ChrisM
Well-Known Member
" This was supposed to be a city!" - Walt
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Journey of Water featuring Moana coming to Epcot
- Thread starter Rteetz
- Start date
" This was supposed to be a city!" - Walt
plutofan15
Well-Known Member
Wish I could like your response multiple times.
AndyMagic
Well-Known Member
If there were a list of 50 unique design / theming / architectural proposals for Epcot in a huge portfolio and Journey of Water with its forest and bamboo aesthetic was one of them it would rank close to the top of the list of "least cohesive" options for Epcot.
Even taking into account the "new" Epcot with its incoherent "worlds" this is still like an Animal Kingdom path nestled directly beyond a massive futuristic geodesic dome.
Regardless of how beautiful or immersive it ends up being this has to be one of the strangest additions to a Disney park I've ever seen built in my lifetime. A decade ago if someone told me a forest and water themed walking trail would be built in Future World I'd have suggested a visit to the mental institution. Now here we are after 5 years of active development hell and it's slowly coming together. Surreal is an understatement.
Even taking into account the "new" Epcot with its incoherent "worlds" this is still like an Animal Kingdom path nestled directly beyond a massive futuristic geodesic dome.
Regardless of how beautiful or immersive it ends up being this has to be one of the strangest additions to a Disney park I've ever seen built in my lifetime. A decade ago if someone told me a forest and water themed walking trail would be built in Future World I'd have suggested a visit to the mental institution. Now here we are after 5 years of active development hell and it's slowly coming together. Surreal is an understatement.
Casper Gutman
Well-Known Member
If it was nestled in the tree-lined berm next to the Land maybe you could find a little sense to it, but it’s smack dab in the middle of the park, surrounded on all sides by guest areas! It’s madness!
(Come to think of it, it’s the only EPCOT “attraction” other then SE that guests can walk all the way around, isn’t it? Somehow, that makes it weirder.)
James Alucobond
Well-Known Member
I don’t think it will be terribly thematically disruptive since it will transition out to more traditional EPCOT plantings in the berms, and the only visually exposed side faces The Seas, which already has rockwork and distinct flora outside of the entrance. I agree that the location in general is indeed poor planning, though.
aladdin2007
Well-Known Member
If someone had told me years ago or even several years ago that one day all of this would be ripped out and replaced with tropical gardens tied into a cartoon I would have said your crazy this is Epcot (record scratch).....management is just so inept now..
Except at one time there was a rainforest/coaster area as part of project gemini attached to The Land makeover.
Except at one time there was a rainforest/coaster area as part of project gemini attached to The Land makeover.
SilentWindODoom
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I was gonna say, hasn't everyone been pining for this for decades?
Everyone complaining "This theming doesn't make sense. It belongs in Animal Kingdom." baffles me considering this has nothing to do with animals.
GimpYancIent
Well-Known Member
When the lagoon finally gets uncluttered, and the construction walls go away there will be renewed interest in visiting EPCOT. Right now it is an uninviting construction wall enclosed junk yard interspersed with some entertainment venues.
UNCgolf
Well-Known Member
How many people actually wanted that to happen? I know I'm glad it didn't. Both the rainforest roller coaster and Time Racers were horrible ideas.
Sir_Cliff
Well-Known Member
Indeed. I actually think that plan was probably, on the whole, worse than the current plans. That is in part because the current plans have kind of fizzled away which has minimised the damage, but they at least have some nice aspects like the new entrance to the park and the Connections/Creations refurb that go back to a more minimalist aesthetic.
Destroying SSE for a roller coaster would have been worse, IMO, than what happened to Energy, and cluttering up Future World with outdoor attractions like a rollercoaster, hedge maze, and junior autopia seems like a way of trying to obscure the park's original design rather than trying to restore it and make it work.
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No Name
Well-Known Member
That plan would’ve actually changed the design of future world. Instead they’re cornering off some nature/waterfalls and leaving the rest looking like an 80s office park. It should be part of the design of world nature.
180º
Well-Known Member
Definitely not. Since the day I saw that plan for the first time I’ve been counting my lucky stars it didn’t happen. Sends a chill up my spine.
I have no beef with Journey of Water other than it’s messing up the symmetry of Future World. I wonder if they could have built a “colonnade” of sorts in front of it that replicated the Communicore facade. Even if it had no interior behind it where JoW is, it could have functioned as an overhang for seating or other amenities and had a view right through it to the foliage beyond while maintaining the symmetry of the two arcs.
Bocabear
Well-Known Member
There were portions of that plan that were good ideas... I think we can all agree that time Racers was a bad idea, but the rainforest coaster connected to The Land is not a bad idea, nor is an Autopia attraction connected to World of Motion... Both would give a needed attraction that would fit the theme of the pavilion they are attached to...They are in the spirit of the original plans... and did not involve convoluted renaming of areas "which includes this building and this building but not the one next to it" designations...lol
I think adding the C ticket type attractions to the different pavilions is an interesting idea...and if a speedway/Autopia attraction was added to World of Motion, they could remove the Magic Kingdom Speedway and have that property to develop...
I think adding the C ticket type attractions to the different pavilions is an interesting idea...and if a speedway/Autopia attraction was added to World of Motion, they could remove the Magic Kingdom Speedway and have that property to develop...
Id rather they update the speedway in MK and give it a new aesthetic and electrify it. I like the open space, trees and skies in TL and they already have so much other stuff in TL that needs updating imo
Rich Brownn
Well-Known Member
I remember reading somewhere that the junior Auto was part of the Test Track conversion originally.
Epcot82Guy
Well-Known Member
I didn't love a number of things in that plan. But, I did appreciate that they kept very clear balance in the design, even if it wasn't fully symmetrical. The layout and connection within the overall land still seemed to make sense.
SilentWindODoom
Well-Known Member
Heh. I'd only ever heard people speak of the old plan with reverence as if it were a hallowed legend. Seems tastes have changed, although I'd rather they put a coaster elsewhere and have left me my dinosaurs and not built a giant box.
Whenever I've looked at Epcot with a view to making changes, this has always been my thoughts on it. When I thought of "Future World Pavilion" as the terminology would have been at the time, I've always found The Land, Wonders of Life, and even perhaps The Seas as what a pavilion should be. A collection of attractions and exhibits, a mixture of different letters combined rather than a building with one thing that you walk into and get spat out of.
Whenever I've looked at Epcot with a view to making changes, this has always been my thoughts on it. When I thought of "Future World Pavilion" as the terminology would have been at the time, I've always found The Land, Wonders of Life, and even perhaps The Seas as what a pavilion should be. A collection of attractions and exhibits, a mixture of different letters combined rather than a building with one thing that you walk into and get spat out of.
UNCgolf
Well-Known Member
World of Motion was full of other attractions/exhibits too, and of course the original ImageWorks at the Imagination Pavilion was fantastic for kids (plus the theater is there).
I think Horizons and Universe of Energy were the only pavilions that didn't have other activities in the original Future World. And Spaceship Earth I guess, but I never really thought of it as a pavilion -- it did have things after the ride but they were mostly guest relations etc.
It's one of the reasons EPCOT's capacity has plummeted since those days; they've eliminated so much of that extra stuff.
Journey of Water photos from today
www.wdwmagic.com
Journey of Water Inspired by Moana construction - February 22 2023
Journey of Water Inspired by Moana construction - February 22 2023
www.wdwmagic.com