Your EPCOT future world ideas

[Goofy Ninja]

I’ve always thought it was a missed opportunity to have a Spaceship Earth store.

I lot of people would want even more Spaceship Earth merchandise like a t-shirt that says “If you're reading this idiot thank the Phoenicians.”

It makes sense to have a store with their overpriced merchandise. Rather than a bunch of lousy games that most of the time don’t work.

Every big attraction should have one connected to it’s backside. Heck even that little turd Figments got one.

 

[PrinceCharming617]

Body Wars where Ant-Man and The Wasp go inside The Falcon. If we ever got the Marvel license back, that is.

Awesome idea!!!

Antman could also be a great 3d show as well. It could be in the old “Honey I Shrunk the Audience” theater. And it could have a similar story as it’s predecessor.

 

[The Lochness Monsta]

I don’t think Universal will ever let them have the Marvel rights though. Bob Chapek would have to go all John Wick on them.

 

[PrinceCharming617]

Hopefully they'd make a less crappy Avengers Campus. The Spiderman ride and lame actors look worse than Six Flags.

 

[Goofy Ninja]

Yeah, at least Six Flags would have slapped a sticker on a cool off the shelf rollercoaster.

 

[The Great Gonzo]

The time keeper always freaked me out. But not as much as alec tronic.

I couldn’t find a good picture online for him, but he will remain in my mind and my nightmares forever.

 

[Rambozo]

If you think about it all the weenie WDW attractions don’t have dedicated shops. Which is weird. Especially because “Tough to be a Bug” and “Runaway Railway” seem like perfect ride/shop combos.

 

[comics101]

I have a lot of thoughts regarding EPCOT and the direction that Disney is taking the park. While I won't spell all of them out right this minute, there are three major aspects of the park's update that bother me most.

1) Disney's lack of regard for sightlines. The new Guardians show building and the Harmonious infrastructure will stain the park's atmosphere for years to come, and it's such a shame. When EPCOT Center opened in 1982, the pavillions that housed attractions were designed to be seen from all angles throughout the park. They were wonderous and beautiful, and as I'm sure most of you know were meant to evoke the feeling of the World's Fairs of old. It's a shame that Disney was more interested in saving money than in continuing the tradition of the original EPCOT Center Imagineers when planning for the park's future.


2) The division of Future World into 3 "neighborhoods." Part of EPCOT's beauty was it's simplicity. While it's true that the original EPCOT Center Imagineers divided Future World by topic (Hard Sciences in FW East, and Soft Sciences in FW West), this division was subtle. It was implied by 1) the topics found on each side of the land and 2) the aesthetics that made up each side of the land. FW East was rigid--planters and walkways were angular and designed in straight lines. The walkways and planters of FW West, on the other hand, were curved and bordered by water features.

The new EPCOT "neighborhoods" feel artificial. While the subtle differences between East and West will remain, nothing is being added or changed to actually differentiate the "new" lands. Imagineering is simply drawing a line on a map and declaring to guests that each neighborhood exists. In other words, there is no reason for the change from FW to World Celebration, Discovery, and Nature other than to do away with the "Future World" name (and the "future" theming it implies) and to claim that the park is "new."

^^Given that fact, a much better solution would have been to rename Future World, "Discovery World." This would maintain the park's simplicity while simultaneously doing away with the expectation that guests will experience "the future" when visiting EPCOT.


3) The demolition of Innoventions West. I am perfectly willing to accept that Epcot was/is in dire need of an aesthetic makeover. I'm even willing to entertain the argument that the Communicore/Innoventions buildings looked dated and that the center of Epcot was in dire need of change. What I don't understand is why Imagineering settled on destroying the symmetry of the park. Demoloshing the entirety of Innoventions West while leaving Innoventions East largely unchanged baffles my mind.

