Journey of Water featuring Moana coming to Epcot

[MrPromey]

John Ritter will never not be funny. That man was a legend of physical comedy.

Kind of hard to believe looking back that people like him and Chevy* actually did this stuff, for real.

Imagine a director taking his leading man aside today and being like "Okay, I want you to dramatically prat fall down a flight of stairs. The stairs are real but the area below is carpeted. Try to aim for the ottoman so you don't break anything - all that stuff on set is rented and we don't have insurance for the extras."

And Jack's like "ok!"

*Yeah, everyone knows he's a jerk and apparently always has been but for this point, that doesn't matter.

 

[MrPromey]

some of yall are getting way too upset about a walkthrough lifecycle of water attraction lol.

You know, this is actually the kind of stuff I'm in favor of them having more of in all the parks.

Something that will hopefully be a low-key people eater without a ton of fuss or fanfare that adds to the extra element of a Disney theme park experience - the kind of thing you don't go there to do but end up spending more time enjoying than you expected when you first happened upon it.*

Unfortunately, they designed it with a single entrance/exit, making it a self-contained attraction, took nearly half a decade to build it, put it in a thematically weird spot making 1/4 the spine of the front of Epcot a nothing experience on the other side and have been breathlessly teasing the amazingness of it on their blog and in little promo videos - really over-hyping what at this point, we know it to be.

Something that should have quietly opened someplace where a set of interweaving tropical nature trails offering multiple ways in and out that provided an unexpected unique experience and an area for guest to relax and enjoy the atmosphere of, somehow ended up as this.

*This is kind of how much of Communicor and Innoventions was along with things like the upstairs in JII or even the fountains outside of it that people still stand around and watch... or the RIP fountain show or the exit area to Spaceship Earth or the live entertainment around World Showcase or the former streetmosphere of Hollywood Studios, etc. I doubt many people went to Hollywood Studios looking for Jack Diamond but judging just from the number of guest filmed youtube videos out there of him, he ended up being a notable highlight for many - such a simple but unexpected thing.

 

[Bocabear]

I don't mind little attractions (lower case "a" )like this when they are placed in a spot that makes sense, and if they don't come at the expense of other Attractions with a capital A...but the placement and style of this thing does not fit it's location at all...and other attractions and major overhauls were cancelled...while this thing somehow made the cut.
In Disneyland Paris they built an Adventure Island walk-through in their Adventureland which is pretty neat...Fleshes out the area and gives you something to explore... (theirs is Pirate themed and goes into Skull Rock)

 

[TheMaxRebo]

You know, this is actually the kind of stuff I'm in favor of them having more of in all the parks.

Something that will hopefully be a low-key people eater without a ton of fuss or fanfare that adds to the extra element of a Disney theme park experience - the kind of thing you don't go there to do but end up spending more time enjoying than you expected when you first happened upon it.*

Unfortunately, they designed it with a single entrance/exit, making it a self-contained attraction, took nearly half a decade to build it, put it in a thematically weird spot making 1/4 the spine of the front of Epcot a nothing experience on the other side and have been breathlessly teasing the amazingness of it on their blog and in little promo videos - really over-hyping what at this point, we know it to be.

Something that should have quietly opened someplace where a set of interweaving tropical nature trails offering multiple ways in and out that provided an unexpected unique experience and an area for guest to relax and enjoy atmosphere of somehow ended up as this.

*This is kind of how much of Communicor and Innoventions was along with things like the upstairs in JII or even the fountains outside of it that people still stand around and watch... or the RIP fountain show or the exit area to Spaceship Earth or the live entertainment around World Showcase or the former streetmosphere of Hollywood Studios, etc.

I absolutely think they need more things like this - more things for people to do without big waits and to to do while waiting for G+/ILL return times, etc

As I' mentioned before if this was opening basically at the same time as Remys, Guardians, Marry Poppins, the SSE update, etc, it would be a great complementary piece

Problem is, this is now THE major addition for all of WDW over a, what, 18 months window? It falls short for that status

 

[dmw]

Yeah, but think of what the folks of Arrakis would think of such an attraction!!

oooooh.... now we are talking about a thrill ride. I want to ride a worm!!!

 

[DonniePeverley]

Genuine question - but does anyone rank the decision to virtually render a vast swathe of Epcot under construction walls for so many years, as one of the worst decisions of all time in the history of Disney?

 

[BasiltheBatLord]

Genuine question - but does anyone rank the decision to virtually render a vast swathe of Epcot under construction walls for so many years, as one of the worst decisions of all time in the history of Disney?

It was a better decision than leaving the park as stagnant as it was forever.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

You know, this is actually the kind of stuff I'm in favor of them having more of in all the parks.

Something that will hopefully be a low-key people eater without a ton of fuss or fanfare that adds to the extra element of a Disney theme park experience - the kind of thing you don't go there to do but end up spending more time enjoying than you expected when you first happened upon it.*

Unfortunately, they designed it with a single entrance/exit, making it a self-contained attraction, took nearly half a decade to build it, put it in a thematically weird spot making 1/4 the spine of the front of Epcot a nothing experience on the other side and have been breathlessly teasing the amazingness of it on their blog and in little promo videos - really over-hyping what at this point, we know it to be.

Something that should have quietly opened someplace where a set of interweaving tropical nature trails offering multiple ways in and out that provided an unexpected unique experience and an area for guest to relax and enjoy atmosphere of somehow ended up as this.

