Ten Steps to a Better Epcot: Step No. 3

Step No. 3: Spice Up the Endings

You've just spent 30 minutes in line and five minutes on an entertaining ride experience. (Well, in the old days, that would have been 10 minutes in line and 20 minutes on a ride, but that's an observation for another time.) If you're like most Epcot guests, sadly you try to make it out of the building fast enough to jam in another ride before your character meal.

It doesn't need to be this way. In fact, it shouldn't. Not at Epcot.

There will always be those impatient park guests who reason, "I paid fifty bucks to get in this joint, so I'm gonna get my money's worth," and think "money's worth" means as much in-your-face entertainment as possible. But, then, Epcot has a chance to challenge those ideas, to get guests to stop and linger, and maybe learn a little something while being (maybe, just a little) entertained.

Back in the day (yes, EPCOT Central critics, I'll refer to the "old days" here again), EPCOT Center's centerpiece attractions were coupled with some fairly intriguing post-show entertainment. There were some attractions, like Universe of Energy and Horizons, that were so elaborate that their pavilions had little room for post-show entertainment. But there were others, most of them, in fact, that offered as much interactive intrigue after the ride as during.

Spaceship Earth and World of Motion were fantastic examples of this. Earth Station offered a practical view of how communications technology might (and, actually, did) revolutionize our lives. From dining reservations to previews of other EPCOT attractions, Earth Station allowed us to interact and experience future technology ourselves. TransCenter, on the other hand, allowed guests to explore prototype cars and even (can you believe it?!) examine the feasibility of a water-powered engine.

These were optional, of course; but for guests who wanted to take part, they added immeasurably to the EPCOT experience.

Now, I'm not going to criticize the Advanced Training Lab at Mission: Space, or the new Project Tomorrow at Spaceship Earth; they're both ways to engage guests, and they both try to enhance the experience. OK, I'll criticize them a little. I'm not sure how Project Tomorrow upholds any ideas we've been exposed to on the ride; and Advanced Training Lab is (in my experience) usually pretty devoid of guests and really more of a high-tech playground.

What a missed opportunity to educate increasingly unaware masses of the amazing accomplishments of the U.S. space program ... or of all global space initiatives!

That's just one example of where Disney has fallen down on EPCOT's goal -- yes, it's still the goal, printed out there on that plaque for all to see -- to "entertain, inform and inspire." They've got the entertainment part down. So here are some suggestions for those last two bits, possibilities for enhancing the post-show area in key attractions:

* Do something about the long, barren, boring hallways that greet visitors at the end of Mission: Space. Paint a mural -- a big one. Add video screens that show great moments from space history. Offer up words of wisdom from astronauts and space pioneers. Anything other than unbelievably boring, monotonous institutional-looking walls. Yes, it's true ... you've got to keep the guests moving out of the building. But look at what you've got over at the 33-year-old Space Mountain as your "post-show," then look at what the infinitely more complex and technologically advanced Mission: Space has to offer. Frankly, it's a major embarrassment.

* Upgrade the Test Track post show; focus on hydrogen cars and non-polluting vehicles -- but don't just show them. Make this more than a glorified showroom. Incorporate far better signage, provide a script and a small show for the cast member staffing the area. Actively invite audience participation by creating constantly updated, five-minute videos that play in a prominent area. Get guests involved and use this as an opportunity to demonstrate that GM wants to help improve our future, and we all play a role in that by deciding what, where, how and when to drive. Toyota and Honda have improved their business by at least pretending to be concerned about our environmental future -- send a similar message from GM to the millions who walk through here every year.

* Add new information and elements to the small post-show area in the Universe of Energy. Utilize that wall space; add moving video images that highlight some key ideas portrayed in Ellen's Energy Adventure, such as a map that shows where solar power is catching on, or where there are wind-farming sites. Add some "energy quizzes" using computer screens and interactive kiosks. Energy is in the headlines every single day; there's a fantastic opportunity to create a small, simple but effective set of displays here that is constantly changing.

* The Seas With Nemo and Friends gets low marks from me because any teenager or adult who has even a passing interest in the silent world below us has seen more impressive displays at aquariums throughout the U.S. But why not use a small part of the massive interactive exhibit areas to attract older audiences, to offer something non-Nemo-ized that makes us think, "A-ha!" Perhaps, dare I suggest it, this could be a great location to show a slightly modified version of the old (and amazing) introductory film to The Living Seas?

* The American Adventure is a wonderful pavilion in World Showcase, but barely even touches on any modern issues. Why not use the post-show exit area (and perhaps part of the entry area!) to explore such pivotal, emotional and perhaps slightly controversial issues as civil rights, inner-city development, and education? There is little in the American Adventure to suggest that America, the host country of Epcot, is a particularly deep or thoughtful country. EPCOT has a fantastic opportunity to show its non-American visitors that the U.S. is much deeper than stereotypes paint it.

* Whether or not the host country can fund it, why not offer a travel kiosk at the exit of each World Showcase attraction? I find it disconcerting that even while Disney tries to grow its own "Adventures By Disney" business, it's almost impossible to find out anything about actually visiting the country you've just "visited." This became particularly noticeable when Norway, which once had some of the most friendly cast members staffing its travel kiosk, closed down their "Visit Norway" location. If EPCOT really is aiming to inspire people, then the least that could be done is to offer a way to explore the feasibility of visiting these countries on your own. It would add another dimension to an EPCOT visit!

These are just a few ideas -- but the overall theme remains the same: The ride or show itself is just part of the experience. Visiting EPCOT can be exponentially richer and more rewarding for thoughtful guests while still being "surface" for those who care only about the next ride. It just takes a little care, a little effort and a relatively quite small amount of money.

I bet there are Imagineers out there who would jump at the chance to take on enhancement projects like these ... and the others that I hope EPCOT Central readers will share themselves!

Ten Steps to a Better Epcot: Step No. 2

Step No. 2: Update the Movies

Movies can be expensive, there's no doubt about it. These days, the "negative," or production, budget on a feature film can easily run into the nine-figure range, with many blockbuster movies costing as much as $160 million to produce. So, Step No. 2 toward improving EPCOT isn't made without that knowledge. Movies cost a lot of money.

Similarly, theme-park attractions aren't cheap. The new Cars attraction at Disneyland in California is rumored to cost as much as $300 million -- that's nearly 1/3 of the entire cost of EPCOT Center when it was built in 1982.

But it would seem, then, that Disney would want to make sure that it realizes long-term investments on those attractions, to ensure that, year after year, guests are walking through the doors of an attraction and always finding something to entertain and delight them.

So, why can't Disney consistently and regularly revitalize and freshen up the movie-based attractions at EPCOT?

No doubt, it's not a simple process to re-shoot a movie that requires multiple 70mm-sized movie screens, the CircleVision process or 3-D technology. It can't be a logistical and creative walk in the park to design and produce films that can't be shown anywhere else, that utilize production techniques that aren't exactly off-the-shelf methods.

Still ... it's been 26 years since the view EPCOT audiences have of France has been changed. France, on the other hand, has changed a lot. While certain scenes and images may be timeless, France is an exciting, vibrant, thriving country -- and fashion-conscious, too! They even have some modern cars. But you'd never know that from the impressions of France you get at Impressions de France.

If Disney can find hundreds of millions of dollars in its coffers to market Prince Caspian certainly it could find, say, $15 million to update Impressions de France for another, oh, maybe 10 to 12 years?

Then there's poor, poor Norway. If you watch the lovely Spirit of Norway movie, you'd think the Norwegian fashion sense is still rooted in the mid-1980s and that the country is still running off of 25-year-old computers. There are moments in Spirit of Norway that are downright painful to watch. Since Disney is now operating the Norway pavilion without a governmental sponsor, it seems Disney could at least throw that little country up north a bone and move the view of its people and places into the 21st century.

The Universe of Energy is remarkably dated, as well, populated with U.S. TV pop-culture references that don't even make sense to non-Americans, much less to many teenagers visiting the park today, who weren't born when Bill Nye the Science Guy had his little dose of fame.

It's been nice to see Disney update Wonders of China and, even despite Martin Short, O Canada ... but it took them 25 years to get to that point with two movies. Two.

Will EPCOT turn 50 before the other film-based attractions are updated?

The whole point of these relatively inexpensive film-based attractions was that they were easy to maintain, to update, to freshen and to keep people coming back ...

