Worst mistake in Epcot history

[WDWJoeG]

Epcot how it should be is dead. I think we can all agree on that. Bring on Magic Kingdom 2.0.

The four parks are really now just Magic Kingdom North, South, East, and West and from the comments on this board, which one would "assume" have some passion for theme and their unique identities, the fan base is just fine with that concept.

Frozen in Norway? Yay, it's fun!
Guardians spinny coaster? Yay, it's fun!
Slinky dog kiddy coaster? Yay, it's fun!

Bring on the Tilt-O-Whirl in Liberty Square and bounce house in Morocco!!!

Give the fans what they want!

 

[Centauri Space Station]

A reduction in quality should not be the only factor here. Horizons to Mission: SPACE and Imagination versions 2 and 3 were all reductions in quality over their predecessor. However, it was only Illuminations into Harmonious that was also a destruction of thematic integrity.

I'd argue that Maelstrom to Frozen Ever After was a worse mistake than Horizons for that same reason. For me, Frozen Ever After and Harmonious were unprovoked attacks on EPCOT's original concepts. Mission: SPACE and Imagination were just poor executions.

JIYI took a ten minute, detailed E ticket and turned it into a carnival fun house with few physical props. Frozen is a weak fit but it does have some ties to Norway and Harmonious still attempts to be about world culture.

 

[TwilightZone]

The Barbie dance show at American Gardens theatre in the early 1990s.

*best thing in EPCOT

Fixed that for you

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Epcot how it should be is dead. I think we can all agree on that. Bring on Magic Kingdom 2.0.

It's becoming more like Universal Studios Florida.

A bunch of boxes housing rides based on movies who's sole link is being released by the same distributor.

Frozen, Ratatouille and GotG have nothing to do with each other. There is no unifying "theme" beyond "Disney", which isn't any more of a theme than "Universal".

Magic Kingdom was at least once a real theme park, back when all components of the lands (retail, attractions, entertainment, food) supported each other.

 

[James Alucobond]

Frozen, Ratatouille and GotG have nothing to do with each other. There is no unifying "theme" beyond "Disney", which isn't any more of a theme than "Universal".

The Wind in the Willows, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, 20000 Leagues Under the Sea, and Snow White also have very little to do with one another. There are certainly legitimate criticisms regarding how IP is incorporated into the parks, both in terms of how frequently they lean on it and how well it is woven into the story and landscape, but the properties used don't need to be directly related to one another in any sense, particularly when you're comparing things like Cosmic Rewind and Ratatouille, which occupy completely different thematic areas of the park.

 

[Lilofan]

*best thing in EPCOT

Fixed that for you

This must be a late April Fools joke.

 

[Mesa Azul]

I’m in the camp of Ratatouille is absolutely fine at France. Probably helps I like the movie, but it is definitely the least offensive thing we could have gotten and fits about as well as you can for the pavilion. Frozen only hurts because I have memories of what it replaced, but honestly I’m fine with it. I’d take the Frozen redo over what happened to the Living Seas.

 

[UNCgolf]

I’m in the camp of Ratatouille is absolutely fine at France. Probably helps I like the movie, but it is definitely the least offensive thing we could have gotten and fits about as well as you can for the pavilion. Frozen only hurts because I have memories of what it replaced, but honestly I’m fine with it. I’d take the Frozen redo over what happened to the Living Seas.

I think the bigger issue with Ratatouille is that it's not a very good ride. It's not a great fit at the World Showcase, but it's a better fit than Frozen and about as good as they're going to do using IP there.

The other issue is that the creperie looks terrible.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I think the bigger issue with Ratatouille is that it's not a very good ride. It's not a great fit at the World Showcase, but it's a better fit than Frozen and about as good as they're going to do using IP there.

The other issue is that the creperie looks terrible.

Ratatouille isn't an E-ticket but it's a perfectly acceptable attraction. My argument is that it may not have been what EPCOT needed. EPCOT has plenty of those middle of the road attractions and until Guardians opens, it doesn't have a top 10 attraction in WDW on most people's lists.

 

[UNCgolf]

Ratatouille isn't an E-ticket but it's a perfectly acceptable attraction. My argument is that it may not have been what EPCOT needed. EPCOT has plenty of those middle of the road attractions and until Guardians opens, it doesn't have a top 10 attraction in WDW on most people's lists.

It's all subjective/relative. I don't think it's very good at all -- I'd probably put it in the bottom third of all WDW rides and wouldn't be willing to wait in any kind of line for it.

I suppose it's the best ride in World Showcase, but that's almost by default. I'd rather ride Soarin', Test Track, Living with the Land, and Spaceship Earth just at EPCOT.

 

[RSoxNo1]

It's all subjective/relative. I don't think it's very good at all -- I'd probably put it in the bottom third of all WDW rides and wouldn't be willing to wait in any kind of line for it.

I suppose it's the best ride in World Showcase, but that's almost by default. I'd rather ride Soarin', Test Track, Living with the Land, and Spaceship Earth just at EPCOT.

There's a recency bias and a "my toddler likes it" bias, but I'm probably right there with you. It's probably 5th in that park for me and I don't think EPCOT's attraction lineup is particularly strong.

 

[UNCgolf]

There's a recency bias and a "my toddler likes it" bias, but I'm probably right there with you. It's probably 5th in that park for me and I don't think EPCOT's attraction lineup is particularly strong.

