Yes, classic EPCOT is dead and it’s not coming back, because no modern entertainment corporation is going to sink billions into a park that expleciticly addresses how the world is and how it should be. That’s done. It doesn’t mean we should ever stop complaining because it’s a travesty, but it’s done.
IPs will be central to almost everything going forward. That’s a fundamental truth of every aspect of the modern entertainment industry. And that doesn’t have to be bad. Disney has a wealth of great IPs it is actually underutilizing that can be implemented in very clever ways. We need to accept IP domination, and that isn’t terrible.
BUT
EPCOT in general and FW in particular needs a new, explicit, coherent theme that does more then attempt to leverage the facades of the past for nostalgia money. It needs a theme that clearly differentiates it from the other three parks. It needs attractions that interest every age groups and don’t condescend to any of them. It does not need brief contentless thrill rides that kids can’t ride or endless meet-and-greets with costumed college students that bore adults to tears. And the new, emergent EPCOT needs intelligent vision, wit, and clear thematic goals - Disney Magic.
The Play Pavilion fails on every count.
It exacerbates the muddle of thematic confusion in FW, obscures differences from WDWs other parks, offers things for only one age group and talks down to them in the process, and demonstrates very little creativity. It is a continuation of the mindset that has driven EPCOT downward since the mid-90s.
I wish the first thing Disney had announced as part of this roll-out was the new, grand organizing principle for EPCOT. Maybe the plans for Imagination and the Spine will compensate for this start. But this opening salvo raises doubts that such a unifying vision exists.