... and, really, isn't that kind of the point?

Ten Steps to a Better EPCOT: Step No. 1

Over the next few weeks, EPCOT Central will explore 10 relatively easy ways Disney could significantly improve EPCOT.

Of course, these are just opinions, and your voice is welcome!

Also, a note to Disney's legal eagles: This blog is written anyonymously. Therefore, all suggestions and "creative" ideas are yours for the taking. There's no ownership here; if Imagineers or theme-park management likes what's written, by all means -- take the ideas as if they were your own!

These suggestions are written in absolutely no particular order. Step 10 is no more or less important than step 1; they're just ideas, observations and suggestions made in the spirit of optimism and global community that EPCOT Center used to embody.

With that ...

Step No. 1: Clean Up the Clutter

It's springtime, time for a thorough cleaning ... and EPCOT could use one the same way everyone else could!

Most notably are the open spaces throughout Future World. These spaces were designed to be open, to be large, to be easily navigable. The intention wasn't to line them with outdoor-vending carts, particularly those that serve no purpose than to sell random junk. So, we're not talking about getting rid of ice-cream and refreshment carts, though, frankly, those could be better themed and better located.

The most glaring offender here is that stupid Ballzac stand in the Future World East breezeway. In dozens upon dozens of trips to EPCOT, I've never seen anyone purchase one of these silly things. But lest any guest not understand exactly what a "Ballzac" is (am I the only one who finds the name vaguely sexual and a tad offensive?), the poor cast member staffing this location spends his or her shift bouncing the thing around. That can't be very fun, particularly when no one's buying your wares, so the cast member throws the ball around, tossing it to and fro, often losing control and hitting some unwitting guest in the head. Of course, it's not as if these are exactly lethal weapons, but this particular piece of clutter isn't just thematically irrelevant ... it's downright obnoxious. Pay off the Ballzac vendor and let this walkway just be. If you gotta sell Ballzacs, do it at a water park or a location like the Boardwalk or Pleasure Island, where at least the "zany fun" of the Ballzac can be appreciated.

There's also the issue of those early 1990s-era purple "carnival tent" structures. True, from some distance away, they frame the bottom of Spaceship Earth nicely. But even as that sort of visual framing device, the look can only be appreciated from a particular vantage point, and isn't necessary. Spaceship Earth doesn't need that sort of visual "enhancement."

Worse, from anywhere in Innoventions Plaza, it becomes impossible to actually see Spaceship Earth. And isn't that sort of the point?

One of the many visual splendors of EPCOT is to be able to see Spaceship Earth from virtually anywhere in the park. Whether in Future World or World Showcase, it's always there, visually linking the two halves of the park thematically -- depending on where you are, either symbolizing our future opportunities with its giant, silver sphere, or reminding you that we're all passengers together aboard Spaceship Earth.

So, it's ironic that the only place you can't actually make out Spaceship Earth anymore is right there in Innoventions Plaza, when it should be looming over you like a majestic reminder of everything EPCOT is about.

Lastly, there are the twin travesties of Test Track and Imagination. The latter is less offensive, but, still, are those banners and "temporary" signs really necessary to instill a sense of "fun"? Guests don't need all manner of signs outside an attraction to serve as a reminder to check out what's inside ... and if they're the kind of guests who do need those visual aids, well, maybe they just need to be a little more curious. The beauty of EPCOT has always been that inside each pavilion there are many different sorts of things to see and do. Imagination doesn't need garishly colored signs reminding us to check out the various attractions; it's too lovely and unique a place on its own.

But poor, poor Test Track. The World of Motion building used to be one of the most visually impressive structures at EPCOT, outside of Spaceship Earth. It gleamed in the Florida sun, it seemed massive; its sleek lines were simple and pure, and even for those who think "futurism" was overrated, it was impressive. From certain angles it still is -- when you're far away from it, looking at it from the side, crossing the promenade between Future World and World Showcase. But as you near Test Track, it becomes a horrendous visual clutter, looking for all the world like a construction site for a project that has never been finished, with scaffolding and temporary signs. (It always seems to me like those banners should say, "Open during construction!")

The best visual "sales tool" for Test Track are the cars zooming past the front of the building. Why is the rest of the "visual noise" necessary?

A cleaned-up EPCOT could return the park to some of its former glory, while still retaining all that is new (relatively speaking), different and exciting about its attractions.

Sometimes, simple is the best way to go.

The Myth of Boring

In 25 years, lots of myths and untruths can develop. Here's one whopper:

EPCOT Center was boring.

It just ain't so.

Those of us who were around back in the early 1980s know first-hand that the "Myth of Boring" is overstated and not terribly accurate. But just as there are those who absolutely insist that Walt Disney's frozen, headless body is buried somewhere 'neath the Animation Building at The Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, there are those who are certain beyond any doubt that there was one major problem with EPCOT Center as it existed from 1982 until the mid-1990s -- that it was excruciatingly dull, given over to quickly outdated pontificating about such weighty matters as science and education.

It's the one excuse that's given, over and over, for the near-constant messing with EPCOT that Disney has done, mostly in the past 10 years. So, let's get this straight:

EPCOT Center wasn't boring. EPCOT Center simply became too ambitious for a giant corporation that lives off of "the bottom line."

On Oct. 1, 1982, EPCOT Center opened with seven Future World pavilions and nine World Showcase "countries." From the outset, Disney promised EPCOT would constantly expand. Within several years, Future World added the Universe of Energy and The Living Seas, while World Showcase grew with two new "member nations." New rides and attractions were added to keep people coming back, and attendance grew modestly.

But, here's the thing: the real world grew, too, and much more quickly than anyone had ever envisioned.

That proved problematic to Future World, in particular, because within a decade of the park's debut, the "new" technologies it put on display, the leading-edge research it showcased, became antiquated. And Disney didn't know how to respond.

But the shows themselves? They were rarely less than fascinating. Perhaps the most ponderous was the Universe of Energy, which did, let's be honest, feel a little like a dumbed-down science lesson. Just the other day, I heard on a Live365 radio station the original narration to Universe of Energy, and I was a little surprised at how lumberous it felt. But it was easy to forget that it was accompanied by a ride through a primeval world, filled with sights, sounds and smells that were impossible to find anywhere else. Universe of Energy may have been a slog at times, but its core experience was hardly boring.

World of Motion contained fun Audio-Animatronic tableaux that were genuinely one-of-a-kind and a delight for families, who could spend the entire ride pointing out silly situations in this comedic, satisfying ride. But then you got to the "GM part," and you sensed Disney's storytellers struggling to combine their creatively spot-on tale of how transportation developed with the needs of Disney's corporate partner. Moreover, auto manufacturing was changing so rapidly by the early 1990s (remember the introduction of the Saturn and the fuss it caused?) that World of Motion felt increasingly irrelevant.

Spaceship Earth? Ah, Spaceship Earth. Even with its latest renovations, no experience has ever captured what Disney does quite so well, providing a multi-sensory experience that took difficult concepts and made them relatable.

Horizons -- well, entire websites could (and have) been written about Horizons. While Spaceship Earth still counts as the masterpiece of Disney ride showmanship, Horizons is a very close second in my book. It reminded us of what we aspire to being. How many times have you felt that in a theme park of any sort?

As for The Living Seas, if you don't get a thrill by watching creatures from the silent world below us in their natural habitat, if you can't find excitement by seeing them in ways that were sometimes better than even Sea World could provide, then no cartoon fish is going to make you feel any differently. (To me, the layering of Finding Nemo on to this attraction is tantamount to characters from Prince of Egypt added to the Pyramids to make them more interesting.)

I've only touched on Future World, and not all of the pavilions there.

It's enough, as I write this, to remind me, without any doubt: EPCOT Center wasn't boring.

But it was abandoned.

The theme park needed to be revitalized, updated, added-to and refurbished nearly constantly. It needed money and a creative team dedicated to it, to ensure that its contents could keep up with what turned out to be one of the most technologically revolutionary times in world history. EPCOT Center suffered because of care, and that's why its attendance suffered in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Park guests may have found it boring, but that's because within 10 years of its debut, the "wonders" it presented were part of our everyday lives. Disney failed to keep EPCOT Center moving forward.

The inelegant solution Disney decided upon was to stop trying.

