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

[GSP Guy]

The Potter additions changed the game...you have to experience them to get it. It is so much more fleshed out than any of the Disney theming.. Pandora is nice, but the Potter settings feel lived in, and magical.. There can always be debate about the actual rides which were groundbraking at their opening, but you can't argue the level of detail exceeding anything Disney has built to date... We will have to see where things go with Star Wars...

Just did a little trip on the 9th through the 12th. Immersive doesn't even begin to describe the Potter areas. It was pretty amazing. My wife and daughter are both into Potter so they were bringing me up to speed as we went. The thing that did get my attention more than anything else was the incredible number of guests that dressed the part. In fact while I was waiting for the other members of my party to wander the candy store I picked up some jellybeans and a man in full Potter attire began to tell me all about them. He then proceeded to tell me about numerous other items. After about ten minutes I stated it was pretty cool that he was so dedicated to his job to which he responded "Oh, I don't work here!"

 

[GSP Guy]

Just did a little trip on the 9th through the 12th. Immersive doesn't even begin to describe the Potter areas. It was pretty amazing. My wife and daughter are both into Potter so they were bringing me up to speed as we went. The thing that did get my attention more than anything else was the incredible number of guests that dressed the part. In fact while I was waiting for the other members of my party to wander the candy store I picked up some jellybeans and a man in full Potter attire began to tell me all about them. He then proceeded to tell me about numerous other items. After about ten minutes I stated it was pretty cool that he was so dedicated to his job to which he responded "Oh, I don't work here!"

The other thing I thought was …...They are making a killing on these wands!

 

[Dunston]

One thing I've been wondering about this new pavilion is how it will handle crowds. Every new attraction in recent memory can only be experienced in one of three ways:
a) Through sheer luck, book a fastpass sixty days in advance
b) Line up an hour before rope drop and dash to the new attraction the second they begin herding people into the park
c) Wait 120 minutes

For a new pavilion that won't have traditional rides/attractions, I really wonder how it will handle the huge amount of crowds that anything new at Disney always attracts. Especially when the experiences children will be lining up for will be playgrounds and interactive games and such rather than an experience with a set beginning and end.

 

[Sneezy62]

One thing I've been wondering about this new pavilion is how it will handle crowds. Every new attraction in recent memory can only be experienced in one of three ways:
a) Through sheer luck, book a fastpass sixty days in advance
b) Line up an hour before rope drop and dash to the new attraction the second they begin herding people into the park
c) Wait 120 minutes

For a new pavilion that won't have traditional rides/attractions, I really wonder how it will handle the huge amount of crowds that anything new at Disney always attracts. Especially when the experiences children will be lining up for will be playgrounds and interactive games and such rather than an experience with a set beginning and end.

Great point. Also will it even be attractive since it won’t be a ride. I wonder if this play pavilion will be seen as a “waste of expensive park time” by the same people who rush from ride to ride now trying to get “the most” out of their day. Interesting to find out who exactly this pavilion is aimed at. Is it the meet and greet folks like my wife who wants to maximize photopass opportunities? Is it parents of small children needing break time space inside the park? What is the target audience for this attraction?

 

[Dunston]

Great point. Also will it even be attractive since it won’t be a ride. I wonder if this play pavilion will be seen as a “waste of expensive park time” by the same people who rush from ride to ride now trying to get “the most” out of their day. Interesting to find out who exactly this pavilion is aimed at. Is it the meet and greet folks like my wife who wants to maximize photopass opportunities? Is it parents of small children needing break time space inside the park? What is the target audience for this attraction?

I'm pretty sure the target audience is the children of exhausted/drunk parents who want to let their kids let off some steam after dragging them through the "boring" world showcase

 

[bUU]

Why is the old business mode not viable?

It actually wasn't viable then. That's why management changed and Eisner was brought in.

To be clear, I’m not trying to imply that being a fan of the Disney theme parks specifically makes you a higher being or anything like that. I’m just saying that people that don’t have a nuanced appreciation for something should take precedence over its core fanbase.

Actually, they probably should take precedence over us. There are too few of us to make serving us profitable. It is financially smarter to place more emphasis on attracting them, and then throw us a few bones.

