Soarin' Expansion and new Soarin' Around the World film

[Baloo62]

If you feel this way now, shouldn't you have felt this way BEFORE Soarin was going to be taken down for refurb?

I have for several years now. But because I refuse to wait more than an hour for any attraction at any theme park anywhere, we would do Soarin' right at opening one day with an afternoon FP for TT, and do the opposite the second day. If there is no need to avoid a 60+ minute wait for Soarin', then the impetus for getting up early is gone...and I'm a die-hard rope drop kinda guy. But assuming I have a FP for TT and SE, what else at Epcot draws the kind of wait time that would inspire me to give up a morning of sleeping in? Ellen? Nigel Channing? Mission Space? Innoventions? EO? Donald? Nemo? For us, huge sprawling Epcot is not even a full-day park anymore. In the 90's, my wife and I (before children) would dedicate three days to Epcot! I just absolutely loved it. So I take no pleasure in voicing my dissatisfaction with Epcot as an entertainment venue; just sharing one guest's opinion. I have no specific suggestions as to what could be done to resuscitate this poorly managed property, but I do know it would require the same amount of energy, creativity and investment that is being poured into AK and HS (which, incidentally have ALSO both withered away to half-day park status). Once Epcot reaches that level, no one will be cheering louder than me. Until then....zzzzzzzzz.

 

[French Quarter]

If you feel this way now, shouldn't you have felt this way BEFORE Soarin was going to be taken down for refurb?

They were apparently planning to ride Soarin' for a day and a half.

 

[adam.adbe]

If you feel this way now, shouldn't you have felt this way BEFORE Soarin was going to be taken down for refurb?

Personally, not at all. TT and Soarin are the only reason for me to make a special visit to FW. If I'm there I'll happily do SE too, but it's looking so dated and unloved, I certainly wouldn't make a special visit. Sum Of All Thrills is fun and all, but without FastPass it can be a long wait for not much. Generally, I'd do FW in the morning before WS opens at 11 AM. With Soarin out, I'm now thinking I'll just hit HS in the morning and take the boat over to WS to spend the afternoon and evening. I'm currently re-planning my April trip with the intent of removing FW entirely.

 

[Baloo62]

Personally, not at all. TT and Soarin are the only reason for me to make a special visit to FW. If I'm there I'll happily do SE too, but it's looking so dated and unloved, I certainly wouldn't make a special visit. Sum Of All Thrills is fun and all, but without FastPass it can be a long wait for not much. Generally, I'd do FW in the morning before WS opens at 11 AM. With Soarin out, I'm now thinking I'll just hit HS in the morning and take the boat over to WS to spend the afternoon and evening. I'm currently re-planning my April trip with the intent of removing FW entirely.

Exactly. Without Soarin' why bother getting there at 9:00?? In fact, if the FP system gave you the option of selecting any three attractions of your choice, I would argue that there was no reason to show up to ANY park (other than MK) before 1:00...even if they closed at 8:00. Thank you for your polite, respectful response.

 

[Travel Junkie]

As someone who lives on the west coast and is used to Disneyland, I find some of the impending doom posts in this thread for closing one attraction for a few months a little comical. Disneyland typically takes down at least one E-ticket per year for a long refurb, sometimes more and there is very little impact because of the number of attractions the park has.

It shows how woefully underbilt the WDW parks are, that one attraction could cause this much disruption.

 

[Andrew C]

As someone who lives on the west coast and is used to Disneyland, I find some of the impending doom posts in this thread for closing one attraction for a few months a little comical. Disneyland typically takes down at least one E-ticket per year for a long refurb, sometimes more and there is very little impact because of the number of attractions the park has.

It shows how woefully underbilt the WDW parks are, that one attraction could cause this much disruption.

Ehh future world at Epcot is underbuilt (empty pavilions) and DHS is underbuilt until the new stuff opens in a few years. If a ride goes down to refurb at MK, the impact is much much less or none at all. That is a fairer comparison to DL.

The area in the worst shape is where this ride is going down. It's totally necessary but it is going to have an impact for future world.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Ehh future world at Epcot is underbuilt (empty pavilions) and DHS is underbuilt until the new stuff opens in a few years. If a ride goes down to refurb at MK, the impact is much much less or none at all. That is a fairer comparison to DL.

