Disney News, Discussion & an Element of Fun - 2023 Edition

[Naomeri]

I think a slice of pound cake is the perfect thing to sell because it is a cake that looks just like a slice of bread. Have the ability to put strawberries or Nutella toppings and it’s even better!

Also acceptable (but I’d still rather have access to french toast all day )

 

[bookbabe626]

Some insight surrounding EPCOT from an interview with Scott Mallwitz at WDI

This isn't the EPCOT you remember: Top Imagineer explains why the park 'will never be completed'
EPCOT has changed. Future World is gone. New neighborhoods are taking shape. And it's hard to envision what's next with construction walls obscuring one of the largest transformations in the Florida park's history. It's a lot for longtime EPCOT fans to take in.

Scott Mallwitz, executive creative director of Walt Disney Imagineering, gets it.

"We're EPCOT fans as well," he said. "I was here a couple of weeks after opening, first year, and had the opportunity to visit, and I was just blown away. Many years later, to be able to come back and lead a team thinking about how to set the park up for the next 30 years is just incredible."

He pulled back the curtain for USA TODAY on Disney Imagineers' plans for EPCOT's future and homage to its past. "You have to go back first, right?"

EPCOT goes back to form​

Walt Disney's vision for the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow was an actual city of progress, where people lived and worked and travelers visited, marveling at the possibilities of American ingenuity. EPCOT went in a different direction after Disney's passing, but Imagineers revisited his ideas for inspiration for the park's current transformation.

"What were they thinking? What challenges were presented? What weren't we able to do that was part of the original version?" Mallwitz asked.

If you look on the floor of Connections Café & Eatery, which opened last year, you can see some of that vision in renderings of concept art for Progress City.

"Those kinds of little tone pieces, little homages to our own history are also going to be reflected in this project moving forward in many different ways," Mallwitz said.

Easing the brutalist design​

One thing guests can expect is more open spaces, like Walt Disney envisioned for the residents of EPCOT.

Guests may already notice a shift away from what Mallwitz referred to as "we need a big building, a big building, a big building" and the brutalist architecture that prevailed when the theme park was built.

"The problem with brutalism is that unless you introduce the art piece ... it just becomes a giant sculpture that you don't know how to relate to," he said. "I think that's what happened with some of our buildings over the years, and now we're going back and peeling back."

Imagineers are removing physical barriers and leaning into the park's "hyper, hyper symmetrical organization," another signature of Walt Disney's original plans. They've opened the line of sight from The Land all the way to Mission: Space and completely transformed what was originally CommuniCore East, then Innoventions East.

"The difference is striking, as you see, between what used to be Electric Umbrella and what is now Connections," Mallwitz said of the bright and open dining space. "It's the same building. It's just different materials, different applications, different sensibility."

What are the 4 new worlds at EPCOT?​

Former Future World is now carved into three different neighborhoods: World Celebration, World Nature and World Discovery. World Showcase marks the fourth neighborhood.

"I think Future World was a concept that was difficult to understand. I think the only reason it became easier to discern is that it clearly wasn't World Showcase," Mallwitz said. "So it was time for us to think about it differently."

• World Celebration sits front and center, extending from EPCOT's main entrance north, belling out toward World Showcase.
• World Discovery sits to the east, incorporating Mission Space, Test Track and Guardians of the Galaxy, which opened last year.
• World Nature sits to the west, incorporating The Land, The Seas with Nemo and Friends, and the Journey of Water, Inspired by Moana, opening later this year.

Beyond common themes, neighborhood-specific graphics will tie areas together.

"World Nature leans into greens," Mallwitz said. "World Discovery leans into warm reds, and World Celebration leans into kind of an EPCOT blue, but really a different expression of that."

World Celebration​

World Celebration will give EPCOT's festival programming space to "blow out their ideas, something they've never been able to do before," according to Mallwitz.

The neighborhood's new CommuniCore Plaza will feature a garden with seating and space for guests to enjoy entertainment from a covered performance stage, snacks from festival kiosks inside the plaza or simply, conversation.

