Two Spirited Quickees...Imagination closing

[JenniferS]

My daughter loves it as well. It's a fun ride, but it pales in comparison to what it used to be (in my mind). Since my kiddo never KNEW what it used to be, then this is "her figgy" ride. Also, since she never knew the Imageworks upstairs playground, she thinks the current one is awesome.

The only stuffed doll she has ever begged for at Disney, in 4 years of trips, has been a Figgy doll. This past trip, we had to get a second Figgy doll for her little sister, because she keeps stealing my kiddo's Figgy doll. And, as a kid, the one stuffed animal I got from Disney was a Figgy doll, so all this makes me smile.

Something about that cute little dragon!

No, no, no. Another empty pavilion is better.

Geesh, people.

 

[FigmentJedi]

Looking back, the turntable made zero sense. These days the same thing would be done with an offride preshow.

I can see the opening being adapted as a queue thing, though the queue would have to be a bunch of clouds and give you some way of getting into the air. The turntable scene's conceit was to have the rider traveling next to Dreamfinder's Dreamcatcher and following it to the Dreamport after all.

Personally as far as revisiting the Dreamport setting in a new ride goes, I think a preshow in Dreamfinder's garage with Figment and Dreamfinder just coming back from a Dreamcatching expedition could work and before this preshow, you see the Dreamcatcher outside "windows" at work.

 

[BrianLo]

I haven't seen it in person, but judging from the Youtube videos the preshow to Mystic Manor is pretty great too.

Confirmed - it is awesome in real life too!

 

[CDavid]

If you read the history of EPCOT, it's not as rosy as you might think. Visitors got tired of all the dark rides pretty quickly, and much of Future World was walk-on. World showcase was even worse. I enjoyed going because it was so unique - and empty.

Before the Eisner days, Disney was actually considering selling off the park. The open area between the two sides of Communicore was dead, and the overly infotainment theme of the park confused and bored visitors.

In a sense we have come full circle.

There's a pretty heavy dose of revisionist history behind many of the stories of early Epcot Center.

 

[misterID]

Yeah, 'cause there aren't enough empty buildings in Epcot as it is.

BTW - we rode Imagination twice during our visit a few weeks ago. While not MY favourite ride, my nephew loved it. It also remains one of my 17 year old son's favourite rides, and I am required to pick him up some type of Figment trinket each trip.

It's not a great ride by any stretch and the last time I rode before my last trip it was the first time since the change-over from the original classic. I thought it was an abomination. After riding it again on my last visit the initial shock has worn off and it's not that bad. It's still an abomination compared to the original, but it's nice to see Figment. It's nice to have a ride the entire family can get on. The kids liked it for what it was, nothing over the top, not the reaction the original had, but... I don't mind it. That being said, they need to go in a different direction with it because it's still ironically most unimaginative attraction in EPCOT. But keep Figment.

 

[DisneyGentleman]

There's a pretty heavy dose of revisionist history behind many of the stories of early Epcot Center.

Call it revisionist history if you like, but some of us used to hang around on a RoundTable on GEnie called Destination Florida. GEnie was an online service run by GE in the late 80's and early 90's before the days of the internet. In that period, EPCOT was dying with simply too little activity to excite the crowds.

Contrary to the views here, at that time the addition of the purple tarps and revision of Communicore was considered a good thing. Most every ride in Futureworld was walkon, and if you went later in the day, you had the whole pavilion to yourself. Futureworld was viewed as being too sterile with not enough going on.

Love or hate Eisner, he did fix EPCOT, though he hated the original version of Imagination. I recall a quote somewhere related to the upside down toilet (that used to flush) attributed to him - he felt that the masses found toilets funny.

 

[Figments Friend]

Looking back, the turntable made zero sense. These days the same thing would be done with an offride preshow.

I have to respectfully disagree.

The five-show 'turntable' concept was absolute GENUIS for what needed to be accomplished in the Original attraction.
It was a wonderfully unique way to set up the concept of the ride and the main characters all while keeping the show moving along ...literally.

I would say a large part of the appeal of the Original was this amazing way of presenting the introductory show.
Nothing compared to the experience of sitting in your ride vehicle and 'linking up' with the revealed show scene and traveling around the perimeter of the circular track for those three minutes watching those character interact with you.
It had never been done before, and even though we have such advanced tech now for rides it has never been attempted since.