EPCOT Center gradually began looking and feeling like other theme parks. There was always a bit of a twist, there was always just enough "Epcot" in there to make it marketable as a "discovery park." But its heart was removed, and its spirit dwindled in the process.

I still love Epcot. It remains a theme-park experience like no other on the whole; but parts, too many parts, are increasingly like what I'd find somewhere else. EPCOT Center didn't suffer from that problem. Nothing else was like it, and that was too much for Disney's Ivy League MBAs to deal with; it was a problem they didn't teach in grad school. EPCOT Center needed more attention than any of Disney's parks, and in the School of Bottom-Line Finances, every investment needs to have a return. The only way you can measure a return at a theme park is by examining its attendance and its merchandise revenue. So, they crammed more of the "same stuff" into the stores, built rides and attractions that were marketable to the least discerning consumer, and ... EPCOT became Epcot.

EPCOT Center thrilled in a way nothing else has ever done. The thrills came not from adrenaline rushes or wind in your hair, they came when you got home and you found yourself wondering if perhaps oceanography was a good profession, or telling people at your dinner party how your food got to the table. The thrills came from understanding about yourself, your world and your fellow travelers on Spaceship Earth.

EPCOT Center was forgotten and abandoned by Disney management who failed to maintain and constantly update its vision and its ideas.

You can say a lot of things about EPCOT Center, not all of them glowing. You can say it was outdated, that it was overwhelming, that it was complicated and challenging. You can say it required a sure and unusual touch that Disney never understood, that it was so unlike anything else that people didn't know what to make of it. You can say it didn't develop and grow, that it suffered. You can say all those things and more.

Just don't say it was boring.

The Heart of the Matter

EPCOT Center's original name (that is, EPCOT Center) didn't come about by accident. Once Imagineers realized that building a "permanent World's Fair" instead of a Community of Tomorrow was, truthfully, not exactly what Walt envisioned, they had to find a name for this new place.

Still, they reasoned, and perhaps rightly so, the concept of the city version of EPCOT wasn't really dead. No, there would be no residential area, no radial design, no "city center." Then again, there's enough evidence to believe that even Walt would have recognized that, for once, his ambition truly did outdo his capabilities with the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. Looking at his plans now, as marvelous as they were, it's clear that Walt's vision of a city could never have lasted more than 10 or 15 years as a real place; urban planning and the needs of human beings just changed too rapidly.

So, no, EPCOT wouldn't be a city in the strictest sense. But a closer look at two of those words, "Experimental" and "Community," brought to light one amazing fact:

EPCOT existed already.

The Walt Disney World Resort itself was as complex as any city -- and any expansion would just make it infinitely more so. Workers and resort guests were on the grounds 24 hours a day, effectively turning them into residents. And they had needs, the same needs of any urban center: traffic control, shopping districts, water management, utility supplies, even mass transportation. If there were no houses, no "commercial district," that didn't make Walt Disney World any less of a "city" than Milwaukee or Portland. There was even a quasi-governmental agency overseeing the development and growth of Walt Disney World, so, perhaps inadvertantly, Disney had indeed created EPCOT right under its very own nose.

And the heart of EPCOT was this amazing Center -- a theme park, yes, but more than that. A grand experiment in itself, one that took two seemingly disparate themes (technology and culture) and blended them, showcasing our common human desires of progress, harmony and a better world.

EPCOT was at the very center, literally and thematically, of this grand world that Walt Disney had designed. If ever a name seemed appropriate, it was "Walt Disney's EPCOT Center."

As it was the first major expansion of Walt Disney World (or, in a broader sense, the "EPCOT Project"), it would need to be connected to the existing infrastructure. What better way to showcase the ingenuity of Disney, to visually and physically link the lighthearted storybook world of The Magic Kingdom with the sleek and unusual world of EPCOT Center than a massive extension of the Monorail system?

After all, Disney had been perhaps the world's biggest proponent of the Monorail, teaming with Swedish transportation firm Alweg to develop and perfect the system. At Walt Disney World, Disney management could continue Walt's dream of proving that a Monorail system was practical and effective by, well, making it truly practical and effective, linking two parks that were miles apart. Walt had wanted to use his parks and Walt Disney World as a showcase for technology that could take root there and grow to impact the lives of everyone.

Over the years, as Walt Disney World grew, so did its transportation sytem. By 1996, a Rand Institute study pointed out that WDW pointed out that under WDW's own Clean Air Act Amendments, its vehicle fleets were often required to purchase and operate reduced-emission vehicles. They augmented the Monorails to provide clean, efficient mass transportation that kept roadways less congested than expected given the number of visitors, and certainly promoted the notion that Disney was on the leading edge of some major issues related to our everyday lives. Disney, it seemed, was still living out the goals, ideals and concepts of EPCOT Center.

And then, something changed. When Disney's Animal Kingdom opened in 1998, the Monorail wasn't extended. Now, to visit this environmentally aware (and, in many ways, environmentally themed) park, visitors had to either park in a massive parking lot, each group driving its own car; or they had to take the WDW bus system, which had become increasingly complex and inefficient.

Today, getting stuck behind a WDW bus is a horrendous experience. The vehicles are far from "clean air" transportation, belching foul-smelling black smoke into the air and proving so inefficient that more and more guests (anecdotally -- I have no empirical evidence) seem to be opting to rent private cars.

The Monorail still shuttles between The Magic Kingdom and EPCOT ... but that's all. Within a theme park designed to showcase our better future, this completely clean, environmentally friendly and wonderfully effective mass-transportation system just stops.

Disney management has said in the past that the Monorail is just too expensive to extend. I've seen it reported that the beams alone cost upwards of $1 million a mile, and over the years that figure has undoubtedly grown. The likely cost of building out the Monorail would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Of course, that's far less money than is going into the "upgrade" of California Adventure. It's probably a little less than Bob Iger's salary and perks for the past few years. Almost certainly, it's less than a new Chronicles of Narnia or Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

But, just as EPCOT Center used to be the heart of Walt Disney World, that, perhaps, really is the heart of the matter.

Doing what would be right for Walt Disney World, doing what would be innovative but perhaps not cost effective, making a major statement that doesn't realize a financial return, investing in a vision of the future that can inspire and inform its guests -- well, those things just aren't in the management vernacular at The Walt Disney Company anymore.

The Monorail extension stopped at EPCOT Center. And just as the inspiration to continue building on the creative ingenuity of the EPCOT theme park seems to have stopped, so, too, has the desire to truly expand and build on the notion that EPCOT, for a while at least, really did exist, and could have changed the future for all of us.

*******

P.S. Apologies for re-using a photo that I also utilized recently; I just like the image a lot, and it fit the subject!

'Tween Greatness and Mediocrity

There are healthy obsessions, and then there are just plain ol' obsessions. Sometimes, fixating on one thing too long can reap rewards, though not in the right way. Think of the jilted lover who can't stop himself from trying to get back his lost flame. Sometimes, he wins -- but at what price? The relationship is usually doomed to fail.

The Walt Disney Company isn't too-dissimilar. For more than five decades, Disney did one thing and did it better than anyone else ever has or possibly ever will: It created entertainment suitable for the entire family. Yes, in today's world, that sounds boring -- sounds an awful lot like a sneaky way of saying Disney created kiddie stuff.

But that's just not true. Mickey Mouse came to life because Walt Disney wanted to create an amusing character who would appeal to a broad audience. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs became a legendary sensation (grossing the equivalent of $743 million in the U.S., according to Boxofficemojo.com -- which, in un-adjusted numbers, is about 24% more than Titanic) because it captured the imaginations of kids and adults. Disneyland was famously borne from a desire to create an amusement destination that families could enjoy together -- Dad wouldn't have to sit on the bench, bored, while the kids rode the merry-go-round.

Even in its moribund years, Disney's great successes, like The Love Bug (which would have been something like a $250-million grosser today) and the opening of the Walt Disney World Resort, came not out of a desire to please a specific audience ... but out of a desire to cater to all audiences.

Now, it's all about the 'tweens.

For a while, toward the end of the Michael Eisner era, Disney tried desperately to engage young boys. But they just weren't biting.

Then, it became about little girls, and we saw the age of generic Disney Princesses dawn. Removed from their context, Belle, Aurora, Jasmine and even Snow herself became simple objects of emulation and aspiration simply because, well, I guess because they wear sparkly things and nabbed the Rich, Hot Prince.