The area in the worst shape is where this ride is going down. It's totally necessary but it is going to have an impact for future world.

Even the Magic Kingdom is woefully under built. It not really an even comparison but it's total attraction count is on par with parks that receive a quarter of its annual attendance.

 

[BringMeTheHoriz]

As someone who lives on the west coast and is used to Disneyland, I find some of the impending doom posts in this thread for closing one attraction for a few months a little comical. Disneyland typically takes down at least one E-ticket per year for a long refurb, sometimes more and there is very little impact because of the number of attractions the park has.

It shows how woefully underbilt the WDW parks are, that one attraction could cause this much disruption.

That's exactly what WDW is: overbuilt with restaurants, food, and merch stands but underbuilt with rides.

The impact at Disneyland is minimal because, like you said, there's so many E-ticket attractions within walking distance. At WDW its a greater time investment to get from E-ticket attraction to E-ticket attraction. Epcot, HS, and Animal Kingdom each have about 2 - 3 E ticket rides and that's it. So once I hit all of them in one park I have to get into my car and drive to the next park for the next E-ticket. There's a significant investment in time and energy between parking, walking to the front gate, riding, then walking back to the car (not even factoring in the massive amount of time it sometimes takes to get from the TTC to the Magic Kingdom and back). When I went to Disneyland I ping-ponged between both parks all day and it was absolutely glorious. Not only that, but dare I say California Adventure has way more to do in it than Epcot, HS, and Animal Kingdom...combined.

 

[ford91exploder]

Dancing with an AA Sven would actually make it worth it....

That would be cool, Like I've said there is far more creativity on these boards then exists in TWDC these days. I'm not a fan of Frozen but Sven is my favorite character (he seems to have more brains than the rest of the cast put together...)

 

[ford91exploder]

Hopefully the suits will recognize the major, glaring issues that Epcot has during the next 8-10 months. With Soarin' being down for a large portion of the year, and Frozen Ever After eventually being the logistical nightmare it will be, let's hope some good comes out of this situation. Maybe...y'know...making the Future World pavilions excellent again? It baffles me that nothing has budged. It is a simple fix.

They would have to VISIT THE PARKS and with Darth Iger and his minions that will NEVER happen.

 

[ford91exploder]

so what's the plan then?

Not visiting.

 

[Little Green Men]

Not only that, but dare I say California Adventure has way more to do in it than Epcot, HS, and Animal Kingdom...combined.

Maybe if you only count rides, but if you factor in shows, DAK's animal exhibits, Epcot cultural exhibit's, etc, they have an even amount of things to fill your day. As for DHS I agree but hopefully that will be remedied soon.

 

[erasure fan1]

Maybe if you only count rides, but if you factor in shows, DAK's animal exhibits, Epcot cultural exhibit's, etc, they have an even amount of things to fill your day. As for DHS I agree but hopefully that will be remedied soon.

remedied? yes. soon? Well not so much.

When you count all the small things you have plenty to do at Epcot and AK. Unfortunately I don't want to fill my day just to fill it. For the person who goes once in a lifetime or every 5 or so years that's great. For myself, there is only so many times I can sit through the same show or walk a trail, especially on the same trip. I also get that Disney no longer cares about me (the at least every year vacation) as a guest, and that is why we are not going every year like we used to.

 

[AmUK]

Poor timing .... should have waited till at least the Frozen attraction was up and running.

 

[ford91exploder]

Poor timing .... should have waited till at least the Frozen attraction was up and running.

Why Disney figures the rubes will show up anyway even with the new higher pricing

 

[Next Big Thing]

Poor timing .... should have waited till at least the Frozen attraction was up and running.

Or you could look at it from the perspective of getting it all done at the same time. Sure Epcot will hurt for a few months, but it has F&G to carry it and people will stray to DHS for Star Wars during this period as well (which i'm sure WDW doesn't mind in a struggling park).

If they were to wait, all of 2016 would have either Frozstrom or Soarin' down essentially. I'd rather just rip the band-aid off and get it done quicker.

