Rumor The EPCOT Hotel

UNCgolf

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
I wish Disney actually would build an Art Deco hotel. It would have been perfect near Disney-MGM and would still work near Hollywood Studios today considering most of the buildings represented in the park (including the entrance) are Art Deco or Streamline Moderne.
 
H

havoc315

Well-Known Member
lazyboy97o said:
Again, you are the one who claimed it did a good job of matching its inspiration. Disney says that is Beaux-Arts, Art Nouveau and Art Deco. You can like all those bare walls all you want but don’t toss out nonsense like claiming that it does a good job at theming and representing its supposed inspiration. Themed experiences are storytelling and the Riviera clearly does not tell the story it’s designers claim it is telling.
Click to expand...

It does do a great job matching its inspiration. I see the European touches and style. European inspired art work everywhere.

But in the end, whether I like Riviera or not has nothing to do with how accurately it reflects European architecture. Whether I like Beach Club or not has nothing to do with whether Beaches and Cream serves lobster rolls. Whether I like Grand Floridian or not, has nothing to do with whether it looks like a California hotel.

I know “accurate theming” is supposedly a high priority for some people. But ultimately, it’s still a question of subjective preferences.
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
havoc315 said:
It does do a great job matching its inspiration. I see the European touches and style. European inspired art work everywhere.

But in the end, whether I like Riviera or not has nothing to do with how accurately it reflects European architecture. Whether I like Beach Club or not has nothing to do with whether Beaches and Cream serves lobster rolls. Whether I like Grand Floridian or not, has nothing to do with whether it looks like a California hotel.

I know “accurate theming” is supposedly a high priority for some people. But ultimately, it’s still a question of subjective preferences.
Click to expand...
You can’t have it both ways. You can’t claim how it is well themed and then say it doesn’t matter.
 
Sir_Cliff

Sir_Cliff

Well-Known Member
UNCgolf said:
I wish Disney actually would build an Art Deco hotel. It would have been perfect near Disney-MGM and would still work near Hollywood Studios today considering most of the buildings represented in the park (including the entrance) are Art Deco or Streamline Moderne.
Click to expand...
One place I've stayed that I thought would be a good inspiration for Disney was the Hotel Nacional in Cuba designed by a New York architectural firm in the 1930s. You could tie it in to DHS and even have a high-rise hotel if you did it correctly.

hnac.jpg


Entrance_to_Hotel_Nacional_de_Cuba_in_Old_Havana.jpg

hotel-nacional-de-cuba.jpg


I feel like this is more or less a model of how the Riviera also could have been handled.
 
H

havoc315

Well-Known Member
lazyboy97o said:
You can’t have it both ways. You can’t claim how it is well themed and then say it doesn’t matter.
Click to expand...

Sure I can. It can be well themed and be the critical thing that matters to me. It can be horribly themed and matter to me. It can be well themed, and not matter to me. I can be poorly themed, and not matter to me. Every combination is valid.

Now, for my tastes, overall, it is well themed. I can certainly see some blandness in some aspects of the architecture, some disorganization in the theme (they didn’t want to pick between Italy and France and combined them instead. They borrow from many non-Riviera European influences as well.).
But overall, I appreciate the European and Riviera inspirations. And no, it doesn’t matter to me whether it meets Lazyboy97o’s subjective theming preferences.
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
havoc315 said:
Sure I can. It can be well themed and be the critical thing that matters to me. It can be horribly themed and matter to me. It can be well themed, and not matter to me. I can be poorly themed, and not matter to me. Every combination is valid.

Now, for my tastes, overall, it is well themed. I can certainly see some blandness in some aspects of the architecture, some disorganization in the theme (they didn’t want to pick between Italy and France and combined them instead. They borrow from many non-Riviera European influences as well.).
But overall, I appreciate the European and Riviera inspirations. And no, it doesn’t matter to me whether it meets Lazyboy97o’s subjective theming preferences.
Click to expand...
They’re not my subjective theming preferences. They are what Disney themselves claimed.
 
G

GimpYancIent

Well-Known Member
Sir_Cliff said:
One place I've stayed that I thought would be a good inspiration for Disney was the Hotel Nacional in Cuba designed by a New York architectural firm in the 1930s. You could tie it in to DHS and even have a high-rise hotel if you did it correctly.

View attachment 542168

View attachment 542169
View attachment 542170

I feel like this is more or less a model of how the Riviera also could have been handled.
Click to expand...
Old school class! Don't make them like that anymore.
 
H

havoc315

Well-Known Member
lazyboy97o said:
They’re not my subjective theming preferences. They are what Disney themselves claimed.
Click to expand...

Really? Disney claimed it was a theming failure? No, that’s your subjective verdict. Disney claims it’s a theming success. (And Disney’s claim is equally irrelevant to me).
 
The Visionary Soul

The Visionary Soul

Well-Known Member
havoc315 said:
It does do a great job matching its inspiration. I see the European touches and style. European inspired art work everywhere.

