Epcot was Disney's third theme park, and the first not to follow the "Magic Kingdom" template. A sort of permanent world's fair, with one half devoted to corporate-sponsored technology exhibits and the other half a showcase of world nations, Epcot was and remains the world's most "non-fiction" theme park. It also lacks roller coasters and many other carnival ride staples found in most theme parks, further distinguishing the park.
But what most makes Epcot unique, I think, is the fact that a case can be made that the park was better when it opened 30 years ago than it is today. Here's the opening-day line-up of pavilions:
Future World
World Showcase
And here's what we have today:
Future World
World Showcase
Personally, I think Epcot hit its peak after the opening of the original (and all-time best version of) IllumiNations in 1988 and Wonders of Life in 1989. (I'm also partial to 1989 because that's when my then-future wife played in the Disney All-American College Orchestra. I also miss the early-morning rush to make restaurant reservations for the day by speaking with a Disney host via closed-circuit TV. Hey, for most of us, that was the first time in our lives and the only place in the world to experience video chat.)
More than any other park, Epcot suffered in Disney's late-1990s scorched-Earth management, which eliminated leads, closed locations or replaced them with cheaper alternates, and dismissed entertainment extras throughout the resort (including the college orchestra). And then there was the wand, the visual abomination that lorded over Spaceship Earth from 1999 - 2007, to be followed by the funeral Leave a Legacy that today clutters the park's once handsome entry plaza.
We've dissected Epcot's current condition before. Now, for our vote of the week, please tell us when you think Epcot was at its best, or if you think the park's at its best today.
As always, thank you for reading Theme Park Insider, and for supporting the site with every "like" and "share" and retweet. And let's not forget this, too: Happy Birthday, Epcot.
Hmmmm.
Happy birthday, Epcot. My present for you will be a little late as I am 'doing Disney' the week of the 8th-12th of October. But it'll be the same present as always; the contents of my wallet, 401K, Swiss bank account, and my first and second born.
The food and drink is great at Epcot and although I miss Communicore, I like the new Innoventions. It is time for a new nighttime spectacular and they could enlarge several of the countries to have much more to do.
Norway's attraction was really a disappointment to me. I thought the tech was great but the ride lasted only a moment.
The CircleVISION show in China was superb, as was the preshow entertainment.
Yes, there is room to improve, but that is what makes it fun to keep coming back and seeing Disney shine...again and again. Gosh! I love that mouse.
I guess Soarin' (which I think is already amazing) could be refurbished and become HD but that's the only thing I'd change.
To be honest, when I read about Epcot, I thought I'd be bored to death when visiting. Turned out to become one of my favorite in Disney World.
Can we have the same debate about any of the other top (Disney, Universal, Busch) theme parks in the US or the world?
I doubt it.
While some may take the position that Epcot was so good when it opened that it would be extremely difficult to improve, I beg to differ. Epcot was born of a flawed series of compromises, and it will continue to be the ugly stepsister of the Disney parks until a major redesign and a huge infusion of cash ($1-2 billion) fixes the problems.
Right now the attendance numbers have Epcot at 63-64% of the attendace of the Magic Kingdon with DHS and AK trailing slightly behind. Any improvements to DHS and AK (both parks which can be easily improved) will vault those parks above Epcot in attendance, and emphasize the fundamental flaws in Epcot.
Will Disney make major improvements to Epcot? Likely not. They will put their money in the parks where they can get the biggest bang for the buck and pull in the attendance, and as long as Epcot is trouncing the Universal parks in attendance, they will just keep putting patches on it.
I still enjoy Epcot...... if for no other reason.... just to have a nice meal at one of the many food establishments that set a much higher bar than any other theme parks.
1) World of Motion and Horizons were in the spirit of what Epcot was all about. Those attractions closed to be replaced by thrill rides. The former rides made Epcot to be a unique park. The latter rides took away that uniqueness.
2) Spaceship Earth was better before those silly cartoons were included on the last part of the ride.
