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

HauntedPirate

Park nostalgist
Premium Member
But... Streaming!!! Iger took a “tremendous risk” with streaming, and now as a result of such visionary leadership, it will bring in tens of billions in profits in the next 12-24 months, according to Grand Poobah Chapek. So, those old theme parks and antiquated ideals from some dead guy are out the door. Who needs those things anyway, they are stupid entertainment for stupid people who like non-descript coasters themed to India or something.
 

FerretAfros

Well-Known Member
Your right. I was just referring to how things are running currently.

It's not just how the company operated back in the Walt Disney Productions days; the parks and resorts are still a massive part of The Walt Disney Company as it operates today. According to the 2019 financial report, the DPEP division is responsible for the largest share of the company's revenue (~37.7%) and second largest share of its profit (~45.5%).

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Even in FY2020, when the parks and hotels were all shuttered for varying portions of the year, and running at severely reduced capacity when/if they reopened, and consumers were stuck at home consuming their direct-to-consumer content, DPEP still managed to perform better than DTC. DTC's losses are were nearly 35 times greater than DPEP, which is really impressive when you consider how little overhead that division has.

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Parks aren't just a side business for Disney to make a little extra cash. They're the core product that has time and again allowed the company to ride out the fickle nature of the film and television industry. Even during recessions and other periods when tourism has declined, they still remain one of the strongest and most reliable parts of the company.

If the parks weren't printing cash, why else would the company have treated WDW like the company's ATM for all these years?
 

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
It's not just how the company operated back in the Walt Disney Productions days; the parks and resorts are still a massive part of The Walt Disney Company as it operates today. According to the 2019 financial report, the DPEP division is responsible for the largest share of the company's revenue (~37.7%) and second largest share of its profit (~45.5%).

View attachment 553027

Even in FY2020, when the parks and hotels were all shuttered for varying portions of the year, and running at severely reduced capacity when/if they reopened, and consumers were stuck at home consuming their direct-to-consumer content, DPEP still managed to perform better than DTC. DTC's losses are were nearly 35 times greater than DPEP, which is really impressive when you consider how little overhead that division has.

View attachment 553033

Parks aren't just a side business for Disney to make a little extra cash. They're the core product that has time and again allowed the company to ride out the fickle nature of the film and television industry. Even during recessions and other periods when tourism has declined, they still remain one of the strongest and most reliable parts of the company.

If the parks weren't printing cash, why else would the company have treated WDW like the company's ATM for all these years?

I wouldn't be surprised to see the parks surpass media networks in profit relatively soon. Most indications are that ESPN is still the largest driver of profit for the media networks, but it's producing less and less every year. ESPN+ will help, but I'd expect the parks profits to keep going up as they continually raise prices whereas the media network profits are likely to stagnate to some extent.

EDIT: Actually I wasn't thinking about Disney+ as part of the media networks. That will obviously be a nice boost as well, but I still think we might see parks leapfrog ahead of media sometime in the next decade or two.
 
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RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
Streaming is an expensive line of business because you have to constantly provide new content that a great deal of subscribers want to watch or risk losing subscribers. Plus there’s always a plateau.
Let's not pretend plateaus are bad. The current Wall Street mindset that profits must continue to rise and that no business can be successful with profits remaining flat is simply dumb.
 

DisneyGentlemanV2.0

Well-Known Member
The entire concept of the Play Pavilion further shows that the new direction for the park is fundamentally flawed. EPCOT (or more particularly Future World) never needed a kids zone because almost everything there was suitable for all ages, save for a few things that might've been considered too boring for some. Wonders of Life used to be the only thing on that side of the park with a thrill ride, and even it was only one section of a much broader pavilion containing plenty of things for all ages. Flash forward to today, and it's the only thing little kids have to do there. Everything else in Future World East is a thrill ride that the little kids can't do. And is Play going to be that all ages experience that side of the park needs? Nope, exclusively catering to the demographic they conveniently excluded from everything else.
If Wonders was downgraded to Play, it's only a matter of time until Imagination get's downgraded to Social (the Wonders of Social Media).

I can see it now - an homage to the selfie... the neverending role of the social influencer... the Twitterverse of Wonder.

I can't wait!!!
 

WondersOfLife

Blink, blink. Breathe, breathe. Day in, day out.
Honestly, I think a full out Cranium Command pavilion would have been lit. Get the OG show back up (maybe re-record with new live actors)... Get a VR-experience in the center of the pavilion where the three theaters are/were... Interactive stuff here and there, a quick service restaurant, and a big E-Ticket where Body Wars was. Let's do it.
 

FigmentsBrightIdeas

Well-Known Member
Inside Out does not deserve the praise it gets. It was fine but no where near Pixar’s best.
I mean, I really enjoyed Inside Out personally as a film.. but I just don’t think it should come in at the ‘expense’ of park-original concepts.. particularly ones that ‘already’ have memorable, well-loved characters. I think it’d be nice to perhaps have Inside Out as ‘one’ of the attractions in an upgraded Wonders of Life pavilion.. but it shouldn’t have to take over the ‘entire’ pavilion.
One idea I had was if Wonders of Life.. and as a result, ‘Cranium Command’ ever came back.. you could have multiple different shows it’d alternate between at different times (the original we all know & love, an Inside Out/ Riley themed one, and last but not least.. with an Inner Workings one) .. ‘all’ starring Captain Buzzy and General Knowledge who have to work together with either the brain/bodily functions & emotions to get Bobby, Riley, and Paul through their day. It’d totally work.. but sadly it’d seem today’s WDI is not allowed to be as ambitious with doing something like that… hope that changes soon.
 