It still amazes me that EPCOT went from a park with arguably the best attraction lineup of any Disney park to, well, what it is now. It's hard to believe how badly it's been butchered and then left to rot over the past couple of decades. And after all this money they're spending, all we're adding is one mediocre attraction (Ratatouille), one that looks very good but is really in the wrong park (Guardians), and something that's kind of an attraction but we don't really know what it is except that it's not using the actual attraction space from the previous incarnation (Play Pavilion).

 

[Anteater]

It still amazes me that EPCOT went from a park with arguably the best attraction lineup of any Disney park to, well, what it is now. It's hard to believe how badly it's been butchered and then left to rot over the past couple of decades. And after all this money they're spending, all we're adding is one mediocre attraction (Ratatouille), one that looks very good but is really in the wrong park (Guardians), and something that's kind of an attraction but we don't really know what it is except that it's not using the actual attraction space from the previous incarnation (Play Pavilion).

You forgot Moana's Splash Pad Adventure. It has potential to be a solid...... B?

 

[UNCgolf]

You forgot Moana's Splash Pad Adventure. It has potential to be a solid...... B?

I don't consider that an attraction, even though I'm sure Disney labels it as one. I loved the Fountain of Nations but I wouldn't call it an attraction either.

 

[Anteater]

I don't consider that an attraction, even though I'm sure Disney labels it as one. I loved the Fountain of Nations but I wouldn't call it an attraction either.

Well, it attracted us. OK, me. My family just walked on to Frozen Ever After. I told them to pick me up on their way out of the park.

 

[RSoxNo1]

It still amazes me that EPCOT went from a park with arguably the best attraction lineup of any Disney park to, well, what it is now. It's hard to believe how badly it's been butchered and then left to rot over the past couple of decades. And after all this money they're spending, all we're adding is one mediocre attraction (Ratatouille), one that looks very good but is really in the wrong park (Guardians), and something that's kind of an attraction but we don't really know what it is except that it's not using the actual attraction space from the previous incarnation (Play Pavilion).

In their defense, I'm not sure that Guardians had a truly logical spot. If TRON and Guardians were flip flopped is that really that much better a fit?

I'm still in the wait and see camp for Guardians' fit in EPCOT, and I suspect it will still be a better fit than Frozen, Nemo and Three Caballeros. That doesn't make it right, it just makes it far from the problem.

 

[UNCgolf]

In their defense, I'm not sure that Guardians had a truly logical spot. If TRON and Guardians were flip flopped is that really that much better a fit?

I'm still in the wait and see camp for Guardians' fit in EPCOT, and I suspect it will still be a better fit than Frozen, Nemo and Three Caballeros. That doesn't make it right, it just makes it far from the problem.

DHS was probably the only true fit, because that park no longer has much of a theme and is the easy dumping ground. I suppose the current version Tomorrowland would have been a better fit too, since it's more or less become the sci-fi area.

But no, I've never understood the argument that TRON would be a good fit at EPCOT either. I think they could have made a TRON attraction that would be a better fit than Guardians, but the one that exists doesn't have any kind of connection to EPCOT.

 

[TwilightZone]

I still believe the theory Test Track 2.0 was meant to be a Tron ride, and could become one if it ever loses the sponsor. It makes total sense and would explain why the tron rollercoaster wasn't placed in EPCOT (and why Guardians isn't in the more fitting Tomorrowland).

But maybe this is just giving Disney too much credit

 

[Jrb1979]

For me it is getting rid of Horizons. That, Spaceship Earth and World of Motion were my favorite attractions at all of Disney. TBH I hate everything that they have done to the park.

I loved Epcot mainly cause of all the Disney parks it had the most original attractions with no IP.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

Ratatouille isn't an E-ticket but it's a perfectly acceptable attraction. My argument is that it may not have been what EPCOT needed. EPCOT has plenty of those middle of the road attractions and until Guardians opens, it doesn't have a top 10 attraction in WDW on most people's lists.

It's all subjective/relative. I don't think it's very good at all -- I'd probably put it in the bottom third of all WDW rides and wouldn't be willing to wait in any kind of line for it.

I suppose it's the best ride in World Showcase, but that's almost by default. I'd rather ride Soarin', Test Track, Living with the Land, and Spaceship Earth just at EPCOT.

I feel like Ratatouille could be raised a full letter grade by the addition of 3 things:

1) Motion-Base Ride Vehicles
2) Extending the Projection Domes below the sightlines of the vehicles
3) At least ONE impressive, life-size Animatronic Remy - the final scene seems like a perfect place to feature him.

The lack of the motion base is totally puzzling to me - so often in this ride we're parked in front of a screen and meant to believe the projected action is happening to us, but the vehicles just sit there static? Let them trundle a little, at least in the scenes where there's supposedly intense activity. If we're meant to be riding on the back of a rat, it should feel like it. Not to mention falling through the ceiling, scurrying up through the walls, sliding down ramps in the kitchen . . . give us SOME dimension of motion simulation to match.

I've said enough about the Projection Domes on this site, so I won't belabor the point.

Were it up to me this ride would be FULL of life-size animatronic rats - I feel like there's such a weird and distinct lack of Rats for a ride about Rats. The projected ones register as projections - the closest the ride ever comes to making you feel like there are actually rats nearby is in the Pantry when you see their blinking eyes peeking out between things. They don't have to be A-100's, just give us some big furry rats! But short of that, one really solid Remy animatronic to send you off seems perfectly in vogue with Disney's current approach, and I'm surprised they didn't go for it.