Originally Posted By dagobert WDWNT.com has posted some concept arts of the prposed Switzerland Pavilion. <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://wdwnt.com/blog/2014/12/concept-art-and-full-details-on-epcot-centers-never-built-switzerland-pavilion-including-the-matterhorn/">http://wdwnt.com/blog/2014/12/...terhorn/</a> It looks wonderful, but very similar to Germany. The backstory of the ride is very strange.
Originally Posted By leemac There are at least 3 similar proposal decks from the late eighties for other countries including Russia and Israel. I think '87 was the high watermark for attendance at WDW and there were concerns that Epcot was operating over-capacity (and total attendance was due to increase with the opening of Typhoon Lagoon, Pleasure Island and D/MGM). Wonders of Life was accelerated and opened in '89 and that led Barry Braverman to drive through the other expansion projects. I don't know why he isn't named on the project team as he was the creative leader for Epcot then - I see very few imagineers on that list which might mean the sales pitch to governments was run out of WDW Co. rather than DDC in Glendale.
Originally Posted By leemac <<The backstory of the ride is very strange.>> That something could go horribly wrong? That is Type A show script for WDI! I guess it was to be more explicit than DL's Matterhorn which has no backstory to speak of - just switchbacks in a chalet-style structure before being loaded into sleds. The whole conceit about the technology side of sledding seems a bit weird though. That second option is very strange - looks like Rock n Roller Coaster - i.e. a cheap light show with minimal setpieces.
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>That something could go horribly wrong? That is Type A show script for WDI! <<< No, I meant the secret testing facility.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Very neat! I agree that the secret testing facility concept seems really weird, especially since it seems to have all the visual design of Space Mountain with some bobsled-related decals added on top. Why not make it look like something you'd actually find on a mountain? And both ride experiences are somewhat odd. Even though DL's Space Mountain is relatively slow for a coaster, I don't think there would be time to appreciate and understand what's going on in the A storyline. And the B storyline seems totally random and unrelated to Switzerland in any way It looks like it would have been a really charming pavilion, and would have been a great attraction addition to the back of the park, but I agree that it has a lot of similarities to the Germany pavilion, which could create some redundancy. I'm also not sure how well a ~200' tall mountain would work next to the miniaturized architectural landmarks of all the other pavilions (though I do really like how it's logically placed along the promenade between Germany and Italy)
Originally Posted By leemac <<It looks like it would have been a really charming pavilion, and would have been a great attraction addition to the back of the park, but I agree that it has a lot of similarities to the Germany pavilion, which could create some redundancy.>> It is a delicate balancing act trying to ensure that you get different architectural styles in neighboring pavilions - but ultimately cash talked and even though the 1990 oil price spike, the invasion of Kuwait and the subsequent recession meant that WDW Co. couldn't find a single country to sponsor a new pavilion they tried to find partners to get new pavilions up and running irrespective of the architecture (I know South Korea was one pitch too). My understanding is that a few Middle Eastern countries were willing (Saudi Arabia and Qatar were mentioned to me in the past) but they were deemed poor strategic partners for Epcot (I guess a combination of lack of democracy and human rights violations would be front and center).
Originally Posted By leemac <<I'm also not sure how well a ~200' tall mountain would work next to the miniaturized architectural landmarks of all the other pavilions (though I do really like how it's logically placed along the promenade between Germany and Italy)>> The problem with the swamp too - as you can't build down into the land with such a high water table. It would have been a task and a half to ensure that sightlines were maintained and also that scale worked properly for all structures within the pavilion.
Originally Posted By mrkthompsn Everest ended up become WDW's new "Matterhorn". At one point when the Switzerland concept was alive, I think they had an alternative plan for an overhead track Matterhorn.
Originally Posted By leemac <<Are there currently any plans to add new pavilions to EPCOT?>> The problem with Epcot is two-fold: Attraction expansion is only ever approved by WDW Co. for one of two reasons namely: 1) Under-capacity - when attendance exceeds target capacity and the average attraction experience rate falls below 8. This led to the Fantasyland expansion. 2) Declining attendance - usually high single digits year-on-year will suffice. Epcot's problem isn't either of those scenarios. Attendance is stagnating but not falling substantially (it rarely does as the second gate to WDW when MK continues to increase attendance) so it doesn't get the attention. The biggest single issue for Epcot is maintenance. It is a very expensive park to maintain and a lot has been ignored over the years. Future World requires a lot of TLC to aging attractions like the Universe of Energy and Imagination before WS is expanded. Malestrom only got approved because of the Frozen perfect storm - massively popular and marketable.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>Future World requires a lot of TLC to aging attractions like the Universe of Energy and Imagination before WS is expanded.<< To me, TLC implies good refurbishments to get everything up to working order. What UOE and Imagination need is a complete overhaul along the lines of UOE 1996 or Imagination 1999/2001 (or at the very least, TestTrack 2012). Although Ellen was fun when she was added, the whole experience is terribly dated and stale and needs some help. And IMO, each iteration of Imagination has been a downgrade from the previous one; I'm almost fearful of what a 4th version will bring us >>Malestrom only got approved because of the Frozen perfect storm - massively popular and marketable.<< That one still amazes me because of how much they spending for no increase in capacity. If they had been willing to spend an extra 20-30%, they could have gotten a brand new attraction and kept Maelstrom; instead we have this huge investment on an attraction that already ran at or near capacity for its entire operating day. Sure you can market it, but it's still a relatively low-capacity experience compared to the total number of park visitors
Originally Posted By Yookeroo "Are there currently any plans to add new pavilions to EPCOT?" I wish. Although a Swiss pavilion would be low on my wish list. World Showcase is pretty Euro heavy. I would prefer an India pavilion. Or something from South America or Africa. "kept Maelstrom; instead we have this huge investment on an attraction that already ran at or near capacity for its entire operating day." It does? I seem to walk right on it whenever I rode it. But I tend to go when crowds are pretty low.
Originally Posted By leemac <<That one still amazes me because of how much they spending for no increase in capacity. If they had been willing to spend an extra 20-30%, they could have gotten a brand new attraction and kept Maelstrom; instead we have this huge investment on an attraction that already ran at or near capacity for its entire operating day. Sure you can market it, but it's still a relatively low-capacity experience compared to the total number of park visitors>> It is a reasonably cheap transformation - a new attraction would have been significantly more. Epcot needs something new and marketable and this was win-win. Capacity doesn't come into play as Epcot isn't capacity-constrained on the current attendance cycle. Replacement is the only Epcot development that we will see for some time now.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>It is a reasonably cheap transformation - a new attraction would have been significantly more.<< I trust that you have better numbers than I do, but I've seen several places claiming it's a $75M redo. Given that Mermaid was supposedly ~$120M (and DL's Pooh was ~$30M a decade ago), it seems like they're a big chunk of the way there. But I trust your numbers way more than I trust mine
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>I would prefer an India pavilion. Or something from South America or Africa.<< With the themes of DAK, it seems unlikely that we'd see India or many African nations added to World Showcase, since they're already strongly represented elsewhere in WDW (potentially more authentically in DAK than they would be in WS as well) >>It does? I seem to walk right on it whenever I rode it. But I tend to go when crowds are pretty low.<< The waits are short at times, but it seems like every boat is dispatched full. Given that the bottleneck for the attraction is the track switches, it will never have the capacity of POTC or iasw. As long as they're running all the boats they can (which seems to be the case) and each one is going out full, it doesn't matter if there's no wait or an hour wait, they're running at capacity
