Oh, to be at EPCOT now that Spring is here . . .

The EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival is in full swing, so my wife and I headed down there last weekend. I thought I’d share some pictures I took while we were there, and for your enjoyment, you can click on each picture to see a larger version.

For an EPCOT Center geek like me the best thing about these special events is that the former Wonders of Life pavilion is open. The attractions are long gone, even their signage has been removed, but you can still see small glimpses of the way the pavilion used to be.

One of the best things that’s happened at EPCOT in the last year or so has been the restoration of the Universe of Energy pavilion to it’s original color scheme. Sadly, it still houses a show only 90’s Kid could love, but at least the pastel rainbow is no more.

Now for some actual Flower and Garden-related stuff. The area behind Innoventions West has been given a nice flower arrangement that features dolphins, stars, and a giant Mickey head.

I took those pictures from the bridge that links the Innoventions area to the Odyssey pavilion, known to today’s EPCOT visitors as a good place to go to the bathroom. Naturally, I couldn’t resist snapping a few pictures of this relic of EPCOT Center.

The bridge between Innoventions and the Odyssey is also a good place to get a picture of Test Track that allows you to imagine you’re really looking at World of Motion, because of the way that the trees almost obscure the ride track that wraps around the building.

As we walked around the World Showcase, we stopped between France and the UK to snap a picture across the lagoon. You can see the Characters in Flight balloon from Downtown Disney peeking over the treetops.

Next, my wife wanted to get some pictures of the fountains in front of the Imagination pavilion’s Magic Eye Theater. Other than the iconic glass pyramids, I believe that the fountains are the only feature of the Imagination pavilion that hasn’t been completely ruined by vicious cost-cutting and the desire to promote a lackluster film franchise nobody remembers or cares about. Of course, now that I’ve said that Team Disney Orlando will probably raze the fountains and replace them with a Dr. Nigel Channing statue.

 

My wife insisted that I sit in front of one of the jumping fountains so she could get a picture of the water jumping over my head, resulting in the only picture of me that I will ever post here. I’m sorry you have to see this.

Next, we relaxed on the Living With The Land boat ride (after a 20 minute wait; the park was very crowded that day!) and my wife took pictures of various Mickey-shaped things along the way.

By this point in the day, we were sunburnt and fatigued, so we decided to call it a day. I paused in Innoventions plaza to take this picture:

I included this picture for two reasons:

1. To illustrate how extremely crowded EPCOT was that day
2. So I could say “Mr Iger, TEAR DOWN THESE TARPS!”

My wife ducked into Mouse Gear to shop a little before we left, and I got this picture of the corpse of Dreamfinder’s Dreammobile.

 

As we headed for the exit, I pasued one last time to take this image of the giraffe topiary outside Project Tomorrow.

There were many, many other Disney character topiaries scattered throughout Future World and the World Showcase, but it was impossible to get a good shot of them because because of how crowded it was. However, I’m sure that there are some very nice pictures of them elsewhere on the Internet, taken by photographers much more capable than myself.

I hope you enjoyed this little pictorial. Thanks for reading!

Two Birds With One Stone (or how to get Horizons back, sort of)

There's a lot of love for Horizons out there, and no shortage of ideas on how to bring it back. Some folks advocate a new Horizons pavilion between The Land and The Seas With Nemo and His Computer-Generated Friends. Others point out that the former Wonders of Life pavilion is sufficiently large, and since it's sitting vacant a new Horizons ride would be a good fit there. A couple weeks ago, a person on one of the message boards I frequent suggested a Horizons-themed eatery be installed in the Odyssey building, with different rooms themed to the various futures presented during the course of the ride (Jules Verne's future, the Neon City future from the '50s, etc.) and I got to thinking: what about converting the Wonders of Life into a huge, immersive Horizons restaurant?


It could be divided into exquisitely-themed areas representing the different "future" environments seen on the ride. You'd check in at the with the maitre'd in the FuturePort, and from there you'd be escorted to your table in one of the restaurant's three main areas: the Nova Cite Concourse, the Mesa Verde Terrace, or the Brava Centuari RefreshmentPort. Utilizing either high-definition or (ideally) glasses-free stereoscopic 3D screens, each area would offer an expansive view of the environment "outside", be it Nova Cite's bustling futuristic metropolis, Mesa Verde's desert oasis (with just the subtlest hint of orangey scent) or the magnificent vista outside the viewport of the Earth-orbiting Brava Centuari station. No, I'm not forgetting the floating city of Sea Castle, but the fact is that Future World already has an underwater restaurant of sorts. However, in my post about the shortcomings of the Coral Reef restaurant, a commenter named Omnispace put forth the intriguing idea of doing away with the Coral Reef altogether and extending the Seas ride-through attraction through there, and if that were to happen (or if the Coral Reef were to close for some other reason, such as declining patronage due to poor-quality food and iffy service) then of course the Horizons Restaurant would not be complete without a Sea Castle section. The "view" through the "windows" could automatically change according to the time of day, so breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the restaurant would each be a unique experience.

