EPCOT Reimagining: My Thoughts on the Transformation and Why Some Say It Feels "Meh"
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- Опубликовано: 19 июн 2024
- Today, we're wandering around EPCOT to discuss the much-talked-about EPCOT Reimagining. I'll be sharing my thoughts on the project, how it was completed, and why I think so many people aren't impressed with the changes. Is the new EPCOT living up to its potential, or does it fall short of expectations?
Join me for a candid conversation as we explore the park and dive into the reasons behind the mixed reactions. I'd love to hear your thoughts too, so be sure to share them in the comments!
Let's enjoy the park together and see what EPCOT has to offer! 🌐✨
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I was definitely on the “let down” train but I’m glad you brought up all the other new additions that have opened in the past few years (Ratatouille, Cosmic Rewind, etc). Now looking at it overall: there is actually a lot to be happy with.
There is quite a bit to be happy about isn't there!? It's just so hard when the focus is so narrowly focused. Just gotta zoom out a big. 😉
Thanks for posting... I really appreciate your option. You never really bash or overly praising and I think you perfectly summarized what is going on. I personally feel disappointed at what we are seeing so far but I'm still hopeful they can bring back the magic!
Thank you. 😊 It means a lot to hear that! ❤️
It's difficult to hear Disney's tagline "reimagining" over and over and then take seriously the idea that putting in some tables and a hula hoop station is what it was supposed to be. And compounding that fact, almost everything they did do looks like it came from Ikea.
People might be "upset" or more disappointed because they pay $180 a ticket and have appropriate sized expectations. Then what is delivered with the fanfare is little more than basic maintenance.
If there was any time to get work done, it was when there was no one in the park.
Honestly. . . . it's hard to hear ANY of Disney's taglines nowadays and taken them seriously. They've watered down the meaning of everything from the "Disney Difference" to "Reimagining" so far that it barely means a fraction of what it used to.
That said, delivery and presentation is everything and Disney did not do a good job with this one. What they SHOULD have done was waited to unveil these festival spaces [like the flex space with the lawn games and CommuniCore Hall] until. . . a festival!
The totality of the transformation over time is what's important here. I'm going to make one long run on sentence to address the the largest downgrades. Wonders of Life - abandoned, magnificent fountain - torn down, Living Seas - approx. 2/3 of fish tank blocked and replaced with projections, The Land - hydroponic gardens less then half original plantings, totally empty fish tanks, Spaceship Earth - ATT interactive section gone, GM test track now closed for a year (???), Mona's constant break downs, Lighting effects by Spaceship Earth - still not working properly, Disney rubs salt into the wounds with Genie Plus fees and dramatic ticket price increases. Disney somehow believes a mini stage and school cafeteria style waiting area building inspirers one to want to visit? Really. If you find watching lip sinking cast members on a tiny stage and sitting on plastic chairs in a room devoid of decorations is what makes you happy, go for it.
Moana Journey of Water was also part of the reimagining. I love Disney and appreciate what they have done. I think that a big part of the problem is that Disney hypes things up so much and then they don't fully deliver. I would rather they under hype and over deliver. They have a history of making these big announcements and then they never happen. Remember the theater they announced for Magic Kingdom...never happened. If they announce something they need to commit to bringing it to fruition.
Yes! Did I not mention that!? 🤦♀️ There's always something that slips my mind. 🤷♀️ Thanks for popping that here in the comments!
I agree! Even if it can't happen when they say it's going to, which happens, knowing that it's still on the table would be a big difference for a lot of people; at least in my opinion.
This is how I look at it, will any of the changes make people think man I HAVE to go to Epcot to check out the new changes, the answer is no, I think the answer is someone may go to Epcot on there vacation but not for the new changes specifically
I agree. . . at least for the most part. I think that there were likely some people out there that planned EPCOT into their vacation because of Remi's or Cosmic Rewind. . . especially at the beginning, but now that it's "done"? None of what they opened is a draw as much as it is an enhancement to what already exists in the park; mainly the festivals.
Can you elaborate on Spaceship earth not being what it use to be. I have never been a fan of the ride but from my first visit back in 2014 to now it seems the same to me except with the ending not working as well as it use to.
I am interested in this, too. Spaceship Earth is the iconic image when thinking of Epcot.
