We're upgrading to the "big time" theme parks for a break from typical programming here on Bayern Kurve Blog today, but I hope you find this insightful!
Epcot is the most original theme park ever built, and it's really the most different theme park ever built. Although I never even was close to experiencing it in its original form, I have seen pictures and videos, and the wonder that its early visitors felt is truly astounding to me.
With that being said, Epcot is currently undergoing a massive transformation to ready it for its fifth decade. Major cosmetic changes are going to be done to the park's center, attractions are being debuted and updated, and a new experience is coming to the old Wonders of Life pavilion.
However, there is much debate over these expected changes, mostly involving the question of what the theme will be for the Epcot of the future. Will it be purely based on Disney characters? After all, it seems as if every piece of promotional material that Disney puts out for the park's future includes something to the extent of making it "more Disney." Heck, even Spaceship Earth will have its focus changed from communications to storytelling. (I'm fine with this; they just need to do it right! i.e. no intellectual properties)
Another extremely notable change will occur at Epcot's former Universe of Energy pavilion, with the addition of a new Guardian's of the Galaxy roller coaster. Herein lies the death of the original Epcot. Before the closure of Universe of Energy, there was just enough left of the original "edutainment" focus for so-called "purists" to give the park a passing grade. With the replacement of one of the park's original attractions with a roller coaster - of all things - the park's focus will fully be shifted.
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| Full disclaimer, I love roller coasters, but Epcot isn't the park for them! |
With all of the changes soon taking place, the Disney company will likely give careful attention to aesthetic details to please the die-hard theme park fan, and I'm excited to see those. After all, the overall feel of a theme park is greatly caused by such little things. Once again, though, I wish that I had gotten to see the original Epcot, but the state of the park today and the in the future is such a different place from what it was 25, 30 years ago. In the end, like all Disney theme parks, Epcot will remain a pleasure to visit, but I simply pray that with carefully implemented balance, Epcot can retain a proper focus for the future.
Meanwhile, World Showcase will simply continue doing its thing for the foreseeable future. Perhaps no other theme park area as ever sparked as much debate as Future World!
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| Our planet has drifted through the universe... |
I apologize for the rambling nature of today's post, but I hope that you were able to gain something from it!
4 comments:
I'm sad about what is happening to EPCOT. It used to be a unique park, but soon it won't be much different than the Magic Kingdom...it just won't have a Castle. With "Coco" in the Mexico pavilion, "Frozen" in Norway, "Ratatouille" in France and "Mary Poppins" in the United Kingdom, I wonder how long it will be before every World Showcase pavilion has an I.P. attraction. I can totally see them shoehorning "Mulan" into the China pavilion and trying to convince us that "Aladdin" fits into Morocco.
Edutainment is all but gone now in the Disney parks, and that makes me sad, too!
TokyoMagic!, I really hope that they don't try to put Mulan into the new Circle-Vision film they're adding in the China pavilion, but it's pretty much the inevitable truth. The new nighttime spectacular coming soon will also probably try to shoe-horn in lots of Disney characters, whereas Illuminations was one of the only firework shows that actually told a story. With all the examples you mentioned, it's really too bad that the age of attractions with original storylines seems to be behind us. After all, Walt Disney World is so big, would it really hurt them to build something original?
Looking for a silver lining here. Maybe they'll work Ben and Me into the American pavilion...
Chuck, I had to look that one up, but it sounds good to me! That American Adventure thing is a drag, anyway.
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