If Disney cares about the long term success of their parks, then they need to find a proper balance for each change and/or addition in order to keep all parties satisfied overall.

Passionate fans will never be satisfied, at least not in the way you're talking about. Pursuing that kind of satisfaction will ruin the company.

 

[lazyboy97o]

It actually wasn't viable then. That's why management changed and Eisner was brought in.

Profitable isn’t viable? The parks, inlcuindg “boring” EPCOT Center, were keeping the rest of the company profitable. The story of EPCOT Center being this big failure is just that, a story to help justify Eisner’s arrival.

That said, the business model change to which I was alluding was the Pressler changes in the late 90s, a good decade after Eisner started.

 

[smile]

folks like to praise eisner/wells (not wholly unjustified, esp in retrospect), but 'walt who?' started the day mr.e arrived on lot
... of course, then mr. wells died - the wheels fell off, and he was finally able to show his true mettle.

pp wasn't the disease, but like the involvement of M&C, he was a symptom - we really shouldn't ever forget the man was promoted after his tenure at dlr... despicable, really
- a shame, too, because he came in a decade prior with (imo) gold, having his idea for the disney stores... too bad that was botched, i think it could have been a wonderful thing.

 

[Corgi]

Do you guys think the timing of this announcement has anything to do with Buzzy? Maybe to kind of distract people from that he got stolen? Or to cover up their mistake?

 

[HauntedPirate]

The Play Pavilion fills a need in Epcot - An area for kids. Let's not think it's going to be more than that.

folks like to praise eisner/wells (not wholly unjustified, esp in retrospect), but 'walt who?' started the day mr.e arrived on lot
... of course, then mr. wells died - the wheels fell off, and he was finally able to show his true mettle.

pp wasn't the disease, but like the involvement of M&C, he was a symptom - we really shouldn't ever forget the man was promoted after his tenure at dlr... despicable, really
- a shame, too, because he came in a decade prior with (imo) gold, having his idea for the disney stores... too bad that was botched, i think it could have been a wonderful thing.

Personally, I think it was Wells' death plus his subsequent heart attack later that year that drove ME down the road he took for the second decade of his CEO tenure.

And I don't like to talk about that Paul guy. Lowest point in DL's history with him at the helm, if you ask me. I don't think many would disagree.

Someone on Twitter, who has a connection to a particular EPCOT Center pavilion that closed 20 years ago, said where Buzzy will end up. I'm tending to believe him.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Do you guys think the timing of this announcement has anything to do with Buzzy? Maybe to kind of distract people from that he got stolen? Or to cover up their mistake?

Timing was to counteract Universal's announcement of the new Potter coaster.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Do you guys think the timing of this announcement has anything to do with Buzzy? Maybe to kind of distract people from that he got stolen? Or to cover up their mistake?

Nope. I'd bet that 99.9% of the population -- maybe more -- 1) has no idea who Buzzy is, and 2) had no idea he was missing.

 

[Castle Cake Apologist]

I would not argue that show quality has dropped, its still lightyears beyond anybody else, which has a weird effect on us of being fantastic and horrible at the same time. We can see the decline, because we obsess over the days when seeing a burned out light bulb was almost unheard of.

What a new person sees is a park that is pristine, compared to anywhere else.

Show quality has absolutely dropped. Just find any number of threads here documenting the untold number of broken and abandoned effects in nearly every attraction. The company used to close an attraction down if key effects weren't working because bad show was unacceptable. Now, an attraction can have virtually no functioning Animatronics and be allowed to continue operating.

Meanwhile, prices continue to climb and climb and climb and things that used to just be part of the guest experience continue to be monetized as more and more perks go away.

"Still better than Six Flags" is hardly acceptable for the company that invented quality.

It actually wasn't viable then. That's why management changed and Eisner was brought in.

Huh? That had nothing to do with the Parks. The Parks Division of the company was the only profitable arm at the time and was virtually keeping the rest of the company afloat.

 

[mikejs78]

With the recent Universal projects, I would not say they are "light years" ahead anymore.. ahead, a bit, but not light years... Unless you are only comparing Disney to Six Flags....

What they did in there for the Potter Franchise makes me wonder how cool the acreage across I-4 will be!!

Seems like WDW has forgotten (sort of) how to theme their lands and Uni is figuring it out..

