Fixing EPCOT

For those who may not know, EPCOT (formerly known as Epcot Center) is part of the Walt Disney World resort complex in Florida. The "giant golf ball", as it is sometimes known from its flagship globe, is the only permanent World's Fair of human knowledge, technology, art and travel. This was where I first saw computers, videophones, cell phones, hydroponics and Segways. Under the username "epkat" I've been posting a lot to EPCOT Central, a blog for fans of the Disney park to post their dissatisfaction with the management direction in the past ten years, and who have high hopes that John Lasseter of Pixar will fix it now that he's in charge of the parks.

EPCOT is still great, despite the efforts of the current management to strip it of all that it was ever meant to accomplish. The blog keeps reminding me of little details, like the way they artificially pumped a musty museum smell into the leg of the globe as the ride cars ascend the steep slope in darkness, traveling into the past. I recall the laser display projecting the map of the earth spinning on the exterior of the globe when the park closes.

It is a park for geeks. In the way that it's perceived in the culture, there is a sense there just aren't enough people interested in the wonders of science, technology, history and geography to sustain it. Supposedly the money is all to be found in thrill rides and cartoon characters, which is why Disney started replacing everything with that ever since the mid 90's.

On more than one occasion, cast members in Walt Disney World told me in casual conversations that Epcot Center was signifigantly the least-attended of the parks. (This is no longer the case, if it ever was.) I love the wonder of education and the beauty of global inspiration as much as the next geek, but Disney is running a business, so the numbers that matter are ticket numbers. If it is the whole point and nature of Epcot Center to be a park for geeks, and there just are not enough of us geeks, then the business suits have to change it to something that is no longer really EPCOT. The satisfaction of EPCOT fans does not, in and of itself, necessarily turn a profit if there are not enough EPCOT fans. Thrill rides and cartoon characters do turn a profit. I don't like it, but whether or not I like it only matters if I have hundreds of millions to donate to the park at my own financial loss.

As Homer once said in an episode of the Simpsons, while he flew above Epcot Center, "Oh no, it even looks boring from the sky!" It might be... just might be... that there are not enough people interested in the knowledge and cultures of the human race to sustain the park. We might be a nation and a world of Homer Simpsons. That's where the problem is, and if I were Disney management I don't know how I could change that with any amount of advertising.

In reality, EPCOT is the second-best attended Disney park in the country after the Magic Kingdom itself, and attendance is skyrocketing.

But shutting down the entire Wonders Of Life pavilion that contained Body Wars and Cranium Command is a blow to the spirit. Yet another example of narrative entertainment with lots of animatronic characters and cool projection effects is gone, just like Journey Into Imagination, just like Kitchen Kabaret, just like Horizons. They only tear down the EPCOT attractions that they got right, and replace them with inexpensive and unimaginative attractions designed by committee. They are giving up on the sort of experience that EPCOT is about.

EPCOT has a reputation for being good for you, and therefore boring. No, church is boring. The park has provoked a wide range of emotions in me, but boredom has not been one of them. The dinosaurs in the Energy pavilion terrified me. I have experienced intense sadness and even tears while wasting precious time at mis-communicated rendevous points waiting for my family members. I've laughed in EPCOT Center more times than I can count. I have been in love in EPCOT, in World Showcase with R. The American Adventure inspired me with pride in my country. I've had my portrait painted by robots, my prejudices challenged when I was hit on by a gay staff member, my mind expanded by the cultures of the world, and I've rarely felt so alive as I have during the millenium parade and musical fireworks spectacle of Illuminations.

From the one side I heard the message I was getting from church and the private religious schools. From the other side I heard the message I was getting from EPCOT, and its motivation was more honest, its vision more beautiful, its friendship more inclusive, its hope more inspiring. In the face of all the religious misanthropy I grew up surrounded with, this park took a stand for the best of you, my friends, my species. It made me who I am today.

One thing I have never been in Epcot Center is bored.

Comments

paranthropus on Apr. 4, 2006 4:44 AM

They shut down the Wonders of Life pavilion? That sucks.

I share your love of Epcot, and I've seen it inside and out, top and bottom. I've been in the tunnels under World Showcase, the HUGE cast wardrobe area, VIP dining room at the Living Seas, and the imagineers' amazingly cool studio building behind Horizons (uh, I mean that space ride, whatever it's called). Of all the parks, it's my favorite. It was built on grand inspiration from a time before Disney became a public corporation, controlled by small-minded stock-watchers.

Now that I think about it, the best thing about Epcot, to me, is that it is constantly changing. Disney uses the park as a staging area for all types of events and keeps swapping out exhibits, particularly in the Communicore area. The reason is pure business: to keep showing the public something fresh and new. The impression it leaves is that the present is impermanent, that change is constant and for the better.

Except when they go and open a themed Coca Cola "refreshment station'. Blah.

Hopefully Lasseter will give a boost to the Imagineers. WDI is a smart bunch, though. They don't need new leadership as much as the chance (and the budget) to stretch their creativity. They did a great job with the Tokyo Seas park, which was financed by outside money, as I understand it. WDI alumni also helped design Universal's Islands of Adventure. Much more lowbrow than Epcot, but well done nonetheless. John Lasseter is brilliant, but what does he know about theme parks, really?

matt-arnold on Apr. 4, 2006 1:34 PM

Lasseter doesn't have to come up with the ideas himself. I think the hope is that he actually understands the park experience in a way that the MBAs currently in charge supposedly do not; that he just knows quality when he sees it, the way those attending the park do. He will hopefully be able to get away with rubber-stamping much more brave creative decisions from WDI, based on his personality clout. But it would be an improvement if he allocates enough of a budget to maintainance for attractions that already exist. I'm imagining him disembarking the Spaceship Earth ride and saying "somebody fix those squeaking wheels!" Because, you know, he'll actually ride the rides.

I actually enjoyed the Coca Cola refreshment station. Finding out what soft drinks taste like in other parts of the world was really neat, and partially inspired our OpenCola project at Penguicon. I recall an apertif soft drink from Italy which I sampled there. My family was amazed that it tasted so foul. But it's an acquired taste. Since none of us had ever had any alcohol, we had no idea what an apertif was!

Remind me to show you Walt Disney Imagineering: A Behind the Dreams Look At Making the Magic Real. As you can see from the preview that Amazon gives you, it's full of wonderful concept art, including two-page spreads of photos of a huge scale model of EPCOT Center.

Anonymous on Dec. 7, 2007 1:39 PM — the few changes that are true to EPCOT

I agree with many of your statements but when you said "They only tear down the EPCOT attractions that they got right, and replace them with inexpensive and unimaginative attractions designed by committee. They are giving up on the sort of experience that EPCOT is about." I can't agree 100% with you. Mission: Space uses cutting edge technology, houses a NASA moon rover, and has costed an estimated $100 Million to build. It certainly isn't Horizons but wouldn't you agree it's a cutting edge and essential installment to Future World? The Loss of the Living Seas was a tradgedy and is 100% irrelevent to EPCOT, but I believe Mission: Space and Test Track (which fufils Walt's dream of testing new products through what was going to be his future city) are important modern elements to Future World that truely expand the horizons of the future.