The Imagineering Story on Disney+

MisterPenguin

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
erasure fan1 said:
Not to be crass, but if you watch that Episode, and still don't get what made epcot special, you probably never will. And that is OK. Epcot didn't hit everyone the same way. But for those it connected with, nothing has come close to matching it. Some of my most profound memories of Disney, are seabase alpha, seeing the dinosaurs in energy, Horizons. There was a sense of wonder and inspiration grounded in something more real. I didn't always need a character to entertain me. That's what the magic kingdom was for, and I loved that too.
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Ummm... did we watch the same episode? They didn't get into any of those long, omnimover, edutainment rides which EPCOT purists say make Epcot EPCOT. No details of how they were made or why. Just "we wanted to build technological showcase pavilions like at World Fairs." No discussion of the role of corporate sponsors or financing (which WDW lost or stopped caring about). No discussion of guest reaction. No hydrolator. No Figment v.1. Nothing about the Horizons ride. Nothing about how cutting edge technology is soon old hat and they need to keep up with the edge (which WDW didn't). Nothing about the original intention to keep IP out.

It was all about what they were going to do without Walt's guidance and how they scrapped his planned community plan and how a board decided to build a brand new type of park. And they built it. The end.

What would Walt do? Scrap his plans and just build another theme park? Ummm, yeah, that's the ticket! That's what Walt would do!

Maybe I need to watch that episode again.
 
erasure fan1

erasure fan1

Well-Known Member
MisterPenguin said:
Ummm... did we watch the same episode? They didn't get into any of those long, omnimover, edutainment rides which EPCOT purists say make Epcot EPCOT. No details of how they were made or why. Just "we wanted to build technological showcase pavilions like at World Fairs." No discussion of the role of corporate sponsors or financing (which WDW lost or stopped caring about). No discussion of guest reaction. No hydrolator. No Figment v.1. Nothing about the Horizons ride. Nothing about how cutting edge technology is soon old hat and they need to keep up with the edge (which WDW didn't). Nothing about the original intention to keep IP out.

It was all about what they were going to do without Walt's guidance and how they scrapped his planned community plan and how a board decided to build a brand new type of park. And they built it. The end.

What would Walt do? Scrap his plans and just build another theme park? Ummm, yeah, that's the ticket! That's what Walt would do!

Maybe I need to watch that episode again.
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They did talk about the park being free from the characters and the edutainment aspects and it being more than just a theme park. Yes they really didn't go into the rides, it was more of an overview of the inspiration for the park.
 
Indy_UK

Indy_UK

Well-Known Member
I don’t know much about the history of Eisner and Wells but after watching Episode 3, I have so much respect for them. They were a great team and you can tell they really did their best for the parks.

I imagine in Episode 4 with Franks death that it goes downhill for Eisner...
 
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D

doctornick

Well-Known Member
erasure fan1 said:
Not to be crass, but if you watch that Episode, and still don't get what made epcot special, you probably never will. And that is OK. Epcot didn't hit everyone the same way. But for those it connected with, nothing has come close to matching it. Some of my most profound memories of Disney, are seabase alpha, seeing the dinosaurs in energy, Horizons. There was a sense of wonder and inspiration grounded in something more real. I didn't always need a character to entertain me. That's what the magic kingdom was for, and I loved that too.
Click to expand...
MisterPenguin said:
Ummm... did we watch the same episode? They didn't get into any of those long, omnimover, edutainment rides which EPCOT purists say make Epcot EPCOT. No details of how they were made or why. Just "we wanted to build technological showcase pavilions like at World Fairs." No discussion of the role of corporate sponsors or financing (which WDW lost or stopped caring about). No discussion of guest reaction. No hydrolator. No Figment v.1. Nothing about the Horizons ride. Nothing about how cutting edge technology is soon old hat and they need to keep up with the edge (which WDW didn't). Nothing about the original intention to keep IP out.

It was all about what they were going to do without Walt's guidance and how they scrapped his planned community plan and how a board decided to build a brand new type of park. And they built it. The end.

What would Walt do? Scrap his plans and just build another theme park? Ummm, yeah, that's the ticket! That's what Walt would do!

Maybe I need to watch that episode again.
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I think you are both right. The episode (number 2) did a great job in discussing the high level ideals that supported Epcot. And even explaining why Walt's idea for a city was abandoned but that the replacement was still trying to honor and build on those ideas in a way that was more realistic for the company.

That said, the episode was pretty limited and poor on actually giving details on the exactly what EPCOT Center featured and why it was so captivating. There is so much they could have talked about in terms of the specifics of the new theme park and they just rushed over it.

This why I'm thinking that there are too few episodes with too much being missed. All the episodes seem like they could have been at least double in length (i.e. split into two episodes) to cover all the content warranted. I'm not sure why so few episodes are being produced quite frankly.

I wonder if, in the future, they might consider re-visiting the series and focusing more in depth on specific topics. For example, on this note, doing a "Imagineering Story: EPCOT Center" episode in the future.
 
