You're One Thing to Make EPCOT Better?

[steamboat wil]

One thing that would make Epcot better.....how about new suits in charge at TDO.

 

[Joseph Robinson]

Build Progress City around it.

I would love to see this personally, a return to the idea of what Walt wanted EPCOT to be all about. The prototypical city of the future. It kills me that this vision has seemingly been lost not only at WDW, but throughout the US in general. I want us to be more forward thinking again (although current "can of worm" issues that we won't get into here are understandably demanding more immediate focus).

There are plenty of other projects in other Disney parks (WDW and elsewhere) that get built purely or predominantly with Disney money, today Epcot should be no different. They really need to take ownership of the park again and quit pretending their hands are tied.

I agree with your sentiment; but not in as black and white a manner as you describe it. Correlating with my wish above: go with whoever has the most forward thinking ideas. If a corporate sponsor wants to put out something truly inventive, let them have a spot. Disney imagineers should have free reign to pitch in ideas too, perhaps by partnering with individual scientists/experts/entrepreneurs to gauge the feasibility of what they want to do, and it gives the plus of letting smaller entities that perhaps could not afford a pavilion to get their stuff displayed as well.

As I understand Future World, it is supposed to be a continuous World's Fair/Science Expo: an educational hype builder for what is to come in the future with a few rides sprinkled throughout. I'd like to see a return to that. I can go to Magic Kingdom to ride rides, I go to EPCOT to be wow'd by what is possible.

One thing that would make Epcot better.....how about new suits in charge at TDO.

Let's try to be at least a little realistic here .

 

[michmousefan]

All items are things that are ideal. Items in Bold are things that I think really should happen. Items in Blue are the most important things.

INNOVENTIONS PLAZA
-Completely remodel/replace Electric Umbrella to a cyber cafe concept, especially redo outdoor seating.

Would think that this is likely to happen if the lunchtime ordering system at Be Our Guest is successful.

ODDYSEY BUILDING
-Repurpose to make this the new Festival Center

This really makes sense as the Festival Center should be closer to the center of the festivals!

THE SEAS WITH NEMO & FRIENDS
-Major overhaul of Sea Base to be more visually impressive to compete with other modern aquariums
-Ideally, remove pavilion entirely to open an entirely brand new aquarium and oceanic themed area at Disney's Animal Kingdom allowing for a new pavilion designed upon atmospheric sciences and weather.

THE LAND
-Update Soarin' film and make projection technology cleaner and crisper.
-Update Circle of Life to a WALL-E conservation/recycling film

IMAGINATION
-Completley redo Journey into Imagination with new ride technology and well... imagination. Keep Figment.
-Bring new art/creativity inspired exhibits to the pavilion including 2nd level
-Add new 4D film experience to theater

WORLD SHOWCASE
-Update IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth with new fountains, more lasers, and less globe (unless the globe is bigger) and more pyro.

Love all of these, although moving SeaBase to DAK, while logical, would be tough to pull off. Converting Soarin' to digital also allows for (as someone else pointed out) a different mix of destinations per flight, like Star Tours. Not that Soarin' is suffering for lack of ridership!

It would be cool if Imagineering could get ride of the globe – which is awfully small in the scale of Illuminations as a whole – and use some of the water screen technology used by World of Color to display the globe images on a 360 degree column of water. Easier said than done!

NORWAY
-Update Norway film
-Update Maelstrom with newer animatronics/scenes

AFRICAN OUTPOST
-Replace with a Russian pavilion featuring a small Russian ice skating/ballet show, Vodka bar, Russian eatery, and architecture based on St. Petersburg.

Funding is the issue here, and getting "clean" money from Russia.

UNITED KINGDOM
-Add a dark ride featuring either Mary Poppins or a montage of great British literary stories.

Or a Doctor Who attraction!

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

bigger measures

 

[rob0519]

Build a monorail stop at the World Showcase. Honestly, Epcot has become my least favorite park over the last 15 years. It was a long, slow, depressing slide.

 

[Innkeeper's Club]

This is what I would like to see happen. Always making sure the entrance gates at Future World and the International Gateway open at the exact same times. During my trip to WDW in August 2011 the first time I went to Epcot through the IG they opened up at 8:45 AM, along with the Future World gates. However the second time the IG opened up at 9:00 AM, so I missed the opening and by the Fountain with the characters and got to Soarin later then I thought. So on that day anyone who went through the Future World gates was let in at 8:45 AM and I didn't think that was fair or right.

 

[flavious27]

I'd love to get back the period where outside companies were willing to collaborate with Disney and build something amazing, that was a big chunk of what the original EPCOT and EPCOT Center was all about.

Really though, with big corporations being what they are today and how they spend their money, I don't see this as something to build/run a park with anymore. If I could change one thing, it would be for the powers that be to get it out of their head that they should expect outside investment when building new attractions/countries, or for the upkeep of existing ones. I think that time has passed, and that Disney should allow what I am sure are plenty of good ideas floating around in-house to be built with Disney's money, and stop using the lack of sponsorship as an excuse to not build things/let things rot.

There are plenty of other projects in other Disney parks (WDW and elsewhere) that get built purely or predominantly with Disney money, today Epcot should be no different. They really need to take ownership of the park again and quit pretending their hands are tied.

The days of large corporations paying for large attractions is over, disney has the money for it. As for corporations collaborating and showcasing their products, I don't see those days done.