But those efforts to segment and age-down Disney's audience pale in comparison to Disney's nearly single-minded obsession to nab the coveted 'tween crowd. Seen those posters for Prince Caspian? They're not about the story or the fantasy or the adventure -- they're about another Hot Prince that 12-year-old boys can aspire to be and 12-year-old girls can swoon over. The rest of us? Well, we're disposable.

A recent news story about Disney's planned re-take-over of the Disney Stores (after giving them up a few years back, claiming that they could never turn a profit -- weird how minds change, eh?) made prominent mention of the fact that brilliant DIS executives plan to reduce the number of stores and make them into hip destinations for 'tweens, focusing on things like High School Musical (run, dead horse, run!) and the Jonas Brothers.

And then, of course, there are the theme parks.

And poor ol' EPCOT.

There's no fate worse, as Woody could tell you, than being rendered meaningless to a 'tween. You're tossed aside, dismissed as unimportant, forgotten, even mocked.

You're tragically un-hip and there's nothing you can do about it.

That seems to be EPCOT's fate. One side of Future World is now cartoon-driven, the realm of the young ones, while the other side is powered by high-octane thrills. (Yeah, OK, you're right, Soarin' is over on the cartoon side, so that undermines the argument just a bit. But only a bit.) The rest? In the case of Universe of Energy, it's been forgotten; in the case of Wonders of Life, it's literally been discarded. Spaceship Earth gets a pass only because, well, it's smack dab in the center, and Disney has to do something with it.

But so much of EPCOT seems a victim of Disney's unhealthy obsession with 'tweens.

Forget the fact that 'tweens are notoriously fickle, and will drop you like a hot potato the minute something better comes along. Forget that they grow up quickly, and soon come to view their favorite things as irrelevant faster than anyone imagines. Disney doesn't care how risky the 'tween market is -- everyone else is going after them, so Disney should, too.

Trouble is, catering to 'tweens or, for that matter, catering to any crowd to the exclusion of others, only leads to trouble. EPCOT's a brilliant example.

EPCOT can never, almost by definition, fit into the 'tween mold. But Disney is going to keep tweaking, changing and refining it until, damn it, those kids like it. Why? No good reason except the reason any obsessive has to keep doing things -- it just has to be done.

Forgotten in this is what made EPCOT, and Disney itself, so successful for so long. The appeal used to be that it was there for everyone. OK, sure, maybe sometimes Mom and Dad had to take a little hit by sitting through a cheery, fun, music-filled ride like Journey Into Imagination, and Sissy and Junior had to endure some lecturing on Universe of Energy. But for everyone, there was at least something to enjoy. Together. As a family. Or as friends. As a group.

The fixation on 'tweens, though, has had only a deleterious effect on EPCOT in general and Future World in particular:

The graceful curves and lines of the World of Motion pavilion, for instance, have become a jumbled mess of scaffolding, hyperactive signage and godawful color schemes for the sake of getting younger guests to think something truly exciting is going on back there.

The engaging, immersive experience of envisioning a possible future in Horizons has given way to a ride, Mission: Space, that ineffectively uses only half of its pavilion space, and finds hundreds of people at a time patiently waiting outside while the thrill-seeking part of their groups experience what's inside the building. The 'tweens love it; the adults, not as much. (And God forbid, though I've seen it done, a 6-year-old go on this ride. Poor kid.)

Disney theme parks have become increasingly age-sensitive. Either you love cartoon characters or you want thrills. But that old notion, the one that worked so well for so long, of appealing to everyone simply doesn't apply anymore. Kids or 'tweens -- increasingly, that's about it.

And parks like EPCOT find themselves in the 'tween era, too ... somewhere 'tween the greatness of their past and the disappointing mediocrity that continues to creep in.

Another 3,000 Words

As measured in pictures.

I've said it all along -- I love EPCOT. I'd like to see EPCOT shine all the time, not just in bits and pieces. But in those places it still shines, it shines brightly.

But When It's Right ...

It's so very, very right.

The pictures can say it better than my words, no doubt. (I'm no great photographer, but I love taking pictures at EPCOT!)

Making the Priorities Clear

That's what Disney has done.

Is current management leaves little doubt as to where it wants to invest its money, and unfortunately, it's not at EPCOT.

Shares of The Walt Disney Company rose more than 4% in Tuesday's trading (March 18), closing at $31.72, and giving DIS a market cap of more than $59 billion. Its total revenue for the year ending Sept. 29 was $35 billion, with gross profit of nearly seven billion dollars. Profit.

And yet ...

Fully one-fourth of of EPCOT's once-glorious Future World sits nearly or completely abandoned.

A relatively simple item like the video globe used in Illuminations, which Disney itself touts as a "timeless classic," is left to go to rot.

With no financial "backing" from major corporations or governments, Disney simply absolves itself of creative responsibility at entire EPCOT pavilions.

It uses trees in cheap, plastic "pots" as visual barriers for areas under renovation.

And yet ...

Even as one of Disney's most precious assets seems to go to pieces, the company is funding entirely new businesses like "Adventures by Disney" and acquiring existing businesses at sky-high prices. It just can't spend the money to properly run pavilions in a theme park.

It spends literally billions to "fix" poorly performing theme parks that have already proven failures. It just has no money for genuine improvements and upkeep at EPCOT.

With little regard for history or tradition, it "updates" classics like Tom Sawyer's Island and it's a small world to be more "relevant," at astronomical prices. It just can't spare with some pocket change to keep EPCOT up with our ever-changing world.

Disney's priorities are puzzling, to say the least, especially considering that in EPCOT it has a genuine rarity: A wholly unique product that no competitor could come close to replicating. It has an entire brand waiting to be exploited, with only a little creativity and effort. It watches as EPCOT's attendance continues to rise, apparently assuming that increased visits mean there's little need to make improvements.

Granted, Disney has put some effort into EPCOT, there's no denying that. The addition of Soarin', the renovation of Spaceship Earth, even the questionable "updates" of The Living Seas, the Mexico pavilion and the Canada pavilion are impossible to overlook. Whether they "work" creatively, Disney has exerted effort.

Still ... at what price? Is it worth a couple of thousand extra kids in the park to see Nemo (if they missed him at the other theme parks or in the resorts -- though it's impossible to see how they could) when EPCOT seems so vividly to be an afterthought for Disney's theme park wizards, who genuinely have no idea what to do with the place.

Take a walk around EPCOT and Disney's wacky priorities come into sharp focus.

As you cross Innoventions Plaza, look up at the sign over what used to be called Innoventions West and see how carelessly the word "West" has been pried away. Examine other in-park signage and marvel at how Disney's sign shop can't even match fonts or colors. Look at the Wonders of Life pavilion and wonder at the lack of its so-called life.

Take a ride on the Universe of Energy and wonder why, 12 years after its last upgrade, it's so horribly out of date about the world we live in (much less the "Jeopardy!" we watch). Stop for a moment outside Mission: Space and look at all of the people just sitting there, waiting for the other members of their groups to come out of the ride, their groups split up precisely in the way Walt Disney wanted to avoid when creating his theme parks.

Walk past the too-numerous Disney Vacation Club sales kiosks that are so out of place in Disney's theme parks, and notice what expensive space-wasters they are, there for no other reason than to shill timeshares.



Yes, yes, yes, folks, I know ... these laments don't seem to change.

But, then, neither does Disney's attitude toward EPCOT.

Last year, EPCOT was the sixth most visited theme park in the world. So, why doesn't Disney care? Is it a cavalier attitude -- that if it's doing that well, it must be doing something right? Is it a dismissive attitude -- that if it's doing that well, it must not need attention?

This summer, Disney will spend literally hundreds of millions of dollars lavishing attention on movies like Wall*E and Prince Caspian. In the end, the profit margin on those efforts will be miniscule. It's even debatable how long they will be meaningful assets for Disney.

And yet ... there's an under-exploited, barely recognized asset like EPCOT just sitting there, still managing to rake in the bucks and bring in the guests year after year after year -- 25 years and counting. Talk about a perpetual asset! Talk about long-term potential!

Talk about a waste.

Maybe I just came back from this last visit to EPCOT too disillusioned. But I find it harder and harder to have any faith in the real, genuine long-term growth prospect of The Walt Disney Company when I see its management dismissing the potential -- the genuine, inarguable potential -- of the proper care and management of a theme-park jewel like this, tarnished as it has become.

