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

[solidyne]

Remember when EPCOT had animatronic shows like Cranium Command and Kitchen Kabaret, fun people eaters that lasted longer then 3 minutes? Why is it that whenever we hear about how a Disney park needs variety, its always in defense of yet another coaster-in-a-box (or another brief thrill ride) and not about adding one of the types of attractions on which Disney built its reputation?

I really liked Cranium Command.

Right. It's not enough for attractions to be people eaters. They need to digest people after eating them.

Today's bulimic rides and shows regurgitate guests mere moments after consumption.

If throughput x duration = satiation, I'd say Epcot once had a very hearty appetite!

 

[Centauri Space Station]

Right. It's not enough for attractions to be people eaters. They need to digest people after eating them.

Today's bulimic rides and shows regurgitate guests mere moments after consumption.

If throughput x duration = satiation, I'd say Epcot once had a very hearty appetite!

Epcot has lots of things that are 10 mins or more. Spaceship earth, LWTL, Awesome planet, turtle talk with crush, Pixar Film fest, Canada far and wide, impressions de France, American adventure, Wonders of China.

 

[Casper Gutman]

Epcot has lots of things that are 10 mins or more. Spaceship earth, LWTL, Awesome planet, turtle talk with crush, Pixar Film fest, Canada far and wide, impressions de France, American adventure, Wonders of China.

And with the exception of Turtle Talk (which I really like) all of those are classic EPCOT attractions or updated versions of classic EPCOT attractions. They also happen to be, with the exception of AA and SSE, some of the more lackluster classic EPCOT attractions, which just reinforces the fact that the best bits of classic EPCOT were the first to go, evidence of how absolutely rudderless Disney's approach to the park really was.

 

[Rich Brownn]

Right. It's not enough for attractions to be people eaters. They need to digest people after eating them.

Today's bulimic rides and shows regurgitate guests mere moments after consumption.

If throughput x duration = satiation, I'd say Epcot once had a very hearty appetite!

As Ive pointed out, its also one of the reasons people feel Future-whatever-its-called-this-week lacked rides. When you have 3 rides that take up more than 90 minutes worth of ride time and replace it with rides that take up 12 minutes of ride time, the in-out-your-done feeling is there.

To equal the ride time they had, just one side of EPCOT would need 4 or 5 more rides.

 

[celluloid]

As Ive pointed out, its also one of the reasons people feel Future-whatever-its-called-this-week lacked rides. When you have 3 rides that take up more than 90 minutes worth of ride time and replace it with rides that take up 12 minutes of ride time, the in-out-your-done feeling is there.

To equal the ride time they had, just one side of EPCOT would need 4 or 5 more rides.

And those replacements do not serve a wide audience as the previous either. Mostly thrills and height requirements

 

[Rich Brownn]

And those replacements do not serve a wide audience as the previous either. Mostly thrills and height requirements

True, but even when you count the not-thrill rides its the same (JoI downgraded from 12 to 5, Soaring replacing Food Rocks, and The Seas going from multi-part attraction to just the cab ride)

 

[celluloid]

True, but even when you count the not-thrill rides its the same (JoI downgraded from 12 to 5, Soaring replacing Food Rocks, and The Seas going from multi-part attraction to just the cab ride)

No doubt. I agree there. The neglect to both variety aspects and neglect of time are factors.

 

[Centauri Space Station]

True, but even when you count the not-thrill rides its the same (JoI downgraded from 12 to 5, Soaring replacing Food Rocks, and The Seas going from multi-part attraction to just the cab ride)

Figment is 7 min and nemo added 2 mins of ride time to sea cabs

 

[Rich Brownn]

Figment is 7 min and nemo added 2 mins of ride time to sea cabs

But the original seas also had a pre-show, a movie, and sea elevators before you got to the cabs And of vopure JiI ran about 12 minutes

 

[Centauri Space Station]

But the original seas also had a pre-show, a movie, and sea elevators before you got to the cabs And of vopure JiI ran about 12 minutes

Yes and now turtle talk is 12 mins for a film you can do. Also by the end the preshow was optional so some could just go straight to the hydrolators and enter seabase alpha

 

[mergatroid]

True, but even when you count the not-thrill rides its the same (JoI downgraded from 12 to 5, Soaring replacing Food Rocks, and The Seas going from multi-part attraction to just the cab ride)

The Seas is difficult to judge time-wise I feel because you can spend as long in there as you want looking at the various parts.

