Epcot Overhaul/50th Anniversary Will Now Become Mediocre

[rwinger24]

With all that money Disney is gonna lose. The 50th anniversary will be nothing but a dissapointment! Cheap, cheesy Eisner era stuff that is sure to become a cash cow. And Disney just wasted about billions of dollars of EPCOT Overhaul. It is nothing but now what will soon to be rushed, half-baked, cheesy mess.

With everything going on at Disney World being halted, I have a strong feeling projects are gonna be shelved or scaled back

The majority of Epcot’s Overhaul including Spaceship Earth’s revamp, Mary Poppins, Space 220, Journey of Water, and the new Festival Pavilion, and the Play! Pavilion. All hopes are now gone. No Coco reskin in the Mexico pavilion, and no Figment revamp.

Judi Dench will be stuck with us on Spaceship Earth, and that ending no one seems to like. At least we have Eric Idle and skunk fumes but burnt coffee beans for a while.


Also the Galactic Starcruiser hotel under construction. All has stopped.

With Disney Parks losing money, they are gonna make some budget cuts. That by all means, cancelling, delaying, and scaling back.


Figment Ride Needs to Be Replaced

I refused and skipped that awful ride during my visit. Completely paling in comparison to once beloved Dreamfinder and Figment version from 1983-1998.

We have Eric Idle. The Imagination Institute. In just an awfully outdated Eisner era piece of cheesy kitsch called an attraction.

Since Honey I Shrunk the Audience is gone. There is no point of him ever being on that Figment ride. By the way, Figment is such an annoying inferior version of what he was when he is with Dreamfinder.

Now because Bob Cheapek, or whoever the hell is running Disney Parks is making budget cuts because of the coronavirus outbreak/park closures. We are probably gonna be stuck with Eric Idle. And that outdated cheesy corny Eisner era Journey into Imagination. The old ride has better theming. They screwed Tony Baxter. He even admitted he does not like the current version. And also, the Dreamfinder himself, Ron Schneider, says it is just not good.

Disney has failed to renovate this taped-together piece of crud they call an attraction.

The whole ride is outdated. CGI is atrocious. Now they are probably gonna ignore and shelf because they are too stingy and cheap to focus on other current trending cash cows Disney can milk.



Journey Into Imagination should have gotten the update. But we are stuck with the current outdated mess for the next 5 years, because Imagineering clearly does not care about changing the ride. Instead we had Frozen Ever After, a DVC lounge, and a pointless Beauty and the Beast Sing Along.



------

Now it will never happen because of incompetent executive planning and budget cuts due to this coronavirus. Until that ride gets a proper revamp/overhaul, along with the rest of Future World, now World Celebration/Discovery/Nature, EPCOT is just gonna be an incomplete mess.

And this will a bad 50th anniversary unless Disney doubles up on construction crews to get it done on time, only delayed by 1 month.

 

[rpb718]

OK, but what do you really think?

 

[SaintsManiac]

Awesome first post.

 

[TarotFox]

I swear I've read this before.

 

[tzvdmd]

Thank you covid-19 for one less cheesy overlay!

 

[MikeNamez]

I love these posts where people can't understand that Disney is for profit business who, is losing billions of dollars in revenue. It's extremely out of touch to think they would make a decision right now that would benefit us and not them.


** Billions of dollars lost, choas throughout the country**
Iger to Chapek: "Hey Bob, I know we just furloughed most of our work force, but man that Figment ride reaaaallly needs an update, can you push that thru."

 

[gharter]

Do I think the 50th overlay will be less than they planned? Most likely and most, if not all of that is not their fault. With the closure of the park, construction on everything is delayed. Even without the lost revenue, things would be pushed back. Add in the lost revenue, and some plans must be delayed and some will be cancelled. An unfortunate reality of business.
As much as we see it as an escape from reality, and a retreat for us to enjoy, at its core, it still is a business.

 

[tgropp]

With all that money Disney is gonna lose. The 50th anniversary will be nothing but a dissapointment! Cheap, cheesy Eisner era stuff that is sure to become a cash cow. And Disney just wasted about billions of dollars of EPCOT Overhaul. It is nothing but now what will soon to be rushed, half-baked, cheesy mess.

With everything going on at Disney World being halted, I have a strong feeling projects are gonna be shelved or scaled back

The majority of Epcot’s Overhaul including Spaceship Earth’s revamp, Mary Poppins, Space 220, Journey of Water, and the new Festival Pavilion, and the Play! Pavilion. All hopes are now gone. No Coco reskin in the Mexico pavilion, and no Figment revamp.

Judi Dench will be stuck with us on Spaceship Earth, and that ending no one seems to like. At least we have Eric Idle and skunk fumes but burnt coffee beans for a while.


Also the Galactic Starcruiser hotel under construction. All has stopped.

With Disney Parks losing money, they are gonna make some budget cuts. That by all means, cancelling, delaying, and scaling back.


Figment Ride Needs to Be Replaced

I refused and skipped that awful ride during my visit. Completely paling in comparison to once beloved Dreamfinder and Figment version from 1983-1998.

We have Eric Idle. The Imagination Institute. In just an awfully outdated Eisner era piece of cheesy kitsch called an attraction.

Since Honey I Shrunk the Audience is gone. There is no point of him ever being on that Figment ride. By the way, Figment is such an annoying inferior version of what he was when he is with Dreamfinder.