Soon, I promise, I will have unabashedly positive, good things to say about some of the things I saw and experienced at EPCOT. For now, I'm still a little shocked at how Disney regards our future and our world.

Return from EPCOT

Yes, I know, I know -- it's been a while. A long while.

But EPCOT Central is still open.

Knowing that a trip to EPCOT and Walt Disney World was coming up in March, it seemed best to delay updating the blog a bit so the commentary would be based on EPCOT as it exists now, not as it was on the last trip. (Not living in Florida or working for Disney anymore, trips to WDW aren't as frequent.)

There will be much more soon, but here are some initial thoughts:

• Cast members at EPCOT, particularly in World Showcase, seem lacking in the Disney spirit. There were more lackadaisical, indifferent cast members here than anywhere else on our three-trip -- this was particularly true at Soarin', where we finally broke down and spoke directly to the three cast members who were having an awful lot of fun doing each others' hair, talking about the weekend, and comparing notes on who they liked to work with, but found little appreciation for the job at hand (you know, dealing with guests, managing the queue, etc.).


• There's a great sadness around the Norway pavilion, which seems almost neglected; Maelstrom's queue area is poorly lit and was strewn with trash, Akershus is peopled only by families with children, and the cast members seem aware that Disney doesn't actually care about representing their culture -- only about turning this into a popular dining location. Visiting the Norway pavilion was painful.


• Illuminations badly needs care. Hopefully the rumors are correct and the video globe will be replaced, because it's virtually impossible to make out any of the images (and there's a huge black rectangle in South America).


• The Spaceship Earth rehab is mostly terrific. I agree with the nitpickers that some of the narration is pedantic, there's nothing to look at other than the screen in the descent, the music isn't memorable, and the story's through-line gets a little lost. I wonder, if Disney fans recognize this, how come Disney executives don't? Those problems aside, Spaceship Earth comes the closest to representing the best Disney has to offer. It remains an excellent "introduction" to EPCOT Center, and serves as a reminder to how thematically lacking "Epcot" is -- and how much potential it has to improve. Bravo on Spaceship Earth. (There will be more blogging about this later, no doubt.)


• Wander to the northeast quadrant of Future World and anyone who cares about Disney is in for a rude shock. It's painful to see what's become of Wonders of Life -- like walking through an abandoned, neglected downtown area in a city that's in bankruptcy. There is absolutely no excuse for this. Universe of Energy looks wonderful on the outside, but there's no one there. Any Disney shareholder who wants to see the negative consequences of Disney's fiscal philosophies should walk through this section of the park.


• Something needs to be done about stroller parking at The Land and the Seas.


• El Gran Fiesta at Mexico isn't as bad as feared; but it genuinely does not represent Mexico. It's sad to see Latino heritage reduced to sarapes on birds. Still, it does sparkle more than before.

Generally speaking, this trip to EPCOT reinforced all of the concerns that EPCOT Central has been raising. Disney is neglecting this park, and it's beginning to show. Badly.

It was wonderful to spend time in EPCOT. Even a downtrodden EPCOT is better than no EPCOT at all. But, still ... what couldn't be done here with a little bit of money! How much Disney could achieve by polishing, buffing and re-thinking some of EPCOT and then pouring some marketing effort into it!

As we drove past the billboards and read the marketing material for all of the other theme parks in the area (Disney and non-Disney) it was rather disconcerting to see how similar they all are. They seem to be slicing the same piece of pie ever thinner rather than truly differentiating each offering.

EPCOT is like nothing else Disney, or anyone, has ever created.

One of these days, I hope, someone at Disney will truly understand that.

So, It's NOT Just Me!

Found this post on a blog called What Can I Say? this evening. Thought I'd share. Apparently, it's not just EPCOT-philes who care about such things!

A Smell of Orange

For reasons not entirely clear to me, traffic to EPCOT Central has increased by about 65% in the last three days, compared with average daily traffic. To those of you who are new to EPCOT Central, welcome. To those who are simply reading with more frequency, thank you!

Also increasing is the amount of mail, both positive and negative. The negative responses generally follow the same outline: They come from "ghost" addresses that can't be replied to, they take issue with the tone of EPCOT Central; they feel The Walt Disney Company's management, particularly Jay Rasulo and his team, are doing a phenomenal job; they believe EPCOT Center was a disaster and that only by turning it into "Epcot" has Disney been able to save a monumental blunder.

Likewise, they believe that EPCOT Central wants to turn Disney theme parks "into a museum." Well, anyone who has read more than one or two EPCOT Central posts knows that's not this blog's intention; no one would be more disappointed to find that a Disney theme park hadn't changed in 20 years than me. But the "change is good" mantra isn't always true. Not all change is good. Don't tell me you like being 20 pounds heavier than you were in high school, that you like losing a job or learning of the death of a loved one, that you enjoy the nation's economic recession. No, not all change is good. Just ask anyone who's been watching the downard trajectory of DIS lately.

But some changes are, and those should be celebrated. And EPCOT Central does celebrate them when they are genuinely for the better.

If you don't see a lot of celebration in these changes, maybe that tells you something of the way EPCOT Central regards the changes made in the past 10 or so years. Then again, for instance, changes to The Land have mostly been for the better. And even though it ain't no Horizon, my stance on Mission: Space has softened. A lot.

But it always comes back to oranges.

Watching the Horizons videos (which you can find by scrolling down a bit) reminds me of what Disney used to do so right, what used to work so well before the financial mindset crept in that each and every attraction was somehow a "mini-profit center" in and of itself.

From the 1960s to the mid-1990s, Disney wanted first and foremost to get the experience right, to have a guest emerge from a Disney attraction with a possibly unspoken, but monumentally important, feeling that no one except Disney could do it like this.

Horizons certainly gave us that feeling, and at no place in the expansive ride was it more evident than the orange-grove scene. For that one moment, we were completely transported to another place, where something unusual and beyond our limited scope of imagining was taking place ... and we could smell it, too. The illusion was complete.

Horizons took us in a three-dimensional way to a place we could never go ourselves, and then took the time, took the care, took the effort to wait until we were in exactly the right position, in just the right place, to give us that orange scent.

Sure, it was a cheap effect. It probably wasn't all that complex to do (though it did take some thinking to figure out how to make that scent also go away). But it worked.

It worked in a way that it doesn't quite work on Soarin', where the film-based component doesn't quite make you feel as engaged. (Yes, I know, this is totally subjective, and while I love Soarin', it never quite connects with me the way a ride-through does.) It worked in a way that is sorely lacking in Mission: Space or Test Track, where the thrills are from adrenaline, not from the excitement of seeing something unexpected.

More than that, every time a smell an orange, I'm transported back to that moment, even though the ride has been closed for years. I remember that scene, I remember the feel of being next to my family or friends in that car, in that building, on that ride, at that park. That smell brings a little thrill to my heart every time I encounter it.

I smelled oranges millions of times before "Horizons," and I've smelled oranges millions of times since. Yet that one moment made a memory that lasts a lifetime.

That's the business Disney and EPCOT Center used to be in: lifetime-long memories.

Not 10-second thrills.

If We Can Dream It ...

There was a time when EPCOT Center made you believe that "if you can dream it, then you can do it." And to remember those times, there can be no better than the Horizons ride tribute that "Century3Horizons" posted to YouTube. Whoever you are, Century 3, thanks for an incredible and wonderful reminder of why we loved EPCOT Center so very much. All three parts of the ride-through are below.

(Apologies for the double-post today. You can find my earlier Sunday post below or by clicking here. It's not nearly as hopeful or wonderful as this video, though!)

Let Them Eat Mickey-Shaped Cake

There they go again.

In 2007, The Walt Disney Company's Theme Parks & Resorts division raked in $10.6 billion in revenue, with operating income of $1.7 billion ... but they want us to think they're doing us a favor by farming out fan celebrations to a small, rag-tag group of fans.

Please don't get me wrong. I love that a group of fans cares enough about Disney's theme parks to do what Disney itself won't. It's great to know that at least someone cares.

But take a look at the WDWCelebrations.com website, and you'll see something disturbing:

The Celebration 25 event was officially embraced by Disney management and was given the rare privilege of working closely with the management and staff of Epcot® to provide in-park event check-in, group history walks, a press conference, and a private dessert party for their more than 1200 registrants.

