Epcot Looks Run Down In Many Areas - Especially Bathrooms

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I thought America's was still nice when I was there in early March but United Kingdom and Morocco definitely need some work done in them.

And the one near the front of Epcot inside the park - that was in bad shape too.

 

[Planogirl]

We were bored and disappointed with Epcot last December. The place looks dated and there isn't much to do unless you like to shop a lot.

 

[ILoveMyDVC]

I actually have a lot of nostalgia when I go to Epcot. Part of me loves that it looks just like it did when I first fell in love with it when I visited as a kid. Perhaps we should call it EPCO1985.

Except for those hideous gravestone like things at the entrance. Bring back the flowers!

 

[GPC0321]

I actually have a lot of nostalgia when I go to Epcot. Part of me loves that it looks just like it did when I first fell in love with it when I visited as a kid. Perhaps we should call it EPCO1985.

I fell in love with it back then too, but on this recent return after a long absence, Future World in particular felt very...sad. We rode pretty much everything except Test Track (which I realize is the ONLY thing some people would want to ride there right now with Soarin' down), and it just felt kind of pitiful.
The World Showcase was still pretty nice, especially with the F&G stuff, but it wouldn't be a "must do" for every trip for me.

I only remember one NASTY bathroom on our trip and that was in MK. It was just littered and dirty from guests though.

 

[DisneyFan32WI]

What is is with people and bathrooms?????????

Yeah, I don't get this either. I spend maybe 2 minutes in one. I do my thing, wash my hands and I'm out! I don't spend any time staring at the ceiling, tiles, hardware, etc. to even notice.

My biggest eyesore with Epcot is probably the abandoned restaurant near Test Track. Such wasted space! They could put another ride there.

 

[Hannahinwonderland]

Epcot is still my second favorite park, but only on days right after I've been paid when I have money to burn in WS. Although state of bathrooms isn't important to me...it's still an indicator of money invested. If you spend a lot of money in the park, you want to at least have a nice place to use the bathroom.

 

[KristinU]

That's funny, because just today I was thinking that the bathrooms I used looked pretty good considering all of the flak lately. I used the one to the right under Spaceship Earth (which clearly has been redone fairly recently), the one at Innoventions West (an attendant was in there restocking soap and towels), and the one at the Odyssey location. All we clean and stocked and not falling apart.

ETA: not doubting the OP, just saying that I was expecting terrible conditions based on recent posts and was consciously pleased.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

EPCOT needs some help, but we just returned yesterday and didn't have a problem with any bathrooms in any park. YMMV

I think Disney may have gotten a lot of complaints about bathrooms recently and that they are doing something about it. For our February trip, the bathrooms were dirtier than I have ever seen them- especially at MK.

Last week, it was a rare bathroom I went in that did not have a CM inside cleaning. In one bathroom there was a CM with a clipboard doing a bathroom check. It seemed to me that Disney is listening to the complaints about dirty bathrooms.

 

[Sevey13]

Here's my Armchair Imagineering for my conceptually favorite park: bring a new attraction to each country.