 

[MM311]

Or you could look at it from the perspective of getting it all done at the same time. Sure Epcot will hurt for a few months, but it has F&G to carry it and people will stray to DHS for Star Wars during this period as well (which i'm sure WDW doesn't mind in a struggling park).

If they were to wait, all of 2016 would have either Frozstrom or Soarin' down essentially. I'd rather just rip the band-aid off and get it done quicker.

Or if they wouldn't take a year and a half to transform Maelstrom to Frozen this would have been a non issue...well it still would have been an issue, but somewhat less of one

 

[note2001]

Maybe if you only count rides, but if you factor in shows, DAK's animal exhibits, Epcot cultural exhibit's, etc, they have an even amount of things to fill your day. As for DHS I agree but hopefully that will be remedied soon.

I love EPCOT, but in the spirit of Halloween, I'm putting on my doom & gloom hat:

My problem at EPCOT these days is strictly with Futureworld: we start off walking through the tombstones, setting the mood for the plaza itself where we find a skeleton of what used to be Innoventions. Branch off to the left and there's the corpse of the Wonders of Life attraction hidden back behind the landscaping. Ellen is still chugging along, getting older and older. Test Track is now a cyborg version of its former self as the rebranding operation seems to have taken away the soul of the ride. Branch off to the right and we see a heart bypass patient: JII, in which one of the two main characters did not survive the operation and the other just really isn't himself anymore. This is paired up with a cringe worthy film featuring someone Disney should be ashamed to be linked to. One could argue that in Future World, the only two good pavilions left are the Land and Seas Pavilions. Closing Soarin' for 6 months, while necessary, bruises an already damaged Future world. If it weren't for Starbucks jolting FW back to life we'd be off to a poor start for enjoying the rest of what EPCOT has to offer.

I do prefer to enter through the International gateway when possible.

 

[alissafalco]

I love EPCOT, but in the spirit of Halloween, I'm putting on my doom & gloom hat:

My problem at EPCOT these days is strictly with Futureworld: we start off walking through the tombstones, setting the mood for the plaza itself where we find a skeleton of what used to be Innoventions. Branch off to the left and there's the corpse of the Wonders of Life attraction hidden back behind the landscaping. Ellen is still chugging along, getting older and older. Test Track is now a cyborg version of its former self as the rebranding operation seems to have taken away the soul of the ride. Branch off to the right and we see a heart bypass patient: JII, in which one of the two main characters did not survive the operation and the other just really isn't himself anymore. This is paired up with a cringe worthy film featuring someone Disney should be ashamed to be linked to. One could argue that in Future World, the only two good pavilions left are the Land and Seas Pavilions. Closing Soarin' for 6 months, while necessary, bruises an already damaged Future world. If it weren't for Starbucks jolting FW back to life we'd be off to a poor start for enjoying the rest of what EPCOT has to offer.

I do prefer to enter through the International gateway when possible.

LOL so true!!

 

[Little Green Men]

I love EPCOT, but in the spirit of Halloween, I'm putting on my doom & gloom hat:

My problem at EPCOT these days is strictly with Futureworld: we start off walking through the tombstones, setting the mood for the plaza itself where we find a skeleton of what used to be Innoventions. Branch off to the left and there's the corpse of the Wonders of Life attraction hidden back behind the landscaping. Ellen is still chugging along, getting older and older. Test Track is now a cyborg version of its former self as the rebranding operation seems to have taken away the soul of the ride. Branch off to the right and we see a heart bypass patient: JII, in which one of the two main characters did not survive the operation and the other just really isn't himself anymore. This is paired up with a cringe worthy film featuring someone Disney should be ashamed to be linked to. One could argue that in Future World, the only two good pavilions left are the Land and Seas Pavilions. Closing Soarin' for 6 months, while necessary, bruises an already damaged Future world. If it weren't for Starbucks jolting FW back to life we'd be off to a poor start for enjoying the rest of what EPCOT has to offer.

I do prefer to enter through the International gateway when possible.

TT was improved greatly IMO and SSE is still good, it's just the descent. Even though EEA is dated I still enjoy it and MS is enjoyable as well.