We Need EPCOT Center Now More Than Ever!

Disneyhead'71

Disneyhead'71

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
You tell me there is no need for EPCOT Center. Kids hate edutainment and they have the entire Library of Congress+ in their pocket.

True, but they are watching cat videos and maxing out the cloud with "selfies". In my 50+ years, America has never been more intellectually incurious and insular. The exact issues EPCOT Center was about eliminating.

We should be doubling down on not eliminating "The Spirit of EPCOT Center".

Am I right @WDW1974
 
asianway

asianway

Well-Known Member
Disneyhead'71 said:
You tell me there is no need for EPCOT Center. Kids hate edutainment and they have the entire Library of Congress+ in their pocket.

True, but they are watching cat videos and maxing out the cloud with "selfies". In my 50+ years, America has never been more intellectually incurious and insular. The exact issues EPCOT Center was about eliminating.

We should be doubling down on not eliminating "The Spirit of EPCOT Center".

Am I right @WDW1974
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Theres many reasons for the intellectual decline, and we are in a death spiral. Disney contributed to it though, no way theyre going to pull up on the rudder now.
 
Disneyhead'71

Disneyhead'71

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
asianway said:
Theres many reasons for the intellectual decline, and we are in a death spiral. Disney contributed to it though, no way theyre going to pull up on the rudder now.
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And I do realize it's not just Disney. When you have a major political party that LITERALLY wants to outlaw the teaching of critical thinking, then this is what you get.
 
Disneyhead'71

Disneyhead'71

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I just remember when Disney tried to make America a better place. Modern Disney is thankful that modern Americans are too stupid to know that the country of Arendale isn't a country located inside the country of Norway. And they have absolutely no intentions of educating the people on their error.
 
Hakunamatata

Hakunamatata

Le Meh
Premium Member
Disney is just like any other business that provides services and experiences to guests and customers. They evolve to what they think the customer wants. That's why you don't see catburgers on a McDonalds menu. They know no one wants catburgers. You don't see them forcing catburgers down customers throats because McDonalds thinks catburgers are what customers should want.
 
sshindel

sshindel

The Epcot Manifesto
Disneyhead'71 said:
I just remember when Disney tried to make America a better place. Modern Disney is thankful that modern Americans are too stupid to know that the country of Arendale isn't a country located inside the country of Norway. And they have absolutely no intentions of educating the people on their error.
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I completely agree with you about Epcot. I do however feel that it's not Disney as a whole, Animal Kingdom still does bring education front and center with it's animal exhibits and conservation topics. It does the immersive world thing that World Showcase once did, it still teaches while it entertains. I don't think that Avatar-land will kill that completely, just adding a whole new section that is purposefully aside from the rest of the park, still touching on conservation, yet done in an obvious fantasy setting.
Disney is however completely abandoning the entire purpose of Epcot Center. They have decided that easy and crowd pleasing attractions are simpler to implement and maintain than continuing the inspirational message that Epcot once stood for.
I once wrote on here a eulogy for "Education in Epcot" once Frozen was announced, and it seems that was true. They killed the World Showcase, Future World is about to be put out of it's misery (it's been limping along on two broken legs for a decade now).
Epcot will continue to be two sections, World Festival & Event Showcase and "Whatever, who cares, rides that go zoom" World at the front of the park.
I'm just glad that I got to spend those important years in my youth walking around Epcot Center in awe, being inspired to think bigger. My kids, well, "Figment's Skunk Smell is Stinky! When can we go back to the Magic Kingdom?"
 
bpadair32

bpadair32

Well-Known Member
Why is it the job of a company to educate people via a theme park? Access to information is more available than ever. And yes many kids are posting selfies and watching cat videos, many are also learning stuff. Either way, that is the job of parents, not Disney. Take a look at our current Presidential election and you will find that there is an entire political party that is trying to keep people from learning anything about science, the world, etc. Disney is not the place to plant your flag and try to fight this battle.
 
