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.
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.