tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23143199.post3284715995210694108..comments2023-11-05T00:52:41.562-07:00Comments on EPCOT Central: Expunging the Park Completely Of ThemeEpcot82http://www.blogger.com/profile/14763893513279437902noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23143199.post-19669580194603439052008-10-22T13:10:00.000-07:002008-10-22T13:10:00.000-07:00It is great to see you posting again.I know it was...It is great to see you posting again.<BR/><BR/>I know it was just a small part of your post, but I want to make the case that we should wait and see on the new Kim Possible attraction. I had the same initial reaction as you did when I heard about it. It sounded like they were forcing another cartoon into Epcot. Now that I've read a little more, I'm interested to see how it comes out.<BR/><BR/>It sounds like the experience will use new technology in a way we have never seen before. That alone plays into the Epcot spirit. People will be using cell phone sized devices to directly communicate with the park. We are talking about pressing a button and something cool happening, like making the volcano in Mexico erupt. Using technology to have that kind of effect on your surroundings sounds commendable. <BR/><BR/>As a child, I was so excited to be able to use the touch screen kiosks they had situated around the park to get information on attractions. I already knew about the attractions, but I really enjoyed watching a screen respond to me touching it. It was so much more advanced than my home television. I can imagine this technology doing the same for kids today. They can't affect volcanoes by pushing buttons on their cell phones. The pure idea of excitement for technology is so important to the principles of Epcot.<BR/><BR/>I have read that there will be about 7 quests, each taking place in an individual pavilion, each designed to last 45-60 minutes. At the very least, these quests are designed to get people to spend time exploring the world showcase. With any luck, there will be an educational component involved as well.<BR/><BR/>I have also read that the designers were very conscious not to disturb the current environment or distract people not participating. You will not see Kim's picture anywhere if you aren't playing. The kiosks will be small and discreet.<BR/><BR/>This isn't directly making any extra money for Disney. There won't be any charge or even a deposit to be a part of the event. This is adding a genuine high technology attraction the park that every visitor will be able to use or ignore at their own discretion.<BR/><BR/>Even though this uses a TV cartoon character as its central story, is that automatically bad? The mere interjection of characters into Epcot is not intrinsically wrong. The original Journey into Imagination created Figment and Dreamfinder and they fit perfectly into the park as a whole. I don't think using Kim Possible makes the attraction any better or worse for me than if they had used a new character made just for this purpose. I can just imagine some MBA coming up with a character they think could sell merchandise, like Izzy the generally disliked mascot for the '96 Olympics, and having it take away from what is created. If Kim doesn't bother me and might be more enjoyable to someone who has watched her show before, I don't see the harm. I want as many people as possible to enjoy what Epcot is about and if Kim Possible can get more people to explore the world showcase while educating them and without bothering me, this could be something really special.<BR/><BR/>I think it is at least as important for those of us who understand what Epcot was founded on to be able to make a big noise about new things that Disney does right as it is for us to point out the things that they do wrong. I'm not saying that Kim Possible will be great, but it could be. We should hope that it is great and at least wait and see before we deride it.<BR/><BR/>Keep up the good work.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23143199.post-25582609848415420572008-10-20T10:09:00.000-07:002008-10-20T10:09:00.000-07:00When I went to EPCOT at 8 it blew my mind. But I ...When I went to EPCOT at 8 it blew my mind. But I do agree with the name change - it is not the city or community EPCOT, and Walt would be furious if he knew what they did with his idea in 1980. While Epcot is the best park in the world, its a pale shadow of what EPCOT the city would have been.