Potter is definitely second to none - but evidence outside of anything Potter doesn't make me believe Uni gets it yet. Just look at Fast and Furious or Fallon...

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

Potter is definitely second to none - but evidence outside of anything Potter doesn't make me believe Uni gets it yet. Just look at Fast and Furious or Fallon...

Woody Woopecker Kids Zone has been painfully lost in everything relevant..I'm surprised they haven't removed the Animal actors stage, Barney, Curious George, and Fivel's playland and replaced it with Minions Super Silly land or a Dreamworks based kids section..But, also still keep ET adventure of course...Yes Super Nintendo was to be there but, now they got another big void to figure something else to do with it..

 

[capsshield]

For some reason this pavilion reminds me of the circus tent in the magic kingdom. A big store selling food and fluff. Maybe there will be a movie or Turtle Talk type of thing in between the meet and greets, but I don't think there will be much more than that. Maybe over time they will expand into the old attraction spaces, but I see that way down the road.

 

[Bender123]

Show quality has absolutely dropped. Just find any number of threads here documenting the untold number of broken and abandoned effects in nearly every attraction. The company used to close an attraction down if key effects weren't working because bad show was unacceptable. Now, an attraction can have virtually no functioning Animatronics and be allowed to continue operating.

Meanwhile, prices continue to climb and climb and climb and things that used to just be part of the guest experience continue to be monetized as more and more perks go away.

"Still better than Six Flags" is hardly acceptable for the company that invented quality.



Huh? That had nothing to do with the Parks. The Parks Division of the company was the only profitable arm at the time and was virtually keeping the rest of the company afloat.

Show quality has dropped...to us. We know better, Jim and Judy Tourist dont really notice the drop in quality. They would complain more if Everest closed everytime the yeti got cranky, so you just ax him and run the ride in B mode. We care, they dont. Thats the point of us discussing that we, as fans are not a significant population, compared to the "normies" that flood the gates.

As for Parks being a profit center...sure...if you completely forget that the building of Epcot very nearly ended in the company being bought out in a hostile takeover and the Eisner was brought in to revive the film division.

 

[bcoachable]

Potter is definitely second to none - but evidence outside of anything Potter doesn't make me believe Uni gets it yet. Just look at Fast and Furious or Fallon...

Agree, (and think Wdi still has it with cars land and pandora state side) but the new land offers a nice, crisp, new sheet of blank paper for universal creative to work with.
It will be interesting to see how they use it.

 

[Casper Gutman]

Potter is definitely second to none - but evidence outside of anything Potter doesn't make me believe Uni gets it yet. Just look at Fast and Furious or Fallon...

Well, except for the great Springfield remodel, which just kind of happened - Disney would have promoted that like a new E-ticket (witness the TSL rollout). And Kong’s a wonderfully themed addition. And while Fallon and F&F aren’t great, they both beat the attractions they replaced (which the Play Pavilion doesn’t). And given their scope and the frequent, significant expansion the Potter lands are undergoing, its a bit disingenuous to try and separate them from a consideration of the park as a whole.

But other then that...

 

[Castle Cake Apologist]

.

Show quality has dropped...to us. We know better, Jim and Judy Tourist dont really notice the drop in quality.

I don't understand your point here. Whether Jim and Judy Tourist know that show quality has dropped is completely irrelevant. The point is that show quality has dropped. Full stop. You can't say it has only dropped for certain guests and not others. I couldn't care less if the general public doesn't know that they are being ripped off by paying more money for less product, the point is that they are.

This just all feels very apologist to me. You're making excuses for the continually declining show quality of the parks in Florida by essentially saying "why should Disney hold themselves to their own standards if the average guest doesn't know what that standard is?"

As for Parks being a profit center...sure...if you completely forget that the building of Epcot very nearly ended in the company being bought out in a hostile takeover and the Eisner was brought in to revive the film division.

...which had nothing to do with the business model of offering a high quality product, so I'm again not sure what your point was here. The post I quoted stated that the company almost went out of business because of the parks business model (offering the highest quality service and product possible and never wavering on it), which is patently false.

For what its worth, the building of EPCOT Center was just one piece of a very complicated puzzle. The primary problem was flop after flop after flop at the box office.