Epcot is sad

[Shock13]

Epcot is special because it is so much different than the other parks, and its problem isn't anything that is there right now (well, maybe the Three Caballeros boat ride, containing one Mexican duck, one American duck, and one Brazilian duck :/),

Actually Donald is the only duck. Panchito is a rooster and Jose is a parrot.

I was born in the states but my parents are from Mexico. We have gone to Mexico City a few times and there are always mariachi bands performing at various restaurants, events and on the streets. We've also had mariachi bands performs at family weddings.
I found no offense to the Mexico pavilion. Many of the crafts they sell are very similar to what I've seen in Mexico too.

 

[DLFT]

Actually Donald is the only duck. Panchito is a rooster and Jose is a parrot.
QUOTE]

My mistake, you are right that Donald is the only duck. My point is that, in my opinion, this ride refurb ties with Stitch's Great Escape and the Race Cars on the Disneyland Tomorrowland peoplemover as the worst rethemeing of a ride in Disney history. They took a decent ride and turned it into a bad tie-in with a movie from 1949 that most kids have never heard of. There were so many better possibilities there.

On another point, I'm one of the few people that would be in favor of Disney completely renaming and retheming Future World, as it really focuses more on a mix of education and thrill rides, not the future. As I posted earlier, there are abandoned spaces in several places in Epcot that could easily be home to a new attraction if Disney would invest, but they seem to be funneling money towards AK at the moment, which honestly needs it more than Epcot.

 

[kidd_freeper]

Good grief. EPCOT is sad???

EPCOT is the embodiment of secular optimism.

One half of the park demonstrates what the future has to offer.
The other half is a world's fair that provides appreciation of each culture.
The park closes with a show demonstrating that different cultures that operate seperately can live together and provide a better future.

Maybe some people just shouldn't visit EPCOT because of expectations. Here are my suggestions:

If you think it is dumbed down, go to a museum not an amusement park.
If you think it is outdated, go to a tech show, not an amusement park.
If you are offended by what you perceive to be stereotypes, then you don't understand who designed each of the countries.
If you want authentic happiness, go to church and find Jesus. Its cheaper too.

 

[dwheaton]

Good grief. EPCOT is sad???

EPCOT is the embodiment of secular optimism.

One half of the park demonstrates what the future has to offer.
The other half is a world's fair that provides appreciation of each culture.
The park closes with a show demonstrating that different cultures that operate seperately can live together and provide a better future.

Maybe some people just shouldn't visit EPCOT because of expectations. Here are my suggestions:

If you think it is dumbed down, go to a museum not an amusement park.
If you think it is outdated, go to a tech show, not an amusement park.
If you are offended by what you perceive to be stereotypes, then you don't understand who designed each of the countries.
If you want authentic happiness, go to church and find Jesus. Its cheaper too.

Your description applies to the EPCOT that was built in 1982. Does the Future World statement fit with Soarin'? The curent JII or Seas with Nemo and Friends? The Character Spot? Mission Space? Test Track?

I agree with your points about what EPCOT was originally but not its current form. The problem is that it hasn't been updated nearly enough since the mid-'90s.

 

[Mommy2Corinne]

Well I went to Epcot after it opened in the 80's. and visited it a lot throughout the decade. The 80's were good to Epcot especially Future World

So true, lol.

The thing I find most offensive about EPCOT is Captain EO. Mainly because it is just terrible. So very terrible. Trying to have a CM at the beginning explain (i.e. lie/pretend) to the audience that it is kitchy and retro is beyond pathetic. Ugh. Did I mention that it is terrible?

I also like totally love the movie in Norway with the people like decked out in like totally rad 80s outfits. (My favorites are the "models." )

You'd think with all the money rolling in from Akershus and Frozen they could show a movie from this millennium, no?

 

[siskaren]

I see absolutely no current evidence of the sole and initial premise of EPCOT, the "City Of Tomorrow"

Well, Walt's vision of Epcot was for it to be an actual city, so I don't think that would've been feasible.

My mistake, you are right that Donald is the only duck. My point is that, in my opinion, this ride refurb ties with Stitch's Great Escape and the Race Cars on the Disneyland Tomorrowland peoplemover as the worst retheming of a ride in Disney history. They took a decent ride and turned it into a bad tie-in with a movie from 1949 that most kids have never heard of. There were so many better possibilities there.

