Has EPCOT had its day?

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by Syjen

Reading posts on here over the last few months, it seems quite a lot of the park has been closed off to the public and mothballed, which seems a shame. It would seem an easy short term fix to reopen some of these areas in the interim before the (rumoured) development of the park.

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The only parts that have been closed off and can be reopened are the Wonders of Life pavilion and the two Innoventions buildings. I think the upper floor of the Imagination pavilion has been converted into a lounge for DVC members?

Reopening Wonders of Like and the Innoventions areas wouldn't help much because there's not a lot in them any more. They have been mostly gutted. So you'd have to add some sort of attractions into these buildings.

Personally, I think they should close the Universe of Energy building, knock this down together with Wonders of Life. Then build a rollercoaster themed to energy in the cleared area (or go with a copy of the Tron coaster or a GotG coaster, whatever). Move what's left in the Innoventions buildings into one building and build a trackless dark ride themed along the lines of the old Body Wars ride (biology/medical theme).

[feelingnuts]

We spent time watching the performers around world showcase, grabbed a drink in the countries or food we loved our Epcot day. Arrived at 9am and left at 7pm however I don't like illuminations we've seen it once and I wouldn't bother again. We enjoy nemo and spend time after watching the fish and who doesn't love test track. Throw in the land and soarin and it's a great place to be.

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by angelbabe

A headline in the Orlando Sentinel today reads:

"Disney permit signals future work at Epcot". It goes on to say "to provide a more contiguous area for possible future changes to parking capacity and back of house areas within Walt Disney World's EPCOT Center,” according to a staff report included with the permit.

The project also includes creating two dry retention areas for water treatment at the park “where future construction is planned,” the report said."

So it does look like changes are afoot.

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Plans were filed last month detailing changes to the Universe of Energy and the area surrounding and behind it. See here:

wdwnt/blog/2017/05/first-...-energy-epcot/

So we've known changes are afoot for the last few weeks. We still don't know when the changes will happen and what will go there.

[curlysue2]

It does need updating as the futuristic part look so bad now as they have been surpassed and they never really updated them.
It has some good rides but they could do so much more, which we know is going to be the plan.
It's the least Disney or Disney parks for me.

[Guest]

Dh and I love Epcot , it's our second favourite Disney park after MK

[BevS97]

It's our favourite park. Mostly world showcase although we enjoy most of Future World too but we love World Showcase. Even our kids when they were little would choose to go there. We love the relaxed atmosphere. Meeting cast members. Watching street shows (there are loads in Epcot ). If you get right back into the pavilions there is loads to see. I quite like the Fineas and Ferb adventures as they encourage to dig a little deeper into each country.

[adreamisawish]

The day you have to take a few days to appreciate everything.

Rush round it, spend too long being herded like cattle in long queues then I get why people don't get it/like it.

For me it's a 3 day park minimum and, probably like all the parks actually, it's at it's best after sunset.

[Floridarules]

Least favourite park really- it's seems dated I'm afraid which is a shame as it's intention was to be futuristic.

[mossyflossyhub]

I have been going to EPCOT since it opened in 1982 as EPCOT CENTER. It was Disney's second park and a massive amount of planning and imagineering went into it.

It was unashamedly Educational. Its purpose was to educate with a bit of fun thrown in. There were NO Disney characters allowed and you would never even have known it was a Disney Park. Since all the pavilions were original and conceived at the same time they melded in one cohesive 'whole'.

There was the ORIGINAL Spaceship Earth to show Mankind's journey, Universe of Energy to show how we need to conserve fuel, Horizons (the best thing since sliced bread) to show the epic vision of our future, World of Motiion to show the development of transportation, Communicore East and West to highlight modern technology, The Land to show where our food comes from, The Living Seas to show you the underwater life of a deep Sea Base, Wonders of Life to show you how our bodies function and finally Imagination to show the infinte possibilities of our human imagination.

Every pavilion had its own logo. Everything flowed from one to the other. There was technology on display such as video phones and computer graphics which blew people's mind in the '80's. Every pavilion had its own theme tune. You were escorted by a real guide through The Land for instance, and heard its fantastic theme tune as you did so. You could go to the Kitchen Cabaret for an amazing animatronic and fun show about the food groups. You could see behind the scenes of how Epcot's computers worked using Pepper's Ghost 'holograms'. You could ride vehicles which came out of the World of Motion Pavilion and then went back in again up a ramp. In Horizons, instead of being suspended in front of an IMAX screen as in Soarin' you actually rode horizontally past two IMAX screens whilst suspended from the ceiling showing you breathtaking images of a future world.

Journey to Imagination was much longer and properly themed and flowed magnificently, with a Dreamfinder and continuous use of the incredible theme until it was stuck in your head forever. This was followed by the amazing Image Works upstairs (remember that fabulous neon tunnel) to entertain you further with the latest tech. This was followed by an amazing 3-D show 'Magic Journeys' and even this was preceded with a KODAK show on photography with a fabulous Sherman Brothers song. The Imagination pavilion could entertain you for 2 hours.

Then there was World Showcase AS WELL. This included buses to take you round if you were exhausted. You had Maelstrom and the American Adventure and El Rio Del Tiempo.

Children loved it. They had different attitudes back then. They were prepared to learn as well as have fun. The technology in the park was just right for the time. Epcot was fantastic and made you feel that you had a glimpse into the future.

The problem with Epcot is that they did not spend enough on it to keep it up to date so that current guests would feel the same as we felt about it back in the day.

As soon as it became Disneyfied it lost its originality and has never been able to recapture it. I am sure some of the original imagineers would turn in their graves to know that Frozen is at the Norway Pavilion and Disney Characters have a meet and greet in Communicore!

I love Epcot and always will but I think that I am trying to recapture that 'feel' that it originally had and unfortunately will never be able to recapture. The only way forward for Epcot in my opinion is to start afresh and build a park for the 21st Century that is as inspiring as Epcot Center was in 1982

[tracey1302]

Oh I love Epcot! DHS was my least favourite this time because half the park was closed! AK was the favourite this time! 😁