*This is kind of how much of Communicor and Innoventions was along with things like the upstairs in JII or even the fountains outside of it that people still stand around and watch... or the RIP fountain show or the exit area to Spaceship Earth or the live entertainment around World Showcase or the former streetmosphere of Hollywood Studios, etc. I doubt many people went to Hollywood Studios looking for Jack Diamond but judging just from the number of guest filmed youtube videos out there of him, he ended up being a notable highlight for many - such a simple but unexpected thing.

I scratch my head as to how they will "re-launch" Epcot when all of this is finished and the only new attraction to tout will be Journey of Water.

It all makes me wonder whether the marketing for the relaunch will be more along the lines of posts on the DisneyParks Blog and maybe some local media than anything major as I can't really see what they'll have to promote. No-one is going to get excited about going back to Epcot to see a walkthrough Moana attraction, an outdoor live performance venue, and a new meet-and-greet area in place of the old meet-and-greet area. It's curious to me that they've even muzzled Zach's attempts to talk up the whole project in favour of... silence.

One of the issues with the looooooong timeframe of this project is that it is just tapering out to a moment they remove all the construction walls long past the time the only major attraction tied up with the whole project opened and are left with... a refreshed plaza? It's not that there aren't improvements along the way, but this whole project seems to be yet another in a long series of plans for Epcot that start off with grand language about refreshing and relaunching the park that just kind of fizzle away and leave a combination of old and new elements without much in the way of a cohesive re-think.

The vibe is very much that they walked away from the relaunch midway through and what they're finishing now is their solution to the problem of them already having demolished one of the Communicore buildings and torn up the central plaza when they made the decision.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Genuine question - but does anyone rank the decision to virtually render a vast swathe of Epcot under construction walls for so many years, as one of the worst decisions of all time in the history of Disney?

The original plans made a lot of sense to do and it was all to be done for the 50th, so that decision was fine ...

... To them abandon half of the plans and take 3x as long as it should take to finish what they are doing was not the best plan

 

[Phicinfan]

The original plans made a lot of sense to do and it was all to be done for the 50th, so that decision was fine ...

... To them abandon half of the plans and take 3x as long as it should take to finish what they are doing was not the best plan

Don't totally disagree. Hind sight is always 20/20. But folks have to remember delay is actually 2 parts. First we Covid, that stopped work for a period of time, then there was the whole redesign due to costs and cost savings due to covid and lack of income. Quite honestly, I am still not convinced they have a final locked plan...even with all they have done so far.

 

[Bocabear]

It feels very much like there is no plan...there was one once, but it has had so many changes that there is no longer anyone steering the ship...So it has become a lot about nothing...and misplaced things.... and of course re-building the building they tore down... whoopsy.
All of this could have been achieved with a complete relandscaping the central core and moving Moana's Journey of Water over to the area between The Land , and the Living Seas... where it would have set nicely and not confused the central core. Then refurbish and repurpose the Communicore building (that was instead torn down)... There was a whole end of the building capable of hosting a quite large indoor attraction if they had only programmed it...

 

[Skibum1970]

I would argue the hiring/promoting of some individuals were the worst decisions as they led to bad park decisions. I would add that a terrible decision was the original plan for New Fantasyland that would have rivaled the deconstruction of Future World. Sometimes, it isn't one bad decision but a series of bad decisions that really derails the train.

 

[Bocabear]

I would argue the hiring/promoting of some individuals were the worst decisions as they led to bad park decisions. I would add that a terrible decision was the original plan for New Fantasyland that would have rivaled the deconstruction of Future World. Sometimes, it isn't one bad decision but a series of bad decisions that really derails the train.

I would agree with this...Also during these decades there was the huge Hong Kong Disneyland disaster where they built a park but forgot to build the attractions because they were told that the Chinese people just wanted open space and meet and greets...People stayed away in droves which then created an emergency "build as fast as you can to catch up" and eventually completely redo the centerpiece castle...
But the EPCOT and 50th Anniversary projects seem to be about the worst...flop after flop!

 

[Thelazer]

I've always said, it amazes me. We can get a front entrance area re-done and they nail it 100%
Prism's, nice lighting, nice audio and landscape package.. classic "epcot" feel and flags.

Then you walk under spaceship earth and come out and go.. what the hell is going on back here!

Bi-Polar Epcot.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I've always said, it amazes me. We can get a front entrance area re-done and they nail it 100%
Prism's, nice lighting, nice audio and landscape package.. classic "epcot" feel and flags.

Then you walk under spaceship earth and come out and go.. what the hell is going on back here!

Bi-Polar Epcot.

Probably not exactly what they thought when they pushed those two models together to create the two parks in one

 

[MaximumEd]

How many folks that make annual trips but don’t read these boards will be walking around going, “Where are all the new rides?” after the walls come down? That, or my personal favorite, “Where’d the building go that smelled like someone got a perm in a sewer?”

 

[No Name]

Well too late to change the course now...

Mini golf would still work seamlessly and let them save face.

 

[Fear]

Lights on at Journey of Water, viewed from above. Courtesy Bioreconstruct on twitter:

 

[OvertheHorizon]

Looks like all the trees might be planted in the central core.

 

[Gran Fiesta]

Looks like all the trees might be planted in the central core.

Any pictures?