"We can host something as small as a violin duet or a Burning Man installation," he said.

Adjacent CommuniCore Hall will offer roughly 8,000 feet of climate-controlled exhibit space for additional festival offerings that won't depend on Florida weather.

"What better place than in the front, right? " Mallwitz said. "On grade, accessible at all points, and then the space itself as well is subdividable in two, so we can actually have two different sets of programming happening at the same time. Oh, and by the way, that programming can then be broadcast to the external component, to the external courtyard, or shared in whatever format we'd like ... Our opportunities shouldn't be limited by our facility, so let's let our facility help us get where we want to be."


The building itself will be embedded with LED paneling so "that we can change color, we can pulsate, we can reflect what's happening in there," Mallwitz said. "We can defer or lean into any programming that is happening on Spaceship Earth and kind of create that celebration, create that connection."

Two other World Celebration areas of note are Mickey & Friends, a permanent location where guests can meet Mickey Mouse and his pals, and Dreamer's Point, which will feature a new statue of Walt Disney.

World Nature​

World Nature will invite guests to celebrate the Earth and think about their relationship to it.

"These great pavilions, Land and Seas, tell that story and can continue to tell that story in the next 30, 40, 50 years," Mallwitz said. "The addition of a wonderful, interactive experience like Journey of Water even deepens that, enriches that."

The self-guided outdoor trail will teach guests about the importance of water while they playfully interact with it, like Moana.

"Its relationship to the Seas pavilion, I can't wait for people to see that," Mallwitz added. "It's hard to see now, but it's really kind of locking in this whole idea about stewardship and connectivity with the planet that we live on and share with everybody."

World Discovery​

World Discovery leans into EPCOT's original themes of innovation and ingenuity, with the added ingredient of adrenaline. All three of its attractions get guests' hearts pumping.

"Let's energize ourselves about innovation and ingenuity and exploration," Mallwitz said. "Get all that energy over there."

For now, the newest attraction is Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. Disney is reevaluating the concept of its previously announced PLAY! pavilion, which had been eyed for the former Wonders of Life site.

Looking ahead​

Walt Disney said EPCOT "will never be completed" but "will always be in a state of becoming." Even though its incarnation as a theme park wasn't quite what he imagined, he was right.

Imagineers went into this current transformation thinking about how guests will interact with the park for decades to come.

"They know that guests will continue to change, our behavior will continue to change, the way we interact with our parks, but also our personal devices will continue to change," Mallwitz said. "How can we set the groundwork for continued evolution, but also keep it focused on our EPCOT messaging?"

That's what they're working on behind those construction walls.

Am I the only one who noticed that there is no mention of Figment or the Imagination pavilion (what’s left of it) in this article?

 

[HokieRaven5]

Am I the only one who noticed that there is no mention of Figment or the Imagination pavilion (what’s left of it) in this article?

For World Celebration they only seemed to focus on what was coming in the Communicore area. They also left out Spaceship Earth’s previously proposed reimagining that has been shelved/scrapped.

 

[HokieRaven5]

Bow design for the Disney Treasure Revealed with Voyager Minnie

https://twitter.com/x/status/1647018983353118724

 

[HokieRaven5]

Walt Disney World's Genie+ price drops as busy Spring and Easter period comes to an end

Walt Disney World's Genie+ is priced at $25 today, a $10 drop from yesterday and the preceding Spring Break and Easter period.

April 4 saw the start of ten days of Genie+ priced at $35, the highest since it began.

No changes have been made to Individual Lightning Lane prices, with TRON LIghtcycle Run remaining at its initial price of $20.

 

[Brocktoon]

Walt Disney World's Genie+ price drops as busy Spring and Easter period comes to an end

Walt Disney World's Genie+ is priced at $25 today, a $10 drop from yesterday and the preceding Spring Break and Easter period.

April 4 saw the start of ten days of Genie+ priced at $35, the highest since it began.