No YouTube video can give you that experience....you either had to have experienced it yourself in the flesh, or you simply cannot fully understand the scope and impact that moment had. This is one of several reasons why the Original is so cherished by those who experienced it back in the day.

Of course the 'turntable' segment had a lot of issues apparently as far as maintenance goes...and towards the end of it's life Ops at WDW just did not want to keep putting money into keeping it going. They had the same attitude towards the entire attraction actually, as it was expensive to keep going.
Thus why we saw the shameless and utterly outrageous sabotaged 'forced closing' of the Original attraction back in the mid 90's.

Internal politics, money, and people's personal egos got in the way and destroyed what was once one of the crowning achievements in a theme park dark ride experience.

 

[mitchk]

I rode the original at least 5 times back in 87'. When I finally got back to the world in April of 2001 it was changed. This was still kind of before the Internet took off so I had no idea it had been changed. I hated it, I kept asking my wife " Were is figment"? When I went back in 2002 I didn't even head over to the area ( come to find out a few years back that it was closed at that time for the third, current version). The only thing I like about the ride now, is the fact that figment is back. I would hate to see figment go away, I hope they find a way to make him part of the new ride, he dersevers it!

 

[draybook]

The cost of staffing and power has to be considerable for a place it sounds like hardly anyone goes to and is a negative of what people think of Epcot.

You obviously haven't seen the wages that Disney pays.......

 

[Goofyernmost]

Revisionist or not, the fall of Epcot wasn't really because what was there wasn't awesome, it was because very few people had the ability to appreciate it or recognize just how ground breaking it all was. It is true that by the mid 90's, it was a sad place to be, crowd wise. No one was riding that great rides like Horizon, WoM, Imagination, WoL and WoE. The seas had become a once you've seen one fish you have seen them all and the land was just a place to get lunch. You could ride the boat ride just so often and even the Kitchen and Food Rocks get's old by the second viewing. They tried to fix it but failed because of a combination of things. Lack of imagination for one and sponsor pressure for another. In my opinion... Energy was improved by the change, I had stopped going there because of the Exxon infomercial connection, now it's a every time stop. WoL, well, it was OK but it had to close since no one was going there anymore. I don't think that people wanted to go to a health pavilion while digesting a turkey leg washed down but Coke products followed by a Mickey Bar. I know the should have closed it...but it needed to be replaced. I don't forgive them for not doing that. Horizons was also a dead pavilion in it's end. Just not something that the public was in awe of. Mission Space was a great replacement, but got a bad rep. early on due to the unfortunate tendency's for people to ignore warning signs. WoM was a great little novelty ride, funny, catchy tune, etc. but that was also lightly ridden and the thrill ride mentality was kicking in and that was, as much as I hate to admit it, a wise direction to go. Seas, much to the traditionalists believe was brought somewhat back to life with the addition of Nemo and Crush. Land was saved and brought back to life by Soarin. Imagination has been dead for a long time now. It needs to be gone, but, it doesn't need to be empty. THEY MUST REPLACE IT OR LEAVE IT AS IT IS until someone has the ability to imagine a good replacement. SSE, is basically the same as it has always been with a few changes in the script and the descent part.

In World Showcase, everything is pretty much the same but it's message is timeless. From the Canadian Film to France to the American Adventure, China, Norway and Mexico. It still has it's original footing and it is very good.

 

[aladdin2007]

Call it revisionist history if you like, but some of us used to hang around on a RoundTable on GEnie called Destination Florida. GEnie was an online service run by GE in the late 80's and early 90's before the days of the internet. In that period, EPCOT was dying with simply too little activity to excite the crowds.

Contrary to the views here, at that time the addition of the purple tarps and revision of Communicore was considered a good thing. Most every ride in Futureworld was walkon, and if you went later in the day, you had the whole pavilion to yourself. Futureworld was viewed as being too sterile with not enough going on.

Love or hate Eisner, he did fix EPCOT, though he hated the original version of Imagination. I recall a quote somewhere related to the upside down toilet (that used to flush) attributed to him - he felt that the masses found toilets funny.

He hated the first redo of the original, and he was the one that demanded the second redo that were still stuck with.

 

[EPCOTCenterLover]

I have visited Epcot so many times since its opening, I can't count. The ONLY time I've seen it empty was my one trip at the end of August.

 

[bigeternity]

Save Future World!