If Imagineering truly believed that the old Communicore buildings served no purpose in the new EPCOT, they they should have either 1) demolished both Communicore West and Communicore East, or 2) kept the Northern sections of the Communicore buildings (closest to Spaceship Earth) and demolished the two Southern portions (formerly Fountainview, Club Cool, and MouseGears--now Creations Shop). By doing away with what I'll dub, "Innoventions South," EPCOT's symmetry and simplicity would have remained.

 

[itsy bitsy spider]

The demoing of just one innoventions is the thing that chaps my rear. You would understand if they took down both and rebuilt them. But to knockdown one and leave the other one up??? It just doesn't make sense.

.... And for what.... Moana? Who belongs in Adventureland??? I've never used so many question marks.

 

[comics101]

I agree, Disney for some reason felt like they had to erase the original Epcot (park). When they could have blended in IP's more effectively. Cheapcheck doesn't care about the past, just making money and keeping his head looking shiny.

Another thing that I don't like is the uncreative Creation Shop. Why is Mickey all over that store? Isn't he in enough places in Disney World? If anything Figment should be all over the place.

The only thing I'd add is that this is a creative problem bigger than Chapek alone. Let's remember that Iger was CEO when the EPCOT overhaul was announced. I honestly wonder if the problem is that, when it comes to WDI, the best of the best have all left the company. @Eddie Sotto, Tony Baxter, Joe Rohde...These were legends who were often trained and mentored by Walt's original Imagineers. Rather than utilize their talent and past experience and allow incoming Imagineers to learn from them, Disney has instead chosen to push them out of the fold and replace them with Social Media influencers and Social Justice warriors. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm all for diversity and inclusion, but there is absolutely nothing in Carmen Smith's background to suggest that she has any business making creative decisions for theme parks. And Zach Riddley? Oi! Does anyone here honestly believe that Instafluencer Zach Riddley has taken the time to gain insight from the greats that came before him? Seems to me he's far too busy building a social media following and advancing his career.

The demoing of just one innoventions is the thing that chaps my rear. You would understand if they took down both and rebuilt them. But to knockdown one and leave the other one up??? It just doesn't make sense.

.... And for what.... Moana? Who belongs in Adventureland??? I've never used so many question marks.

Part of me wonders if it's an ego thing. If the suits or creatives behind recent EPCOT decisions are determined to leave their mark on the park, and tearing down Innoventions West was a part of that. Could it be an ego thing?

 

[PrinceCharming617]

The Peoplemovers were supposed to go in Epcot. It’s a shame it never did happen, we could have bragged to Disneyland fans and said “We got 2 and You still got 0”.

That would have been epic. I love the peoplemover. It does it’s job it entertains and it moves people.

 

[itsy bitsy spider]

Part of me wonders if it's an ego thing. If the suits or creatives behind recent EPCOT decisions are determined to leave their mark on the park, and tearing down Innoventions West was a part of that. Could it be an ego thing?

Noooo, I don't think it's an ego thing. I just think that we have a company being run by idiots.

 

[Mickeynerd17]

I've been thinking about this for awhile now. What if Future World was redesigned to be more like a city in the spirit of the original EPCOT concept? How would the current pavilions (after the current overhaul is done) be altered or replaced in the future to fit this model? Would it work?

I might start a thread on this, but I'll need some more solid ideas.

 

[Frankenstein79]

Tomorrowland and Futureworld already have too much of a similar theming. I wouldn’t want to see a peoplemover in both as well.

 

[comics101]

Tomorrowland and Futureworld already have too much of a similar theming. I wouldn’t want to see a peoplemover in both as well.

Couldn't disagree more. Post-1994, Tomorrowland has been about "Yesterday's Tomorrows," or rather "The future that never was." Its focus is more fantasy-driven, bringing guests into a 1930's and 1950's retro sci-fi world. And even prior to 1994, Tomorrowland had more of a "fantasy-tomorrow" theme, with attractions such as Space Mountain transporting guests on a fictional inter-galactic transit system, and "Mission to Mars" blasting guests to the surface of the red planet that man has yet to set foot on.