None of this is impossible from a technological standpoint. Using technology available in 1998, Industrial Light and Magic created hyper-realistic 3D-modeled environments for Star Wars Episode I. Eleven-and-a-half years later, the technology is much more affordable. Glasses-free stereoscopic 3D screens exist too. Sure, as yet they're not very large, but as technology advances they'll quickly get bigger and less expensive. For the menus, what about building a multitouch system like Microsoft Surface into the tables?

Of course, someone will wonder why in the world EPCOT would need another restaurant. After all, the World Showcase is full of them, and Future World already has two table service and two counter service venues. The last time I was in Future World on Labor Day in 2007, though, they were all packed to capacity at lunchtime (okay, I'm not sure about the Coral Reef, since it's so out-of-the way, but the rest of them definitely were). Even though my wife and I had an ADR at the Garden Grille, we still waited almost twenty minutes for our table. I think another table service eatery in Future World would do pretty well. But, if I'm wrong and attendance figures just wouldn't support a large new restaurant, then I say they should close the Coral Reef. It was a great place to eat once, but now positive reviews of the place are few and far between. It really isn't worth it to eat there unless you get a table right next to the tank, and even that can be a mixed blessing if nearby diners allow their children to come press their noses against the glass right next to you and crowd you while you're trying to enjoy your meal. I figure if you're going to have some vacant real estate in Future World anyway, the hind end of the Seas pavilion is a better place for it than a huge, hard-to-ignore golden-domed building.

Sure, it's not a perfect idea, but it does address some of Future World's problems: it gives that monstrous building between Universe of Energy and Mission:Space a reason to exist, it adds a needed restaurant to Future World, and it allows us to spend a little time immersed in Horizons' futuristic utopia.

What do you think?

Feasible EPCOT Improvement #3

Do SOMETHING With the Wonders of Life Pavilion

There was a time when attractions that management believed to be past their prime were simply rehabbed into something different. When MetLife pulled their sponsorship from Wonders of Life, though, Disney pioneered an exciting new concept called Closing The Pavilion And Hoping Everyone Just Forgets It Was Ever There, Despite The Fact That A Giant Yellow Dome Doesn't Exactly Blend Into The Scenery.

Okay, that's not entirely true. The pavilion does get used for the annual Food and Wine festival, but to anyone who remembers what used to be there it's a little depressing to see all the attractions inside closed off. A Life and Health pavilion was always part of the plan for Future World, and people are more concerned about this topic now than ever before. When Wonders of Life opened in 1988, I never thought I'd see the day when obesity would be considered an epidemic. Of course, there were some very legitimate problems with the pavilion, but it did host two classic attractions in Body Wars and Cranium Command. With a few updates to their live-action filmed segments, both could still be relevant and functioning today.

Of course, if no one could come up with any compelling ideas to reboot the Life and Health pavilion, then I know exactly what they could do with the building. I'll give you a hint:

And that's it for #3. Only two posts left, and you probably know exactly what they'll be. The only question is, which is #1 and which is #2?

How educational was EPCOT?

It's widely believed that the EPCOT Center of the 1980s and early 90s was a more educational place than the Epcot of today. But was it really? Let's compare the pavilions of EPCOT Center with today's lowercase Epcot and see. Of course, it should be noted that what follows is purely my own opinion.

Spaceship Earth: To be fair, I haven't had the chance to ride Spaceship Earth since the Siemens rehab. However, I've watched a little ride video, and I've listened to the entire audio track on Subsonic Radio a few times. In my opinion, the new ride has a lighter tone and is less scholarly than the communications-themed experience that preceded it. Is it actually less educational? It's a tough call. It seems to me, though, that the old ride contained more historical facts than the new one.