They're referring, of course, to the last-ditch effort to find a way to mark EPCOT Center's 25th anniversary last Oct. 1. After announcing major, marketing-driven pushes for Disneyland Paris, the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction at Disneyland, and even the Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World, Disney refused for many months to even acknowledge that the groundbreaking EPCOT Center was going to mark a milestone anniversary.

Whether or not EPCOT Central had anything to do with the ultimate decision to host a hastily arranged 25th anniversary "day," with a handful of limited merchandise (yay! Disney's allowing us to spend more money!), ultimately on Oct. 1, 2007, Disney caved and held a small ceremony. Small? Am I complaining? Well, considering what went into the 50th anniversary of Disneyland or the 15th anniversary (since when is 15 a milestone?) of Disneyland Paris, yes, I suppose I am.

You know me. Nothing's ever good enough for my little theme park.

Well, anyway, it happened, and it's over. And The Walt Disney Company, as usual, learned no lesson.

What they've done is the Disney equivalent of Marie Antoinette's famously apocyrphal "Let them eat cake" edict. They've completely ignored that their fans (well, technically, we're mostly their owners, albeit in a tiny way) felt they were being ignored. Feed 'em some Mickey-shaped cake and they'll be happy. They'll even consider it a "rare privelege" to work with you!

And instead of actively learning about them, trying to figure out where the fan base could be leveraged for greater success long-term, they've deigned to allow a few fans "access" to Disney's over-paid, under-informed management.

WDWCelebrations.com has all good intentions, of that I am sure. But this is what Disney is supposed to do, not a group of fans. It's Disney's role and responsibility to balance its future growth with its past success, to not just take money from the wallets of fans, but to perhaps give them a tiny bit in return. And by that, I don't mean another "merchandise event," where "commemmoration" means putting more on your MasterCard. Perhaps -- dare I say it? -- to court the fan base.

There's another company I know with a rabid fan base, a worldwide legion of fans who are active, vocal, supportive and critical of everything the company does. It's Lucasfilm, whose founder created the Star Wars movies. Sometimes the fans aren't too nice (Jar-Jar Binks, anyone?), sometimes they are a little weird, but always they are passionate. And Lucasfilm doesn't just pay them lip service -- it employs a full-time "Fan Relations Director" and once every few years holds an event called Star Wars Celebration.

I went to Celebration IV last year, and I saw tens of thousands of fans interacting with Star Wars and showcasing their appreciation for everything George Lucas does. And, more importantly, I saw Lucasfilm caring -- they had employees scattered throughout the event, people who weren't there just to figure out ways to open wallets (though there was a lot of business being done there), but who spent time talking to the fans, getting to know them. A friend of mine met Steve Sansweet, the fan relations director of Lucasfilm, and I think he's still trying to come down from his excitement, nearly a year later.

An event like this happens because the people in charge really care. It's not about pretending to be concerned about what fans think, but actively and aggressively getting them to engage -- and engaging with them.

I'm not sure that will ever happen at Disney. When I used to work at Disney in Burbank, I was once at a meeting in which a rather senior executive responded to a comment about Disney fans by saying, "They're freaks." The room laughed. I was embarrassed.

That's the way Disney views its most ardent fans. Trying to put a happy face on a sad occasion like Disney's lack of concern about EPCOT Center's 25th anniversary is like putting the proverbial lipstick on the proverbial pig. It's still a pig.

And Disney, despite the best intentions of the fans behind WDWCelebrations.com, still doesn't give a Ratatouille's behind about the fans who love it the most. Rather than be "officially embraced," I'd rather by genuinely embraced. Not ridiculed.

They've got $1.7 billion. They can afford it.

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By the way, I just want to make this perfectly clear: I really do love that the guys behind WDW Celebrations care so much and want to do such a great thing. Congratulations on starting your outfit, folks. But shame on Disney for farming out the "hard work" of loving and caring about their own theme parks.

Every Post Critical Or Trenchant?

In the two years since EPCOT Central opened its doors, finding critics of the site hasn't been difficult. The comments tend to be similar: There's too much whining, too much complaining, too much vitriol and not enough optimism here at EPCOT Central. The consensus of these folks (themselves critical, of course) is that now that Eisner and Pressler are gone, the criticism of The Walt Disney Company should stop, and that its financial success means its creativity has been restored.

I beg to differ.

Let me get this straight: EPCOT Central does not want EPCOT to become a museum. EPCOT absolutely must continue changing, growing and evolving.

Also this: There's nothing wrong with a little dissension. Frankly, among its managers, directors, vice presidents, senior vice presidents, executive vice presidents and senior executive vice presidents, Disney could use a bit more of it.

Criticism has its place. And there is no place about which it's easier to be critical than EPCOT. What started and grew as a grand experiment (that word is even in its name!) has become a place where creativity and imagination are on scant display. What began as an effort to change the theme-park paradigm has become a place that models itself after other, lesser, parks.
And that's why criticism is important.

The Seas With Nemo and Friends may be fine. Gran Fiesta over at Mexico may well be fully entertaining. Disney Princess dining at Akershus may be the height of wonderment for a 5-year-old girl.

But they're not EPCOT.

I've used this comparison before, but I'll trot it out again: As a student, even through my grad-school years, I received B's and C's where other students received A's and B's. It seemed patently unfair, but the teachers and professors always gave the same explanation. "This is very good work," they'd say. "And for another student, it would deserve an A. But I've seen that you can do better. So, comparing yourself only to you, you deserve a B." Or, worse, a C. Average. For me.

They were right. But still I persisted in coasting by, content with my B's and C's because I'd still get the occasional A, and as long as my GPA was above 3.3 or so, I was happy. It was enough.
Only now, years later, have I learned how I cheated myself.

EPCOT gets low marks from me (frankly, a few D-minuses are in there, though Disney's general quality still rescues these efforts from failing completely). That's because The Walt Disney Company generates too much revenue, is too flush with cash for capital investment, to warrant giving EPCOT stellar grades. Disney is capable of far too much to allow a mediocre product like EPCOT to continue struggling.

Granted, there are far more pressing issues for Disney theme-park management. The disasters of Disney's California Adventure, Hong Kong Disneyland and The Walt Disney Studios Paris rightfully need to be addressed, and fast.

The bigger concern is why EPCOT ever fell so far so fast and how its unhappy model can be prevented in the future.

But people didn't want "EPCOT Center" -- that's an excuse I hear often. They were bored by it. EPCOT was too different. Sorry, but history is too strewn with examples of popular art that wasn't accepted at the time, but grew into classics, landmarks and masterpieces for me to accept that excuse.

Disney is a company that needs to make money. It's a for-profit company. It needs to grow revenue and income. Those are also common explanations. To that, I counter that only by offering something truly revolutionary, truly out of the ordinary, can a company grow for the long term. Walt Disney knew that, that's why he was never content to continue doing what had made him successful. An artistically driven company like Disney has to take risks, and if that turns the stomach of its top managers, why did they get into this game in the first place.

Disney is filled these days with people who got into it for one key reason: to make money for themselves. That's not a bad motivator, I have no qualm with that. But they wanted to make money fast, to do it the easy way. With projects like ABC's flagging ratings, the theme-park design fiascoes and the death of traditional animation, they're learning the lesson the hard way. It's not about the quick buck, it's about the long haul. It's about doing what's right.

But we're left with the outcome of their decisions. We're left, at EPCOT, with a vision so diluted as to be hardly recognizable.

Even when things are going well, I'll be the last person to recommend taking the easy route. As a television anchor once told me, "We're not paid to do what we do when things are going well, we're paid to do what we do when things are going down the toilet."

Now's the time for Disney to stand up for EPCOT, to admit mistakes, to take a good hard look at whether singing ducks, funny fish and marginal cartoon characters belong in a park that was explicitly designed as the one place in Disney's kingdom that would not have those things. Now is the time to really consider EPCOT's vision -- and to decide whether current Disney management wants to follow through with it.

EPCOT is a commitment made by Disney artists, designers and executives long, long ago. Should today's managers be questioning what was handed to them, or cultivating it as best they can? If they don't like what they've got, there are plenty of other places they can go that won't saddle them with these difficult creative problems.