I doubt most people are familiar with Song of the South, which Splash Mountain is based on, although I'll concede that it's kind of comparing apples to oranges, since there's a lot more going on in Splash Mountain. My guess is that they were trying to make El Rio del Tiempo more kid-friendly by adding Donald Duck.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

Nope
Me thinks you may have some relatives who reside in the Maelstrom pavilion?

A definite possibility

Actually Donald is the only duck. Panchito is a rooster and Jose is a parrot.

I was born in the states but my parents are from Mexico. We have gone to Mexico City a few times and there are always mariachi bands performing at various restaurants, events and on the streets. We've also had mariachi bands performs at family weddings.
I found no offense to the Mexico pavilion. Many of the crafts they sell are very similar to what I've seen in Mexico too.

Truth. On top of this, I have multiple friends who are first and second generation Americans from Mexico and still love, enjoy, and practice to certain parts of their Mexican heritage. Some of them perform in Mariachi bands. Others have studied traditional folk dance such as jarabe. I fail to see how traditional music of a certain area/country is considered offensive.

 

[PSUGuy]

So we welcome a new troll this month whose sole intention is to stir the pot.

Bill From PA

 

[jbish]

I'm personally more offended that there is an empty half dome between UOE and Mission Space, a big empty ride building behind Germany, an Empty show area behind the UK, an empty upstairs area in the Imagination Pavillion, and a restaurant right along the walkway towards World Showcase that hasn't operated as such in years than any of the issues the OP brought up. Epcot is special because it is so much different than the other parks, and its problem isn't anything that is there right now (well, maybe the Three Caballeros boat ride, containing one Mexican duck, one American duck, and one Brazilian duck :/), its the fact that there are things missing that shouldn't be or should have been refreshed/replaced. Most of the countries are represented better and more accurately than any other sort of media, in my personal opinion.

I'm in this camp. Epcot was always my favorite - but now I probably say that more for nostalgic reasons than anything. I do love the variety of food, though, so that's a mainstay. But when we were there this past November, I definitely took notice of all of the wasted space (mainly because being a member of the Dis now, I've been made more aware). It's such a shame. It really was futuristic/educational back in the day. To be "futuristic" today would be very difficult, given the speed at which technological advances are made now. And we all know about it since we're all online all the time.

As for WS, I think it's a delicate balance of being informative and entertaining. I think that, in today's global and wired economy, these countries are not nearly as out of our reach as they used to be when Epcot first opened. So, for example, we are all the more aware of the varying provinces and unique subcultures in a large country like China, even if we don't know about them specifically. Then again, if someone were to build a USA pavilion (not the American Experience, which is a very distinct representation of our country at a specific point in our history), how would you build that? What iconic landmarks, food, and chotchkies would you put in it? Whatever you did, 90% of Americans would say, "That doesn't represent where I'm from!" Not an easy task.

OP I don't disagree with you completely. I do wish Epcot would be given the attention from the company that it deserves.

 

[ImDMous]

Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros are actually pretty important pieces of history for Disney so I'm OK with that even though it is a bit dated. If your kids want to get into the history of Good Neighbor policies and government using cultural icons for influence, it's pretty interesting. If they're too young for that or just not interested, it's a nice cool boat ride for a nap.

 

[Yellowstonetim]

Good grief. EPCOT is sad???

EPCOT is the embodiment of secular optimism.

One half of the park demonstrates what the future has to offer.
The other half is a world's fair that provides appreciation of each culture.
The park closes with a show demonstrating that different cultures that operate seperately can live together and provide a better future.

Maybe some people just shouldn't visit EPCOT because of expectations. Here are my suggestions:

If you think it is dumbed down, go to a museum not an amusement park.
If you think it is outdated, go to a tech show, not an amusement park.
If you are offended by what you perceive to be stereotypes, then you don't understand who designed each of the countries.
If you want authentic happiness, go to church and find Jesus. Its cheaper too.

So we welcome a new troll this month whose sole intention is to stir the pot.

Bill From PA

 

[nervous1sttimer]

It is really hard to find a starker contrast than between the timeless charm of MK and the sad, outdated 1980s retro-futurism of Epcot. The place looks like it came out of a bad Jetson's episode. I felt insulted by the choose your future ending of spaceship earth. Horizons at least treated the issue seriously.