Now because Bob Cheapek, or whoever the hell is running Disney Parks is making budget cuts because of the coronavirus outbreak/park closures. We are probably gonna be stuck with Eric Idle. And that outdated cheesy corny Eisner era Journey into Imagination. The old ride has better theming. They screwed Tony Baxter. He even admitted he does not like the current version. And also, the Dreamfinder himself, Ron Schneider, says it is just not good.

Disney has failed to renovate this taped-together piece of crud they call an attraction.

The whole ride is outdated. CGI is atrocious. Now they are probably gonna ignore and shelf because they are too stingy and cheap to focus on other current trending cash cows Disney can milk.



Journey Into Imagination should have gotten the update. But we are stuck with the current outdated mess for the next 5 years, because Imagineering clearly does not care about changing the ride. Instead we had Frozen Ever After, a DVC lounge, and a pointless Beauty and the Beast Sing Along.



------

Now it will never happen because of incompetent executive planning and budget cuts due to this coronavirus. Until that ride gets a proper revamp/overhaul, along with the rest of Future World, now World Celebration/Discovery/Nature, EPCOT is just gonna be an incomplete mess.

And this will a bad 50th anniversary unless Disney doubles up on construction crews to get it done on time, only delayed by 1 month.

We now understand that you do not like Michael Eisner. So for the last twenty years that Eisner has not been with the company and has been replaced by management that have spent lots of money and have given us twice yearly gate increases but failed to update Imagination, how is this Eisner fault. I agree with your concerns wholeheartedly, just not the blame. That being said, my favorite vacations at WDW were during the Eisner era.

 

[fly girl]

I think everyone will agree that Figment needs a revamp. Wholeheartedly agree, it is outdated and your favorite word "cheesy."

However, it is what it is. The pandemic changed the world for all of us. And Disney is more concerned at this moment with how to reopen with ensuring public safety than redoing Figment. Epcot was getting a much needed massive overhaul. No way will it be fully completed in time. The 50th will most likely not be as spectacular as it was planned. But, hopefully over time, they will be in the black again and can restart shelved projects. Maybe the big blowout celebration will be pushed back to 55th anniversary. Definitely not as splashy as saying 50th, but given the circumstances I think most of us understand why. Bummer, definitely. But a reason to shake my fist at Disney executives, no.

 

[SullyD13]

It’s interesting because I think back to the Imagineering series where it talked about Iger making the decision to re-invest in California Adventure after the 2008 recession. And that everyone thought it was crazy and would never be approved yet it was done because they had one chance to make it right and doing it right WOULD mean profits down the road. I get that Disney is a business but I think they realize what makes Disney “Disney” and that’s why people are willing to spend such large amounts of money to go. Look at Universal - they came in while Disney was in a stagnant period and FINALLY gave them serious competition. I thank Universal for this because if they didn’t I don’t know if we’d have half the things we have now in the parks.

I think they’ll continue as planned for Epcot particularly because its a long term investment. It would cost more to cut corners and then have to do later when attendance has declined and it’s super dated and they’re stuck with no choice. They’re lucky with the 50th because they haven’t said much about it. Therefore it wouldn’t be “minusing” what was promised.

I get people will always go to Disney - I’m one of them! But I can tell you there’s a difference in HOW frequent I’ll go or how long I’ll stay depending on where the parks go and new offerings.

And yes, this is also wishful thinking...

 

[Kaadk]

... Look at Universal - they came in while Disney was in a stagnant period and FINALLY gave them serious competition. I thank Universal for this because if they didn’t I don’t know if we’d have half the things we have now in the parks.
...

A bit of a side-track, but I prefer the old Universal back when they first started competing against Disney. Looking at their offerings for attractions now, I don't really have any desire to ride any of them and would much rather just stick with Disney.

 

[MickeyMouse3!]

Personally, I think Disney will be busting their back sides to make the 50th anniversary a huge thing. They will be out two months of revenue due to covid. They will need to recover that. Disney still has the cash to complete the upgrades, but the time they lost will play a major role in what gets completed. Disney will have things in place to help guests feel comfortable about attending (more sanitation and sterilization stations type things). They will have offerings that will bring people into the parks, such as room, dining and pass discounts and maybe free token gifts. Memories get short when people want to do something, especially when it comes to a place like Disney. Disney will first wait until things settle down somewhat, but they know the 50th was and will still be a big deal to guests and will advertise big after the new year. Just my opinion.

 

[North of Mouse]

Am I disappointed and saddened that Disney will most likely never be the same, especially in near term? Absolutely! But, we have to remember that this virus (and repercussions/fallouts) are no more a fault of theirs - or any businesses - than any of ours.

We will see cutbacks everywhere with huge economic repercussions. Disney has already stated changes/cutbacks, but we have to remember they are a business foremost and these things will happen.
So, yes, I am saddened for what has been, what is planned, and things that may never happen or may never be the same, but in this case I will not blame Disney - they are a 'victim' in their way as much as any of us.

We have great memories from 1972 (year after MK opened) to the present, but especially 80's - 90's were extra special, and we're hopeful that we can make more memories in the future.

 

[tgropp]

Am I disappointed and saddened that Disney will most likely never be the same, especially in near term? Absolutely! But, we have to remember that this virus (and repercussions/fallouts) are no more a fault of theirs - or any businesses - than any of ours.


We have great memories from 1972 (year after MK opened) to the present, but especially 80's - 90's were extra special, and we're hopeful that we can make more memories in the future.

Agreed about the 80’s - 90’s being extra special. Lower Crowds, lots of new attractions, very affordable tickets/rooms/food and the cast members seemed so happy. It seems the magic is not quite the same but simple greed will do that