EPCOT is too good, too valuable to Disney (and the world), too grand a notion in my mind to not hold it to a higher standard. But higher standards, well, they suck. They mean you're not graded on the curve, you're graded according to what you've shown you are capable of achieving. And for what they're being paid, Disney's executives should be capable of achieving much, much more.

And criticism has its place. As grandiose as it sounds, criticism is the foundation upon which our country and everything about it was built. It is right to be critical, and it is equally right for any reader of this blog to disagree with my criticisms.

I'm just one voice -- but one voice who has seen, for many years, how Disney operates, has seen Disney move from being a genuinely exciting, inspiring place to an organization that is simply trying to churn a buck and will strip-mine every property it has in order to do that.
As a shareholder and as a fan, I don't want to see that happen.

EPCOT Center had a vision.

I believe it can have one again.

EPCOT, Anytime!

In yet another one of those astonishing revelations that show how far The Walt Disney Company has lost sight of its core consumer, in favor of increasing quarterly revenue by chasing tweeny-boppers, I’ve come to enjoy weekends filled with Disney magic.

Go to Amazon.com, search for Disney music, and here’s what you’ll find on the first results page: “Radio Disney Jams,” “A Disney Channel Holiday,” “Children’s Favorite Songs” (Vols. 1-4), “Radio Disney: Move It” and a host of other albums aimed squarely at kids and tweens. The "official" albums of WDW are equally bad, just re-hashes of the same music Disney has been peddling as its "park music" for years now, not actually digging deep into the extraordinary audio experience that parks like EPCOT truly are.

But here’s a tip, one you might already know about: Go to Live365 online radio, and your Disney possibilities increase to almost limitless heights. And you don’t have to tie yourself to your computer – if you’ve got TiVo, you can listen to Live365 on your TV, in full surround sound, if you’d like.

While doing my chores today, I’ve listened to a ride-through of Spaceship Earth; revisited the sorely missed Horizons Pavilion; heard the soundtracks of both Illuminations: Reflections of Earth and Illuminations 25; and even passed an hour while listening to nothing but the music loop played in some of the World Showcase pavilions and throughout Future World. I feel like I'm spending time in my favorite place. Yeah, my spouse thinks I'm crazy ... but it saves us a few thousand bucks on vacation costs!

Disney may not care about fans like me, who are fully grown adults with decent salaries and who happen to love Walt Disney World and EPCOT Center. In fact, it’s virtually impossible to find any official source for any of the tracks available on such fantastic “radio” stations as Sorcerer Radio, MouseHouse Radio, MouseWorld Radio, DIS radio, No Lines radio and other fan-run channels. On TiVo, you can even program them in your "favorites" list so you don't have to hunt around for them all the time. I love it!

I have no idea how these fan-run stations find and broadcast these esoteric tracks, ranging from the music that accompanies the Fountain of Nations to the complete audio of full attractions. But thanks to them, I can feel I’ve spent an entire day at EPCOT Center without leaving my home.

So, here’s a big thank you to those who devote their energies to these stations. You put me in a great mood every weekend!

To the executives at Disney, all I can say is, take a (literal) cue from these folks. Not all of your fans are tween dreams, some of us are just normal folks in our “adult years.” If you’re not filling our needs, thank goodness there’s someone out there who does care. You’re losing revenue, but they’re gaining fans.

Keep it up, Live 365 broadcasters!

Time Machine o' Fun!

Before you laugh and groan (and I can't deny I did both), go pull out your own photo album and find the pictures of someone you're awfully fond of ... as they looked 25 years ago.

You can hardly believe they'd present themselves that way, that they could ever have looked so goofy, so young, so awkward. And yet, that's exactly why you started loving them in the first place.

And in those 25-year-old memories, you remember how you felt then, when things were so fresh and new and life was filled with possibilities. You know change and growth was inevitable, but there's something so joyful in those old reminders, you know that somewhere in your friend, that old heart and spirit is still there.

Somewhere.

The Walt Disney Company is going to report its quarterly results soon. No doubt, the phrase "difficult comparisons" will be used. Look past the crappy music, the creepy narration and the simplicity of this promotional piece and focus on what else is there: A clear sense of purpose for EPCOT Center. Then look at the jumbled mess that lower-case Epcot is today.

There's a difficult comparison for you.


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(By the way, double-click on the video to go to Youtube, where you can find the second part of this 1983 video.)

A Cure for What Ails You

Let’s face it, The Walt Disney Company is ailing. Or, at the very least, languishing.

For every Hannah Montana, there’s a California Adventure-sized problem. With network ratings falling, the writer’s strike seriously impacting its broadcasting future, and a growing national economic problem threatening to impact theme-park attendance, Disney is not, as Eisner used to say, “firing on all cylinders.”

There are bright spots, absolutely. But increasingly, what Disney does well is manage its “creative content,” to “leverage” it across “multiple business units,” to run a company an MBA would be proud to call his own. But creating new content? Well, unless Disney goes outside to find and buy it, it just ain’t happening. The Hong Kong Disneyland fiasco is the latest sign of serious problems, even while Disney does nothing to squash rumors it will continue growing its theme park business in China.

No, folks, Disney’s not the kind of company that produces breakthrough entertainment anymore. You won’t see a Beauty and the Beast, a Snow White, an EPCOT or an Animal Kingdom coming out of this company in the near future.

Now, of course, Disney will never cop to performance issues, not while Bob Iger, Tom Staggs and Jay Rasulo are around; they’re too confident, too economically invested in the company to either admit to flaws or take a huge, daring risk. (I’d love to see them prove me wrong.) In the latest moves to generate some new sources of revenue, they’ve even taken to doing exactly the opposite of what was envisioned in Florida – selling off land and letting more and more outside companies come and build hotels there. Even while resorts like the Grand Floridian and the Boardwalk continue to garner awards and recognition as some of the best in the country (or world), Disney is showing interest in getting out of the resort business.

I’ve always figured, if you’re not in the game, why play?

So, what’s all of this got to do with EPCOT?

About a year and a half ago, I pondered whether EPCOT could actually be a great brand for Disney to develop. All the seeds are there for “EPCOT” to come to mean as much as “Disney” if it were managed, developed and shepherded properly. “EPCOT” could become a major force in our own future world.

As I’ve thought much more about what “Anonymous” recently said, and as I’ve assumed that he’s a Disney employee or executive, I’ve given this some more thought.

Disney needs a new brand. It has done all it can with ESPN – that brand is in “sustain” mode now, with moderate but hardly rollicking growth for the long haul. Likewise, I believe, with the “Disney” name itself. Intent on making Disney into a kids’ brand, instead of widening it and growing it to encompass much more than “fun stuff for kids,” TWDC’s management has painted itself into a corner. Kids and teens outgrow their tastes, and what is hot to today’s kids is rarely hot to tomorrow’s. There’s a certain amount of brand loyalty Disney can expect to retain, but trendy teeny-bopper fun stuff isn’t a long-term growth industry. Just ask the folks who manage(d) Magic Mountain, Debbie Gibson or the almost-unrecognizable, once-hot business called MTV.

What’s needed is a brand that is so defined it’s almost indefinable. Something that can apply to virtually any new creation. Disney used to know this, used to refuse to define “Disney” and let the name speak for itself, to mean quality, family suitability and innovation. It means very little of that anymore, and once lost, it’s extraordinarily difficult to win people back in the short term.

But think about what EPCOT means to those who know it, who understand that it does indeed have a definition beyond the acronym. EPCOT means innovation, it means forward thinking, it means technology, it means global awareness, it means a community mindset, it means experimentation, it means curiosity, it means optimism.

EPCOT can be a magazine. It can be a TV show (or, heck, a TV network). It can be a website. It can be a line of ethnic frozen foods. It can be a “green” household product. It can be garden supplies.

EPCOT can be a clothing label for fashions inspired by other cultures. It can be a line of educational products utilizing technology. It can be a publishing label. It can be a language school. It can be a radio station. It can be a movie label.

EPCOT can be everything “Disney” can’t – it can carry the mark of quality for products that don’t necessarily appeal to kids, but are of interest to a wide range of people.

EPCOT could be what Disney desperately needs: a strategy for the future.

Despite what some say, I don't think EPCOT's a "has-been" at all. Quite the contrary. I think it's quite a "could-be." With an incredibly strong visual icon in both its (original) logo and Spaceship Earth, and such "sub-brands" as Future World and World Showcase, EPCOT's potential is virtually untapped.

