Epcot Center issues

Originally Posted By Ivan58

Went to Epcot Center and noticed that imagination ride is ruined. The biggest snorfest ever. What happened? That little buggar used to be fun and cute.

Living with the land, energy, scandanavian trolls and body wars are shut down. Can you believe that?

Why is third world Mexico way better than rich first world country UK ? UK is done so cheap and has no ride, no film, NOTHING! Don't those countries pay to be there meaning sponsor?

Why is rich England there? If they can't do it well then they shoukd pack up. Find a worthy country instead like Zimbabwe or Loas

 

Originally Posted By FerretAfros

Due to the park's original financing scheme, the attractions and pavilions largely reflect the sponsors that Disney has been able to woo through the years. With a few rare exceptions, the attractions depend on what the sponsors were willing to spend; higher budget sponsorships led to rides while smaller budgets led to exhibits or dining and shopping.

Through the years many of those sponsorships have also caused many of the pavilion "upgrades" to keep the content fresh. These include the 1994 and 2005 redos of The Land, Test Track (1.0 and 2.0), Ellen's Energy Adventure, Journey into Your Imagination (and subsequent Figment reintroduction), and Mission:Space, among others. The quality of the redos generally reflect the budgets and a desire to introduce types of attractions that hadn't previously been present in the park (thrill rides, character experiences, etc)

It's been pretty clear that Disney under Iger's control has no interest in sustaining the original mission of Epcot, especially without sponsor money to make it happen. With the attention that the other WDW parks have gotten in recent years, it will be interesting to see what happens once the Studios starts wrapping things up, since Epcot will be in dire shape by that point

I'm not sure Living with the Land and Energy were closed during your visit. Many Future World attractions close early (7pm) because crowds shift to World Showcase by then, but they would have been open earlier in the day. Body Wars closed when Wonders of Life pavilion closed (after years of 'seasonal' operation) around 2007, and Maelstrom is currently closed while they reconfigure it into a Frozen attraction

 

Originally Posted By RoadTrip

Epcot is certainly not the park it once was. But it is still an OUTSTANDING park... I don't think we can afford to lose sight of that. I am convinced its day will come. The Studios is in far more desperate shape, and it is appropriate that they are trying to upgrade that park first. The only thing I find really annoying is those who keep calling for a fifth gate. Four parks has already pushed Disney beyond what it can adequately maintain. Why would anyone possibly want a fifth park??

 

Originally Posted By dagobert

>>>Epcot is certainly not the park it once was. But it is still an OUTSTANDING park... I don't think we can afford to lose sight of that. I am convinced its day will come.<<<

I don't know EPCOT for a very long time, but for me it's a fantastic park. We have been there in 2008 and 2015 and both times it was my favourite park. For me EPCOT is not about rides or attractions, although it has three great rides, Soarin', Test Track and Mission Space. Spaceship Earth isn't bad either, I even liked most of the attractions in WS.

What I really like about EPCOT is WS. There you can try different drinks and food or listen to great bands. It is a wonderful park and of course it needs some new attraction and updates, but for me the MK and DHS are far worse parks. Actually the MK is the worst park at WDW.

 

Originally Posted By dagobert

I have to clarify my statement above. The MK is not the worst park in terms of attraction, it's the worst park in terms of the overall experience.

 

Originally Posted By FerretAfros

>>The Studios is in far more desperate shape, and it is appropriate that they are trying to upgrade that park first.<<

I agree that the Studios is the worst at the moment, and needs the most help. I'm just concerned that if they keep letting Epcot rot away like it's been doing for the last ~10 years (there's really been nothing new there since Soarin' in 2005) then it will be in really bad shape by the time they get around to fixing it. And since it is such a physically large and diverse park, I think they would have a very tough time overhauling it all at once, like they've done with DCA, DAK, and the Studios

>>The MK is not the worst park in terms of attraction, it's the worst park in terms of the overall experience.<<

I agree. Even though it has the most attractions of any WDW park and has all of the "classic" things, I just don't like it very much. It just doesn't have the charm of the other DL-style parks, and few of its attractions measure up to their counterparts across the globe. There are some nice and/or unique things there, but overall it leaves me cold. On a typical vacation, I spend one full day at MK, but end up with at least 2.5 days at Epcot (including park hopping days; it typically ends up being about half of my total park time)

 

Originally Posted By mrkthompsn

Yesterday:
Experimental prototype community of tomorrow.

