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

[Casper Gutman]

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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. "Why should Disney hold themselves to their own standards if the average guest doesn't know what the standard is?"

Plus, it’s unfair to the general public. They might not know WDW history, but they can judge quality.

Every single WDW fan on here started as a member of the general public.

 

[BridgetR321]

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...

As an unwashed Epcot visitor, this makes no sense to me. I have only ever known the building to be an empty useless building so the play pavilion is better than nothing even if my children are now too old for it.

 

[Castle Cake Apologist]

As an unwashed Epcot visitor, this makes no sense to me. I have only ever known the building to be an empty useless building so the play pavilion is better than nothing even if my children are now too old for it.

Doesn't really matter how long Disney allowed it to sit abandoned or if you ever set foot inside it. There was previously a pavilion in there that contained Epcot's first thrill ride, a hilarious theatre presentation with animatronics, and a multitude of activities and educational experiences. His point stands, because that is what the Play Pavilion is replacing.

 

[LuvWDW2]

If WoL was so great, why did it close & remain closed for 12 years?
(Not intended to be snarky but I have no memory of this pavilion at all).

 

[TwilightZone]

If WoL was so great, why did it close & remain closed for 12 years?
(Not intended to be snarky but I have no memory of this pavilion at all).

1. No sponser
2. Disney cheapo era
3. Educational exhibits don't really work in the internet age
4. Food and wine and flower and garden were and are big draws for epcot

 

[lazyboy97o]

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.

The problem with the “average guest” argument is that when it all gets compiled you get an oblivious idiot who will gleefully accept whatever garbage is offered. These people though don’t go to other, more available and cheaper venues that offer what they supposedly want. Even if the “average guest” doesn’t care, what do they lose by show quality standards being higher than they would notice? What do the average guests lose by lands having strong themes? What do guests lose by having anything that they don’t care about?

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.

No, it did not. The parks, even with the spending on EPCOT Center, were the profit center more than making up for the loses at the Studio.

 

[TwilightZone]

F&F beat the attractions they replaced.

 

[Missing20K]

“Children are people, and they should have to reach to learn about things, to understand things, just as adults have to reach if they want to grow in mental stature.”

 

[Captain Neo]

Now it’s “out”....

The interior will be one huge IP driven playground. I’m aware of three core IPs. If all goes to plan one forum member in particular will be happy. Don’t think attractions as such. More like environments. Expect F&B to be added too. And digital interaction. Work should begin before the fall.

Inside Out is in the concept art and makes the most logical sense as I consider it the "Wonders of Life Movie". I'm also 99% sure the creators of that film were fans of Cranium Command.

 

[TwilightZone]

Inside Out is in the concept art and makes the most logical sense as I consider it the "Wonders of Life Movie". I'm also 99% sure the creators of that film were fans of Cranium Command.

The creator of the movie worked on Cranium Command.

 

[ToTBellHop]

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.

Not refuting your point, but in general, I’ve noticed improvement in ride maintenance of late. More effects working and getting fixed. Brighter paint. It’s not perfect but right around 2016, there was a low point where a ton was broken and restrooms were disgusting. They seem to have realized they took it too far then.

 

[TwilightZone]

Not refuting your point, but in general, I’ve noticed improvement in ride maintenance of late. More effects working and getting fixed. Brighter paint. It’s not perfect but right around 2016, there was a low point where a ton was broken and restrooms were disgusting. They seem to have realized they took it too far then.

A lot of people forgot what early 00s Disney was like. It was pretty awful. This all is a godsend compared to it.

 

[bcoachable]

“Children are people, and they should have to reach to learn about things, to understand things, just as adults have to reach if they want to grow in mental stature.”

We, as a collective parenting group, are just handing phones and iPads out as those kiddos are reaching now-a-days it would seem...

 

[Bob Harlem]

This seems like a giant meet and greet with a bunch of Innoventions-like stuff moved there while the original Innovation west building gets demolished. It's kind of weird since this seems better suited to the Imagination building. (Which should be the kid area like it originally was with the first image works, and now is a shadow of its former self. I think this play pavilion idea is weak and in the wrong place (just like the attraction being built to the left of it) All of it is 15 years later than it should have happened also.

 

[bUU]

Profitable isn’t viable?

That's not what I said. I said it wasn't viable then. That's why management changed and Eisner was brought in. Customers love to second guess those running businesses with their own assumptions and conclusions made from an accountability-free perch. Such a shame.

Plus, it’s unfair to the general public. They might not know WDW history, but they can judge quality. Every single WDW fan on here started as a member of the general public.

Back before some of us became jaded.

You're correct about the need to be fair to the general public, and - really - if you want a more reliable view of relative quality and position in the marketplace then compare the behaviors of the general public - not the rabid fans - then versus now.

 

[lazyboy97o]

That's not what I said. I said it wasn't viable then. That's why management changed and Eisner was brought in. Customers love to second guess those running businesses with their own assumptions and conclusions made from an accountability-free perch. Such a shame.

Once again, the business model change to which I was alluding took place in the mid-to-late 90s. But even looking at the early 1980s, EPCOT Center was profitable. So what part of the profitable parks business, whose profits kept the entire company profitable, was not viable?

 

[bUU]

Once again, the business model change to which I was alluding took place in the mid-to-late 90s. But even looking at the early 1980s, EPCOT Center was profitable. So what part of the profitable parks business, whose profits kept the entire company profitable, was not viable?

And you are again presuming that viability is determined by immediate profitability of a single unit rather than the reality which is that viability of a unit is determined by long-term, forward-looking level of contribution to the overall mission of the enterprise. You have expressed a very myopic way of looking at business.

 

[lazyboy97o]

And you are again presuming that viability is determined by immediate profitability of a single unit rather than the reality which is that viability of a unit is determined by long-term level of contribution to the overall mission of the enterprise. You have expressed a very myopic way of looking at business.

For the third time,the comment was made in regards to the parks a decade after the period to which you keep referring. So you either still don’t understand or are trying to change to something else to suit your desires.

 

[eliza61nyc]

“Children are people, and they should have to reach to learn about things, to understand things, just as adults have to reach if they want to grow in mental stature.”

and Disney's Epcot is the only way to do this?? If they go some where and just have fun they are some how not "growing in mental stature"?? I'm not understanding.

 

[lazyboy97o]

and Disney's Epcot is the only way to do this?? If they go some where and just have fun they are some how not "growing in mental stature"??

Was Walt Disney’s work not fun for children?