Haymarket2008
Well-Known Member
I’m surprised we haven’t gotten any more information on that. I’d assume it is still on track for 2020?
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Rumor Wonders of Life getting an attraction soon?
- Thread starter Bacon
- Start date
I’m surprised we haven’t gotten any more information on that. I’d assume it is still on track for 2020?
smile
Well-Known Member
yeah, but nobody's going to mind the occasional random wall-e boosting by with his fire extinguisher... least i'd hope not
WondersOfLife
Blink, blink. Breathe, breathe. Day in, day out.
I've gotta say. I wish they would switch it over to digital, already! The flickers were giving my a headache!
TabulaRasa
Well-Known Member
I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Wall-e and Eve are featured dancing in the Space Restaurant. Totally unnecessary, because the draw would still exist, but yea, I wouldn’t be surprised.
Dunston
Well-Known Member
The original Wonders of Life pavilion was definitely an interesting idea for a "land" in a theme park. The execution was, in my opinion, kind of a misfire. Body Wars and Cranium Command were cool attractions, but the carnival-themed pavilion was an odd take on the wonders of the human body. If a human biology and health pavilion was attempted again, I would like to see some kind of different approach. The Giant Heart and Brain exhibits in The Franklin Institute of Philadelphia come to mind as examples of interesting executions of a similar concept. The shows and activities of the original pavilion related to health and fitness were also good, but the circus fairground aesthetic of the pavilion should not be used again.
I recognize that the Wonders of Life concept itself will likely be scrapped in favor of a Studios Park-type assortment of popular IP's, but these are my thoughts on what a positive direction would be if the Imagineers and Execs tried to stay true to the original vision of WoL and Epcot as a whole.
I recognize that the Wonders of Life concept itself will likely be scrapped in favor of a Studios Park-type assortment of popular IP's, but these are my thoughts on what a positive direction would be if the Imagineers and Execs tried to stay true to the original vision of WoL and Epcot as a whole.
V_L_Raptor
Well-Known Member
It's important to recognize that the design for Wonders of Life was very much a product of its time. The colors and aesthetic are late '80's to early '90's, because that's how Imagineering treated design at the time. (In a lot of ways, this also cropped up at Innoventions -- Alec Tronic's exhibit is a great example.) The same sensibilities that put exhibit spaces together in the other pavilions had long since been run out of WDI when it was time to light up the '80's fest that made up WoL.
As for the original vision of Wonders of Life and Epcot as a whole... Wonders of Life is probably the first big deviation from what EPCOT Center originally represented, in that it was more of a science center exhibit floor than the eclectic and unified past-present-future-imagination mixes we saw in the other pavilions. (Certainly it deviated in terms of aesthetic design!) What was there did not evoke futurism or advances so much as it brought up sci-fi (Body Wars) and basic science in general, the latter on primarily a middle school and elementary school level. (The Frontiers gallery was nice for lower division high school, maybe, but it had all the attracting power the old Exxon tiger kiosks at Energy's exits did. I've seen more intricate details in videos for touring science center exhibits at this point. Also, they never seemed to update it.) Wonders of Life, if I'm really thinking about it, was a testing ground for the kind of hodgepodge we later got with Innoventions.
There's this persistent idea that science center-type stuff is a great callback to EPCOT, and no, it's really not. Science centers are (or were, occasionally one goes to seed, like Tampa's MOSI) practically everywhere. Just about anyone could make a science center trip somewhere if they drove up to a few hours. EPCOT was supposed to be unique. While you might find some of the things in the Image Works at a museum somewhere, you definitely couldn't find the JII ride or Figment and the Dreamfinder, and no one else was doing neon corridors (still aren't, I suspect). You might be able to find a long, narrow tank like the one Seas used to have on the second floor to demonstrate waves, but you'll never be able to find the seacabs or immersive theming (or that gorgeous entrance mural, RIP). You might have an Omnimax/IMAX dome theater somewhere/damn near anywhere, but nothing replicates the ride effects that made park guests think they were zooming high-speed down the axis of a DNA molecule on Horizons. Little side pieces of the EPCOT Center experience have been replicated in museums all over the place, but EPCOT Center itself was made up of great, big experiences with all of those bits and bobs in the periphery. Nowadays people want all the bits and bobs, and for that to make up a re-visioned EPCOT Center. It's as though Disney could refill an empty pavilion with some dressed up stuff out of the Exploratorium Cookbook[1], and people would ooh and ahh that it's so very EPCOT.