Today:
Entertaining pop culture of trends.

Welcome to the 21st century

 

Originally Posted By mrkthompsn

Let's take a break. Enjoy the inspiring music of yesteryear: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SRyU2504CA

 

Originally Posted By danyoung

>Living with the land, energy, scandanavian trolls and body wars are shut down. Can you believe that?<

I'm not sure if there were temporary shutdowns during your visit. But Living With the Land and the Universe of Energy are both up and running. You're right about your original premise, though - the Imagination attraction in its current form is a total travesty!

 

Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA

That first re-do of 'Imagination' was terrible. My feeling is that the original could have easily been 'plussed' up with the revamping of several show scenes, but leaving Dreamfinder and Figment.

Don't remember who was involved with that re-do at Imagineering, but it was not good,

 

Originally Posted By hbquikcomjamesl

I've only seen the post-Figment-Reintroduction version of Imagination, but I always enjoyed it.

And saying that Epcot U.K. is worse than Epcot Mexico, well that is HARD! From the very first (of no more than two times) I rode the Mexico "attraction," I've always regarded "El Desperdicio del Tiempo" as being so God-awful that we're lucky the Mexican government doesn't consider it an act of war. No attraction at all would be a vast improvement. Sort of like the (thankfully long-gone) Mission Tortilla Fiasco. (Anybody remember when the Mexican joint in DL Frontierland was called "Casa de Fritos"?)

 

Originally Posted By Princessjenn5795

"Epcot is certainly not the park it once was. But it is still an OUTSTANDING park"

I would say half of it is an outstanding park, and the other half is tired, dull, and aesthetically unappealing.

World Showcase is awesome. It is so different from other parks, and there are so many different things to look at and eat. I can spend hours wandering around WS.

Future World, on the other hand, needs some major improvements. It a giant expanse of concrete (which makes it VERY hot when it is sunny) and a muted silver/blue color scheme that is beyond drab. Many of the rides are outdated, and there is so much wasted space they could really make awesome. There are some good parts, like the Living Seas and Spaceship Earth, but it really does need an overhaul and is probably my least favorite area of any of the parks.

 

Originally Posted By trekkeruss

"I've always regarded "El Desperdicio del Tiempo" as being so God-awful that we're lucky the Mexican government doesn't consider it an act of war. No attraction at all would be a vast improvement."

Really? It's not amazing, but I don't think it's horrible.

"Sort of like the (thankfully long-gone) Mission Tortilla Fiasco."

It was a stretch for Disney to call the Mission Tortilla Factory an attraction, but I'd always visit just to get the free fresh and warm tortilla samples.

 

Originally Posted By mrkthompsn

Just to maintain "the good ol' days", this is my phone wallpaper: <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://1drv.ms/1gHuLG9">http://1drv.ms/1gHuLG9</a>

 

Originally Posted By danyoung

>Anybody remember when the Mexican joint in DL Frontierland was called "Casa de Fritos"?<

Yup. It's never been the same since.

 

Originally Posted By Yookeroo

It's still may favorite park in Florida despite its problems. This trip I was at Coronado Springs, but from now on, it's only Boardwalk resorts for me so I can spend much more time there.

 

Originally Posted By monorailblue

[[>Anybody remember when the Mexican joint in DL Frontierland was called "Casa de Fritos"?<

Yup. It's never been the same since.]]

My youthful heyday was during the Casa Mexicana era. Which I loved. I never eat there now.

 

Originally Posted By monorailblue

Whoa. My quote disappeared. Do randomly placed brackets have that power?

 

Originally Posted By RoadTrip

I like the dated architecture and overall design of Future World. It will always remind me of a more optimistic time when people had hope for the future instead of fearing it. I would even be in favor of restoring Future World to it's original state, getting rid of the various changes (particular to the entry and Innoventions plazas) that have been added in an attempt to modernize it over the years.

I can't complain much about the Future World attractions either. Outside of Imagination the FW attractions, even when badly dated (Universe of Energy), are still of a quality and scope not often seen any more.

 

Originally Posted By trekkeruss

I would be in favor of restoring Future Corps. JAMMitors, while entertaining, is a horrible fit for Future World. I mean really, beating on trash cans is not futuristic, it's ironic.