But in the end, whether I like Riviera or not has nothing to do with how accurately it reflects European architecture. Whether I like Beach Club or not has nothing to do with whether Beaches and Cream serves lobster rolls. Whether I like Grand Floridian or not, has nothing to do with whether it looks like a California hotel.

I know “accurate theming” is supposedly a high priority for some people. But ultimately, it’s still a question of subjective preferences.
Click to expand...
Rivera is a garbage hotel. Disney went with a contractor that basically gave them a BOGO offer (Destino). Disney had DVC pay for Riviera. It's just simple towers. They created a room type that actually is the smallest room on property because of how strange the layout of the building is. No, Riviera looks like it was designed by a Las Vegas based hotel design firm. Because it was. It's not themed to anything. It's decorated.
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
The Visionary Soul said:
Rivera is a garbage hotel. Disney went with a contractor that basically gave them a BOGO offer (Destino). Disney had DVC pay for Riviera. It's just simple towers. They created a room type that actually is the smallest room on property because of how strange the layout of the building is. No, Riviera looks like it was designed by a Las Vegas based hotel design firm. Because it was. It's not themed to anything. It's decorated.
Click to expand...
the dude your opinion GIF
 
FerretAfros

FerretAfros

Well-Known Member
havoc315 said:
1616632248914.jpeg


So how often am I standing far back to just look at the exterior architecture and note a wish there were some more columns and flourishes.
Click to expand...
But that's just it: architecture isn't just "flourishes" that can be sprinkled on randomly, it needs to serve a purpose. It's not like a framed photograph that can just be stuck on a blank wall. Columns are there to support the structure above, so why add them if there's nothing that needs to be supported?

The massive log columns in the Wilderness Lodge lobby are a great example of how the design and aesthetics of the structure are based in the practicalities of the construction process itself. Similarly, adding wood siding and gingerbread trim to the Contemporary A-frame wouldn't make it fit in with the Grand Floridian, since those materials couldn't practically create that structure. In order to appear authentic, elements must serve (or at least appear to serve) their intended purpose.

But on the other side of all this is the Riviera, which is just a big hulking building plopped down on the side of a parking lot and lawn, with little consideration for how the structure was formed or why it's there. They just wanted a mass that they could fill up with hotel rooms, and it shows.

Even the photo you selected showcases how poorly contrived this hotel is. While the mosaics filling the archway are lovely, the arches themselves clearly serve no practical purpose, which is revealed by the flat ceiling above the 2nd floor walkway. This could have been resolved by either removing the walkway, or increasing the height of the archways to provide adequate clearance. But someone thought an archway and a bridge walkway would be fun, so let's just slap 'em on there (even if neither have any relation to the alleged theme)!

At it's core, the Riviera is a bland, uninspired structure, and not amount of surface-applied ornamentation is going to fix that.
 
H

havoc315

Well-Known Member
FerretAfros said:
But that's just it: architecture isn't just "flourishes" that can be sprinkled on randomly, it needs to serve a purpose. It's not like a framed photograph that can just be stuck on a blank wall. Columns are there to support the structure above, so why add them if there's nothing that needs to be supported?

The massive log columns in the Wilderness Lodge lobby are a great example of how the design and aesthetics of the structure are based in the practicalities of the construction process itself. Similarly, adding wood siding and gingerbread trim to the Contemporary A-frame wouldn't make it fit in with the Grand Floridian, since those materials couldn't practically create that structure. In order to appear authentic, elements must serve (or at least appear to serve) their intended purpose.

But on the other side of all this is the Riviera, which is just a big hulking building plopped down on the side of a parking lot and lawn, with little consideration for how the structure was formed or why it's there. They just wanted a mass that they could fill up with hotel rooms, and it shows.

Even the photo you selected showcases how poorly contrived this hotel is. While the mosaics filling the archway are lovely, the arches themselves clearly serve no practical purpose, which is revealed by the flat ceiling above the 2nd floor walkway. This could have been resolved by either removing the walkway, or increasing the height of the archways to provide adequate clearance. But someone thought an archway and a bridge walkway would be fun, so let's just slap 'em on there (even if neither have any relation to the alleged theme)!

At it's core, the Riviera is a bland, uninspired structure, and not amount of surface-applied ornamentation is going to fix that.
Click to expand...

See, I'm not going to like or dislike a hotel based on the presence of an unnecessary catwalk. If that's a big deal to you, then you can certainly dislike it.
That's why it's subjective, lots of room for differences of opinion.
 
Bocabear

Bocabear

Well-Known Member
havoc315 said:
See, I'm not going to like or dislike a hotel based on the presence of an unnecessary catwalk. If that's a big deal to you, then you can certainly dislike it.
That's why it's subjective, lots of room for differences of opinion.
Click to expand...
But does anybody actually think this is a well themed hotel? Yes, it is a hotel...and it has new rooms... which are fine, but when you see it are you transported to The Riviera? I would say no... It feels like a modern hotel Anytown USA...with a few nice details, but overall an uninspired structure and amenities.
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom