Journey of Water featuring Moana coming to Epcot

[yensidtlaw1969]

Clearly you have never done anything creative. Fantasia was bust when it was released, the company lost a ton, The haters of the day said the magic was over. When he announced Disneyland they dubbed it Walts follies. When it opened the Concrete still wasn't dry, the wagon ride was bust, etc, etc - did the company give up? Of course not! There will always be a next, different & better. Walt saw a bigger World.

The little world laughed at Robert Fulton when he went steaming by on that steam ship in the hudson river, but the big world was gathered watching him as he made that historic journey downstream.

The little world laughed but the big world was right there at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina when the Wright Brothers made that flight in the space that changed not only the face of the globe, but changed the face of the universe. The little world laughed, but the big world was tuned in when Alexander Graham Bell make that historic phone call which changed communications forever.

The little world might laugh at you, when you start on your journey, but I can absolutely guarantee you it’s gonna be the big world who is gonna be right there at the finish cheering you across when you reach the destination which they said you could not reach, and let me remind you that what you get by reaching that destination will not be nearly so important as what you will become by reaching that destination.

Zig Ziglar

This feels like an extensive reach.

Nobody's claiming the company's done for because their Moana walkthrough is lame.

That said, it's silly to try to reframe this as some sort of long-term win. Of course Disney will do better things in the future - but this isn't some David and Goliath situation. Disney is acting as their own worst enemy here, making choices that from Day 1 evidently were not designed with the guests wants or needs in mind. This isn't a standalone issue.

There's no need to pretend that Journey of Water isn't fully primed to disappoint, and there's certainly no need to pretend that's somehow gonna jumpstart a meaningful change in how they operate. The rot goes deeper than just this one misguided walkthrough.

 

[HauntedPirate]

It's very apparent now that this was approved and created by executive leaders who have no idea how a crowded Disney theme park works.

Who the heck is in charge of the Parks division? And why can't they ever get some experienced Ops people to be in charge?

(I know you know all this, before I start down the humorous path)

Well, for many years it was $lappie the Bald Crap Peddler. Now it's Mr. "I make the fanbois swoon" Skinny Jeans. One was unqualified for the job. The other was unqualified for any job and got promoted to CEO before he got torpedoed by his predecessor. Neither held any parks ops experience before running the parks. What could go wrong???

 

[GhostHost1000]

I’m still in shock they are scheduling previews for themed water fountains

 

[HauntedPirate]

As long as Bob Iger doesn't tweet that the walkthrough exploration trail is open, crowds should be fine. If he does that, though... watch out. All he needs to do is tweet about JoW being open and there will be throngs of people waiting 6-8 hours to see this.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Neither held any parks ops experience before running the parks. What could go wrong???

Josh was actually the most parks experienced person to lead Disney’s parks in nearly two decades. He had been with Parks and Resorts / Parks, Experiences and Products for a decade when he landed the top job.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Josh was actually the most parks experienced person to lead Disney’s parks in nearly two decades. He had been with Parks and Resorts / Parks, Experiences and Products for a decade when he landed the top job.

That is true. But he never worked a day in the parks, he's always been in management. I guess the same could be said about Matt Ouimet but he somehow managed to do incredible things in California. Different mindsets, different eras, I guess.

 

[Nunu]

I’m still in shock they are scheduling previews for themed water fountains

So am I.

I mean, Cast Members, D33, AP, DVC previews, emails sent, etc., for just this? It's too much for what it seems to be, imo. What's next, a parade and a marching band?, lol.

Don't get me wrong, what we've seen so far looks nice, but I'm not sure it deserves this much hoopla.