That's not how it worked. That's not how any of it worked!
[1] Which... heh. I haven't actually compared the exhibit list, but WoL's Sensory Funhouse? Yeah, very Exploratorium Cookbook. While the Cookbook has great stuff in it, Disney wasn't exactly giving you their top shelf stuff for Wonders of Life.
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matt9112
Well-Known Member
that gif is amazing.
Timothy_Q
Well-Known Member
Mishu, you Jane
Dunston
Well-Known Member
That's a very informed response! I've never seen someone make the philosophical distinction between Epcot Center and science centers found in museums. I think I agree with this distinction too. I think one of the trade-offs is that a science center-type attraction or exhibit or whatever is likely to be more informative than, say, World of Motion or Horizons, because the former can be more easily updated and deliver more information. I don't know if this is controversial, but an attraction like Spaceship Earth can't educate at the same level as a museum exhibit, so it shouldn't be expected to go beyond the depths of the moving talking wax museum galleries about science
ChrisFL
Premium Member
It always amazed me at how the WOL interior design was so firmly planted in the design aesthetic of the 80's/early 90's, as if the imagineers didn't expect that design language not to feel outdated quickly. Other design styles can be nostalgic or timeless...the bright hues, geometric shapes and splashes never once felt like they would last a long time to me.
I never saw them having those same issues in other sections of the park.
Having said that, the interior of the dome itself is still beautiful and I love just sitting inside of it.
MKeeler
Well-Known Member
I'm still pulling for an update to convert this to Progressland. Could put the Carousel of Progress to the back. Blue Sky and EPCOT history exhibits. A theater space with rotating One Man's Dream and original Walt EPCOT films. Complete Progress City model.
You could even add the Skydome Spectacular via projection mapping on the interior roof.
You could even add the Skydome Spectacular via projection mapping on the interior roof.
V_L_Raptor
Well-Known Member
That's the thing. If you expected Spaceship Earth, World of Motion, or Horizons to inform and educate the same way a museum exhibit would, you'd be sorely disappointed and quite possibly claim the pavilion had failed. I'd say any disappointment would be the fault of the observer, because the pavilions were not primarily made to educate that way to begin with. If anything, the pavilions were there to inform toward inspiration rather than toward imparting didactics[1]. That goal needed a radically different approach to presentation and material. It's hard to say that one's "more informative" or "less informative" than another, because it depends on what you were hoping to get from the experience. What would you expect from a long-form dark ride, and did it deliver on what you expected from it? If someone threw out a prompt like "transportation," is there an expected battery of information that would be covered as a baseline, after which the ride or the exhibit would be considered more or less informative than the other? What kind of rubrics do you use for prompts like "communication," "future lifestyles," "imagination," "energy," "agriculture," "life and health," or "oceans?" Part of what gave so much breadth to the pavilions' presentations was that their guiding themes were so broad. Museum exhibits, on the other hand, don't focus strictly on even the human body. They'll present on psychology, infectious disease, genetics, sports, surgery, forensics, or something else similarly focused. In that light, I'd say museum exhibits and the classic EPCOT Center pavilions aren't really in the same ballpark.