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23143199.post-71420918805628069592008-10-11T07:44:00.000-07:002008-10-11T07:44:00.000-07:00I never got how the park could be perceived as bor...I never got how the park could be perceived as boring. I discovered it as a child and rediscovered it through my teen years. And when I went back as an adult, I still enjoyed it. When I think about going now (I'm 34), it's the park I most want to go back to. I like Animal Kingdom but I think if anything that would be more "boring" to a thrill seeker (one mountain excepting). And MGM has slipped to the bottom of my list because so many of its attractions are not repeat-viewing friendly and quite honestly it's by far the most "theme-disoriented" park in Disney. MK and EPCOT are still the two I a) want to see first and b) want to spend more of my time at when I'm there. <BR/><BR/>Are we the minority? Because I just can't grasp how people came to get bored with this park. I'd give anything to go on WoM and Horizons today. Disney should've stuck with their own image and not tried to get back people who like Hulk rollercoasters or some of the other Universal garbage. Half-hearted attempts only drive people away.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23143199.post-24670396407191211182008-10-08T05:33:00.000-07:002008-10-08T05:33:00.000-07:00Your commentary is, of course, spot on. It seems t...Your commentary is, of course, spot on. It seems to me that there are some very minor things Disney could do to restore some visual and thematic unity to Future World. For one, they could bring back the circular logos for each pavilion, and all the signage could be redone in the same EPCOT font (which looks like something in the Handel Gothic family, I believe). Second (and more importantly), they could beef up the conservation/educational messages. Nemo and friends could be used to educate kids on the effects of human activities on the oceans, Test Track could have a post-show area highlighting advances in the field of zero-emissions vehicles, etc.<BR/><BR/>The pointy-haired MBAs who run Disney will never spend the money to completely repair the damage of the last 14 years, but they could do a little bit, to at least make it <I>look</I> like they're trying.David Landonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12909440700102911571noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23143199.post-2468562312458110292008-10-06T11:11:00.000-07:002008-10-06T11:11:00.000-07:00I first went to Epcot in 1984 as a third grader an...I first went to Epcot in 1984 as a third grader and was not bored. I was amazed. It was a frightening place but a good sort of frightening. Everything was so different and futuristic. Like being in a movie about the future. It had a feeling I had never experienced and always wanted this feeling again and again. That's when I became a loyal fan of EPCOT. The world showcase was amazing to me as well. Everyone was working from different countries? Wow! How did Disney get all those people here to do that? I now speak 3 languages fluently and have been to over 40 countries and I credit this ALL to the world that EPCOT showed me. I want to have that feeling again in Future world but it goes away a little more every time I go there. Now it's just big balls being thrown at me, closed up restaurants and rides that have charachters that I don't even know. To the old EPCOT, thank you, Danke, shukran.. To the new... Who are you exactly??Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23143199.post-52233877762027992072008-10-06T01:02:00.000-07:002008-10-06T01:02:00.000-07:00Your right, as usual. And the changes were never "...Your right, as usual. And the changes were never "needed" as one comment suggested. I was one of many children who got the message of the park and loved it. It never needed to compete with the cheap thrills and low ball expectations of the parks that surrounded it. It never needed to stray from it's theme to be updated. It never needed to be any more Disney then it already was. Everything that ever happened to EPCOT was a direct result of faulty management that treats the entirety of Disney as an eleborate gift shop, rather then a work of wonder and imagination. It didn't treat everyone as if they were too stupid to get the message.Digital Jedihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02374739586203788564noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23143199.post-78093307128026795222008-10-06T01:00:00.000-07:002008-10-06T01:00:00.000-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Digital Jedihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02374739586203788564noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23143199.post-87280145373823703562008-10-05T16:20:00.000-07:002008-10-05T16:20:00.000-07:00First off, welcome back. Secondly, I find myself a...First off, welcome back. Secondly, I find myself agreeing with you on almost all of your points, again! However, while it was no Kitchen Kaberet, Food Rocks at least stuck to the theme of the pavilion. Once it became outdated (very soon after it opened), I kept sending my suggestions (which were summarily put in file 13, most likely) of new food acts that could be used to update the show. Food Wrapper needed a new outfit to keep up-to-date with the new labeling, of course, and someone else to be modeled on besides Tone Loc. Broccoli Spears should have been singing to "eat your veggies, one more time." In Sink was ready to sing "Bye Bye Bye" to the high sugar/high calorie drinks it washed down the drain. Christina Arugula could have been spot on with "What a Girl Wants," and that what is a girl's daily food pyramid to keep her healthy. And these were just the former Mouseketeer parody suggestions I made.