Virtual Toad
Well-Known Member
Perspective from someone who's made more than 100 visits to Epcot from 1988 to a couple of weeks ago, and apologies but I will try to keep it short:
Our trip a couple of weeks ago was our family's first to Epcot in five years, thanks to comp tickets my son earned from participating in Candlelight last winter.
It's important to note that Epcot was our "go-to" park as a family for years. Our kids were basically raised there.
Aware of the changes and construction, we hit the park Sunday morning. Ironically, the construction walls bothered us the least.
I agree the Land is still the best pavilion in the park. Figment was an embarrassment-- dying Animatronics on a stick and the vibe of a dead shopping mall. The Three Caballeros finale had audio of one of the animatronics so loud the entire thing sounded off key. Does no one care or even check to see if rides are up to show standards?
But the two biggest things that hit us were the lack of cultural representatives in WS and the outright embarrassing and unacceptable ride reliability.
Concerning the lack of cultural reps, it was strange and jarring to see some guy from Lecanto in a green Six Flags attraction "uniform" and southern accent introduce us to the Wonders of China. Upon exiting the film, we saw several (third party?!) workers in black T-shirts and no name tags working the gift shop and quick serve. Were these even CMs? What the??
We realize and understand Covid threw a giant wrench into everything but seeing it this way after 5 years away was truly a shock. The cultural reps were the cornerstone of the World Showcase experience-- and the whole thing just fell flat without them. As we finished our tour we felt as if we were experiencing Biff's Epcot in some sort of bizzaro alternate timeline.
Which brings us to the ride reliability issue. Over more than 30 years and more than 100 visits, we've never experienced anything remotely this bad:
Guardians. 45 minute breakdown early afternoon. Stuck in the queue. Ok, new ride, tons of guests. Things happen.
Mission Space. Stuck in preshow room for 20 minutes only to be told our group of vehicles had "malfunctioned." Re-routed to another preshow room to watch the pre-show all over again before finally boarding the ride. Okay....
Next ride: Spaceship Earth. Ride breaks down a third of the way through. Several attempted re-starts in which the vehicles lurch forward for a few feet and then grind to a halt. Another 20 minutes of delay before the ride crawls and limps along to the end. That's three-- and at this point we can't help but start counting.
At 8pm we queue up for Rat, waiting about 25 minutes in the queue and making it right up to the vehicles in the boarding platform before... the ride breaks down. We're then told-- at 8:25pm-- that they won't be able to restart before
closing-- and that "if we evacuate" we'll get a free next-day LL which of course is totally useless for those of us making a one day visit. Giving up at 8:25?A free LL "if" we evacuate? Strange. Saving on labor costs?Ok, that's four.
Now it's 8:30 and we're still optimistic as we head to Test Track. Which of course breaks down in the middle of the ride. 25 minutes of lurching re-start attempts eerily similar to what we experienced at Spaceship Earth. We hear the fireworks going off outside (and disappointed groans from other trapped guests who had planned to see them) before finally being evacuated and frankly barked at by rude CMs as we make our way out of the ride.
It's now after 9 and our day at Epcot is done. We all put on a brave face for each others' sake, but on this day, the magic is gone, as is the Epcot we knew and loved. I struggle to hold
back a tear as my youngest tugs on my arm and, already knowing the answer, looks at me with sympathetic eyes and asks, "We'll come back again some day, right?"
In more than 30 years of visits and countless changes, I'd never EVER left a Disney park truly angry, disappointed or heartbroken. After a day of witnessing shockingly lower standards across the board, and with a full 20 percent of our park day squandered due to attraction breakdowns, I came to the realization I was experiencing all three at the same time.
In many ways, this visit was an audition of sorts, a chance to see if Epcot was still able to deliver, if it was still ready for prime time and worthy of our vacation dollars. We went in hoping it was. We left realizing how bad things really are.
WDW announced this week a special combo ticket for Epcot and AK. My initial thought: "You couldn't pay me to go back to Epcot."
This is coming from someone who once considered Epcot to be the most amazing place in the world. And it pains me (more than most will ever know) to say it.
But that place, that Epcot is gone. Probably forever.
