What's next for Epcot 2024 and Beyond

[Bocabear]

What's next for Epcot 2024 and Beyond​

the price increase....

 

[Phicinfan]

What's next for Epcot 2024 and Beyond​

the price increase....

And more DVC resorts, don't forget the much desired DVC resorts

 

[Tha Realest]

And more DVC resorts, don't forget the much desired DVC resorts

Guests: EPCOT needs more attractions!

TWDC: Did you say EPCOT needs its own DVC?

 

[Disstevefan1]

The only attractions that directly generate revenue through Genie+ are FoP, GoTG:CW, RotR, SDMT, & Tron. All relatively new attractions.

I don't agree.

By simply not adding attractions (as in, not adding capacity) generates revenue through Genie+.

It doesn't matter if an attraction is new or not.

 

[CJR]

I don't see them touching M:S after adding a new restaurant and refurbishing the exterior.

I'd say, best bets are them taking a look at the Play! and Poppins plots. Refurbishments of SSE and Imagination are possible, SSE being higher priority. I wouldn't be too shocked if they all happened in the order I brought them up, over the next decade or maybe longer. Nothing probably right away. Five yearsish sounds about right at the rate they build.

 

[GladToBeHear]

As to what Disney is going to do with my favorite (for nostalgia reasons) park -- I have no clue. And I'm not holding my breath.

If I were managing the park -- this would probably be my priority list of projects (in order):

• Open Spine Redo/Remove Festival Tent Behind UK
• SSE Refurbishment
• WOL Conversion (Could be a version of PLAY, another conversion, or tie to M:S as a Mars base destination)
• Imagination Redesign
• Two New Countries
• Poppins UK Ride (Move ahead of new countries if neither of those have attractions)
• Mexico CoCo Boat Ride Re-skin
• Japan Ride (Unused space)
• Germany Ride (Unused space)
• Italy Walk-Through Attraction
• Bulldoze Moana/Fix Spine Redo

And somewhere in there -- I would update the Soarin' movie.

 

[mysto]

Well that's cast rather a pall over the evening.

 

[Tha Realest]

I don't see them touching M:S after adding a new restaurant and refurbishing the exterior.

I'd say, best bets are them taking a look at the Play! and Poppins plots. Refurbishments of SSE and Imagination are possible, SSE being higher priority. I wouldn't be too shocked if they all happened in the order I brought them up, over the next decade or maybe longer. Nothing probably right away. Five yearsish sounds about right at the rate they build.

I’m of the mind if they do anything in the coming years it’ll be out of necessity - e.g., SSE deteriorates to a level where they have to do something. That “something” may not entail a refurb - they could just shut it down if it gets too bad.

 

[bmr1591]

I do think some of these projects will begin in the next couple years, but not a park wide overhaul. They’ll do one at a time while they focus on other parks.

 

[SpectreJordan]

I hate to agree with that but Im afraid its probably the route they are taking. All the things the first poster mentioned will probably never happen. Disney found a way to make money and save money with genieplus..They don't want to update or change things anymore because it would take it offline from genie (making money), so refurbs and the like will be fewer and far between if at all (saving money), that's their mentality sadly and its horrible, until we get a new and better management and certain individuals are out, but that doesnt seem to be happening either anytime soon. unfortunately.

No one is wasting their Genie+ on Journey Into Imagination or Mission Space lmao. Everyone uses it for Frozen, Ratatouille, Test Track & Soarin'.

I do think a major part of it right now is how busy things have been recently. The stupidity of most of these parks having less than 10 rides is biting them in the butt because they can't refurbish anything without bringing the parks down capacity wise.

 

[rreading]

When we were there a couple of weeks ago, I was surprised by how (relatively) smoothly SSE was running; previously it had sounded like it was trying to fall apart. Some maintenance must be happening - I expect it’s like Space Mountain that way

If they’re working on maintaining the track, I wonder how easy it would be to scrap the existing descent video and change to something (anything!) more compelling

 

[WDWFREAK53]

They just built a big restaurant next to Mission Space (that is quite good and does quite well), so I don't think they would have kept that theming if they were going to tear down M:S. Now that GotG is complete, I don't think anything is going to happen to that side of the park save "normal" maintenance. I think the (old) ride system in SSE will eventually force their hand to do the refurb they avoided during the pandemic, and we all wish there was a "better" version of Imagination...but not sure there's enough motivation (or Imagineers) to do that anytime soon. So--as stated above--I don't think much will happen once the center portion is complete (whenever that is).