 

[WondersOfLife]

I'm baffled as to why they didn't think re-purposing the Cranium Command theater for an Inside Out themed animatronic show with Cranium Command references wouldn't have been a good idea... Why not open PLAY! with a new animatronic show and simulator ride? Put some attractions in there like before? Put a Wreck-It Ralph attraction in the simulators and Inside Out in Cranium Command. Give us something, man. Utilize those attraction wings. Why NOT? Have a pixar gift shop at the end of CC and a generic Disney animation gift shop at the end of BW.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

I'm baffled as to why they didn't think re-purposing the Cranium Command theater for an Inside Out themed animatronic show with Cranium Command references wouldn't have been a good idea... Why not open PLAY! with a new animatronic show and simulator ride? Put some attractions in there like before? Put a Wreck-It Ralph attraction in the simulators and Inside Out in Cranium Command. Give us something, man. Utilize those attraction wings. Why NOT? Have a pixar gift shop at the end of CC and a generic Disney animation gift shop at the end of BW.

As a genuine question, I wonder whether part of the reason is that Disney sees AA shows as a thing of the past? Up until the 1990s, they used to open them and always propose them for new things. It seems in recent years, though, that they mostly keep the existing ones running and never add new ones when building new lands and parks. Does anyone know when Disney last opened an AA show?

 

[Animaniac93-98]

As a genuine question, I wonder whether part of the reason is that Disney sees AA shows as a thing of the past? Up until the 1990s, they used to open them and always propose them for new things. It seems in recent years, though, that they mostly keep the existing ones running and never add new ones when building new lands and parks. Does anyone know when Disney last opened an AA show?

Are we counting Le Visionarium in Paris, or Alien Encounter? Not as many as previous shows, but they had a few.

Golden Dreams at DCA was supposed to be like The American Adventure, but became a movie due to budgeting.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Are we counting Le Visionarium in Paris, or Alien Encounter? Not as many as previous shows, but they had a few.

Golden Dreams at DCA was supposed to be like The American Adventure, but became a movie due to budgeting.

I would count at least Alien Encounter.

Either way, my impression is that around this time in the early-to-mid-1990s was when they stopped talking about adding audio animatronic shows. I remember, for example, there was one in the plans for the refurb of DL's Tomorrowland that ended up never happening prior to the 1998 debacle refurb. Perhaps it was more a casualty of budgeting than anything, but it does strike me that they are the sort of attractions that I don't think they've opened with any park since EPCOT or maybe Le Visionarium in Paris if you could that.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

I would count at least Alien Encounter.

Either way, my impression is that around this time in the early-to-mid-1990s was when they stopped talking about adding audio animatronic shows. I remember, for example, there was one in the plans for the refurb of DL's Tomorrowland that ended up never happening prior to the 1998 debacle refurb. Perhaps it was more a casualty of budgeting than anything, but it does strike me that they are the sort of attractions that I don't think they've opened with any park since EPCOT or maybe Le Visionarium in Paris if you could that.

Tokyo Disneyland opened with 4 of them in 1983 (Meet the World, Tiki Room, Country Bears and Mickey Mouse Revue), but is now down to two of those.

I get why they didn't build any like them for Euro Disney due to the language barrier, but it was around that time they largely stopped doing AA heavy stuff in general. Sinbad in Tokyo feels like the last time they really did an attraction with lots of AAs.

 

[doctornick]

Galaxy’s Edge is screaming for an AA show of aliens playing “hit” songs from the franchise

 

[WondersOfLife]

As a genuine question, I wonder whether part of the reason is that Disney sees AA shows as a thing of the past? Up until the 1990s, they used to open them and always propose them for new things. It seems in recent years, though, that they mostly keep the existing ones running and never add new ones when building new lands and parks. Does anyone know when Disney last opened an AA show?

Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy would be considered one (to the same extent that Cranium Command was considered one)

Stitch’s Great Escape in 2004 would count as well...

Not as extravagant as American Adventure, but they’re something.

 

[MagicHappens1971]

Galaxy’s Edge is screaming for an AA show of aliens playing “hit” songs from the franchise

Could've been in the TSR they axed with the hundreds of other things they axed, you can read about it in the book they're selling

 

[doctornick]

Could've been in the TSR they axed with the hundreds of other things they axed, you can read about it in the book they're selling

Nah. The TSR should have been built as well though I’d probably opt for live entertainment there.

An AA show in the vein of Country Bears would help address a number of issues at GE:

- lack of aliens
- lack of famous “Star Wars music”
- not having enough stuff “to do” beyond shopping and things behind paywalls.
- opportunity to get out of the heat/sun (always key for Florida)
- something all ages since both rides do have a low but real height restriction.

I’d love to see a show hosted by a Gran character (I think that’s a tough species to do with prosthetics/make up and better for an AA), add in a droid for comedy relief and have the Modal Nodes perform and maybe Max Rebo or such. Maybe have some alien hecklers. I think there’s a lot of potential and would really round out the offerings in the land.