changes to World Showcase?

[raidermatt]

Actually, finding a way to make education entertaining was considered quite a creative challenge for Epcot. True, DISNEY had never used live animals as entertainment in their parks, but others had. NOBODY had used education as the basis for a successful theme park on the scale of Epcot.

With the animals, they simply had to find the right already existing resources. There were no existing resources to tell them how to make education entertaining to the masses. In fact, many said it couldn't be done.

Further, that lack of experience with live animals still doesn't explain the lack of attractions when the park opened, and certainly not now, when the park isn't even increasing its animal exhibits anyway. The fact that the park has the number of attractions it does was and is a stategic choice in line with the way other Disney parks are now being built.

Support that strategy if you wish (I'll disagree, but that's another point), but you can't say it doesn't exist.

 

[rocketriter]

Raidermatt, I agree with your assessment of Disney strategy around AK compared with the first contructed version of Epcot. But it's not quite true that "NOBODY had used education as the basis for a successful theme park on the scale of Epcot." Communication and education have always been central to the design of world's fairs (and Epcot has been called a commercial version of a world's fair). The Great White Way at Chicago's Columbian Exposition was a stupendous collection of museums around an artificial lake and, after a slow start, it was very heavily attended. You might be safer saying that education hasn't been used much for long-term theme parks.

Our family always preferred the educational aspects of Epcot to the thrill rides. The last time we took the boats through The Land I actually wrote park management to complain about how drastically the guide's narration had been dumbed down. What was once an entertaining and accessible tour through concepts like hydroponics and experimental fertilization systems has turned into "Look, there's a pumpkin." Which, of course, kills repeat attendance deader than last year's rutebaga.

 

[raidermatt]

You might be safer saying that education hasn't been used much for long-term theme parks.

Yes, I should have been more clear... by scale I also meant something other than a temporary exhibition.

It should also be noted that even Disney had only built 2 theme parks at that time, and they were near clones, so while certainly they had theme park experience, saying Epcot was less challenging creatively than AK misses the mark by a lot. I know, that wasn't your point, but I'm just clarifying what I meant.