Universe of Energy: Among those of us who remember the first version of this pavilion, there's the widespread perception that Disney dumped the respectable, serious original show in favor of a lighthearted and airheaded Ellen Degeneres vehicle that's too busy dropping 1990s pop culture references to convey any information. So I went back and watched some videos of the original show so I could compare them. And honestly, they both convey pretty much the same information, although the original show goes into a lot more detail about oil exploration. Whether you prefer the scholarly and serious presentation of the original show, or the 1990s flavor of the current incarnation is a matter of personal preference.

Wonders of Life: This pavilion used to be an interesting EPCOT destination featuring shows and exhibits about health and the human body. Now it's an empty shell.

Horizons/Mission:Space: Anyone who reads this blog knows how I feel about Horizons. It was absolutely my favorite theme park attraction of all time. If I had the power of Q, I would rebuild Horizons, convert the second-floor VIP lounge into an apartment, and live there. Nevertheless, Mission:Space is more educational. Why? Well, even though it's nowhere near the triumph of Disney Imagineering that Horizons was, and in fact it makes people sick, it realistically demonstrates why not everyone is cut out to be an astronaut. Horizons was more fun. Mission:Space is more educational. I don't like it, but it's the truth.

World of Motion/Test Track: Although it is fondly remembered, no one would accuse World of Motion of historical accuracy. How many kids got off that ride believing that the wheel was introduced to mankind after an Egyptian Pharaoh picked the round model over square and triangular versions? To be fair, though, the post-show area had some educational value. Test Track has a narrower focus, simulating an automobile testing ground instead of telling the story of human transportation, but it does try to educate riders about the testing process that new car models are put through before they go to market. I wish it explained why GM's cars are so unreliable compared to Honda and Toyota if they really go through all these tests, but I guess that story doesn't have as much entertainment value as the testing process itself. Comparing the old and new rides is a bit of an apples-and-oranges proposition, but I'd have to give the nod to Test Track here.

Journey Into Imagination/Journey Into YOUR Imagination with Figment and Eric Idle: The Imagination pavilion was never meant to be educational in the slightest. It was simply supposed to be a fun, whimisical trip that reminded visitors of the potential of their own imaginations. I've written at length on this before, of course, but in brief the old ride was charming, the newest one is a sad joke, but neither had any educational value (unless you count the present-day post-show area that "educates" you about some of Kodak's more banal services.) The Captain EO movie might have been educational had it been retitled "People You Should Never Allow Near Your Children".

The Land: Although the boat ride portion of the pavilion has changed very little since the pavilion opened, the change from a live guide to a recorded narration track during the greenhouse sequence was an improvement, as everyone now gets the same information. The biggest change at The Land, of course, was the replacement of the Kitchen Kabaret/Food Rocks show with Soarin'. Although Soarin' is definitely the superior experience, it's one of the biggest examples of the "generic Disney-Park-ification" of EPCOT. Soarin' makes The Land one of EPCOT's most popular destinations, but the place was more educational without it.

The Living Seas/The Seas With Nemo and Friends: I've written about the Seas pavilion before. As I said then, my favorite version of the pavilion is WED's amazing original concept that United Technologies was too stingy to fund. The attraction that opened in 1986 was perfectly serviceable, however, and it did a good job educating us on the amazing variety of living things in our oceans. Unfortunately, people today aren't wowed as easily as they were in 1986, when the line to get into The Living Seas stretched almost to the monorail track. For better or for worse, Disney decided it was the ocean's fault. Since actual sea life wasn't sufficiently entertaining, the whole place got a Pixar makeover, complete with digital characters from Finding Nemo that seem to float inside the aquarium (which is still the world's second-largest man-made underwater environment.) I haven't had the chance to examine all the exhibits inside the refurbished Seabase, but from what I can tell the Seas pavilion isn't as much about turning guests' on to the wonders to be found beneath the ocean as it is about entertaining preschoolers.

CommuniCore/Innoventions: The old CommuniCore had more exhibits that tied into Future World pavilions, but it also had lots of cheesy gimmicks (anyone remember the Astuter Computer Revue?) Innoventions plays more like a sales pitch for different corporate sponsors, but such things have a long history at Disney. Still, Innoventions does convey actual information, even if it's not very entertaining. Overall, CommuniCore wins out. It had a teachers' resource center, and there was just more of it. CommuniCore took up two buildings; Innoventions only takes up one.

So, was the old EPCOT Center really more educational than today's Epcot? Yes, but not as much as you might think. The main difference was that it cared about educating visitors in a way that today's Epcot really doesn't.