Do you think the nightmares of Rocket Rods comes to mind when they think about SSE's ride system and updating it?
SSE is a pretty intricate structure.

 

[Bocabear]

Rocket Rods was a completely avoidable problem... If they had banked the corners as they were supposed to, the braking system would not have been over-taxed causing the failure of the system (from what I was told) they had also cut all of the show scenes designed for the ride making it a puzzling journey... Go through a building with chasing popcorn lights and coffee cans over light bulbs to make a "star effect"...some interior areas were just empty... It could have been great...

 

[bcoachable]

For Soarin… most of us know if you don’t get the middle section you see a tilted mountain and Eiffel Tower lol.

How does the company that brags about it’s own world famous research and development branch let this be ok? I laugh with embarrassment every time I get a seat to the side- and then use my time to watch everyone in the middle sections reactions, smiles, and laughter- way more entertaining than seeing curved towers and mountains!

 

[bcoachable]

Wall-E would be a great choice. It fits the IP obsession, but it's an IP that fits the whole front half of EPCOT thematically. It's crazy that it's not already in EPCOT in a major way; sure it's not as popular as some of Pixar's other movies, but it's still pretty beloved.

I’m baffled that WALL·E isn’t used somewhere. Makes me ponder that possibly that storyline hits too close to home with consumerism and the blaming of large corporations for worldly issues…

 

[ppete1975]

I did not see a thread specifically for this. What things do we think may or will happen going into 2024 and beyond?
A few things on my list are:

*Something being done with Test Track... Not sure what.

*Mission Space... 1000% needs to be bulldozed! ANYHING would be better than this crap!

*Spaceship Earth overhaul, or rather Disney going back to the prior plans to do so.

*Journy Into Imagination... obviously hahaha

*And lastly Soarin. I feel this may also need a major overhaul. At least id LOVE to see them revert back the original soundtrack!

Spaceship earth i expect to hear something soon for closure jan feb.

I wish soarin would do florida. There is so much they could do with the everglades, rocket launches, daytona raceway and the beaches.

The land needs a new audio track and fill in the empty spaces

I dont see anything good coming with imagination. Disney doesn’t seem to care regardless of comic books merch or the new disney plus show. Its the muppets of epcot.

 

[SpectreJordan]

I’m baffled that WALL·E isn’t used somewhere. Makes me ponder that possibly that storyline hits too close to home with consumerism and the blaming of large corporations for worldly issues…

I can honestly see that being a part of the reason. But honestly Imagineering only seems to care about Toy Story, Cars, Monsters Inc & Nemo when it comes to the parks. Maybe because they get the most merch sales?

Like how does Up not have a ride in either DAK or Adventureland? How is the only Incredibles ride a cheap retheme of a roller coaster? No set plans for anything Coco yet either. & then like I said before no Wall-E in Epcot despite that movie being like Epcot incarnate.

Bug’s Life & Ratatouille got lucky tbh.

 

[castlecake2.0]

This Could be something… it’s getting emailed out to visiting Canadians …

 

[mysto]

Gathering intel for the Oh Canada refresh, or an attraction?
"Do you feel maple syrup authentically represents Canada and Canadians?"

Maybe expanding the DVC market?
"Do you understand of the tax implications of owning a timeshare in another country?"
"What if we make the taxes easy for you?" "Free special edition cupcake?"

 

[castlecake2.0]

Gathering intel for the Oh Canada refresh, or an attraction?
"Do you feel maple syrup authentically represents Canada and Canadians?"

Maybe expanding the DVC market?
"Do you understand of the tax implications of owning a timeshare in another country?"
"What if we make the taxes easy for you?" "Free special edition cupcake?"

It’s very curious how specific it is.