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FigmentsBrightIdeas

Well-Known Member
Making of Me theatre could’ve easily had the same treatment.. perhaps one of the alternate films could be a Soul themed one. It’s ‘that’ simple. I don’t get why they’re ‘so’ opposed to doing something like that.. particularly now that they’ve partnered with AdventHealth, it’s a no brainer. But.. perhaps more ironic than not.. it’d seem, despite their current advertising & use of Figment in their AdventHealth partnership commercial;

Disney’s really lost sight of that ‘Little Spark’ of free-spirited creativity that’s needed for them (and EPCOT for that matter) to thrive in the long term. Currently, the ride portrays that (and it’s fans for that matter) as an upside down thinking interference that’s constantly putting them on blast… so basically it portrays free spirited creativity as a ‘negative’ thing rather a positive catalyst to make way for a better future. So, I dunno.. perhaps it’ll take fixing the ‘Journey Into Imagination’ pavilion first to really ignite the flame of that much needed push & embracement of creativity within the organization…proving without a doubt, that indeed it’s both extremely impactful to society & profitable to the company long term, just sayin’.
 
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WondersOfLife

Blink, blink. Breathe, breathe. Day in, day out.
Inside Out does not deserve the praise it gets. It was fine but no where near Pixar’s best.
I completely disagree. That film is an absolute masterpiece.

I mean, I really enjoyed Inside Out personally as a film.. but I just don’t think it should come in at the ‘expense’ of park-original concepts.. particularly ones that ‘already’ have memorable, well-loved characters. I think it’d be nice to perhaps have Inside Out as ‘one’ of the attractions in an upgraded Wonders of Life pavilion.. but it shouldn’t have to take over the ‘entire’ pavilion.
One idea I had was if Wonders of Life.. and as a result, ‘Cranium Command’ ever came back.. you could have multiple different shows it’d alternate between at different times (the original we all know & love, an Inside Out/ Riley themed one, and last but not least.. with an Inner Workings one) .. ‘all’ starring Captain Buzzy and General Knowledge who have to work together with either the brain/bodily functions & emotions to get Bobby, Riley, and Paul through their day. It’d totally work.. but sadly it’d seem today’s WDI is not allowed to be as ambitious with doing something like that… hope that changes soon.
Inside Out is actually the only IP I’d be okay with replacing Wonders of Life. All the way down to the soundtrack.
 

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
Inside Out does not deserve the praise it gets. It was fine but no where near Pixar’s best.
Well, you're saying the majority is wrong. Which is fine, you're entitled to have a dissenting opinion.

Inside Out, has a 98% thumbs-up on Rotten Tomatoes, a 92% rating from critics, an 83% rating from audiences. It had a CineScore of A. It has a Box Office Gross of $.86B.

It is a wildly praised and successful movie.

Compared to all other movies... it's one of the best movies ever. But then again, Pixar's metric outshines just about any other movie studio.

Compared to Pixar... It does better than the average Pixar movie. The only other Pixar movie with a better critics' score is Toy Story.
 

FigmentFan82

Well-Known Member
Well, you're saying the majority is wrong. Which is fine, you're entitled to have a dissenting opinion.

Inside Out, has a 98% thumbs-up on Rotten Tomatoes, a 92% rating from critics, an 83% rating from audiences. It had a CineScore of A. It has a Box Office Gross of $.86B.

It is a wildly praised and successful movie.

Compared to all other movies... it's one of the best movies ever. But then again, Pixar's metric outshines just about any other movie studio.

Compared to Pixar... It does better than the average Pixar movie. The only other Pixar movie with a better critics' score is Toy Story.
(sigh)
My opinion and preference. Though box office is irrelevant in that conversation. One thing I use to gauge how well I like a film is if I have a desire to rewatch it. Literally never had a desire to rewatch Inside Out, while I’ve rewatched other Pixar films many times over.
 

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
(sigh)
My opinion and preference. Though box office is irrelevant in that conversation. One thing I use to gauge how well I like a film is if I have a desire to rewatch it. Literally never had a desire to rewatch Inside Out, while I’ve rewatched other Pixar films many times over.
I acknowledged it was your opinion.

The context of the conversation is that you don't think Inside Out should be in the parks, no? Based on your opinion of it, no?

I'm pointing out why it will be included, because it's very popular and very well thought of.
 

The Aracuan Bird

Well-Known Member
Well, you're saying the majority is wrong. Which is fine, you're entitled to have a dissenting opinion.

Inside Out, has a 98% thumbs-up on Rotten Tomatoes, a 92% rating from critics, an 83% rating from audiences. It had a CineScore of A. It has a Box Office Gross of $.86B.

It is a wildly praised and successful movie.

Compared to all other movies... it's one of the best movies ever. But then again, Pixar's metric outshines just about any other movie studio.

Compared to Pixar... It does better than the average Pixar movie. The only other Pixar movie with a better critics' score is Toy Story.
Just taking a look at the Top 100 films on Rotten Tomatoes. Inside Out is ranked 25. Toy Story 4 is actually ranked as the best animated movie (anyone that’s seen it can tell you it isn’t) at “only” a 97, but has more reviews which is probably what puts it above Inside Out. Interestingly “It Happened One Night”, a movie I recently watched, is at number 1. Pinocchio, which has a critic score of 100, isn’t in the list.

Critic scores are a ballpark. Movies in the 90%-100% range are usually well respected. Disney movies in the 2010s have gotten an abundance of praise for some reason. I suspect it’s because of the lacklustre offerings from the other studios.

I recently rewatched Inside Out. It’s good. It’s not really one of Pixar’s best, but I realize that opinion is subjective. At the time of it’s release, we kept getting hit with mediocre Pixar films and sequels, so it felt like a breath of fresh air. But the dust has settled.
 

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