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

UNCgolf

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
DisneyDodo said:
It’s “wasted space” because you personally didn’t like it? From the little bit we were told, it definitely sounded like something my kids would’ve enjoyed. It could have served as a nice place for little kids to run around and play while their older siblings rode GotG, MS, or TT. And if it didn’t appeal to you (you likely weren’t the target audience), it at least could have occupied some other people who would have otherwise been standing in front of you in line for something else, so you still would have won.

I agree that it wasn’t going to be some groundbreaking E-ticket, but it certainly would not have been worse than nothing. And that’s the only thing we should be comparing it to. They didn’t rip out WoL to make room for this. That building has sat basically unused for 17 years now! There hasn’t even been much in the ways of rumors of new projects close to being green lit beyond this. Realistically, the options were PLAY! or nothing and it seems we’ll be saddled with the latter for the foreseeable future.
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Not because I personally didn't like it -- because it sounded like something that was going to get very little use. That's a waste of space of an entire pavilion. As I said, it was probably going to be outdated very soon after opening, if not at opening.

I don't personally like TRON, but that doesn't make it a waste of space because it actually does get significant use and will continue to for the foreseeable future.

The "worse than nothing" thing completely misses the point. The issue isn't the Play! Pavilion versus nothing; it's the Play! Pavilion versus an actual adequate use of the space. As I said above, if it was truly about just building something for people to do no matter how good it is or how it affects the park's future, Disney should just be tossing in carnival rides. Kids would happily go ride those as well.

I'm repeating myself yet again, but a Play! Pavilion that would be open now and then shut down for replacement/reworking in a few years would be fine. A Play! Pavilion that's outdated near opening and would exist as-is for 15+ years is not remotely a good use of space or development funds, and with Disney's track record that's almost certainly what would happen. It would be another Imagination sitting there.

The only bad thing, which I have acknowledged, is that there's absolutely a decent chance that Disney now just leaves it vacant for another decade. If that is what happens, then yes, the Play! Pavilion would be better.
 
Bocabear

Bocabear

Well-Known Member
doctornick said:
There is zero reason to think that anything "better" would come to the WoL space anytime soon. Cancelling this means nothing going there for a long time, not something good going there.

And, again, regardless of whether anyone cares about the stuff that was going to comprise Play!, there still would have been the former Body Wars footprint as well as the Cranium Command and Making of Me theaters that could be used for something more - if Disney was inclined to invest real substantial money in the pavilion. Play! would not have been an impediment for doing additional stuff in the pavilion that you or others could have found more satisfying. And as I said, the previous stuff on the floor of WoL like the Wonder Cycles or Goofy about Health weren't exactly some groundbreaking pinnacle of Imagineering - Play! was essentially going to be replacing that function as smaller diversions. Which is something that part of the park could really use to compliment all the thrill rides.

I also find it funny that people bemoan the loss of Innoventions West when the stuff featured there was of the same type of level as what was planned for Play!
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ok, first, All of the Thrill Rides?.... we have GOTG, Test Track, and maybe Frozen Ever After...sort of? Aside from the first two, there really are no other "Thrill Rides"...so I doubt people need something as a compliment from two attractions in an entire park...
I agree the little diversions were always a good thing... Which was exactly what Innoventions brought to the table... Their lack of developments and updates does not mean that the idea behind innoventions was bad...
WOL offered a neatly balanced package with a thrill ride, smaller diversions, two shows and even food options.
The fact that they cannot come up with a concept to create another balanced pavilion utilizing this spectacular building is more proof that they don't want to... and we all suffer from having less to do in the park with a much higher ticket price.
 
D

doctornick

Well-Known Member
Bocabear said:
ok, first, All of the Thrill Rides?.... we have GOTG, Test Track, and maybe Frozen Ever After...sort of? Aside from the first two, there really are no other "Thrill Rides"...so I doubt people need something as a compliment from two attractions in an entire park...
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Cosmic Rewind, Test Track and Mission: Space are the rides surrounding WoL and all have height requirements and some degree of thrill. I’m saying that Play! would have been a compliment to those rides in that area of the park, not that Epcot as a whole needed such stuff (I realize I was not clear)
 
DreamfinderGuy

DreamfinderGuy

Well-Known Member
doctornick said:
You don't think that stuff like The Great Piggy Bank Adventure or Where's the Fire? was in line with what they had planned for the Play! pavilion?
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I guess if you want to make the common link of interactive game attractions, sure. But that's not all that was planned for Play, and likewise Innoventions wasn't solely for little kids (though it certainly skewed that way in its later years)
UNCgolf said:
I think he was saying losing the structure itself was bad for the park (as opposed to what was inside it at closure) rather than saying there was something wrong with the building.
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Yeah that's what I meant. Nobody cared what was inside the building, it was the building itself that mattered.
 