In Mexico: A live swashbuckling adventure show featuring a Zorro-like character taking down a baddie in the Mexican village. A real Errol Flynn type thing with people swinging from chandeliers and curtains.
In Norway: Already changing.
In China: Put in a Panda Preserve. In our popular consciousness, pandas are very much associated with China (in fact, the Chinese govt. owns all pandas in the world. In order to exhibit a panda, you have to pay royalties to the Communist Party every year. There's your knowledge drop for the day). Imagine going through a pagoda out front and then emerging in the back into a lush Chinese rainforest, complete with a waterfall, with 'local workers' protecting the pandas from poachers. Pandas are conspicuously absent from AK.
In Germany: Give me a good, next-gen dark ride based on the fairy tales and legends associated with the Black Forest. The Black Forest is even today important to the German spirit, and many of the fairy tales Disney uses can be traced back to Germanic roots. But don't make it 'friendship is magic' like the MK. Give it a little bit of a darker bend, like late '90s Tim Burton.
In Italy: I'll take a nice Omni-mover people eater with some good old fashioned animatronics giving us a crash course in the Roman Empire, but with that tongue-in-cheek style that you might have seen in World of Motion. Going from room-to-room following a person as he gets up to hijinks in the market, the senate, etc.
USA: Hehehe. If I could make one single change, it would be to gut the American Adventure show and start from scratch. Its view of US history may have been ok for the '60s, but our understanding of our own story has changed drastically since EPCOT open. That show is so filled with half-truths presented as fact (example: there was NO SNOW at Valley Forge in reality, but not according the show!) and really only tells the "American Adventure" from the white perspective. Get a diverse team together to re-write it. Keep Ben Franklin and Mark Twain, keep it as an animatronic show, but add a third narrator and some new scenes. And get a team together that can help round out our story so that it is more truly American.
Japan: I would love to resurrect the Godzilla roller coaster. I would also settle for an expanded Japanese garden, especially if there was a portion indoors that was "always night" like the Mexico pavilion. Imagine that! Beautiful paper lanterns coloring the babbling streams and koi ponds.
Morocco: Look up "Fortress Explorations" at Tokyo DisneySea. Do something like that, but set in a fortress in Morocco with appropriate rooms. Add a scavenger hunt/quest component so it becomes Tom Sawyer's Island meets Wilderness Explorers. That pavilion is all about exploring the nooks and cranies. This would plus size that immensely.
In France:

In UK: The least possible, but get that Lord of the Rings license and build a Mines of Moria adventure. The Dwarves come to get Bilbo and head out on a new quest. They run into a few 'old friends' and come up against the Balrog before escaping.
In Canada: Do an attraction based on the legends of the Northern Lights told by the Inuit populations in the north.

If I had a gazillion dollars, that's what I would do! I love EPCOT so much. Every attraction that currently exists there I really do like. Spaceship Earth is still my favorite in all WDW. It makes me sad that it gets so neglected.

 

[momof2n2]

Here's my Armchair Imagineering for my conceptually favorite park: bring a new attraction to each country.

In Mexico: A live swashbuckling adventure show featuring a Zorro-like character taking down a baddie in the Mexican village. A real Errol Flynn type thing with people swinging from chandeliers and curtains.
In Norway: Already changing.
In China: Put in a Panda Preserve. In our popular consciousness, pandas are very much associated with China (in fact, the Chinese govt. owns all pandas in the world. In order to exhibit a panda, you have to pay royalties to the Communist Party every year. There's your knowledge drop for the day). Imagine going through a pagoda out front and then emerging in the back into a lush Chinese rainforest, complete with a waterfall, with 'local workers' protecting the pandas from poachers. Pandas are conspicuously absent from AK.
In Germany: Give me a good, next-gen dark ride based on the fairy tales and legends associated with the Black Forest. The Black Forest is even today important to the German spirit, and many of the fairy tales Disney uses can be traced back to Germanic roots. But don't make it 'friendship is magic' like the MK. Give it a little bit of a darker bend, like late '90s Tim Burton.
In Italy: I'll take a nice Omni-mover people eater with some good old fashioned animatronics giving us a crash course in the Roman Empire, but with that tongue-in-cheek style that you might have seen in World of Motion. Going from room-to-room following a person as he gets up to hijinks in the market, the senate, etc.
USA: Hehehe. If I could make one single change, it would be to gut the American Adventure show and start from scratch. Its view of US history may have been ok for the '60s, but our understanding of our own story has changed drastically since EPCOT open. That show is so filled with half-truths presented as fact and really only tells the "American Adventure" from the white perspective. Get a diverse team together to re-write it. Keep Ben Franklin and Mark Twain, but add a third narrator. And get a team together that can help round out our story so that it is more truly American.
Japan: I would love to resurrect the Godzilla roller coaster. I would also settle for an expanded Japanese garden, especially if there was a portion indoors that was "always night" like the Mexico pavilion. Imagine that! Beautiful paper lanterns coloring the babbling streams and koi ponds.
Morocco: Look up "Fortress Explorations" at Tokyo DisneySea. Do something like that, but set in a fortress in Morocco with appropriate rooms. Add a scavenger hunt/quest component so it becomes Tom Sawyer's Island meets Wilderness Explorers. That pavilion is all about exploring the nooks and cranies. This would plus size that immensely.
In France:

