland or DHS.

YES! Keep EPCOT Center's Future World "Non-fiction". GOTG would be great in Tomorrowland or DHS.

 

[ToTBellHop]

You're literally the first person I've met on here that actually doesn't think Epcot was a god send. Any time i bring up old Epcot, saying that it's boring and outdated, they all say that I wasn't even alive to experience the wonders of old Epcot. But when i read up about it and look at videos, it looks horrid. I don't even see Mickey Mouse in any of the home videos that are on YouTube. Mickey Mouse! They plaster him everywhere! You'd think they'd have him walking around, but no.

I'm hardly a purist. I was only born in 1984. But I can tell you that as a 7-year old in 1991, I absolutely adored Journey Into Imagination (who didn't love Figment back then? Now he's kind of obnoxious), Horizons (although I got upset when my family didn't agree with my choice of space), and World of Motion. I even enjoyed Body Wars, Cranium Command, and riding those recumbent bikes around World Showcase. The Living Seas was jaw-dropping but I had never been to an aquarium, I've always loved Living with the Land and Kitchen Kabaret was fantastic. I even liked Spaceship Earth.

Only Universe of Energy bored me at that age...and World Showcase. As an adult, I can appreciate the latter a great deal. What concerns me is that they largely changed what was already working (Future World) while ignoring a World Showcase that has been visually-stunning but lacking-in-attractions for 35 years.

 

[Rob562]

Thank you. I knew the Disney parks were using the same manufacturer for a long time, but I wasn't sure. For some reason i thought it was Vekoma. The more you know

It's Vekoma now, but it was Arrow in the early years.

If I had to pinpoint the changeover, I think the first true Disney-Vekoma partnership was Disneyland Paris with Space Mountain and Big Thunder in 1995. (Unless you count Gadget's Coaster in Disneyland's Toontown, which is a stock coaster model)

Pretty much every Disney coaster since then has been built by Vekoma. (They may have even manufactured the replacement track for Disneyland's Space Mountain, but using the original track layout design)

-Rob