Future World was about cold-hard facts and science. It was about the real world--about its history and its future. With the introduction of GOTG in the former Energy pavilion, this will no longer be the case, however from 1982 to 2022, EPCOT was always supposed to emphasize fact over fiction in a way that Tomorrowland never did.

 

[Mickeynerd17]

Tomorrowland and Futureworld already have too much of a similar theming. I wouldn’t want to see a peoplemover in both as well.

I understand what you're talking about, but a peoplemover isn't exactly what I had in mind.

I'm thinking of a park set up in the ideas of Walt's EPCOT city. (I know it had a peoplemover, but hear me out!) Any city would feature a town square, power systems, a DOT, perhaps a space launch site, some scientific laboratories, and residential areas. These factors of a city I believe were never really executed in Tomorrowland (with a haphazard approach that really only affected the star jets and the front two structures with Alien Encounter and Timekeeper. It was a city in name only honestly). This would be a more "committed" approach that would both educate and include classic characters (Fab 5, dreamfinder and figment).

I need to write these ideas out, but it's definitely a concept that would be intriguing to see happen.

Couldn't disagree more. Post-1994, Tomorrowland has been about "Yesterday's Tomorrows," or rather "The future that never was." Its focus is more fantasy-driven, bringing guests into a 1930's and 1950's retro sci-fi world. And even prior to 1994, Tomorrowland had more of a "fantasy-tomorrow" theme, with attractions such as Space Mountain transporting guests on a fictional inter-galactic transit system, and "Mission to Mars" blasting guests to the surface of the red planet that man has yet to set foot on.

Future World was about cold-hard facts and science. It was about the real world--about its history and its future. With the introduction of GOTG in the former Energy pavilion, this will no longer be the case, however from 1982 to 2022, EPCOT was always supposed to emphasize fact over fiction in a way that Tomorrowland never did.

^This

 

[comics101]

I've been thinking about this for awhile now. What if Future World was redesigned to be more like a city in the spirit of the original EPCOT concept? How would the current pavilions (after the current overhaul is done) be altered or replaced in the future to fit this model? Would it work?

I might start a thread on this, but I'll need some more solid ideas.

Someday I'll have to share with you my concept which sort of follows this idea. It starts with Progress City Plaza replacing Innoventions Plaza and then essentially brings the worlds of Horizons to life, converting The Land into Mesa Verde, The Seas into Sea Castle, and Space into Alpha Centauri. Then Test Track would become a fictional Transportation Hub dubbed "The TransCenter" (in tribute to the original TransCenter) and Imagination becomes "The DreamPort."

 

[comics101]

I'm thinking of a park set up in the ideas of Walt's EPCOT city. (I know it had a peoplemover, but hear me out!) Any city would feature a town square, power systems, a DOT, perhaps a space launch site, some scientific laboratories, and residential areas. These factors of a city I believe were never really executed in Tomorrowland (with a haphazard approach that really only affected the star jets and the front two structures with Alien Encounter and Timekeeper. It was a city in name only honestly). This would be a more "committed" approach that would both educate and include classic characters (Fab 5, dreamfinder and figment)

The first step in turning EPCOT into a "city," is to create the Progress City Hotel, allowing guests to stay "in" Walt's Progress City. Imagine being able to hop onto a Peoplemover from the hotel's main building and riding it to the park!

 

[Mickeynerd17]

The first step in turning EPCOT into a "city," is to create the Progress City Hotel, allowing guests to stay "in" Walt's Progress City. Imagine being able to hop onto a Peoplemover from the hotel's main building and riding it to the park!

That's actually a really good idea! It could be situated in that expansion plot behind Seas and the Land.

 

[oogie boogie man]

Awesome idea, it's similar to the original idea for the Magic Kingdom area. Where peoplemovers were going to be used as transportation outside the park.