I have a pretty good memory, especially where Disney World is concerned. I have vivid memories of extinct attractions like Horizons, World of Motion, and Mission to Mars, but when I sat down to write this, I realized that I can't remember much about what Innoventions contains. The only thing I know for sure is that the south side of Innoventions West completely empty except for a character greeting area and some bathrooms. So, I did some online research and found this page detailing the twin pavilions' current offerings, and I didn't see one thing that made me think "Wow, I can't wait to see and/or do that!" Well, except for the "Test Drive a Segway" thing, maybe. But if the line is too long, I could skip it without feeling too bad. In fact, that's the problem with Innoventions. You can completely skip it without feeling like you missed anything. Judging by how un-crowded the place usually is, most EPCOT visitors agree with me.
How might Disney turn things around? I really don't know. Before Innoventions, CommuniCore had the same problems. To its credit, Innoventions tries really hard to be educational. There are all kind of neat little activities that kids should enjoy, but they're the kinds of things you see at any childrens' museum. There's simply no attraction or experience there that only Disney could have pulled off.
While I'm talking about the Innoventions pavilions, I've got to take a paragraph and talk about Mouse Gear, the large gift shop that takes up a substantial chunk of the eastern building. The previous occupant of that space was a neat two-level store called Centorium. Centorium carried a selection of general Disney merchandise, of course, but it also had lots of interesting things that could only be found in Future World. Mouse Gear, on the other hand, is a thoroughly generic store that sells the same stuff you can get at any gift shop in Disney World. It carries only the tiniest selection of EPCOT-themed merchandise, and most of that is T-shirts. There is nothing unique about the store AT ALL, and because of that it really sticks out like a sore thumb in EPCOT. After all, the stores in the World Showcase are full of unique and authentic merchandise from the various countries. Check out the large store in Japan; you'll think you've actually crossed the Pacific. It would be nice if Mouse Gear became Centorium again and regained some of that uniqueness.
That's all for this week. Next up: logos and fonts.
To Innovention's credit, it is now home to one of the better Future World attractions: StormStruck. I hope more attractions of that caliber make it to these long forgotten buildings (and, frankly, to the rest of the park).
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more. There's a lot of things in Innoventions that one could find almost anywhere. Perhaps the key to making it relevant is to use Innoventions/Communicore as the place to reinforce the returning of the original theme to Epcot with shows and exhibits one can find no place else. Project Tomorrow is an excellent example of the futuristic and unique environment they can create.
ReplyDeleteI also thought it would be cool to have an exhibit that shows Walt Disney's interest in creating EPCOT, the city. Guests can watch the film he made back in 1966 and then walk through to view the restored model of Progress City. It was a remarkable thing when it was the climactic scene of Carousel of Progress.
I remember as a child spending hours in communicore. Especially where you built your own rollercoaster. I just remember EPCOT being so good and now it's not nearly as appealing. Like a lot of things Disney had built lately, it just meets my expectations and doesn't exceed it. I guess the last attraction that "wow"ed me was Expedition Everest.
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