Horizons '83
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
Nope, it isn't... keep that stuff in DHS
-
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Rumor Siemens is going to end their sponsorship with the parks - Spaceship Earth and IllumiNations
- Thread starter SpoiledBlueMilk
- Start date
MrPromey
Well-Known Member
What better than setting up shop in a park where exhibits about the future typically stick around, relatively unchanged for a decade (or more) beyond their relevance? For the money, probably a lot of things, especially because, like you said, technology is changing so fast.
Heck, just think how many guys with flip-board signs they could line up and down International drive each year for that kind of bank?
Epcot opened a full decade before the World Wide Web was invented and the whole sponsorship model was grounded in a time when it made sense for major corporations to spend millions of dollars on sponsorships at a park built down in the Florida swamps where they could pitch their brand to a captive audience who paid to get into that park and experience an attraction they largely paid for.
Today, high-profile tech companies are some of the last ones who need this kind of exposure. Think about it. Who is an Apple or Google sponsorship actually going to help? Apple and Google or Disney?
If Microsoft were still kind of on the rocks like they were a while back, they might have done something in a desperate move to try to remain relevant to the non-corporate crowd but they've given up on mobile phones and MP3 players and appear to be doing fine with the markets they're in, these days.
Today, that money would go a lot farther in mobile ads targeted to a geo-fence around that area so people would see that product or business featured on their phone while they stare at it, waiting in line for a multi-million dollar attraction someone else has sponsored - all while paying nothing to Disney at all... But really, the idea of targeting only a group of people in a select spot for national or international brands that are really only going for brand recognition doesn't even make sense, anymore.
The problem is, the old business model no longer works. Disney could probably still get sponsorships if they drastically reduced the cost of buy-in but that requires them to go all-in on the heavy lifting of investment. There's a reason we don't see attractions on the scale of the original Epcot ones being built in any Disney parks, anymore.
Maybe we were destined to lose the classic version of Epcot one way or another, anyway because, without sponsorships to cover the cost, attractions that are semi-educational and not just based on thrills or hollow attempts to shoe-horn in IP probably don't seem to make a lot of financial sense, nowadays - they sure aren't going to help bring in the international crowds for the latest-and-greatest... Oh, and happy Friday!
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gustaftp
Well-Known Member
Why are Apple, Google, and Microsoft constantly the only companies mentioned? They are not the only innovative companies in the world.
3M now has "Innovation Centers" where they show off their latest products and demonstrate exactly what it is they do. As a material science company, that makes sense -- people don't know much about what the company does beyond tape and post-it notes. Having been to their Innovation Center in Saint Paul, MN, they have put together an EPCOT-like experience where you can get hands-on with their materials, learn about the science behind the products, etc. This is something that has the spirit of EPCOT Center, and would certainly be very relevant today.
Jahona
Well-Known Member
It's mainly because those are household names in tech.
A direct competitor to Siemens that has a bit more presence, at least in the US, would be GE. They have their hands in a lot of different tech industries. That and I would love to see an exhibit with the GE9X engine.
They burned their bridge with TWDC when they pulled out.
Jahona
Well-Known Member
I completely forgot they were a sponsor up until the early 1990s.
wdwperry
Well-Known Member
I think it would be more interesting to have Elon Musk's companies such as SpaceX and maybe the Hyperloop. They are 2 of the most ambitious projects currently being worked on and exhibits on them would work very well in Epcot.
smile
Well-Known Member
it's crazy when you think that many of the largest companies in this day and age are specifically tech companies especially tailor-made for ec...
amazon, google, apple, verizon, tesla, etc...
if original purpose was held with any degree of integrity, i have little doubts some could have been coerced into some sort of partnership
why would they now? i wouldn't
pity, really
amazon, google, apple, verizon, tesla, etc...
if original purpose was held with any degree of integrity, i have little doubts some could have been coerced into some sort of partnership
why would they now? i wouldn't
pity, really
trainplane3
Well-Known Member
Walt d
Well-Known Member
Break out the flat back Paint ,
montyz81
Well-Known Member
They also burned down Horizons, almost literally.
JoeCamel
Well-Known Member
And #1 on the reasons why is they got no money! GE is on the verge of being broken up and sold off.
montyz81
Well-Known Member
If they ever did that (excluding projections on the building) I will have truly spent my list time in Epcot. As it is, I am concerned that the future direction is goign to be so bad that I may lose interest in Epcot all together.
KBLovedDisney
Well-Known Member
And I can just see it now, blue and orange, everywhere! Going through tunnels of blue and orange in SSE...but you will have to test your abilities in order to move on...er...out of the rideThe only sponsors I want meddling in Epcot are: (A few people will understand where these come from)
trainplane3
Well-Known Member
So instead they're going to release a card game. Because that's so much better.
https://www.kotaku.com.au/2018/02/valve-remembered-its-making-a-card-game/
Edit: Here's the video of them announcing it. I loved the audible "aaaww" before some applause covers it.
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THEMEPARKPIONEER
Well-Known Member
Ugh, maybe they will finally turn off the screes, remove the tarps and turn the scenery back on if its still there.
