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Walt Disney World Epcot Discussion Thread

P. 119: Test Track closure announced, new concept art released!

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Uk2LOLKSNY

 

Go to 8:40... I wish this music still ruled the finale of the ride.

 

I know this is seriously unrealistic, but I noticed the vacation club lounge on the second floor of the pavilion (those props better not be rotting behind it still. ). I would love to see Disney go in the bottom floor and just gut it. 100%. Then start again and rebuild the original ride with a more reliable ride system. Make the animatronics top notch and bring the scenes back with a modern twist. I honestly think it would be Epcot's best ride next to Test Track and Frozen.

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^ Not that there's anything wrong with that.

 

 

Beautiful photo, by the way. And I like the visual idea, that the escape route to

"The Future" is closed, so you are unable to escape The End. And there it is, yes!

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I'm sick of Disney making every new ride have to do with one of its franchises. The Maelstrom was a fun ride and actually carried out the purpose of teaching people about Norway. Now the Frozen ride has completely taken away any educational purpose. The movie did not even specifically take place in Norway! I think this ride belongs in Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom. Not in a place meant to represent the cultures of other countries, because this ride does not. And rumors are swirling that Disney also intends to convert Ellen's Energy Adventure into a Guardians of the Galaxy themed attraction. This will also remove all educational purpose from the ride. What they are doing here is taking away the purpose of Epcot. If they wanted to attract crowds, they should've just renovated the Maelstrom.

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I believe that the thousands of people that were waiting in line for it each time we rode it last week would disagree with you.

 

Mealstrum was a great ride, but it had run its course. I hate to hear the uproar next year when they replace universe of energy.

 

Btw...balloons were spotted floating above uoe this morning, so it's days are numbered.

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Universe of Energy was absolute trash in EPCOT's best days. Even now in its least offensive variation, it is still hilariously ignorant (the global warming stuff is LOLtastic) and for the overwhelming majority, boring. Good riddance.

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I'm sick of Disney making every new ride have to do with one of its franchises.

I know, right? How DARE Disney capitalize on their own properties and feature some of the more popular iconic characters the company has come up with in decades in their parks. What a terrible, TERRIBLE thing to do.

 

Seriously, your rant is so incredibly stupid it boggles my mind. Here's an idea for you... if you don't like what the parks have become, DON'T VISIT THEM! We would all be very happy without people like you complaining about everything the park does.

 

We rode Frozen again tonight and the ride is just FANTASTIC! It's so much better than Maelstrom and absolutely a wonderful use of that space. I don't even see how anyone could go into all that new doubly expanded Norway area and say it doesn't fit in, because it fits perfectly into what was there before so much that it feels like it's been there forever.

 

Here's a protip! We got in line right before the park closed at 9pm tonight. It was sign posted 60 minutes. We got in line at 8:57 and we were boarding our boats at 9:18. Only a 21 minute wait! So if you want to avoid the crowds and longer lines, just go right when the park is closing!

Edited by robbalvey
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I'm just saying that the entire purpose of EPCOT was to be and educational park that at the same time was fun. If Disney keeps adding franchise themed rides its kind of ruining that purpose. Just stating my opinion.

 

The entire purpose of EPCOT was to be a fulling functioning city with 20,000 people living in it. It's not as if they were ever staying true to the original vision of the place even with the educational focus.

 

The education focused mantra of the 1980s just isn't sustainable today. Disney need to keep evolving their parks to keep the majority of their paying customers coming back - IP is the way to do that in today's day and age. From everything I've seen of the Frozen section in Norway they've done a really great job of marrying up the IP with the country, surely it's a win for everyone?

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I'm just saying that the entire purpose of EPCOT was to be and educational park that at the same time was fun. If Disney keeps adding franchise themed rides its kind of ruining that purpose. Just stating my opinion.

 

The entire purpose of EPCOT was to be a fulling functioning city with 20,000 people living in it. It's not as if they were ever staying true to the original vision of the place even with the educational focus.

 

The education focused mantra of the 1980s just isn't sustainable today. Disney need to keep evolving their parks to keep the majority of their paying customers coming back - IP is the way to do that in today's day and age. From everything I've seen of the Frozen section in Norway they've done a really great job of marrying up the IP with the country, surely it's a win for everyone?

 

I meant its original purpose as a theme park. And I realize that this was a smart business decision. I'm just not very happy with the outcome. If you go over to the WDW Magic forums, you'll find a lot of people have the same point of view as I do.

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The education focused mantra of the 1980s just isn't sustainable today. Disney need to keep evolving their parks to keep the majority of their paying customers coming back - IP is the way to do that in today's day and age. From everything I've seen of the Frozen section in Norway they've done a really great job of marrying up the IP with the country, surely it's a win for everyone?

Yeah, but you can still leverage I.P. in an edu-tainment setting. Futuroscope is a wonderful example of that.