Disney is ailing. EPCOT’s good medicine.

**********

P.S. Today, the same day that Disney's latest Broadway effort, The Little Mermaid, received excoriating reviews, Disney said it had boosted Bob Iger's pay 7 percent to $27.7 million. A year. And what was your salary increase last year? (I'd be particularly interested in hearing an answer to that question from Disney employees!) Disney also announced that its annual shareholder's meeting will be held in that Disney-shareholder Mecca of Albuquerque, N.M. The rationale? That's the setting of High School Musical. Yes, of course. Makes perfect sense. It's fascinating to see how The Walt Disney Company continues to quite literally run away from its critics.

An Interesting Perspective

Not everyone checks the "comments" section on EPCOT Central, so it's worth pointing out a comment made in response to my post "Now THERE'S a Future!" Here's what the anonymous reader, who may very well work for The Walt Disney Company, said:

It's the crazy obsessive fanboy sites like this that convince the Disney number cruncher types that they can comfortably mock all of thier internet fan base. I've seen the discussions and it's pretty painful. When a creative type brings up a fan point of view (which frequently matches their own as well), the first sneering question is a variation on "Did you read that from some nutty fansite?" Do we hate those executives? Usually. Are they and their crappy attitude going anywhere? Dream on. And even the biggest Disney geek imagineer grows weary of sites that traffic in virtually nothing but constant condemnation fueled by nostalgia. I know you think you're presenting passionate, reasoned criticism, but let me clue you in: They wrote you off as a nutjob around the time you were ranting about consumer products utilitarian office building having an employee cafeteria. You are doing more harm than good here. If you are comfortable being part of the problem, keep doing what you are doing. If you want to be a real voice in the conversation, a spoon full of sugar and all that...

Now, I'm not about to get into a war here, but as I pointed out in my response to this reader, hey, this is my blog, and while I appreciate his/her perspective, I think it's a bit, um, whacked. Here is what I wrote in response:

At least you've kept up reading, Anonymous, and based on the tracking, it's clear that others at Disney are, too.

That says something.

Let 'em write me off as a nutjob. I wrote them off as a nutjob a while back, too, so I like to use this to air my thoughts. That's all. Others seem to enjoy it, too.Based on the feedback I've gotten personally, I'd like to suggest this: The MARKETING types at Disney have written this off as the work of a "nutjob," while the Imagineers (or at least a fair number of them, anyway) have been incredibly supportive. I don't have a lot of respect for the marketing types, either. They're the ones who got Disney into this mess. Seen the stock price lately? Sure, if you bought a couple of years back at, say, $13, you're happy as a clam. Bought it at $50 back in '00? Not so much.

Disney was a creative company that offered new ideas. Now it's a company that markets old ones. And builds new campuses for foundering divisions. Yeah, I have a problem with that -- remember, despite what Tom Staggs wants us to think, little guys like us with a couple thousand (or hundred -- or just a couple) shares have ownership in the company, too. We have a voice in this. Your marketing teams may laugh at us, but let 'em -- the gadflys are the ones who often force change.

Some companies respect their "fanboys," court their opinions, involve them in the process. Others mock them. Guess which companies have the best creative track record?

If you work at Disney, it's sad that you call your own employees "geeks." Everyone is a "geek" if they don't share your opinion. If you don't work at Disney, maybe you should. You'd be in good company.

This isn't a war of words. It's my blog, remember -- and I'm not selling shares [in it]. I want your post to stay up here. I want your voice heard. It's an important one to have.It makes us all remember what kind of a company Disney has become.

If Disney employees are "sneering" because of a viewpoint that matches those of a fan, it makes you wonder when the sneering's going to stop ... and the listening is going to start.

Until Disney reverts to private ownership, it's not just my desire to have a voice and give a tiny place on the Internet where everyone can let their own voices be heard ... it's my privilege, my right and, well, I guess my responsibility as a tiny minority owner of The Walt Disney Company.

Thank you, again, for reminding us of just the sort of mentality that exists at Disney. Interestingly, when I worked there back in the 1990s, your mentality was the one that was "sneered" at. Now it's the one that's held up as the model example. I'll let you decide whether Disney's creative downfall just HAPPENS to mirror that timeframe, or whether there's a correlation.

I just want to briefly elaborate on my response.

It genuinely concerns me that Anonymous represents the prevailing viewpoint at The Walt Disney Company, at least among the marketing types. You see, it's exactly the dissenting voice, the "nutjob," the idealist whose ideas have created the most change in the world. I'm not at all trying to compare myself to any great thinker (some would challenge any attempt I'd make to classify myself as a thinker at all!). But there are great thinkers at Disney. There are great creative minds. There are visionary idealists. After one too many meetings with people who share the viewpoint Anonymous has, I can't imagine they'd feel particularly upbeat.

About 20 years ago, screenwriters Arnold Schulman and David Seidler wrote a screenplay for Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas called Tucker: A Man and His Dream. In it, Preston Tucker, played by Jeff Bridges, gives one of the greatest cinema speeches ever. It seems appropriate to quote it, particularly when reflecting on EPCOT.

"When I was a boy I read about Edison, Ford, the Wright brothers. They were my heroes. Rags to riches wasn't just the name of a book. It was what this country was all about.

"We invented the free enterprise system, where anybody, no matter who he was, where he came from, what class he belonged to, if he came up with a better idea for anything, there was no limit to how far he could go.

"But I grew up a generation too late, I guess. The way the system works now, the loner, the crackpot, the dreamer with some damn-fool idea that ends up revolutionizing the world, well, someone like that is squashed by big business before he knows what hit him. The new bureaucrats would rather kill a new idea than let it rock the boat.

"If Benjamin Franklin were alive today, he'd probably get arrested for flying a kite without a license.

"We're all puffed up with ourselves right now because we invented the A-bomb and we beat the daylights out of the Nazis and the Japanese … but if big business closes the door to the little guy--you, me--the little guy with new ideas, we've not only closed the door to progress and hard work, we've sabotaged everything we fought for. We might just as well let the Japanese and the Germans walk in here and tell us what to do. What's the difference? If new ideas can't be allowed to
flourish, then we've just exchanged one set of rulers for another. Right?"

I'd like to think Anonymous doesn't really speak for the cultural mindset at "Team Disney." All evidence, unfortunately, says he does.

Now THERE'S a Future!

While Disney's marketing whizzes wring their hands over how to wring more money out of your wallet by "synergizing" Epcot to within an inch of its life (Kim Possible here! Nemo there! Singing ducks over there! Princesses right here!), the rest of the world moves on.

Sometimes in astounding ways. Sometimes in ways that make you truly sorry for the EPCOT Center that should have been, the one that Walt Disney World could have developed.

I read this terrific article about self-driving cars today. To quote a bit of it: "And Tuesday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner will devote part of his speech to the driverless vehicles. 'This is not science fiction,' Larry Burns, GM's vice president for research and development, said in a recent interview." (It's no small irony that news of these cars come from GM, the sponsor of Test Track at EPCOT, formerly World of Motion.)

No, it's just a fascinating glimpse at a possible future. What's even more fascinating to me is that the article as it appears on AOL includes an up-to-the-minute reader poll. As of this writing (just before midnight on Jan. 7), 42 percent of poll-takers say they would buy a driverless car, while, strangely, 44 percent say they would feel "not at all" safe in such a vehicle. About 13,000 people took the poll asking if they'd buy; some 22,000 had taken the poll inquiring about safety.

A glimpse of a possible future. Instant poll results. The ability to express your views.

Doesn't that seem a lot like the way EPCOT Center used to be? Now, it's up to the Internet to bring us this kind of fascinating vision and interactive system, while EPCOT figures out how to incorporate Wall*E into its attractions.

That tantalizing Future World is out there. It's just not at EPCOT anymore.

It continues to make me sad.

Doesn't anyone at The Walt Disney Company see the amazing potential here?

Ever visit an old high-school friend, the one who was so good-looking and popular back in school, only to find that he's bored, unfulfilled and kind of lazy? It's depressing to see that sort of potential go to waste. And you're wrong not to point it out.

Come on, EPCOT, get off your lazy butt. That same world you found so exciting 25 years ago is still out there waiting for you to explore ... and you're still young.

Driverless cars! Who woulda thunk such a thing?!