In UK: The least possible, but get that Lord of the Rings license and build a Mines of Moria adventure. The Dwarves come to get Bilbo and head out on a new quest. They run into a few 'old friends' and come up against the Balrog before escaping.
In Canada: Do an attraction based on the legends of the Northern Lights told by the Inuit populations in the north.

If I had a gazillion dollars, that's what I would do! I love EPCOT so much. Every attraction that currently exists there I really do like. Spaceship Earth is still my favorite in all WDW. It makes me sad that it gets so neglected.

With the exception of America, I'd pay DOUBLE to see the park you describe. But I won't bet a dollar we'll ever get any if it.

 

[L&Lfan]

Except for those hideous gravestone like things at the entrance. Bring back the flowers!

Another Disney money grab. Stupid gravestones.

 

[summerw]

Innoventions smells like sewage and I saw tons of ridiculously worn toilet seats.

 

[Sevey13]

With the exception of America, I'd pay DOUBLE to see the park you describe. But I won't bet a dollar we'll ever get any if it.

Hehe...I've had plans for Star Wars land since the second they announced Disney bought Lucas back a few years ago. First thing I thought was "OMG they're gonna add more Star Wars to the park!" Imagineering never called me back

 

[cruisingtwins]

What is is with people and bathrooms?????????

Is the only place in the parks I take my pants off so I prefer bathrooms that are on decent conditions.

 

[zaccaglin]

That's a shame about the washrooms in America. Aren't they just a few years old?

The ones on the right hand side of the pavilion (near the gift shop) are. The ones on the left next to the restaurant and original to 1982.

 

[k8Davies]

Is the only place in the parks I take my pants off so I prefer bathrooms that are on decent conditions.

lol, I never thought of it that way but true

 

[Disneylover99]

The ones on the right hand side of the pavilion (near the gift shop) are. The ones on the left next to the restaurant and original to 1982.

I thought the washrooms beside the restaurant closed when the new washrooms by the gift shop opened. Are the old ones still opened?

 

[cjparker0110]

It sounds like some of the bathrooms are in better shape than others. This is pretty normal when you get to be 30+ years old. Being Disney, I'm honestly surprised if they haven't done something to fix up the bad ones, whether that is redoing the tile or rebuilding the entire bathroom from scratch, or just polishing a bit. Even the most money hungry parks try to keep bathrooms looking nice because it is one place people will complain about. People are forgiving of trash on the ground (as long as it isn't too much) because they know it is other "guests" throwing stuff around. They are forgiving of graffiti for the same reason. They are even forgiving of bad food, dirty tables at fast service places and broken down rides. But people aren't forgiving of bathrooms for some reason. I spent four years working in an amusement/theme park and found that I got more complaints about bathrooms than anything else, and I wasn't even close to a bathroom most of those years! I imagine that if enough people complain that they will fix up the bathrooms. As for me, as long as the toilets are safe to sit on and the floor isn't covered with urine (I seriously don't understand that being so common in some places) then I'm ok.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Is the only place in the parks I take my pants off ...

Ahh, so you're not even trying to have fun.

 

[anniemae]

Yeah, Epcot needs a little help. It is a bit out dated in many areas. Disney is probably thinking, "why bother?" at this point. Attendance is up, and the current state of the parks, (worn looking, construction, closures etc.) has not only hurt attendance, it seems to have increased it.