 

[Seabasealpha1]

I always get the vibe that if they'd return a bit to the roots of it being something like a "world's fair" that some great ideas and technologies would make themselves handy...

World's fairs perhaps better balance the education and entertainment thing than the original Epcot did...and I'm saying this being a person who prefers a lot of the original concept...Futureworld at Epcot kinda has the same disjointed storyline much like DHS does now...most people don't know that the park is related to the World's Fair.

To me, a lot of people miss the premise of the park or don't understand the point beyond rides and food. The attractions themselves don't tie together nearly as well as they used to. The symbols for the rides used to kinda give one an idea...but now we have:Air Conditioned Nap starring 90's Ellen DeGeneres, Tron: Chevy Legacy, That Ride That Kills People, Ride Pluggin' Over California, Oh S*** Nemo's Lost again, and finally...warmed over Michael Jackson with some ride half-way pertaining to Monte Python and bad CGI storylines...

Where's the cohesion? Anyone in the congregation here know?

So...any real world on what they're going to do with Imagination? Any false word...?

 

[ford91exploder]

I always get the vibe that if they'd return a bit to the roots of it being something like a "world's fair" that some great ideas and technologies would make themselves handy...

World's fairs perhaps better balance the education and entertainment thing than the original Epcot did...and I'm saying this being a person who prefers a lot of the original concept...Futureworld at Epcot kinda has the same disjointed storyline much like DHS does now...most people don't know that the park is related to the World's Fair.

To me, a lot of people miss the premise of the park or don't understand the point beyond rides and food. The attractions themselves don't tie together nearly as well as they used to. The symbols for the rides used to kinda give one an idea...but now we have:Air Conditioned Nap starring 90's Ellen DeGeneres, Tron: Chevy Legacy, That Ride That Kills People, Ride Pluggin' Over California, Oh S*** Nemo's Lost again, and finally...warmed over Michael Jackson with some ride half-way pertaining to Monte Python and bad CGI storylines...

Where's the cohesion? Anyone in the congregation here know?

So...any real world on what they're going to do with Imagination? Any false word...?

We all KNOW what TDO will do with Imagination it will be closed never to reopen.

 

[sublimesting]

I would imagine that all of EPCOT looked like the lines for Spaceship Earth, Universe of Energy and The Land do now. Basically walk ons. Had we kept Horizons etc, it would be more of the same. That being said. There really isn't much to do in EPCOT right now. As cool as the countries are, they are the same year after year. I never really buy things in them and use them mainly to eat at. I basically have them all memorized. And as Fture World goes: with a 3 yea old we have Spaceship Earth to ride....and well Universe of Energy but I haven't ridden that in a few years because I don't want to be bored for 40 minutes of non-dinosaur stuff, i.e. 90's style out dated movie. Test Track is fun, Mission SPace is fun and Soari' is fun (and so is The Land and Spaceship Earth to be honest), but even with the country boat rides, that gives you about 7 rides. They need more! Personally I love dark rides, they get me off my feet and cool e down and I can just relax.

 

[BobConnor]

You obviously haven't seen the wages that Disney pays.......

Actually, I was thinking more of the energy costs, those glass pyramids have to hog energy. Probably one reason the upper floor is closed.

I would predict that you might see the Imagination pavilion demolished and start over. 30 years is about the lifespan for a commercial building. I would not be surprised if that is one of the reasons Horizons is gone - those angles are a great place for water to leak in and rather than seal all the leaks, just cheaper to build a new building (and in that case, a new ride). In fact, it may be coming up on time to replace all of Epcot.

If the building is rebuilt I would like to see the pyramids somehow come back.

 

[Magenta Panther]

When I visit Epcot, I go to World Showcase. I almost never go to the Future World section. It just doesn't interest me anymore.

 

[JenniferS]

When I visit Epcot, I go to World Showcase. I almost never go to the Future World section. It just doesn't interest me anymore.

That's a shame. There are still many worthy attractions in Future World.

 

[Fairybuzz]

I have to say this again and people are going to disagree, but, I do not want the building to be demlished. If it was being replaced by the old management I wouldn't mind as much but I just know a big concrete square would be comming that would stick out like a sore thumb.

I wasn't impressed with mission space's building and IF it'd be anything like that It'd be a disappointment.

In any event, I really wish we knew SOMETHING about this more than just refurbishment. It's gonna drive me nuts!