Absolutely! Spaceship Earth has changed a few times over the years, like most attractions do, with a few scenes being changed out to reflect advances in technology. However, the biggest change came in 2007 when the attraction was last updated. At this point, the entire second half of the attraction was essentially replaced with some twinkling lights, black curtains and the screens that are now on the ride vehicles that draw attention away from what used to be scenes you were moving through. There was also fantastic music. . . . but that might just be the nostalgia talking. 😅
If you want to get a sense of what the attraction was like before the newest version, I've got a link for you to check out. I've queued it up so that it should start playing just before the decent that I referenced.
LINK: ruclips.net/video/c66YGgABnS0/видео.htmlsi=9LOHf-OTKosA_4PC&t=481
Now, whether or not this version of the attraction would be your cup of tea. . . . I can't say. Regardless, it was a complete attraction from start to finish, which the current version is not. Anyway, love to hear your thoughts. There are some other great videos of past versions of the attraction out there including the original, but cameras weren't what they are now. 😂
You can see the original HERE:
ruclips.net/video/amwr9ALwdaI/видео.html
Im liking the park vibes, but the lack of overhead cover is unforgivable. It's difficult to make a judgement on communicore hall without seeing what they will actually accomplish with the space. The large planter in the center is.....uhhhh something? Somebody had to know.
The lack of overhead cover. . . . it's the type of thing that you get when people who have never been to a theme park, let alone one in Florida, make decisions. Of course, I can't say I'm surprised 'cause we see decisions like this being made at the parks all the time, but that's a rant for another day.
The planter. I'd love to think that someone would have known/noticed, but these are the same people who were like "8 umbrellas for an entire outdoor venue is enough shade" so. . . .
Totally agree and its a very small subset of what it was planned. It will be interesting what the test track turns out to be. I still think future world needs to be something that Epcot chased. Its fine, its not what its supposed to be. Universal will create a whole park in less time. The “communities” are not really standing out either.
I'm VERY curious to see how Test Track turns out. I feel like they have a great opportunity on their hands, but we'll see whether or not they grab onto it or let it slip through their fingers.
@@2foolishmortals right there with you!
The history of the project along with your perspective really helps out a lot of the other criticisms I have seen online into perspective. Thank you for that! I wasn’t even tracking a Mary Poppins ride announced for the UK pavilion. That would have been a no brainer!
Right!? It would have been awesome! You should check out the concept art if you get the chance. It would have been beautiful and an attraction back there would have been nice. I hope that it's in a file somewhere marked "to be revisited".
Reasonable, non-politcal, thought out review with context. Instant subscribe. Thank you for being in the middle 60% instead of the screaming children that make of the 20% of the right and the left that can't seem to grow up. Nice to hear some adult discourse.
Thank you! 😄
The re-imagening is underwelming in every way. The best part is a Cosmic rewind and you cant even ride it without a virtual queue. I had great memories in inoventions buildings as a kid, how is that suppose to happen in a empty grey box with chairs. There are places to sit now so I guess it was all worth it.
Yeah. . . . I was waiting for a perk like that to come up on the list too. Nope!
The addition of the Remy and Guardians is a definite highlight, I love those rides and I go to Epcot more than I would had they not added them. However, like you I was disappointed that Mary Poppins and the overhaul of Spaceship Earth were not done. And maybe I am alone here, but the loss of the Fountain of Nations is one I can't shake - it changes the feel of the entire park for me.
I agree they need a fountain. I think it’ll add a ton to the park but im not to bent out of shape over it because I think that’s something they can easily add eventually
I definitely don't think you're alone here when it comes to the Fountain of Nations.
I think that we will find that Communcore Hall will be used for demonstration kitchens during the festivals. Of course they will charge an arm and two legs for tickets with no spectators.
Disney announced, from the beginning, that CommuniCore Hall would be a flex space with offerings [entertainment, exhibits, cooking demonstrations, etc.] that would rotate out with the festivals. I'm sure they'll also have it available for private events, just like other spaces throughout the resort. I don't think we can expect for the demonstrations or exhibits to be separately ticketed though.
Great comments on the Epcot updates! Just was there celebrating my 50th birthday and I really enjoyed the new areas, especially Moana Journey of Water and the Communicore Plaza. I think those areas are great for relaxing and just taking time to slow down. ❤😎👍🏾
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I'm glad that you enjoyed the new areas. We really loved Moana Journey of Water as well and while it might not be 100% right now, I think both CommuniCore areas are going to blossom into something enjoyable with the festivals. We'll just have to wait and see! Thanks for sharing your thoughts. ❤️😄
We were just there a couple weeks ago and my son decided to spend 3 of our 5 days in Epcot because of cosmic rewind. It was peaceful there and I enjoyed the bizarre mood music but the whole park just seemed so insanely hot that we kept leaving to cool off and coming back. Is it just me or is there not a lot of shade in Epcot?
