News New Play Pavilion to replace Epcot's Wonders of Life

[MisterPenguin]

Forgive me, @marni1971, but I have long given up hope on the possibility of an original attraction

Is it sad that Awesome Planet is a little win to me?

Other little wins:

• Space 220
• Mission Space Green
• Canada Far and Wide
• Most EPCOT live entertainment

 

[rreading]

Other little wins:

• Space 220
• Mission Space Green
• Canada Far and Wide
• Most EPCOT live entertainment

How about the obvious big win: if you don’t like Guardians, you haven’t ridden it.

Sure we lost Energy, but as much as I wanted to like it since childhood, it really wasn’t that great

 

[marni1971]

Other little wins:

• Space 220
• Mission Space Green
• Canada Far and Wide
• Most EPCOT live entertainment

One is run by a third party for profit (and obviously isn’t an attraction) and another has been muted by management.

 

[marni1971]

Uhhh, by "health conscious" you mean morbidly obese with skyrocketing rates of diabetes, heart disease, and other weight-related health conditions?

We WISH the general public was as health conscious as they were back in 1989.

Not that I said they’re healthier.

Maybe a pavilion in the park dedicated to life and health could help make some informed decisions.

 

[FigmentFan82]

Space 220 is not a win. It's an overpriced meal with an intro/outro queue

 

[JohnD]

Other little wins:

• Space 220
• Mission Space Green
• Canada Far and Wide
• Most EPCOT live entertainment

I would love to see Canada Far and Wide but the last several times I've been in Epcot there has been a food booth in there instead.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Other little wins:

• Space 220
• Mission Space Green
• Canada Far and Wide
• Most EPCOT live entertainment

Have you been? Definitely worth doing but also a one and done

One is run by a third party for profit (and obviously isn’t an attraction) and another has been muted by management.

Your salt level is elevated

I’m not the Voice of reason…but the entire compound is run for profit…such that it is

 

[Andrew C]

Space 220 is not a win. It's an overpriced meal with an intro/outro queue

That is a bit of a harsh take.

 

[_caleb]

Surely someone at Disney feels a modicum of pressure to do something with the WoL pavilion? Like, is there a team who are scrambling to implement a plan B now that PLAY! is cancelled? Even if that plan B is an empty rest area or something?

 

[RobWDW1971]

Not that I said they’re healthier.

Maybe a pavilion in the park dedicated to life and health could help make some informed decisions.

Agree, but to say people today are more "health conscious" today than in 1989 is simply not correct.

The other challenge would be this new "health" pavilion would not be fact-based like the original WOL, but would have to embrace nonsense such as "body positivity" only reinforcing the extremely unhealthy lifestyles of today.

Can you imagine them showing a movie with Goofy being fat (an obvious health negative) and then eating right and working out to get thin? That would be offensive, triggering, and not welcoming - hence, why this insanity of avoiding offense at all costs is literally killing people.

But as they say on social media "Hey, you go girl! You look amaaaaaaaazing!!!"

 

[UNCgolf]

Surely someone at Disney feels a modicum of pressure to do something with the WoL pavilion? Like, is there a team who are scrambling to implement a plan B now that PLAY! is cancelled? Even if that plan B is an empty rest area or something?

While I've assumed it was quietly cancelled for months, I don't think we've ever gotten any confirmation that it's cancelled. Obviously nothing official from Disney, but I don't think any of our insiders have fully corroborated that report either.

 

[mightynine]

Surely someone at Disney feels a modicum of pressure to do something with the WoL pavilion? Like, is there a team who are scrambling to implement a plan B now that PLAY! is cancelled? Even if that plan B is an empty rest area or something?

Why? They’ve been perfectly content to run the park without it. They’ll open it (whether that be Play! or something else) when it makes sense on the balance sheet.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Surely someone at Disney feels a modicum of pressure to do something with the WoL pavilion?

Wouldn't that have led them to do something with it a decade ago?

 

[James Alucobond]

I would agree that they probably feel no pressure to actually utilize the space, but surely they want to at least clean up the entrance so that they can return some foliage to the left side of Mission: SPACE, remove the ugly temporary fencing, and pave a new path that they can cordon off. The unfinished look kinda trashes World Discovery.

 

[Disstevefan1]

I would agree that they probably feel no pressure to actually utilize the space, but surely they want to at least clean up the entrance so that they can return some foliage to the left side of Mission: SPACE, remove the ugly temporary fencing, and pave a new path that they can cordon off. The unfinished look kinda trashes World Discovery.

It doesn't matter, its EPCOT after all.

As long as there is a clear path to the food booths that's what matters.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

While I've assumed it was quietly cancelled for months, I don't think we've ever gotten any confirmation that it's cancelled. Obviously nothing official from Disney, but I don't think any of our insiders have fully corroborated that report either.

When it comes to Disney projects "paused", "delayed", "cancelled", "reimagined", are interchangeable IMO.

The end result is nothing is going to open in this space soon.

 

[_caleb]

I just figured that the people who green-lit PLAY went through a process like this:

1. Exec decides they should do something w/WoL
2. Data shows it's worth an investment of $X
3. What can/should we do with WoL that would be worth investment of $X
4. WDI comes up with ideas that meet requirements (scope, budget, IP mandate, etc.)
5. Exec chooses PLAY!
6. A plan is made, approved
7. Marketing begins to make hay
8. Work begins

If so, it seems like trouble at #8 might then push them back to level, I don't know– #3?
But it seems like folks here are saying the decision-making process goes all the way back to #1?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

That is a bit of a harsh take.

Slightly harsh…but not out of bounds.

It was neat at first…but after an hour…the flaws of the projection, mediocre overpriced food and…this is weird…awful ventilation of the kitchen that floods the dining room with smells…got to me a bit.

Better view at coral reef and LESS fish smell

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I just figured that the people who green-lit PLAY went through a process like this:

1. Exec decides they should do something w/WoL
2. Data shows it's worth an investment of $X
3. What can/should we do with WoL that would be worth investment of $X
4. WDI comes up with ideas that meet requirements (scope, budget, IP mandate, etc.)
5. Exec chooses PLAY!
6. A plan is made, approved
7. Marketing begins to make hay
8. Work begins

If so, it seems like trouble at #8 might then push them back to level, I don't know– #3?
But it seems like folks here are saying the decision-making process goes all the way back to #1?

I believe that steps 2-4 are where the trouble has started in recent decades…

I bet @marni1971 might have a thought on this…perhaps?

 

[UNCgolf]

When it comes to Disney projects "paused", "delayed", "cancelled", "reimagined", are interchangeable IMO.

The end result is nothing is going to open in this space soon.

That's what I meant; I used cancelled as a catch-all.

At least one insider suggested he still expected something to open there because they'd already done interior work, so I'm not sure it's accurate to say it's cancelled/delayed/whatever, although I hope it is.