As much as I've railed against the many changes made since the EPCOT Center days, I've got to admit that most of them were made in an honest effort to give people what they want.
Except Imagination, that is. The sole motivation behind the gutting of that pavilion was to make it cheaper to operate. They didn't even pay lip service to customer experience on this one; the whole pavilion reeks of the arrogant assumption that Disney customers are stupid animals that will eagerly lap up whatever table scraps the executives see fit to toss their way. I'm sure the Imagineers that built the current incarnation of the ride from scraps of the execrable 1999 version did the very best they could, but the whole thing still plays like a ride past a bunch of stuff Disney couldn't sell at a garage sale. And have you seen the place lately? Judging from the dull, dirty look of the pyramids you'd think that the ability to clean glass is an ancient art that's been lost to history.
People are always talking about how the World Showcase needs a new country or how Universe of Energy needs to become something more than a monument to '90s pop culture, but in my opinion the most important, number one priority for EPCOT should be revitalizing the Imagination pavilion. I know that proposals exist; Disney just needs to implement one of them. Hopefully a Dr. Nigel Channing-free one.
Or else I will stomp my feet and say bad words.