“bizarre mood music”
It's not just you! EPCOT is one of those parks that can either be super enjoyable or a nightmare, as far as heat is concerned. I find that the secret to not baking alive is to really enjoy the indoor spaces around the park. Take time to do the shows and soak in the AC, stroll through the shops around World Showcase, slip into the little museum/exhibits. There are some shady spots, but they are far and few inbetween. You also gotta know where they are! Personally though, I've usually got an umbrella with me to create some shade of my own. 😄
I do like most of the re-imagined areas of EPCOT. And I do think that Covid played a big part of how everything ultimately turned out. But I also think Disney should do a better job of regular updates on existing rides and park infrastructure, while at the same time tackling additions to the parks on a regular basis instead of taking on 1/3 of the area of the park. Even for Disney that is a huge task while trying to accommodate daily park guests, and I think it becomes a push to get things finished and open too fast which has affected the final product. I go back to a time before the Michael Eisner and Frank Wells era when the company was in a bad 'lull' and it took new blood to revitalize everything from Disney animation to it's theme parks. I think some parts of EPCOT were neglected for so long, and when they went to do something they said was going to look super amazing, it was so much that was taking so long, they ended up having to rush through it and unfortunately the final product didn't quite reach the expectations. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for the new spaces, just surprised at the asthetics or lack thereof. And some of those large 'sail' type fabric shade makers would be nice in the large open air spaces. Just my opinion.
Agreed! The cost to Disney Parks as a result of the pandemic is significant. Recouping and setting a new path for EPCOT's great big beautiful tomorrow will undoubtedly take some time. Messaging to investors and community and the state of things could stand some improvement. This level of transparency is a missing key to success.
I am still optimistic that progress will come.
I could not agree more! One of the biggest problems with Disney as a whole, at least in my opinion and based on my observations, is that they let things get SO BAD that they can't really recover without a MAJOR overhaul. . . which is necessary from time to time, but you gotta do little maintenance regularly to ensure it never gets to that point.
When it comes to the asthetic of the park, or lack there of, I think that's because there is no vision for what the park actually is. Is it the future? Is it a festival center? Is it modeled after the original vision of what EPCOT was supposed to be? None of the powers that be seem to know and so we get the semi-futuristic [maybe] asthetic that is modeled after Spaceship Earth itself. At least that's what I think is going on. 🤷♀️
The sails would have been a GREAT choice! In fact, when Russ and I were watching back my videos of the space that's the first thing we both thought of. . . "why didn't they add the sails for shade".
I think the disappointment that people are feeling is not due to what we got so much as it is what was promised but we didn't get.
. . . and I can't argue with that disappointment one bit! There are a LOT of things that were promised and weren't delivered on with the "reimagining". I'm just as disappointed as the next person that they didn't happen PLUS we didn't even get a "maybe later" from Disney.
What I've been hearing a lot of though, which very well may be thanks to what the algorithm is sending me coupled with scuttlebutt from opening day 😅, centers around things like the flex spaces being underwhelming. Especially coming from some of the people who are saying these things, who have been discussing the project since the beginning, it seems a little silly [to me at least] to look at a room well advertised as a festival space and be underwhelmed during an off season. 🤷♀️
I do agree though! I think that most of the average guests who are expressing disappointment are probably doing so 'cause of what was lost in this project. . .
Tons of up and downs for me. For example, Pro: guardian’s is easily one of the best attractions Disney has ever built at any park. Con: budget cutting spaceship earth refurb is a massive let down. Pro: the lighting they put on spaceship earth is amazing and doing shows with the lights is almost an attraction on its own. Con: scraping the “play pavilion” and leaving it basically abandon is a massive head scratcher and let down. So basically there is a ton I love and a ton I’m still scratching my head about but hopefully with some new leadership at the company and finally getting the “Covid era” projects out of the way they can return to form
I get exactly what you're saying! There were certainly a lot of things that happened in this chapter and I think that they had a lot of work to do in order to get themselves out of the hole they were standing in. . . . which takes a lot more time than some people might realize. Now that things are being buttoned up, I'd imagine that they are going to work on shuffling things around so that they can come out on top. . . .hopefully. 😄
It was a reimaginig that was planned for the 50th and epcot 40th. Having walls all over for both of those celebrations was a bit of a problem. Especially when universal seems to be able to build 3x faster than disney.
