Mystery Project at Epcot

[Sped2424]

Well, I think it is very unlikely that the project that Rees was hinting at was Soarin'. He wouldn't say just Epcot and he wouldn't have said it was some "Next Gen interactive" thing (unless Soarin' is changing significantly beyond just getting a new film).

More likely IMHO is that he was involved in a project to replace Captain Eo, but that it was placed on the back burner -- or may have been cancelled -- and that is why we have seen links to the project removed.

Interactive queue for soarin is a no brainer.

 

[Progress.City]

No, stay away from that guy.
He runs a meth lab in the alley behind Muppetvision. Bad news.

Ah, thanks for the heads up! Lol

 

[Progress.City]

Well, I think it is very unlikely that the project that Rees was hinting at was Soarin'. He wouldn't say just Epcot and he wouldn't have said it was some "Next Gen interactive" thing (unless Soarin' is changing significantly beyond just getting a new film).

More likely IMHO is that he was involved in a project to replace Captain Eo, but that it was placed on the back burner -- or may have been cancelled -- and that is why we have seen links to the project removed.

He's been working on it too long for it to get cancelled. Do they ever pull the plug on projects that are very far along in production?

 

[Progress.City]

Interactive queue for soarin is a no brainer.

But it says in that meta "imagination", so it's not Soaring.

 

[PhotoDave219]

He's been working on it too long for it to get cancelled. Do they ever pull the plug on projects that are very far along in production?

Totally. Sometimes you work on a project, go to the beancounters and are told to pound sand. No Bucks, no buck rogers.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

They've canned projects that were likely much farther along than whatever this project is/was. Most famously perhaps, The Western River Expedition was so far along that they apparently already had a number of animatronics built for it (I believe some of which are now used in Living with the Land), I think land was even being prepped for the ride as well. From what I hear, WRE was pretty much ready to be physically built (and parts already were built), but it was replaced by an abbreviated version of POTC after WDW goers complained of its absence upon Magic Kingdom's opening.

There have been plenty of other announced (and likely well into development) projects that never made it, some late in development and on the verge of being built. Westcot is a good example of an entire park. There's also all the rides cut out of the budget for Animal Kingdom (Tiger River, The Excavator Beastly Kingdom). Fire Mountain and Bald Mountain for Magic Kingdom, no doubt among numerous others. There were also plenty of announced (or ones we've seen models of) World Showcase pavilions or expansions that never made it- Matterhorn for a Switzerland area, Mt Fuji for Japan (and another version with a planned dark ride apparently), Rhine River Cruise for Germany and many more pavilions and/or rides mentioned over the many years of the park. Hollywood Studios had Dick Tracy (first name being short for Richard if the forum censors it) and Muppet rides planned, among other things i'm sure.

 

[Progress.City]

Totally. Sometimes you work on a project, go to the beancounters and are told to pound sand. No Bucks, no buck rogers.

But he updated his site earlier in the year to say 2016 which means (if it's a movie) that they were at least filming it... ?

 

[Rob562]

Or the Space Port to DHS (loading area) could be in a show building by itself at the expansion pad beyond Imagination that was originally intended for the GMR and has nothing to do with what Jerry is working on and the Imagination Pavillion. The Star Wars tie-in at Future World could be simply just be transportation and no other attraction.

Soarin' took the expansion pad behind Imagination, so you might want to dial back your new-attraction dreams a bit...

Also, the Hogwarts-Express-eque inter-park transportation from Epcot to DHS would only ever happen in Roller Coaster Tycoon...

-Rob

 

[Progress.City]

Soarin' took the expansion pad behind Imagination, so you might want to dial back your new-attraction dreams a bit...

Also, the Hogwarts-Express-eque inter-park transportation from Epcot to DHS would only ever happen in Roller Coaster Tycoon...

-Rob

I'm talking about the pad on the other side of the building. Between Imagination and The Land, where the Hollywood Pavillion was once planned.

 

[Rob562]

I'm talking about the pad on the other side of the building. Between Imagination and The Land, where the Hollywood Pavillion was once planned.

Again, Soarin' is there.

Look at Google Maps, the two buildings are about 75 feet apart.

-Rob

 

[danlb_2000]

I'm talking about the pad on the other side of the building. Between Imagination and The Land, where the Hollywood Pavillion was once planned.

The Soarin expansion took that space behind Imagination.

 

[ford91exploder]

Totally. Sometimes you work on a project, go to the beancounters and are told to pound sand. No Bucks, no buck rogers.

Finally a 'The Right Stuff' reference!

 

[Jeffxz]

So I did a little more digging on this page and it has existed since at least December 22, 2010. Not sure if this page has always referred to the same project or not, but it looks like the imagination keywords weren't added until the 2016 date was updated.


http://web.archive.org/web/20101222032105/http://jerryrees.com/page19/page19.html

 

[Progress.City]

The Soarin expansion took that space behind Imagination.

View attachment 92866

I'm confusing that with the one the north side of The Land Pavillion, where Soaring was originally going to go in, according to Project Gemini.

 

[Progress.City]

So I did a little more digging on this page and it has existed since at least December 22, 2010. Not sure if this page has always referred to the same project or not, but it looks like the imagination keywords weren't added until the 2016 date was updated.


http://web.archive.org/web/20101222032105/http://jerryrees.com/page19/page19.html

Maybe that was for Mystic Manor?

 

[Jeffxz]

Maybe that was for Mystic Manor?

That would make sense. He probably just reused the same page and changed the image for the Epcot project.

 

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ✨ ᗩζᗩᗰ]

I'm just not sure goggle-based VR is appropriate for a theme park setting.
Seems like there's too many capacity and hygiene barriers to making it viable.
Plus, the home versions are getting better and cheaper all the time.

Nah. Just some basic 3D glasses with an IR reader for head-tracking in a 3D environment, sorta like TSMM only better.

 

[Next Big Thing]

Yes, and as far as I know, no one else has corroborated that rumor.

Can any of you guys confirm this (Rees working on new Soarin' film)? If not do you have any info that can be shared or is this fairly tight-lipped? @WDW1974 @marni1971 @Lee

 

[lazyboy97o]

It still seems really, really odd to me that he would be touting the new Soarin' film as an EPCOT Center project. I could understand not saying it is for Shanghai Disneyland, Disney's California Adventure and EPCOT Center since that would give it away a good bit. But why not at least say it is for the biggest, shiniest project Disney is working on, Shanghai Disneyland?

 

[marni1971]

Can any of you guys confirm this (Rees working on new Soarin' film)? If not do you have any info that can be shared or is this fairly tight-lipped? @WDW1974 @marni1971 @Lee

As far as I know there's nothing substantial in the short term coming to Epcot. As far as I know.