EPCOT Morocco Pavilion redevelopment

[Stitchon]

What's most egregious is how low-quality the installation is. Nothing lines up, the tiles aren't straight and you can see how they had to cut pieces to fit. Home Depot contractor quality. Even the Irvine Spectrum's faux-Moroccan wings look better - I bet the Irvine Company wouldn't tolerate the uneven tile.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

And then they have the cheek to boast about their commitment to "research" and "authenticity"! Talk about empty rhetoric!

Yes, particularly when, as you've pointed out, they've already had issues with the very slow-moving 'refurbishment' of this pavilion! Once again, modern Disney seems to be characterised by a wild inconsistency in quality where you never know whether something will turn out looking like Tokyo DisneySea or... this.

They have a gallery in West Hollywood, for goodness' sake!

LARGE ZELLIJ PANELS AND FOUNTAINS | Zellij Gallery

The ancient art of Zellij can make a bold statement. Exquisite custom large-scaled designs perfect for panels and fountains.

zellijgallery.com

It would have been so easy for Disney to do this right.

Ha! A simple google search and they could have found a far better solution for this!

 

[donaldtoo]

The more I see and think about this, the more it ticks me off.
Whoever was involved in this from TWDC needs to be fired and then re-fired.

 

[donaldtoo]

I wonder what the current King of Morocco might have to say about all this…?
Does anyone know if he’s been contacted for comment…?!

 

[castlecake2.0]

Nothing a few rams of an ECV couldn’t fix

 

[Bocabear]

They have a gallery in West Hollywood, for goodness' sake!

LARGE ZELLIJ PANELS AND FOUNTAINS | Zellij Gallery

The ancient art of Zellij can make a bold statement. Exquisite custom large-scaled designs perfect for panels and fountains.

zellijgallery.com

It would have been so easy for Disney to do this right.

I am sure there is a gallery right there in Orlando selling Zellij tile... it is not that hard to find... this was just a quick and cheap refurb... Why bother to get it right when it is technically not even really the Morocco Pavilion anymore...just Mediterranean tapas and an Aladdin meet and Greet. Boo!

 

[ChrisFL]

Eddie Sotto also chimed in (which seems rare for any imagineer to publicly criticize something Disney does)

 

[LittleBuford]

I wonder what the current King of Morocco might have to say about all this…?
Does anyone know if he’s been contacted for comment…?!

View attachment 787937

I doubt Epcot is a particularly pressing concern for him. It would be great, however, if someone with a relatively high profile and some sort of claim to a cultural connection could publicly shame Disney about this.

 

[LittleBuford]

I am sure there is a gallery right there in Orlando selling Zellij tile... it is not that hard to find... this was just a quick and cheap refurb... Why bother to get it right when it is technically not even really the Morocco Pavilion anymore...just Mediterranean tapas and an Aladdin meet and Greet. Boo!

Zellij done well (to a standard similar to what it would have been replacing) isn’t cheap, but Disney has more than enough money.

I don’t understand the second part of your post. The pavilion is still unmistakably Moroccan in its architecture and decoration (apart from the disastrous new tilework).

 

[Bocabear]

It's all decline by degrees... Now the tile, the restaurant is gone, the new restaurant is not necessarily Moroccan but Mediterranean tapas, Aladdin's story does not take place in Morocco... Yes there are still some unmistakable Moroccan things about the pavilion, but It seems to be slipping. When the restaurant and Tangerine Cafe reopen along with the full bazaar the way it used to be, then I will start feeling better about it....

 

[aladdin2007]

Eddie Sotto also chimed in (which seems rare for any imagineer to publicly criticize something Disney does)

hopefully that gets the attention of inside individuals. Something went very wrong with the project.

 

[haveyoumetmark]

What a scandal! It is a little sad though.

 

[LittleBuford]

It's all decline by degrees... Now the tile, the restaurant is gone, the new restaurant is not necessarily Moroccan but Mediterranean tapas, Aladdin's story does not take place in Morocco... Yes there are still some unmistakable Moroccan things about the pavilion, but It seems to be slipping. When the restaurant and Tangerine Cafe reopen along with the full bazaar the way it used to be, then I will start feeling better about it....

Aladdin has been there since the ’90s.

In this thread and others, you keep overlooking the fact that the architecture of the pavilion quotes famous landmarks of Morocco. They may not read as specifically Moroccan to you, but that doesn’t mean they’re any less iconic of the country than the Eiffel Tower is of France.

 

[LittleBuford]

What a scandal! It is a little sad though.

Sure, it really doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of world affairs, but in terms of Disney news, yes, it’s a scandal.

 

[ChrisFL]

What a scandal! It is a little sad though.

Yes it's a scandal. It points to being completely oblivious to ACTUAL Moroccan craftsmanship to put something completely generic and not related to Moroccan style AT ALL.

This isn't a local amusement park that slaps anything that looks similar, this is supposed to be the gold standard of theme parks. It is especially important these days with the reach of social media and showing Disney is now running their theme parks completely ignorant of the culture they're trying to represent? I also wonder how the CM's feel...the ones who actually come from Morocco to work at the pavilion.

I worked as a contractor in 2007-2008 and my job was to walk around World Showcase to maintain credit card terminals for Food and Wine festival. When I wasn't fixing things, I was chatting with various CM's and honestly the people at the Morocco pavilion were some of the coolest, nicest people there.

 

[aladdin2007]

Yes it's a scandal. It points to being completely oblivious to ACTUAL Moroccan craftsmanship to put something completely generic and not related to Moroccan style AT ALL.

This isn't a local amusement park that slaps anything that looks similar, this is supposed to be the gold standard of theme parks. It is especially important these days with the reach of social media and showing Disney is now running their theme parks completely ignorant of the culture they're trying to represent? I also wonder how the CM's feel...the ones who actually come from Morocco to work at the pavilion.

I worked as a contractor in 2007-2008 and my job was to walk around World Showcase to maintain credit card terminals for Food and Wine festival. When I wasn't fixing things, I was chatting with various CM's and honestly the people at the Morocco pavilion were some of the coolest, nicest people there.

I agree alI the way.....but I don't think they care anymore, or they do and whoever was in charge of this was not overseen and didn't care and somehow this got approved by a bunch of clueless kids in a money crunching cubicle or something. The groups in charge of this park have a problem I can't figure it out...also I don't think Moroccan cast for the most part has been brought back since covid?

 

[eddie104]

Do any insiders have any info on what’s happening with this project?

 

[ChrisFL]

 

[James Alucobond]

Glad this is being called out by some fairly prominent people. Hopefully they correct this, but they really need to get a grip on whatever processes at the parks are allowing this and other issues to slip through. It continues to boggle the mind that things get such uneven treatment.

 

[ChrisFL]

Glad this is being called out by some fairly prominent people. Hopefully they correct this, but they really need to get a grip on whatever processes at the parks are allowing this and other issues to slip through. It continues to boggle the mind that things get such uneven treatment.

Like was previously said, if imagineering is no longer involved in these decisions, it makes it super easy to drop the ball.