Also think how disney markets these projects is one non-MK park gets all of its attention and dollars to add and fix it up and then it shifts its attention to the next non-MK park. This makes each of these revamps more dire than they need to be since once disney has claimed they are complete you wont see anything significant at that park for a decade. Epcot is beloved and people tend to be very defensive of it, and it ended up with a mid revamp. It feels like Disney is doing more updates to all of its parks more frequently however so i think that old fear is mostly false, but psychologically its hard to remap your brain when it comes to disney and change.
Great vid. Epcots fine. I think disney would be smart to under promise and over deliver than whatever they are doing now. Disney fans already hype things up too much, disney doesn't have to add to that crazy.
Disney has always has a really big problem with over promising and the disappointment that comes with that, which has had them holding their ideas much closer to their chest in recent years. Unfortunately, I think a combination of unfortunate circumstances [covid] and bad calls by management left us with a "reimagining" that was chopped off at the knees.
I also agree with your thoughts on the way these "revamps" are rolled out and it's particularly concerning with EPCOT 'cause despite these new areas being opened, there are too many major attractions at the park hanging on by the skin on their teeth. . . . that's an entire conversation for another day though.
Glad you enjoyed the discussion! Glad to hear your perspective. 😄
Why should brightening the entryway be a "reimagine"? Why should opening up a space and adding more shops or restaurants or seating be "reimagine"? You are right that they did bring in some new. And to my own comment- those walled stone figures were probably costly to move out. But. Let's not blame covid for the disappointments. Not when Universal is hitting it out of the park. 😮
I think the biggest letdown here is the Play Pavilion still sitting and rotting.
This! Letting that pavilion just sit there and rot is such a letdown. It's so disappointing.
We just booked an Orlando trip and we decided to stay at Universal Sapphire Falls because the room alone was £1000 cheaper than the French Quarter. The only resorts cheaper would have been 2-3 of the value ones, which is a huge step down from Sapphire Falls. We are DINKs so we have a little bit of disposable income, so us being priced out of the Disney resorts is very telling. Disney's pricing right now is just insane. If we as DINKs are priced out how the heck are couples with kids supposed to stay there? Disney's issue right now and that they are decreasing perks, performances, etc...all while raising the prices to insane levels. I have no real feelings about Epcot either way. I can see it from your point of view, but what they delivered wasn't even close to what they promised. Instead of a multi-story statement structure the built a rectangular box. I actually like the outside of it, but the inside just looks so sad and kind of sterile, like something out of Logan's Run, but with the added feature of cheap portable tables and chairs. They could have at least made them colorful, because that would have been awesome. Like make the tables and chairs match the colours on the ceiling. I love your videos, keep on keeping on.
I get where you’re coming from and you make valid points but anytime someone compares the pricing of Disney to Universal they somewhat lose me. The bottom line is they are both extremely expensive. I went to universal this year and a 2 park 1 day ticket cost me nearly 300 dollars and lines were so long I waited nearly 3 hours for hagrids. Disney has things universal doesn’t and universal has offers that disney doesn’t ether. Everyone’s different tho so I get that you’d prefer to stay at a higher end resort than a value. But for me sometimes a value is all family’s need as they don’t spend a whole bunch of time at the resort. Just my take tho
Universal did a lot more.
Honestly, comparing EPCOT's construction progress to Universal's is like comparing apples to oranges. Not only in terms of what they had to do in order to build [EPCOT had to demo in a park that was open to guests before building, that wasn't the case for Universal], but also when it came to slowdowns due to the pandemic. EPCOT broke ground prior to shutdowns, Universal didn't. That's an entire subset of challenges Universal avoided completely.
Getting old is bittersweet
You’re wrong about construction during the pandemic. As an architect, I can attest that I saw hundreds of thousands of square feet built and open during the shut down. Construction teams everywhere quickly adapted. There were shortages and difficulties but I never saw such delays like at EPCOT.
Construction teams everywhere adapted quickly. . . . in some cases, but it wasn't the case for every project everywhere. Some got it together quickly, others struggled, some flat out failed. You can see that everywhere too. What happened with WDW and EPCOT was a result of many things, not JUST the shortages and difficulties that were a result of the pandemic, but it most definitely played a role.
Not getting things together might account for missing deadlines by weeks or a few months. To my point, Covid was not the reason and shouldn’t be in the discussion. I’ll agree that there were other reasons and those reasons point to priorities and execution at Disney.
Pathetic, compare to competitor?