FigmentJedi

FigmentJedi

Well-Known Member
Episode 6 summary heavily emphasizes Bob too.
The Imagineering Story Finale – Part 6 – “To Infinity and Beyond”
Bob Iger personally shepherds his labor of love, the Shanghai Disney Resort. The Imagineers customize an ambitious new theme park to fit China’s culture, a symbol of patience and collaboration. Meanwhile, through innovative technology and immersive placemaking, the beloved pop culture worlds of Avatar, Marvel and Star Wars come to life.
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All Hail Iger and his Glorious Regime
 
Joesixtoe

Joesixtoe

Well-Known Member
MisterPenguin said:
Ummm... did we watch the same episode? They didn't get into any of those long, omnimover, edutainment rides which EPCOT purists say make Epcot EPCOT. No details of how they were made or why. Just "we wanted to build technological showcase pavilions like at World Fairs." No discussion of the role of corporate sponsors or financing (which WDW lost or stopped caring about). No discussion of guest reaction. No hydrolator. No Figment v.1. Nothing about the Horizons ride. Nothing about how cutting edge technology is soon old hat and they need to keep up with the edge (which WDW didn't). Nothing about the original intention to keep IP out.

It was all about what they were going to do without Walt's guidance and how they scrapped his planned community plan and how a board decided to build a brand new type of park. And they built it. The end.

What would Walt do? Scrap his plans and just build another theme park? Ummm, yeah, that's the ticket! That's what Walt would do!

Maybe I need to watch that episode again.
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Yeah one of the imagineers talked about when this technology gets into the homes, then we are going to have to do something more to stay ahead of the game.. something to that extent. It's near the end of episode 2..
 
BasiltheBatLord

BasiltheBatLord

Well-Known Member
I continue to be amazed at how honest they're being about failures, criticism etc. (or how Disney is allowing them to be honest)

They straight up SHAT on Paul Pressler in that last episode. And it would be one thing if he had nothing to do with the series but he was actually interviewed in the same episode that everybody else was dumping on him.
 
mikejs78

mikejs78

Well-Known Member
egg said:
That emoji is a very strong counterargument to those two solid points against misterpenguin’s assertion.
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Except they aren't solid points. How do "loyalists and lifestyles" have to do with the fact that Disney was trying to attract new guests? Contrary to reporting here, Galaxy's Edge isn't a ghost town. It's even increased attendance at DHS. Just not nearly to projections.

@MisterPenguin's point stands. Opening day at MK was extremely light because people were trying to avoid the crowds. Then yes, a few months later it was crowded. But that was well before the day that planning for a WDW vacation was a 6 month to a year affair. Most people don't/can't just say "oh, it's not crowded, I'm going to WDW next month". There are a bunch of people who deferred vacations to 2020 and 2021 because of the perception that Galaxy's Edge was going to be insane. That's analogous to what happened day 1 at MK, and neither of those arguments were rebuttals to that point.
 
starri42

starri42

Well-Known Member
I was really impressed by the fourth episode. I was not expecting them to be that honest about the failures at California Adventure and Walt Disney Studios Park. I did think they glossed over some of the challenges they faced with Hong Kong, however.

They did put some of the issues at California Adventure on the lack of IP, but given that they were attempting to expand with the purpose of keeping out-of-towners there longer, I don't think that was incorrect. You could still kind of feel the tension between the California people and the DisneySea people.
 
tirian

tirian

Well-Known Member
Maybe it’s important to pause here and point out how even though some things are matters of opinion, the Imagineers (“pros in that field”) are indeed quite critical and don’t pretend everything is hunky-dory because Magic. You celebrate the great stuff, you shudder at the messes, and you’re honest enough to differentiate.
 
No Name

No Name

Well-Known Member
mikejs78 said:
Except they aren't solid points. How do "loyalists and lifestyles" have to do with the fact that Disney was trying to attract new guests? Contrary to reporting here, Galaxy's Edge isn't a ghost town. It's even increased attendance at DHS. Just not nearly to projections.

@MisterPenguin's point stands. Opening day at MK was extremely light because people were trying to avoid the crowds. Then yes, a few months later it was crowded. But that was well before the day that planning for a WDW vacation was a 6 month to a year affair. Most people don't/can't just say "oh, it's not crowded, I'm going to WDW next month". There are a bunch of people who deferred vacations to 2020 and 2021 because of the perception that Galaxy's Edge was going to be insane. That's analogous to what happened day 1 at MK, and neither of those arguments were rebuttals to that point.
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Loyalists and lifestyles are people who’ve been brought on board by either Disney’s history of quality or current marketing and branding schemes, respectively, with some overlap. No matter how you define it, these people weren’t nearly as plentiful back then. As to your rebuttal of the second, Disneyland is where the problem originated, and they don’t require much planning in advance, so another point null. At least you provided more than an emoji this time.

But think a certain poster put it best when he said it only proves something if one has an agenda.
 

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