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Imagineer Tom Fitzgerald takes over the creative direction of Epcot
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
Omnispace
Well-Known Member
I can see your PR take on this. It will be interesting to see if they actually have a concept at this moment or are just feeling it out. Nothing guarantees that what they dream-up to take Epcot "back to it's roots" is going to be true to it's original ambitious mission. The issues now are so fundamental that many people on this forum could figure out what to do right and yet time after time we are left amazed by how screwed-up their vision is for the park.
WDW1974
Well-Known Member
BTW, this makes me seriously wonder what Eric Jacobson's job status is. He is up there in years (but not as old at Tom and Joe) and makes a very healthy salary.
EPCOT was just taken from his portfolio and, some would have us believe this means the park is in for a creative renaissance ... if they mean a third Food and Wine festival then they are probably right!
But poor Eric now has two parks directly under him: MK and TPFKaTD-MGMS.
MK is just finishing a major project and, beyond a new night show that seems to have a 2016 date for a debut, there doesn't appear like anything is coming. They don't need him to redesign the Hub. They don't have intentions of adding anything of substance for the foreseeable future.
And the Studios, well, the only thing seemingly happening there is Star Wars at some nebulous date, years from now. You also have Trowbridge and Mangum on the payroll to deal with that, both also making nice salaries.
What is Eric going to do to keep busy? How is he needed?
I would not at all be surprised to see Eric out of the company VERY soon.
EPCOT was just taken from his portfolio and, some would have us believe this means the park is in for a creative renaissance ... if they mean a third Food and Wine festival then they are probably right!
But poor Eric now has two parks directly under him: MK and TPFKaTD-MGMS.
MK is just finishing a major project and, beyond a new night show that seems to have a 2016 date for a debut, there doesn't appear like anything is coming. They don't need him to redesign the Hub. They don't have intentions of adding anything of substance for the foreseeable future.
And the Studios, well, the only thing seemingly happening there is Star Wars at some nebulous date, years from now. You also have Trowbridge and Mangum on the payroll to deal with that, both also making nice salaries.
What is Eric going to do to keep busy? How is he needed?
I would not at all be surprised to see Eric out of the company VERY soon.
rioriz
Well-Known Member
Has it gotten so bad that I would actually welcome these?!?
Muppet Imagination is actually kinda exciting idea
BlueSkyDriveBy
Well-Known Member
Actually, Eric is older than Tom by a few years. Joe is older than both.
WDW1974
Well-Known Member
Really? I believe you, but I always thought Eric was younger ... maybe because he was sort of Tom's protege?
Regardless, I just don't see how he (and his large salary) fit in now. He just isn't needed. They could put one of their New Fantasyland 'young guns' as MK lead ... and Kathy on Studios and you've just saved the company lots of $$$.
MarkTwain
Well-Known Member
Where's Bob Weis these days? If his work with Shanghai is done, I think Studios would be a great fit for him.
aladdin2007
Well-Known Member
They dont need Phil Holmes anymore either, Id like to see him gone before Eric.
aladdin2007
Well-Known Member
I cant believe Im saying this but I would actually welcome that over the state its in now.
You are a bit out of date on who's doing what.
Eric passed Epcot and Studios over to Mangum back in July 2013 when he took the new role of global attraction and entertainment safety. Eric continues to be creative leader on Magic Kingdom, Disney Springs, Resort hotels and Disney vacation Club locations.
So the current lineup for the Parks is:
Mangum - Studios
Rohde - DAK
Fitzgerald - Epcot
Jacobson - MK
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culturenthrills
Well-Known Member
screens, screens, screens, screens, screens, screens and screens, screens, screens, screens, screens, screens, screens and screens, screens, screens, screens, screens, screens, screens and screens, screens, screens, screens, screens, screens, screens and screens, screens, screens, screens, screens, screens, screens and screens
articos
Well-Known Member
KM is sharing Springs.
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articos
Well-Known Member
Bob is still on Shanghai. He's also involved with DCL. And he was in FL a few weeks ago.
NoChesterHester
Well-Known Member
Kathy is actually based in Florida while the rest are still in California -- right?
danv3
Well-Known Member
That's where I'm at. Things are so bad at EPCOT today, even those kind of synergy-based ideas could be appealing...at least in comparison to the status quo.
xdan0920
Think for yourselfer
I'm already wondering how they are going to re-brand the park 10 years from now with this announcement. They may have to go the big cover charge to drink in the fancy bar route as they quietly try and off everyone who remembers EPCOT of the 80's and 90's. Ahhh....I just realized the most probable new name - "Disney's Lots of Fun Stuff to do Islands of Adult Beverage Consumption Adventures". Maybe Fitzgerald will get a healthy budget and show some vision, but I've never been the kind to buy lottery tickets.
MerlinTheGoat
Well-Known Member
There are still plenty of ways to make things worse at EPCOT unfortunately. Spaceship Earth is still at least in a somewhat recognizable form from its original status despite some moderately unfortunate alterations here and there (it is at least still in a position that it COULD be easily cleaned up again with another redo and isn't yet at the point of no return like Horizons or World of Motion). And American Adventure i'm sure they'd love to kill off due to no doubt a heavy maintenance budget, some fool somewhere probably thinks it would be better with pop music or some crap. Maelstrom we already have fears about becoming a Frozen ride, and even Living with the Land is still a fun little ride.
So there's still a couple of vestiges of brilliance left that haven't been ruined. Plenty of things they could still screw up. I'm hoping that if any changes do happen that they first test the water a bit with garbage everyone already hates like Imagination, before we just let them overhaul the entire park and potentially screw things up even worse. And use empty unused park space with Wonders of Life. Then we'll see if they should be trusted to give the rest of EPCOT what it needs.
So there's still a couple of vestiges of brilliance left that haven't been ruined. Plenty of things they could still screw up. I'm hoping that if any changes do happen that they first test the water a bit with garbage everyone already hates like Imagination, before we just let them overhaul the entire park and potentially screw things up even worse. And use empty unused park space with Wonders of Life. Then we'll see if they should be trusted to give the rest of EPCOT what it needs.
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