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^^I get your opinion, I don't agree with it, but I do see where people are coming from but lets be honest Epcot just isn't the same park it once was. At one time it was a really unique model built around educational experiences and sponsored pavilions/attractions but that model kinda failed and they've moved on. The attendance growth at that park compared to others has been kinda stagnant (at least compared to MK) over the last decade or so but I would expect to see a significant increase after this year thanks to Frozen.

 

I'm all for mixing in IP based attractions, and you know they'll find way to make them fit and work. Now can we just get a Big Hero 6 make over at the Wonders of Life Pavilion?

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I'm more upset about EPCOT removing the Margarita Stand than Maelstrom, where were the protests for that! Now i have to walk all the way inside the Pyramid to get a Margarita to drink while I wait for Frozen instead of just stopping off on my way. And don't tell me it's about the money or being replaced by a more profitable IP based adult beverage stand, that thing had a line all the way to China all the time! Epcot's outdoor frozen drink offerings is declining by degrees.....

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The way I see it - the Frozen ride is bringing gobs of people into the Norway pavilion (which has been expanded.) It is not like they removed any hint of the actual country of Norway when updating Malestrom. It seems to me that more people are actually visiting the pavilion itself and will probably learn more about the country because they will be spending more time there.

 

I think it's a great idea to add IP based attractions to the Country's pavilions from where they came. Snow White in Germany, Beauty and the Beast in France, Mulan, Pooh/Tigger, etc. If it gets more people into the Pavilions of the country it gives the pavilions a chance to do their job in educating/entertaining.

 

Does anyone remember when they were a kid and the Epcot day at Disney was like punishment?? There really wasn't anything exciting for a pre-teen and although the parents loved it - I was bored out of my skull and trying to connive my way back to MK.

 

Just my thoughts

 

David

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The way I see it - the Frozen ride is bringing gobs of people into the Norway pavilion

 

Not just the Norway pavilion, but also to the country of Norway.

 

Disney’s ‘Frozen’ fires up Norway’s tourism

 

Disney's Frozen gives boost to Norwegian tourism

 

Frozen Has Massively Increased Tourism to Norway

 

US tourism to Norway still up on 'Frozen effect'

 

Two years after the Disney hit Frozen put Norway firmly on the tourism map, the number of Americans flocking to experience the picturesque homeland of the Snow Queen Elsa and her kooky sister Anna continues to climb.

 

So yes, IMO it fits perfectly into the Norway pavilion. The movie has made people more curious about Norway, and for those who didn't know the strong connection between Norway and Frozen, they sure will now after visiting EPCOT.

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^That's pretty interesting, I never would have imagined that a movie based in a fictional land would increase tourism in the country it is based on, then again it worked for New Zealand/ Lord of the Rings so I guess it shouldn't be a surprise.

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I'm just saying that the entire purpose of EPCOT was to be and educational park that at the same time was fun. If Disney keeps adding franchise themed rides its kind of ruining that purpose. Just stating my opinion.

 

The entire purpose of EPCOT was for Walt Disney World to build a theme park utilizing other people's money using the World's Fair model. Future World consists/ed of corporate pap thanks to huge industry sponsors, some of which is actually false and/or harmful. World Showcase is culture porn paid for by taxpayers of other countries. That model is basically dead because companies aren't seeing returns to justify participation in Future World, and countries haven't seen bumps based on participation in World Showcase (Norway stopped funding the pavilion eons ago). It is time to change it drastically. The sooner it happens, the better off we all are.

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If you go over to the WDW Magic forums, you'll find a lot of people have the same point of view as I do.

Just because a bunch of other idiots have the same opinion you do doesn't make your opinion any less stupid. IMO, all those horrible people can just STAY there.

 

Die-hard WDW Fanboys are some of the worst people I have ever encountered in my life.

 

The parks and resorts at the moment look the BEST they have in years...decades even. The parks are seeing new attractions, improvements, and park updates pop up all over the place, and the whole resort is more popular than ever. But these groups of die-hard fans want their "museum" parks back to exactly how they were in the 1970s and 1980s. Guess what? All they have proved over the years are things like all that "educational focus" didn't work, wasn't profitable, and people weren't interested.

 

As a Walt Disney World park fan myself (I'm at the parks probably 3-5 nights a week) I am ecstatic that they are turning the parks around, expanding the resort property, and I celebrate that fact with everyone else who is loving the parks almost every day.

 

Do I miss rides like Horizons or Alien Encounter? Sure. I guess. But I also *LOVE* all the new additions and changes they are making. If you want parks to be a museum, you're doing it wrong, and you should probably frequent places like the Smithsonian or the Lovre instead.

 

But please, do us all a favor. Take your antiquated opinions back over to WDW Magic and stay there with all the other batshit crazy WDW fanboys that we make fun of here.

 

Thanks.

Edited by robbalvey
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