3) Eric Idle was very funny when he was part of the Monty Pythons, but he looks out of place in Journey Into Imagination. This ride had better days. Now, if they hire Terry Gilliam to design a ride called Journey into Monty Pythons' Imagination (based on his cartoons), then we have something.
4) Honey I Shrunk the Audience was better than the outdated Captain Eo.
5) The Nemo ride is a cheap substitute to the much better attraction that preceded this one.
6) The boat ride at the Mexican pavillion was more authentic with Rio del Tiempo; with the addition of Donald and friends it became a kiddie ride. I thought Epcot was for adults!
The Food and Wine Festival and Soaring are the only new additions that I like.
I was at EPCOT Center on opening day.
Thirty years later I think it is a significantly better park than it was on opening day.
Thank you. Tip your waitresses. Drive home safely.
I'm pretty nostalgic for the 80's Epcot but the park was a lot more boring before adding more alcohol and thrill rides.
Even thinking about Epcot as an educational park is disturbing since all the pavilions had corporate sponsors. Yes, Exxon sponsoring Universe of Energy?
It's not like Exxon was named in any bad news stories during the late 80s...
Then I read the longer version of the question...
Short answer: Before Disney figured out that the rubes would still pay, even if they did little to keep the park up, spent even less on holiday decorations, and cared more about what attractions they could close than they did on potential new attractions.
Does it bother anyone else that Disney is spending more money on renovating restaurants at Epcot that they do on renovating attractions?
What other theme park in the country has clients who are willing to pay $80 to get in, to then go to a food establishment inside of the theme park and pay $80 ish for a meal and consider that one of the biggest attractions?
If there's anything that disppoints me about EPCOT, it would be the time it takes to revamp attractions. Most of the ride and attraction platforms in the park were designed to be easily update-able, and provide for easy tweaks to keep up with the times. In fact, Horizons, was so innovative, it was the first "choose your own adventure" attraction that has become of hallmark of any long-lasting ride (ToT, Star Tours, Haunted Mansion, etc...). However, even with that forward-thinking modular design, park management got lazy when it came to giving guests new and fresh experiences in the park. It took 15 years to get any of the World Showcase movies updated, and FutureWorld was quickly passed by the present in the 90's as attractions became stale faster than Apple updates the iPhone.
Today's EPCOT is not perfect, but it appears that Disney is trying a bit harder to stay ahead of the curve. A revitalized TestTrack should balance out the popularity of Soarin', which will hopefully get it's own non-California-based film, and Mission Space will also get an updated experience (something promised by Imagineers when the ride opened 9 years ago). I think everyone understands the difficulty in updating animatronic-based attractions, but when you're projecting images on screens, thee's no excuse for being behind the times.
Perhaps Disney has held a "if it's not broken, don't fix it" attutide towards EPCOT, since it still ranks as one of the most profitable Disney parks (between special events, dining experiences, and sponsorships, EPCOT probably rakes in the cash like no other park), but the attendance dip at the turn of the millennium made WDW understand that they can't just let the park stagnate and expect people to keep coming back.
Through the years, EPCOT has changed, but I think the essence of Walt's dream remains as a cross between World's Fair and international exchange. The park is not as dynamic as some would like, but it's still easily my favorite park to return to day after day.
I am a frequent visitor from London and have been returning every year for the last 20 years, without doubt EPCOT is the best park, Universal can learn from this, you dont need big brand names like transformers or marvel, what you do need is imagination and vision which Disney have in spades over universal. If i had to put it in a nutshell Disney is the Jules Verne to Universals Micheal Bay, one is a classic the other just another action movie. Im very happy that all the EPCOT fans have come out to support the park. A good face lift and nip and tuck would not go a miss and EPCOT will be as fresh and new as ever, Univerese of energy needs a update with film and new theme, Get rid of Captain NEO please, bring back orginal Figmant or at least give it a revamp, Bullet Train ride in Japan ( No coasters please ) . UK how about a London Eye. Canada Grizzley Rapids, China needs a new ride alond with Morroco, France. And the US Pavilion what a wasted oppertunity, THe US being pioneers of technology should have a much more grand expereince of the diverese cutlure and contribution to the world.