 

[aladdin2007]

another harmonious on their hands except its not a visual mess....like another poster said this is perfect for a moania queue/attraction at AK. A blunder for epcot.
the parks division needs to clean house badly. Disney keeps touting this like it's some big new attraction, and that's a big problem or going to be for them.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Limited size previews of people who have more than a passing relationship with Disney are done because:

1. It makes them feel special. How many times did we hear from APers and DVDers in the past vocalizing their rage when they didn't get perks, like previews? It's an easy and mostly free way to give your employees a perk.​

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2. It gets the people who would glom into an opening day from... glomming. Thus no super-long lines or over-crowdedness from CMs, APers (mostly locals), and DVCers. Just the regular vacationing guests are left to experience the attraction.​

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3. It allows for quality control. If something is making the dry path become wet, that needs to be found out sooner than later.​

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4. It allows for the first to experience it to experience it with low crowds, so, they can't complain about the crowds.​

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5. All of the above also leads to more favorable social media reviews.​

 

[Disstevefan1]

I’m still in shock they are scheduling previews for themed water fountains

 

[James Alucobond]

another harmonious on their hands except its not a visual mess....like another poster said this is perfect for a moania queue/attraction at AK. A blunder for epcot.
the parks division needs to clean house badly. Disney keeps touting this like it's some big new attraction, and that's a big problem or going to be for them.

Harmonious (and Cosmic Rewind) actively detract from the park due to the hideous infrastructure, so I have a hard time considering them comparable. At the very least, Journey of Water is not a visual blight towering over EPCOT and is basically completely ignorable if you hate it, whereas Harmonious and CR really can’t be ignored and drag down otherwise lovely areas.

 

[Paytonx98x]

Beautiful exhibit but sad fact is the water features were there when the park opened and sure there is some interaction by passersby now to make it more engaging but not worth it. Worse off is a Tik Tok streamer that has a bad reputation, is known to manipulate the system and is rude to guests was actually allowed to video it and release it early per the September date. Poor choice on Disneys behalf.

 

[GimpYancIent]

The whole dry path thing is going to be interesting because it is Florida and a good percentage of the time there won't be a dry path (as in rain).

 

[MrPromey]

I've had some comments from some CM's who have been through over the past couple of weeks. The sentiment is overwhelmingly negative so far.

Latest comment was "Very very forgettable."

Sounds similar to the early reviews when they did cast previews of the original JII replacement - the one that was actually worse than what we have now.

 

[WondersOfLife]

Here I am! And it is indeed "edutainment."

All one has to do is read BlogMickey's report:

Ah. I see. I'll get on that. I'll make sure everyone reads the BlogMickey's report before taking people to experiencing this attraction to ensure it's edutainment value.

 

[WondersOfLife]

But there is a heck of a difference between edutainment in the form of Horizons or Universe of Energy vs. a water play area with some informational signage.

Good to see somebody gets it.

Signs are boring. This isn't a museum... And it's not a playground. It's a theme park.

And that was something original Epcot got right in terms of balancing entertainment with edutainment.

Go hop back on Spaceship Earth and Living with the Land.. heck, I'll even throw Test Track in there.

 

[flynnibus]

I mean, what are people expecting? It's a walkthrough with water effects. This isn't going to be groundbreaking, or some epic new attraction. It's just a normal, walkthrough experience. It adds something extra and chill to do in a park.

Yet think about how much space has been dedicated to this. How much resources. How much effort was put into this….

To get … something you have to defend as… its just … this?

 

[J4546]

It is a part of the entire epcot renovation. Gotg, rat, new communicore, space 220, central core, entrance fountain makeover, etc.....all the major stuff had already opened, people know this. Jow isn't hyped up to be anything more than it is, an edutainment walkthrough experience.

If everything opened at once I don't think jow would get nearly the hate on these forums bit they slowed down/staggered construction and that sucks but it is what it is.

Can't wait to see this at night

 

[WondersOfLife]

It is a part of the entire epcot renovation. Gotg, rat, new communicore, space 220, central core, entrance fountain makeover, etc.....

It is a part of the PARTIAL Epcot renovation. Half of which was cancelled.

This should have been part of the cancelled half.

And in return, we should have gotten Mary Poppins, something for WOL, or quite literally ANY of the other cancelled projects.

 

[J4546]

I disagree. Mary Poppins was a teacups attraction and I'd rather not do that. The cancelled festival center sucks but I think the communicor plaza is shaping up to be a great outdoor gathering point for shows and stuff. I'm into it