As for the World Showcase...does anyone else find it borderline offensive? Mariachis in Mexico. Pagodas and forbidden palace architecture in China?

I haven't read the entire thread, so someone else may have already said this, but I found IASW offensive in several places. I get the gesture and intent, but the caricature stereotypes and sometimes racist-seeming facial features really bothered me.

 

[patty57]

Epcot absolutely could use a major upgrade as far as Future World and more attractions. With that said, the World Showcase doesn't offend me, and I'm definitely not insulted by Spaceship Earth. In fact, I always email the goofy post card from the ending to someone or other. It's a theme park for Pete's sake.

 

[wfjny]

The only thing that offends me in WS is the lack of progress there.

Totally get, Disney is a company, companies need to make money, yada, yada, yada.

However, in a perfect world, I would love to see more countries added.

Now, if you really want me to nit-pick, I could say that I have seen quite a few areas that could use more attention. More cleaning, perhaps some new coats of paint. It is not exactly the Disney world that I remember from years ago. But then again, who knows if my memories are exactly correct…

However, I digress. With the wealth of channels on TV today, from travel channel to history and discovery, I wish some of the countries would replace their “movies” with more rides. They do not have to be E ticket Rides, but my 8 year old would rather go on another Mexico style boat ride than sit thru a Circlevision 360 movie about Canada.

Other countries suggested in the past, Switzerland pavilion with a Matterhorn roller coaster, Russia, Venezuela, Spain, Israel, South Africa.

The other issue with WS, IMHO, is that with the internet today, you can buy anything from anywhere. There is nothing today that you can only buy in Japan, but is also available in EPCOT. For example, when I used to travel to London, I used to bring home Kit Kat bars. In the US, they are made by Hershey’s, but in the rest of the world, they are made by Nestlé. It was just one of those novelty “things you can’t get here”.

Well, two years ago, I walked into my local grocery store, and in the international section, guess what they had? British Kit Kats.

Sorry for the long winded response, but my point is, I love EPCOT. I love the variety of food. However, I think this park will steadily decline unless they spruce it up. Adding new countries and adding new attractions to existing countries would be steps in the right direction. While events like the wine and food are nice, after a while interest in them will diminish as well.

 

[oscarsmummy]

I love Epcot, as someone said its not a museum its a theme park.

 

[Nole95]

It is really hard to find a starker contrast than between the timeless charm of MK and the sad, outdated 1980s retro-futurism of Epcot. The place looks like it came out of a bad Jetson's episode. I felt insulted by the choose your future ending of spaceship earth. Horizons at least treated the issue seriously.

As for the World Showcase...does anyone else find it borderline offensive? Mariachis in Mexico. Pagodas and forbidden palace architecture in China?

You do know that each country had a say so in the design of their building, and also send representatives to work at Epcot. Do you not think if the people with input in the planning were offended that it would have been built a little differently?

 

[allforpooh]

This is totally my opinion, but I love the old favorites. The rides, shows etc. my kids are grown now but when we are there it brings back all of the fun times we had visiting when they were younger. I wouldn't mind a few new things, but I would hate to see some of the older stuff go. Count me as one of those people who like the movies.

As for the them being offensive, no way. When we go to Mexico they also have these types of activities for tourists so how can it be offensive. I also don't see how you could cover all of the different parts of every country.

Denise

 

[skater]

I would love to see some upgrades at Epcot. But its by far my favorite park. Here are a few of my favorite things :

Entrance music
Soarin'
Club Cool
The big fountain (can't remember the name)
Mouse Gears
Cast members in World Showcase (I could start a whole thread with stories from here)
The goofiness of the ride in Mexico
Living with the Land
Sunshine Seasons
The bakery in France
Illuminations
Green tea in Japan
Smelling the Laila in Norway
Frozen margaritas in Mexico
The music that changes every few yards
Candy in Japan
The beautiful landscaping in Canada

Could Epcot be improved? Yep. But there's truly no other place like it.

 

[loveDisneyinTN]

Epcot is my favorite. Not sad or offensive in the least.

 

[lugnut33]

I love Epcot, as someone said its not a museum its a theme park.

I love Epcot too, but I'm upset they don't spend some money on it.