Originally Posted By AutoPost This topic is for Discussion of <a href="http://www.LaughingPlace.com/Lotion-View-1460.asp" target="_blank"><b>LP Lotion: Epcot's Character Spot Reopens</b></a> Pictures and video of the refurbished, reopened Character Spot at Epcot where guests can meet the Disney characters.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Thanks for the update! I've never visited this place, but I've seen pictures of it in the past. I had really hoped that they would use this refurbishment to upgrade the backgrounds, since they look like something designed for a mid-90's kid's meal. With the great sets that they recently installed in Storybook Circus, I had hoped for something a little more substantial (or at least current looking) here. Other than the windows to block the view from the outside, were there any notable changes? It seems like it was a relatively long refurb for so little work. And while the cartoons on overhead monitors are surely a welcome diversion, that queue looks beyond painfully boring
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORWEN: There have always been over-head monitors in there, Ferret, so that wasn't one of the changes they made. I'm not sure what changes were made--other than covering the windows.
Originally Posted By TP2000 Oh, my. This is not a good look for this facility. Ferret is right that it looks very 1990's. And not even sophisticated and smart 1990's like Epcot should look, but cheesy kids museum 1990's because kids are kind of stupid and they need WACKY THINGS! and GARISH COLORS! and TV CARTOONS! to entertain them. And then there's the "theme". So I am taking my photo with Minnie Mouse in her traditional red polka dot dress. Except Minnie Mouse and I are on a wacky pastel plywood space station in geo-stationary orbit over Florida. And the dress code on the plywood space station is Business Casual and Minnie can wear her fave polka dot dress instead of a formal space suit. Got it. Everything is fine there in WDW. Everything is just fine. Carry on with your excellent work, TDO.
Originally Posted By tonyanton Great post...not sure why the characters here can't have Epcot specific costumes. I agree about the whole place though...what a mess.
Originally Posted By TP2000 It's just such a mess. Maybe you could blame the humidity impairing the cognitive functions and making people phone this stuff in. But still.... There's no sharpness to the presentation, no freshness in the thought, or a willingness to aim for an A grade instead of a C+ cause most of the tourists are so sweaty and cranky that they'll take the C+ work anyway. I'm not just talking about this cheesy 1990's plywood meet n' greet either. It's just the latest in a growing list of examples of this type of presentation from the Orlando arm of the Parks Division. Sigh.
Originally Posted By leobloom >> Except Minnie Mouse and I are on a wacky pastel plywood space station in geo-stationary orbit over Florida. << The view of Florida from the space station is amusing. It has Tampa Bay and Lake Okeechobee, but it neglects to include Cape Canaveral. Guess Disney doesn't wanna advertise for the competition.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip Come on... is it really that terrible? You guys wouldn't like anything Disney does in Orlando. I don't remember ONE THING about the surroundings when my 7-year-old daughter met Mickey at the MK indoor meet and greet (whatever it was called at the time). All I remember is how thrilled my daughter was at the time and how one of my favorite photos ever is of her, Mickey and me.
Originally Posted By TP2000 It's not terrible RoadTrip. But it's not exactly excellent either. It's just sort of... blah. But in a very 1990's sort of way. 1990's blah, without much thought or attention to detail. I imagine the air conditioning is nice. So at least there's that.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros While you may not remember it in person, this has the unfortunate side effect that it's one of the most photographed locations in Epcot (probably #2, behind SSE). So guests may not remember seeing it, but when they have all those photos of themselves meeting characters, it's right there. No, it's not the focus of the picture, but I've seen it enough times in other people's FB pictures that it begins to be distractingly bad. In all honesty, I have nothing wrong with the quality of the props/backgrounds themselves, it's just how incredibly dated they look. I was hoping they would use this refurb as a time to upgrade to a more contemporary look. What makes me fearful is how long it will be before this area gets a proper redo, since it is already so dated.
Originally Posted By Donny It just seems to me the meet and greet has all the theming quality of Chucky Cheese.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip OK. Fair enough. I guess I just like seeing it open there again... buildings in Future World seem dismally empty. They have a massive amount of space that remains empty, closed, or under-utilized.
Originally Posted By tonyanton Roadtrip...I don't disagree, but remember the open, lively "Communicore" of the 1980s and early 1990s when Disney did shoot for an "A" with even relatively minor endeavors like this. I'm glad to see this space used and not sit empty as it did after they closed the old fast food place, but this is Epcot, they probably could have had the same budget and just had much better design.