<BR/><BR/>I enjoyed Soarin' when I visited DCA for the first time (one of the few things I enjoyed about that park). I never quite agreed with the connection forced upon us that it fit well with The Land, but then again, as is the message of your recent blog, why should the suits have been worried about theme at all?Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11547203594912614891noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23143199.post-61606884618382740292008-10-05T11:23:00.000-07:002008-10-05T11:23:00.000-07:00I'm sure it would be interesting to some visitors ...I'm sure it would be interesting to some visitors to know how the attractions operate and function at the mechanical level. Understanding the computerized systems and ride mechanisms...a kind of behind the scenes peek.. like how the panels of the geodesic dome (Spaceship Earth) were set in place, or how the centrifuge at Mission: Space works to create G forces, and so on. Educational, fun, thought provoking...<BR/><BR/>GeorgeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23143199.post-44753083607803938902008-10-05T09:12:00.000-07:002008-10-05T09:12:00.000-07:00Why, I wonder, do you think it "needed to"?Why, I wonder, do you think it "needed to"?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23143199.post-38926443623771734912008-10-05T07:58:00.000-07:002008-10-05T07:58:00.000-07:00You know...I have agreed with MOSTLY all of your p...You know...I have agreed with MOSTLY all of your posts.<BR/><BR/>Tis one bothers me for some odd reason.<BR/><BR/>I think EPCOT has changed to Epcot because it needed too...And that the theme is no longer futurism but Discovery.Hence the change from WoM to TT...<BR/><BR/>Not gonna make excuses for TLS and JII.And the aesthetics of course.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23143199.post-63996867451983300982008-10-04T10:40:00.000-07:002008-10-04T10:40:00.000-07:00I wish someone like you who clearly "gets it" was ...I wish someone like you who clearly "gets it" was in charge of Disney parks rather than the short-sighted jackass that's running things now!<BR/><BR/>-Anonymous epcot cast member that would rather be an EPCOT Center cast member.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23143199.post-67722214907656368062008-10-04T08:45:00.000-07:002008-10-04T08:45:00.000-07:00Great post- and welcome back.Great post- and welcome back.Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07165624045029517606noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23143199.post-69949156024677032682008-10-04T00:23:00.000-07:002008-10-04T00:23:00.000-07:00Great commentary. When I was young, I visited Epco...Great commentary. When I was young, I visited Epcot and remember being particularly bored. I liked Body Wars and Figment, but that was about it. I didn't understand Epcot as a concept and instead saw it, as you describe, as the "educational park." It was the one we only spent a day at because that's all the entertainment it could sustain. 15 years later, my girlfriend and I made trips to Epcot on three occasions during our weeklong stay in Orlando. She loved Test Track and Turtle Talk with Crush, I loved Mission Space and Soarin'. These are all really well designed attractions and certainly have draw. <BR/><BR/>However, instead of being just a way to get bodies in the park, they should have been designed to communicate the Epcot message you speak of. Mission Space should be used as a sort of bribe--explore this vision of the future of space exploration technology and get to go on this fun thing in the end. The rides themselves aren't the problem, but rather that they're not employed to support anything more high concept.<BR/><BR/>The Seas with Finding Nemo could actually be quite powerful. Attract people into the attraction and then use the tease of Nemo to string them along. They need the big attractors to satisfy the suits, but they're not totally incompatible with the ideals of Imagineering. If we're stuck working within the constrains of economic reality, Epcot at lest needs to embrace this as their model to strike a balance.Bobbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01387087439661411736noreply@blogger.com