On layoffs, very bad attendance, and Iger's legacy being one of disgrace

[UNCgolf]

Terraforming the desert is definitely not an aspirational goal today, however.

It is for some people! There have actually been some discussions around terraforming deserts as a way to combat climate change. But that's obviously not any type of uniform future goal that most people agree on.

It's different than what they're suggesting in Horizons, of course, and I agree that would almost certainly not be in an updated version. The space base, future city, and underwater habitat would all still fit nicely, though.

 

[Heppenheimer]

For sure. But a lot of that can be handled by planning for changes. Updating the decor of your space station and putting new haircuts on the animatronics goes a long way. Avoiding pop culture references and such obviously helps.
You can't do it forever but how long does a theme park ride need to last between major updates? Twenty years seems pretty reasonable and achievable.

I think we've seen perfect evidence over the past few decades that Disney is not going to put that kind of money in ride updates. They're far more likely to trash the old ride and build something completely new.

 

[UNCgolf]

For sure. But a lot of that can be handled by planning for changes. Updating the decor of your space station and putting new haircuts on the animatronics goes a long way. Avoiding pop culture references and such obviously helps.
You can't do it forever but how long does a theme park ride need to last between major updates? Twenty years seems pretty reasonable and achievable.

Agreed.

I think the biggest issue with Horizons would be the gigantic screen showing 1980s CGI. I think they would have had to completely remove and redo that entire section of the ride. Updating the future habitat scenes would have been a simpler undertaking.

 

[flynnibus]

FL may be different, but in CA, employers (with more than 150 employees) have to give 60 days notice prior to a layoff. With no public notice being submitted, it doesn't seem that they will be laying off any corp/wdi folks until after the new fiscal year.

It's called the WARN act - cali has its own flavor. And you get around that with your severance model. Announce layoffs today, but last paid day isn't until a point in the future.

 

[Miss Jennifer]

I think the future is X-men. They need to bring that in and take the mcu a different direction. It will allow them to not strangle the avengers characters 4x a year and let it breath a little

X-Men movies...we've been there and done that. I'd much rather see a rebooted version of the Fantastic Four brought into the MCU, and done RIGHT this time. After all, they were the ones that started it all...the first "Marvel comic" that Stan Lee ever wrote (on Joan's encouragement). Plus, with Reed Richards being a scientist and futurist, they could have an attraction in Future World or Tomorrowland...

 

[FigmentFreak]

Lol
The iPhone is now the "defacto" bad guy for everyone who is having a hard time.

Lol homeless?? It's because you have an iPhone
Medical bills?? It's because you have an iPhone.

Every problem is caused by the person having an iPhone

Damn, so that's why my marriage failed, we both had iPhones. I always blamed my ex's alcoholism and drug addiction.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

X-Men movies...we've been there and done that. I'd much rather see a rebooted version of the Fantastic Four brought into the MCU, and done RIGHT this time. After all, they were the ones that started it all...the first "Marvel comic" that Stan Lee ever wrote (on Joan's encouragement). Plus, with Reed Richards being a scientist and futurist, they could have an attraction in Future World or Tomorrowland...

The X-men series has more potential characters and stories...fantastic four just doesn’t carry that weight even if Doctor doom is cool.

The Fox X-men went bad...which is an opportunity to make it good again

 

[MisterPenguin]

The X-men series has more potential characters and stories..

Not when you make it such that it could really be called "Wolverine and Others."

 

[Sir_Cliff]

It's different than what they're suggesting in Horizons, of course, and I agree that would almost certainly not be in an updated version. The space base, future city, and underwater habitat would all still fit nicely, though.

To be honest, anything other than the future city seems very left of field from where visions of the future have been for decades now. Is anyone really imagining living in an underwater habitat or a space city anymore?

I guess it's a sad commentary on where we are, but it seems that the focus when thinking about the future at the moment is to avoid destroying the planet too much or, failing that, figuring out how to live on a destroyed planet. If you got rid of the conceit of showing current visions of a potential future I suppose it could work.

 

[MrHorse]

The X-men series has more potential characters and stories...fantastic four just doesn’t carry that weight even if Doctor doom is cool.
The Fox X-men went bad...which is an opportunity to make it good again

I kinda feel like the X-Men just aren't a good fit for the moment.
Heroes are in vogue right now. But the X-Men's whole schtick is that they look like heroes, but they're actually victims. And while the comic addresses a lot of social issues that are very relevant at the moment, it tends to do so in a very hamfisted way that was meant to appeal to (or was written by) folks that had never thought too critically about that kinda thing before.

For better or worse, most of what originally made the X-Men unique has been synthesized by the rest of the industry. And they absorbed it without sacrificing the stuff that made earlier comics great. Modern comics, and comic movies especially, have learned to combine the complex, conflicted heroes with popcorn spectacle in a way that the X-Men never managed.

 

[SteamboatJoe]

Absolutely. I mentioned that in my long EPCOT post earlier.