Living Seas had a slightly different offering, in that it had more didactic material on display as relates to different spheres of oceanography. I don't know that they expected much to change in the material presented -- Jason's not too far removed from current ROV's, for one example -- but it communicated the basics in an accessible way to all age groups. It wasn't dumbed down, which was the brilliant thing. The basics were there in enough quantity and delivered with such quality that there wasn't any talking down so much as there was a pervading sense of "Hey, look at this." I didn't feel that I needed to memorize currents from the animated Atlas short, but I was fascinated enough with what I did learn from the pavilion that I charged out to the library to start reading once I got home. It was as though I would be encountering all of these things if I were visiting an actual Seabase, and hey, why not get a little bit of the "why" along the way while I'm enjoying the view? That's what good and thoughtful immersive theming does. (They don't make 'em like they used to...)
I don't know the process used in designing and developing the content for Living Seas when it opened, but looking back, I thought it was fabulously prepared. Still do. Ray Bradbury didn't set out to put together a living textbook with Spaceship Earth's story, but he did set out to inspire. Finding a textbook was the viewer's responsibility after they got home from vacation.
[1] Of course, what I loved was that if I wanted didactic materials that went into some depth, there was a place on site I could go and get plans for things like hydroponic gardens, aquaria, ride specs, lists of pavilion-related thematic resources, Sea/Land Grant programs, and, and, and, &c. There was some pretty substantial stuff floating around, if people wanted it. The EPCOT Discovery Center was something amazing, back in the day. Some years after it shut down, I tried asking about similar resources at Epcot Guest Services and got blank stares all around. Sic transit gloria Disneymundi.
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V_L_Raptor
Well-Known Member
It was great to sit in that dome... especially during the rain storms.
As far as the longevity of the design... Methinks someone decided the price was right when a little Florida birdie said "cheep, cheep." The building is gorgeous, but the design elements can't have been expensive at all relative to some of the other pavilions' accoutrements. I really don't think they were trying to swing for the stands on this one.
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
Bell bottoms went out of style to, but, that didn't stop millions of people from wearing them when they were in style. I think we all know they would fall out of favor eventually.
WoL really wasn't all that futuristic (except for the ride Body Wars. I say that because to my knowledge we still are unable to be reduced down and injected in someones blood stream to go scuba diving through the heart and brain) It was about current health and life presentations. Most adults were pretty much aware of the spiels, especially adults that brought their kids to see "The Making of Me". I'm guessing that most of them already know about that. The colors were bright and carnival like because the mission was to teach without people, in this case kids, knowing they were being taught. But, they were indeed. I believe they had a word for that... edutainment.
Actually when you think about it. Let's list them. Spaceship Earth (mildly futuristic on the trip down. UoE, current energy options, some developed slightly others in current use. Horizon, was probably the only one that did concentrate on the possible future (still not attained), WoM, 99% history of transportation (they only future lean was the concept car(s) in the display after the ride). The Seas, The underwater research facility concept was futuristic, but the rest was basically living creatures in the sea. The Land, the last part of the Living with the Land boat ride was futuristic in a sense even though what was displayed was experimental at that point in time, so not really future. The rest of the place was current. Imagination had nothing at all to do with the Future, it was about imagination, current in any age. They only thing that was even slightly futuristic was Captain EO, and I cannot express how happy I am to say that future has not yet shown up, I'm doubting it will. I'm hoping it won't. Some guy dancing and singing with a sparkly glove and grabbing at his crotch every couple of notes I would certainly hope will not be the future. Honey I Shrunk The Audience was not the future, it was a sequel to a movie franchise.
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lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
It’s definitely part of that period where Disney was trying to be hip and postmodern. It fits in with things like the Transportation and Ticket Center and the Euro Disney inspired graphic design.
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I will do when I have some time. There’s quite a bit more than you listed.
In the meantime, the theme of Wonders of Life was a continuation of the original Health and Life pavilions "midway of life" circus style design from 1978. In the mid 80s it was given what was then a current pop culture overlay that didn’t age as well as was hoped.
danlb_2000
Premium Member
If it wasn't for the Universal contract I fully expect that the Norse Gods exhibit would have been tied into Marvel.
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
The entire pavilion didn't age as well as was hoped, did it. This was is just more theme and color design of the times.
You don’t have to tell the roof that! Drip drip...
Truth be known most of the FW roofs leaked over time.