When Future World opened, had attractions that talked about how great the future would be and the wonderful technology that would be available to us in the both the near and the distant future. This became even more true when Horizons opened, with its whole theme of "If We Can Dream It, We Can Do It".
Around 20 years ago, Disney made the decision to stop trying to predict the future with its attractions. The reason was logical enough, the tech predictions kept either coming true or becoming out dated. This meant that attractions based on showing the future had to be replaced or refurbished often (or at least more often than other non future predicting attractions), so it was deemed more cost efficient to go another direction. The result of this is that we no longer see attractions like Horizons or the old House of Future Living that was once located on the exit speed ramp in Space Mountain. This is also the reason the Tomorrowland in the Magic Kingdom is themed to past visions of the future.
I understand that designing this sort of attraction would be much harder today. Besides the cost issues involved, we have become so jaded and accustomed to rapid progress that we are not an easy audience to wow. Sadly, we seem to have lost our sense of wonder where the future is concerned. But even knowing that, I wish Disney would try build such an attraction again. A sense of wonder for the future is a wonderful gift, and I believe Future World (and Tomorrowland for that matter) are less wonderful without an attraction that offers us that gift.
When Future World opened, had attractions that talked about how great the future would be and the wonderful technology that would be available to us in the both the near and the distant future. This became even more true when Horizons opened, with its whole theme of "If We Can Dream It, We Can Do It".
Around 20 years ago, Disney made the decision to stop trying to predict the future with its attractions. The reason was logical enough, the tech predictions kept either coming true or becoming out dated. This meant that attractions based on showing the future had to be replaced or refurbished often (or at least more often than other non future predicting attractions), so it was deemed more cost efficient to go another direction. The result of this is that we no longer see attractions like Horizons or the old House of Future Living that was once located on the exit speed ramp in Space Mountain. This is also the reason the Tomorrowland in the Magic Kingdom is themed to past visions of the future.
I understand that designing this sort of attraction would be much harder today. Besides the cost issues involved, we have become so jaded and accustomed to rapid progress that we are not an easy audience to wow. Sadly, we seem to have lost our sense of wonder where the future is concerned. But even knowing that, I wish Disney would try build such an attraction again. A sense of wonder for the future is a wonderful gift, and I believe Future World (and Tomorrowland for that matter) are less wonderful without an attraction that offers us that gift.
It's great to have a park that is not just rides and people running around like mad, a place you actually learn something while having fun is great.
I like the world showcase, but having gone to a lot of the countries feel it could be more of an experience and not just shops and restaurants. I really want to feel and learn about a culture that I would never be able to experience.
Epcot is still great and probably pretty unique in the whole world. Is it better now or then, probably now with all the new rides, but then because it was new. Tough one!
Yes, Disney doesn't need that, they had imagineers that were able to create new characters for those attractions, they did amazing, but now they have left the company. But the "Disney fans" demand them and the sales peeps want to print them on the "souvenirs" that aren't park specific anymore.
My first visit to EPCOT was amazing. I absolutely loved it. Then they removed Horizons and redid Imagination with inferior replacements. I never felt Test Track could have been their best effort. Subsequent newer additions at Tokyo and California Adventurer proved that to be true.
EPCOT is sadly declining.
Let your voice be heard through the proper in park channels. Disney will get the message. Just yesterday, at the 30th Anniversary event, I read that Marty Sklar announced he is very happy about future development plans for Epcot and we should hear about them "soon". Mr. Sklar was there from the beginning, so if he is happy, I think fans have some excellent things to look forward to concerning this somewhat maligned park.
That said, I think EPCOT needs to do something with the Body pavilion as well as adding at least 2 more legitimate countries to the back of the park. Spain and Russia could be the inspiration for some fantastic looking architecture.
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