As much as I loved Horizons (probably my favorite Disney ride ever), there is absolutely no way that ride could still exist in its original form. It would be hopelessly outdated. That's actually true of most of the original EPCOT masterpieces, although Spaceship Earth would have only needed relatively minor changes from its original incarnation as opposed to a full overhaul.

Journey into Imagination is possibly an exception in that I think the original ride would still work today, but it would not be as impressive as it was and it could have been improved with new technology etc.

SSE remains relevant (and World of Motion would have remained relevant) because it's (their) primary focus on is/was the history and evolution of a technology with only a mere, somewhat vague glimpse into the future. Like Carousel of Progress, this approach prevented it (them) from becoming dated and thus made it (them) relatively timeless. Only the final scene(s) need(ed) refreshed every decade or so to stay current as opposed to the entire experience.

 

[marni1971]

Agreed.

I think the biggest issue with Horizons would be the gigantic screen showing 1980s CGI. I think they would have had to completely remove and redo that entire section of the ride. Updating the future habitat scenes would have been a simpler undertaking.

Only one shot was CGI. It was revolutionary at the time - the largest CG IMAX animation to date.

 

[_caleb]

I think we've seen perfect evidence over the past few decades that Disney is not going to put that kind of money in ride updates. They're far more likely to trash the old ride and build something completely new.

For these less-than-timeless attractions, wouldn’t it have been better for Disney to do incremental updates over the years (change wigs/clothing, update CRTs to LCDs, etc.) and larger upgrades (change the moon farming scene to moon tourism, for example) after several years—rather than neglecting an attraction until it’s really outdated and then letting it sit abandoned, and then bulldozing it and spending $250M to build something new? Seems like they could have gotten a lot more mileage out of these major attractions had they put in the time and care.

 

[marni1971]

To be honest, anything other than the future city seems very left of field from where visions of the future have been for decades now. Is anyone really imagining living in an underwater habitat or a space city anymore?

I guess it's a sad commentary on where we are, but it seems that the focus when thinking about the future at the moment is to avoid destroying destroying the planet too much or, failing that, figuring out how to live on a destroyed planet. If you got rid of the conceit of showing current visions of a potential future I suppose it could work.

One thing Horizons promoted was hope. And dare I say dreams?

Two things today’s world seems sadly lacking.

 

[flynnibus]

Agreed.

I think the biggest issue with Horizons would be the gigantic screen showing 1980s CGI. I think they would have had to completely remove and redo that entire section of the ride. Updating the future habitat scenes would have been a simpler undertaking.

ehh... WHAT?

Maybe you mean the shuttle isn't impressive anymore... nor are IMAX domes like they were in the early 80s

 

[Sir_Cliff]

One thing Horizons promoted was hope. And dare I say dreams?

Two things today’s world seems sadly lacking.

I do agree and was a little depressed when reflecting on where we are for the last post. The present moment provides evidence enough for why the notion of humanity pulling together united by a shared purpose seems more like a new proposal for Journey Into Imagination than a realistic glimpse of the future.

Not sure how or if you could recapture that optimistic spirit of EPCOT Center in the present.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Not when you make it such that it could really be called "Wolverine and Others."

I never liked that approach. But Jackman never complained.

Fox never brought in gambit...cable...Bishop...

Also made many of the core team bit characters. There’s an opportunity there.

Maybe they can have magneto kill a hologram of luke Skywalker?

 

[UNCgolf]

Only one shot was CGI. It was revolutionary at the time - the largest CG IMAX animation to date.

Yeah, it was amazing back then. It would look terrible now.

Also, I could be wrong, but I think the whole screen itself would be significantly outdated technology today.

 

[UNCgolf]

To be honest, anything other than the future city seems very left of field from where visions of the future have been for decades now. Is anyone really imagining living in an underwater habitat or a space city anymore?

I guess it's a sad commentary on where we are, but it seems that the focus when thinking about the future at the moment is to avoid destroying the planet too much or, failing that, figuring out how to live on a destroyed planet. If you got rid of the conceit of showing current visions of a potential future I suppose it could work.

I think plenty of people still imagine space colonization. Underwater habitat may be slightly outdated, but it's not like companies aren't still spending tons of money to construct underwater hotel rooms etc. and I read just recently that a group is planning to build the world's largest underwater sea base/habitat in the Caribbean. The Horizons scene was also a research facility.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Re-capturing that spirit will be difficult. So much of the optimism of early EPCOT was fueled by events happening outside of it. The national mood in the early 80s was on an upswing as the economic doldrums of the 70s were left behind, the space shuttle program took off, the cold war was winding down with the democratic west victorious, and the digital age began to dawn with cool new advancements in consumer entertainment technology.

I even remember when I first visited in 1994 that the optimistic vision of the future seemed quite in tune with the general mood. I was a little young to understand it, but I suppose we were still fresh out of the Cold War, technology seemed to be bounding forward, and the talk was all about globalisation bringing humanity together.