As always, these are only my opinions based on first-hand observations, so if your perspective is different, that's totally okay.
Our trip a couple of weeks ago was our family's first to Epcot in five years, thanks to comp tickets my son earned from participating in Candlelight last winter.
It's important to note that Epcot was our "go-to" park as a family for years. Our kids were basically raised there.
Aware of the changes and construction, we hit the park Sunday morning. Ironically, the construction walls bothered us the least.
I agree the Land is still the best pavilion in the park. Figment was an embarrassment-- dying Animatronics on a stick and the vibe of a dead shopping mall. The Three Caballeros finale had audio of one of the animatronics so loud the entire thing sounded off key. Does no one care or even check to see if rides are up to show standards?
But the two biggest things that hit us were the lack of cultural representatives in WS and the outright embarrassing and unacceptable ride reliability.
Concerning the lack of cultural reps, it was strange and jarring to see some guy from Lecanto in a green Six Flags attraction "uniform" and southern accent introduce us to the Wonders of China. Upon exiting the film, we saw several (third party?!) workers in black T-shirts and no name tags working the gift shop and quick serve. Were these even CMs? What the??
We realize and understand Covid threw a giant wrench into everything but seeing it this way after 5 years away was truly a shock. The cultural reps were the cornerstone of the World Showcase experience-- and the whole thing just fell flat without them. As we finished our tour we felt as if we were experiencing Biff's Epcot in some sort of bizzaro alternate timeline.
Which brings us to the ride reliability issue. Over more than 30 years and more than 100 visits, we've never experienced anything remotely this bad:
Guardians. 45 minute breakdown early afternoon. Stuck in the queue. Ok, new ride, tons of guests. Things happen.
Mission Space. Stuck in preshow room for 20 minutes only to be told our group of vehicles had "malfunctioned." Re-routed to another preshow room to watch the pre-show all over again before finally boarding the ride. Okay....
Next ride: Spaceship Earth. Ride breaks down a third of the way through. Several attempted re-starts in which the vehicles lurch forward for a few feet and then grind to a halt. Another 20 minutes of delay before the ride crawls and limps along to the end. That's three-- and at this point we can't help but start counting.
At 8pm we queue up for Rat, waiting about 25 minutes in the queue and making it right up to the vehicles in the boarding platform before... the ride breaks down. We're then told-- at 8:25pm-- that they won't be able to restart before
closing-- and that "if we evacuate" we'll get a free next-day LL which of course is totally useless for those of us making a one day visit. Giving up at 8:25?A free LL "if" we evacuate? Strange. Saving on labor costs?Ok, that's four.
Now it's 8:30 and we're still optimistic as we head to Test Track. Which of course breaks down in the middle of the ride. 25 minutes of lurching re-start attempts eerily similar to what we experienced at Spaceship Earth. We hear the fireworks going off outside (and disappointed groans from other trapped guests who had planned to see them) before finally being evacuated and frankly barked at by rude CMs as we make our way out of the ride.
It's now after 9 and our day at Epcot is done. We all put on a brave face for each others' sake, but on this day, the magic is gone, as is the Epcot we knew and loved. I struggle to hold
back a tear as my youngest tugs on my arm and, already knowing the answer, looks at me with sympathetic eyes and asks, "We'll come back again some day, right?"
In more than 30 years of visits and countless changes, I'd never EVER left a Disney park truly angry, disappointed or heartbroken. After a day of witnessing shockingly lower standards across the board, and with a full 20 percent of our park day squandered due to attraction breakdowns, I came to the realization I was experiencing all three at the same time.
In many ways, this visit was an audition of sorts, a chance to see if Epcot was still able to deliver, if it was still ready for prime time and worthy of our vacation dollars. We went in hoping it was. We left realizing how bad things really are.
WDW announced this week a special combo ticket for Epcot and AK. My initial thought: "You couldn't pay me to go back to Epcot."
This is coming from someone who once considered Epcot to be the most amazing place in the world. And it pains me (more than most will ever know) to say it.
But that place, that Epcot is gone. Probably forever.
As always, these are only my opinions based on first-hand observations, so if your perspective is different, that's totally okay.