Cmdr_Crimson

Cmdr_Crimson

Well-Known Member
UNCgolf said:
I think he was saying losing the structure itself was bad for the park (as opposed to what was inside it at closure) rather than saying there was something wrong with the building.
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Wasn't the biggest complaint that it smelled like garbage of the sort? IMO I never smelled anything as bad as Starbucks by Fountainview but, that's just me..
 
tpoly88

tpoly88

Well-Known Member
DreamfinderGuy said:
I had a lot of mixed emotions about it, but as a whole pretty much anything would be a net positive over continuing to leave the building empty. Making everything in Future World East a thrill ride has killed that whole section of the park for lots of families, making Wonders the kids area would have helped at least. It did waste lots of space in the pavilion, but there's nothing saying future developments couldn't have gone into the Body Wars/Cranium sections. Doing nothing is wasting more space than Play would've.
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obviously i'm not an imagineer or engineer but I still find it unbelievable that they cannot find something to do with this building and space. for a while they were using it during the festivals, especially the F&W and i liked the educational events they put in there. Given that Body Wars is still there, it seems to me that they could refurbish it and have either a Wreck it Ralph Sugar Rush ride, a Wall-e ride or even Moana, with themes inside for the kids and grown ups to enjoy together (not make the ride intense). Given that Star Tours keeps going and with refurbished missions, cant understand why you'd let an asset just sit like that. Guess they feel it wont bring more people to Epcot? We were walking around there yesterday and saying that Epcot still has a lot of space they could use for more Rides or different attractions. i hate seeing things be vacant like that.
 
D

doctornick

Well-Known Member
tpoly88 said:
obviously i'm not an imagineer or engineer but I still find it unbelievable that they cannot find something to do with this building and space. for a while they were using it during the festivals, especially the F&W and i liked the educational events they put in there. Given that Body Wars is still there, it seems to me that they could refurbish it and have either a Wreck it Ralph Sugar Rush ride, a Wall-e ride or even Moana, with themes inside for the kids and grown ups to enjoy together (not make the ride intense). Given that Star Tours keeps going and with refurbished missions, cant understand why you'd let an asset just sit like that. Guess they feel it wont bring more people to Epcot? We were walking around there yesterday and saying that Epcot still has a lot of space they could use for more Rides or different attractions. i hate seeing things be vacant like that.
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Reportedly, a lot (if not all) of the Body Wars infrastructure has been pillaged over the years, sometimes for repairs for Star Tours. If they were going to put a ride there now, even using the same ride mechanics, it would pretty much be a new build.
 
tpoly88

tpoly88

Well-Known Member
doctornick said:
Reportedly, a lot (if not all) of the Body Wars infrastructure has been pillaged over the years, sometimes for repairs for Star Tours. If they were going to put a ride there now, even using the same ride mechanics, it would pretty much be a new build.
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Ah, that makes sense then. Shame. thanks for the info
 
DreamfinderGuy

DreamfinderGuy

Well-Known Member
doctornick said:
Reportedly, a lot (if not all) of the Body Wars infrastructure has been pillaged over the years, sometimes for repairs for Star Tours. If they were going to put a ride there now, even using the same ride mechanics, it would pretty much be a new build.
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The queue and load/unload is all still there. The show hardware is pretty much all gone though, and even what's left I highly doubt would be reused should a new simulator attraction occupy the building. Supposedly the existing third floor of the building has been extended at least partially over the simulator pits, so that certainly complicates things.
 
Bocabear

Bocabear

Well-Known Member
The building is sandwiched between Mission Space and GOTG...Both attractions involve Space travel. It only makes sense that this building should be an intergalactic Space port of some sort... Revisit Plectu's Galactic Revue, A couple spinner rides theme to outer space and one E-ticket space themed attraction. Also create a shuttle (peoplemover) that brings guests from Mission Space directly into the Intergalactic Space Port...(a la Original Living Seas). This would make tons of sense thematically and give that corner of the park a real cohesive theme.
 
DreamfinderGuy

DreamfinderGuy

Well-Known Member
Bocabear said:
The building is sandwiched between Mission Space and GOTG...Both attractions involve Space travel. It only makes sense that this building should be an intergalactic Space port of some sort... Revisit Plectu's Galactic Revue, A couple spinner rides theme to outer space and one E-ticket space themed attraction. Also create a shuttle (peoplemover) that brings guests from Mission Space directly into the Intergalactic Space Port...(a la Original Living Seas). This would make tons of sense thematically and give that corner of the park a real cohesive theme.
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Two Space pavilions is already too much. Ideally someday Guardians gets a retheme and Mission: Space is removed entirely for a better space pavilion. Wonders really deserves more than a third stab at the same theme.
 
Andrew25

Andrew25

Well-Known Member
Part of me believes that entire block of Epcot (including Mission Space) is essentially reserved for Marvel now. Boy do I hate saying this, but I'd imagine executives see Epcot as the Marvel park.

If they ever want to bring back the Play! concept... stick it into Figment. I love expansions more than anyone, but I think Epcot could benefit from upgrades to its current pavilions before we see a new one (or in this case reopened).
 
Haymarket2008

Haymarket2008

Well-Known Member
Guardians is where the buck stops with Marvel in EPCOT.

Guardians could easily be rethemed, Mission: Space should be demolished and a better Space pavilion should take its place (and Space 220 can stay), and Test Track is getting a brand new refresh.

The Wonders plot needs something else to flesh out the World Discovery options other than Galaxy, Space and Transportation.
 

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