Matt_Black

Matt_Black

Well-Known Member
Disneyhead'71 said:
You tell me there is no need for EPCOT Center. Kids hate edutainment and they have the entire Library of Congress+ in their pocket.

True, but they are watching cat videos and maxing out the cloud with "selfies". In my 50+ years, America has never been more intellectually incurious and insular. The exact issues EPCOT Center was about eliminating.

We should be doubling down on not eliminating "The Spirit of EPCOT Center".

Am I right @WDW1974
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EVERY generation says that the generation after them is dumber, disrespectful, blah blah blah.
 
Ironically Humorous

Ironically Humorous

Member
Disneyhead'71 said:
You tell me there is no need for EPCOT Center. Kids hate edutainment and they have the entire Library of Congress+ in their pocket.

True, but they are watching cat videos and maxing out the cloud with "selfies". In my 50+ years, America has never been more intellectually incurious and insular. The exact issues EPCOT Center was about eliminating.

We should be doubling down on not eliminating "The Spirit of EPCOT Center".

Am I right @WDW1974
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Nope. You're just suffering from a strong case of Juvenoia, believing in the "kids these days" sentiment that has been going on since Shakespeare's day.

Edit: Here's the 1627 "kids these days" engraving I was talking about. http://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/image/L0020217.html
 
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blueboxdoctor

blueboxdoctor

Well-Known Member
Disneyhead'71 said:
You tell me there is no need for EPCOT Center. Kids hate edutainment and they have the entire Library of Congress+ in their pocket.

True, but they are watching cat videos and maxing out the cloud with "selfies". In my 50+ years, America has never been more intellectually incurious and insular. The exact issues EPCOT Center was about eliminating.

We should be doubling down on not eliminating "The Spirit of EPCOT Center".

Am I right @WDW1974
Click to expand...

You sound, well, a little old fashioned. There have always been relatively useless things people have consumed their time with, but that's because sometimes you just need to relax. People have been taking pictures for years, I'd say decades. I also don't think kids hate anything that has to do with learning. If they wanted to continue that theme, Disney could come up with creative ways to teach/inform, it is their choice not to do so. Putting in Frozen, while I don't fully agree with it, it also makes sense, especially since the previous ride, well, wasn't much to write home about, the ceiling was falling apart in the loading area, and nobody stayed for the movie at the end.

While it seems most people over the age of 50 don't think so (for whatever reason), the younger generation isn't a bunch of idiots walking around aimlessly looking for the next viral video to distract us.

That aside, they do need to make Innoventions, well, innovative. There's not much of a reason to go in there anymore. Figment's ride can be updated. Universe of Energy is rather dated.

While people say putting characters in Future World is bad, I think if they are integrated in a fun and still relatively educational way, they can be a good way to get people curious to see what they are up to.

So yes, I think there are issues with EPCOT (mainly Future World) but I also don't think it is fair to go on about how this generation is so awful (which I have been seeing a lot of on this site lately).
 
sshindel

sshindel

The Epcot Manifesto
bpadair32 said:
Why is it the job of a company to educate people via a theme park?
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Because when this park was designed and developed, it was the decision of all involved to do exactly that. It was what Epcot was built to do. Disney cannot remove that from the park without specifically coming out and stating that you have quit.
It's like saying "Why is it Magic Kingdom's job to entertain me with fantastical lands and rides?" It's what it was built to do!
 
blueboxdoctor

blueboxdoctor

Well-Known Member
MaryJaneP said:
On another thread, we were bemoaning the "Go" game. Perhaps there is a plus side if one could create a EPCOT Go game.
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They already do something like that in the Magic Kingdom having to go from place to place (the interactive screens, not sure what they are called). It would actually be kind of cool, then multi-task, get that and Pokemon going at once (while I don't see the point of the Pokemon game since there isn't really an end goal or anything, it is cool how it has created such a large community),
 

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