No changes have been made to Individual Lightning Lane prices, with TRON LIghtcycle Run remaining at its initial price of $20.

... still a far cry from $15 launch price, but we saw this coming when they got rid of the pre-purchase option

 

[Naomeri]

Walt Disney World's Genie+ price drops as busy Spring and Easter period comes to an end

Walt Disney World's Genie+ is priced at $25 today, a $10 drop from yesterday and the preceding Spring Break and Easter period.

April 4 saw the start of ten days of Genie+ priced at $35, the highest since it began.

No changes have been made to Individual Lightning Lane prices, with TRON LIghtcycle Run remaining at its initial price of $20.

I was very excited when I saw that this morning—I was like “woohoo, I’m saving money!” and then I was like “hey, wait a sec, this is still costing me money!”

In my defense, it was 3:45am and I was already melting in my race costume

 

[Elijah Abrams]

MickeyViews and Brayden are making an unconfirmed rumor that Frontierland at Magic Kingdom is going to be rethemed to a New Orleans area. Although Disney could build a new Frontierland behind Big Thunder Mountain, Brayden is confirming that they still want a Coco/Encanto area.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1646887407512432640

https://twitter.com/x/status/1646888994683101184

https://twitter.com/x/status/1646890386831409153

 

[jpeterson]

MickeyViews and Brayden are making an unconfirmed rumor that Frontierland at Magic Kingdom is going to be rethemed to a New Orleans area. Although Disney could build a new Frontierland behind Big Thunder Mountain, Brayden is confirming that they still want a Coco/Encanto area.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1646887407512432640

https://twitter.com/x/status/1646888994683101184

https://twitter.com/x/status/1646890386831409153

Not buying it. I just don't see it happening.

 

[Naomeri]

Not buying it. I just don't see it happening.

Yeah, that’s a lot of stuff that would need retheming

 

[Gusey]

I can see them including Coco as part of Frontierland as they just announced a Coco retheme of a Frontierland restaurant at DLP, but adding New Orleans feels like a theory being passed as a rumour

 

[Douglas Dubh]

Who is Brayden?

 

[jlundeen]

Anyone in the parks now? How is Epcot's barge removal going? And how is Epcot Forever working out? I'm assuming you can see it from anywhere around the lagoon....

 

[CarolynFH]

Anyone in the parks now? How is Epcot's barge removal going? And how is Epcot Forever working out? I'm assuming you can see it from anywhere around the lagoon....

You might have seen this already but in case not: https://www.wdwinfo.com/walt-disney-world/new-photos-show-harmonious-barges-being-dismantled/

 

[Pens Fan]

Who is Brayden?

Random Youtube guy who specializes in click bait content. All of those tweets are from the same person.

 

[jpeterson]

Anyone in the parks now? How is Epcot's barge removal going? And how is Epcot Forever working out? I'm assuming you can see it from anywhere around the lagoon....

1 is gone. You can see a crane backstage that I think is part of the removal.

 

[disneyfan150]

You might have seen this already but in case not: https://www.wdwinfo.com/walt-disney-world/new-photos-show-harmonious-barges-being-dismantled/

Well, they have 45 days to get that stuff out of the WS lagoon. That is when my trip starts. JK I realize the world (Disney World) does not revlolve around me.

But I do wonder how long it is going to take to get those barges out of the lagoon.

 

[goaljira]

Walt Disney World's Genie+ price drops as busy Spring and Easter period comes to an end

Walt Disney World's Genie+ is priced at $25 today, a $10 drop from yesterday and the preceding Spring Break and Easter period.

April 4 saw the start of ten days of Genie+ priced at $35, the highest since it began.

No changes have been made to Individual Lightning Lane prices, with TRON LIghtcycle Run remaining at its initial price of $20.

$20 today!

 

[Douglas Dubh]

But I do wonder how long it is going to take to get those barges out of the lagoon.

I’m thinking two to three weeks per barge.

 

[jade1]

$20 today!

And Tron is still avail for 6:20 tonight. $20.