World Showcase is too dark at night!

[montessori]

We had a fantastic time at the Food and Wine Festival this past weekend. The weather was gorgeous and we sampled lots of good food.
We've been to Epcot many, many times at night and I just don't remember it being so poorly lit. It was too dark!
The area around Italy is brightly lit, maybe a little too bright. Yet I preferred that over the darkness everywhere else.
I don't want the showcase flooded with lights but I do wish they had more lighting on the trees and flowers...just more "ambience" lighting.
Some areas seemed to have almost no lighting and it just didn't feel lively and festive.
Has anyone else noticed this...or is it just me?

 

[DMS_cruisers04]

the sun goes down and it gets dark. Nope, hadn't noticed that

Seriously, does anyone think it had anything to do with the F&W Fest? I mean, toning it down so that all those lovely bugs they have in FL weren't to bad. JAT

 

[montessori]

"the sun goes down and it gets dark. "
Right and I hate when that happens!!

Maybe they did tone it down for the Festival. I'll see how it is when we're there for Christmas!

 

[disneysteve]

Actually, I don't think its related to Food and Wine. I've noticed it in the past at other times, though it never really bothered me.

I've also notice that Future World can be quite dark at nite, especially near closing time. Kind of eerie walking through there on the way out of the park - not down the center past the fountain, but off to the side by Test Track/Space/Wonders of Life.

Steve

 

[wuv tigger]

Maybe Michael Eisner's bonus this year is tied to electricity usage?

David

 

[jonsmom57]

I absolutely agree. Last year my husband I and thought it was poorly lit and didnt enjoy it after sundown. We couldnt really see anything!

 

[madscrapper]

I agree as well...the atmosphere was nice except I had a much harder time keeping track of my kids.
Jeannine

 

[jaysue]

This was the first time we were in Epcot after dark and come to think of it it was quite dark especially around Mexico/Norway

It did not bother us at the time, but some ambient lighting would be nice

thanks
jaysue

 

[DebbieB]

It used to be they lit the torches at dark but now they wait until 8:30pm.

 

[skiwee1]

We were there last month during the F&W festival and also noticed how dark it was. I mean it was really hard to see where you were walking. I don't ever remember it being that dark and we have been during the F&W festival 3 times before and in May also. Never has the promenade been like this. You could not enjoy any of the sights or buildings much less see who was in front of you. I was hoping it was just a temporary, as in that one night, problem but after reading everyone elses posts I guess not.

 

[jfulcer]

Ok, the voice of dissent here, but I kinda like it being less 'Illuminated' (ba-dump-bump).

I think it adds to the night time 'feel' of the park - the mystique. Yeah, you can't really 'see' all the detailing, but that is what the day is for.

The night (IMHO and before my kids) was for a post-Illuminations leisurely stroll through the WS - drinking some wine (or hot chocolate) , enjoying the quiet, the views, the lighting. Ok, I know, it's mushy but it's a little romantic IMHO.

It gives the park a totally different feel than you would get if they had halogen lamps lighting everything up. Don't you think that if you were walking down the streets of Morrocco or London at night in a large number of places you'd get that <i>extact</i> same feel? I like to imagine so.

 

[susy]

I agree that it is too dark!

 

[cleo]

How funny to see this post! The last time I was there I kept thinking 'isn't it much darker here than it used to be?' It was noticably darker the two nights I was there than it had been in the past. I thought perhaps it was because they had a big wall up as they were preparing for the Food and Wine Festival, getting that tented area up (where they do the seminars).

Strange. Good to know it's not my eyes going now that I'm getting 'older'.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by jfulcer
Ok, the voice of dissent here, but I kinda like it being less 'Illuminated' (ba-dump-bump).

I think it adds to the night time 'feel' of the park - the mystique. Yeah, you can't really 'see' all the detailing, but that is what the day is for.

The night (IMHO and before my kids) was for a post-Illuminations leisurely stroll through the WS - drinking some wine (or hot chocolate) , enjoying the quiet, the views, the lighting. Ok, I know, it's mushy but it's a little romantic IMHO.

It gives the park a totally different feel than you would get if they had halogen lamps lighting everything up. Don't you think that if you were walking down the streets of Morrocco or London at night in a large number of places you'd get that <i>extact</i> same feel? I like to imagine so.

I join you in the dissent. It does not seem any darker to me then any other time. I find it very romantic.

 

[LoveMickey]

I Think it's romantic.

 

[scrump]

I can't confirm this, but I had heard before that WDW will cut costs during the off-season, so certain areas/attractions seem dimly lit or not at max capacity/volume, etc.

I do remember being there about five years ago, and our stay was split between an off-season and high-season time, and there was a noticeable change practically to the exact day (can't say for sure because I only noticed the dates after i got back). The interior of Splash Mountain seemed really dark the first part of our stay, and was much better lit for the second part, same with "it's a small world" and Epcot. With "small world" the volume of the singing was noticeably higher for the second half of our stay. Did anybody else notice this, or perhaps it was a one-time quirky mechanical difficulty?

 

[Susiesnowflake]

The WS is my favorite place to be at night....very romantic....but I too thought it seemed darker this year.

 

[daisax]

I side with the "too dark" crew -- in fact we remarked on it. We pretty much walked straight through to our dinner at Morocco without doing more than checking out the F+W menus. There were crowds around each place selling the F+W food, and it was so dark you could almost forget the other attractions were there, especially, as somebody said above, in the Mexico/Norway area.

We commented that if it were somebody's first time to Epcot they'd miss a lot, because there was nothing to see to pull you "into" the different countries.

It didn't bother me terribly (we were really hungry at that point, and tired afterwards) but I did say at the time that I was glad that my sister had brought the kids during the day because they <i>really</i> wouldn't have "gotten" the whole countries thing if they showed up at night.

 

[strawberryblonde]

I found it quite dark last Dec.. Romantic without kids, but wait, we have two , I was actually afraid of losing track of them. I made sure to bring lots of glow sticks, necklaces and bracelets. Bracelets are great for around the ankles so you can see which direction they may run off in

 

[LoriZH]

I found it extremely dark too, but I think it's always been that way. It doesn't bother me a bit, hey if I lose one or two of my kids, I still have enough left to compensate