EPCOT Center Epcot is getting an update…and most of “Future World” is on the chopping block.
Background
My first trip to Walt Disney World was in 1989. For the basis of this article, I’ll be using EPCOT Center 1989 as my start. There were only three parks. Magic Kingdom, EPCOT Center, and MGM Studios. Being a nerd from the very beginning EPCOT Center was my favorite place.
Computers danced, touch screens were seen as exciting new technology, Captain EO saved the galaxy with song and love. Figment wasn’t a trouble maker, and there were so many choices on Horizons. Oh, and there weren’t movie character themed rides in World Showcase (except for Mexico…sort of).
Times have changed and though the motto is “Keep moving forward”, some things seem to have taken a step backwards. Cross branding is king, and money makes the Disney World turn…
Epcot needs to be updated, let’s just hope it isn’t like last time.
Last time there were “updates”…
The beginning of the end for EPCOT Center was around it’s anniversary a few years back, when that monstrosity of a hand and wand were added to Spaceship Earth. Right around that same time, the beloved Imagination Pavolion was altered forever. The upstairs closed, the 4D attraction changed to Honey I Shrunk the Audience, and Journey into Imagination with Dreamfinder and Figment changed to where Dreamfinder was almost non-existant and figment was a troublemaker (the ride was cut in half as well). Also in the same general time period, the “headstones” were put up in the entrance, The Living Seas added Nemo, Test Track was born out of World of Motion, and Mission: Space spun into the place of Horizons. Most recently we lost the Universe of Energy to the Guardians of the Galaxy something or other. Don’t even get me started on the change from Maelstrom in Norway to Frozen whatever. I refuse to “let it go”.
Epcot v3 (that’s what I’m calling this update)
With the announcement in the Parks panel at D23Expo 2019, we now have a better idea of just what to expect in the future of Epcot.
The Future of Future World
While there will be changes coming to World Showcase, the majority of changes will happen to Future World. In fact, Future World is getting a name change…well three. No longer will Future World be a monolithic section of the future. Instead, we are getting World Celebration, World Nature, and World Discovery. I’m guessing this is to make the naming more cohesive with World Showcase.
Also, they’re bringing back the icons of Future World, or whatever they want to call it now, from days past, as well as adding new ones. I like this, myself. It made everything in Future World fit together. I guess it was an 80s thing with icons to represent everything, but it’s coming back!
World Discovery
The eastern part of what was Future World will now be known as World Discovery. Communicore East will be torn down and what was the Kodak store will be no longer either. Doing this, we also lose Innoventions (was that even still a thing? Last time I saw it open myself , Bill Nye was still on TV and Compaq was a leading computer manufacturer and separate from Hewlett Packard). They’re also taking out the Wonders of Live pavilion.
Mission: Space is getting an expansion
Instead of just the ride that makes you want to throw your churro, they’re adding what looks to be a really cool restaurant. It’s going to be called Space 220. The concept is a restaurant on a Space Station, 220 miles above the Earth that you take a space elevator to get to. It is supposed to have real time views of what it would be like from that height, does that mean when they launch SpaceX and Boeing rockets you’ll be able to see them? Hope they got clearance for this and aren’t in the way of launches from Cape Canaveral. I’m actually rather excited for this as I’m not really supposed to go on Mission: Space for medical reasons (and I don’t want to lose my lunch).
The Universe of Energy becomes a Thrill Ride
Even before the announcement at D23Expo2019, it had been announced and work had already begun on converting one of the most calming, serene, sleepy rides of EPCOT Center (well, as far as I know it is. I don’t think I’ve ever stayed awake through the whole ride, and usually fell asleep in the dinosaur area, even before they added Ellen) into Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, a roller coaster based on Marvel’s Guardian’s of the Galaxy movies. This is their way of showing us a look at “other worlds”. This is the beginning of the cross branding of Epcot v3 but not the end.’’
PLAY!
A new pavilion is being added in what I assume in the space where the Wonders of Live was. Here we’re supposed to get a virtual city, a chance to help Edna Mode (Can someone put in a word with her for me? I’d love to shoot her new line and interview her for our sister site, The Haute Togs.) rid the world of “uninspired style” (their words, not mine), and join in on a water-balloon fight with characters from Duck Tales. Concept art shows it looking like what OhMyDisney! looked like in Wreck-It Ralph 2. While all of this sounds really cool, I’m not sure how it exactly belongs in Epcot. I mean, I get it, style and design, art and science, play and imagination. But isn’t the Imagination Pavilion on the other side of the park….
Somehow, “stories about science, technology and intergalactic adventure come to life” in World Discovery according to the official Press Release.
Almost forgot, The Odyssey Restaurant (I think it was open once, way back when…but more recently had been used for the Food and Wine event) will be acting as the Preview Center for this new vision of Epcot.
World Nature
The western of what was Future World will be known as World Nature, and contain The Land, The Living Seas with Nemo and Friends,
The layout of the neighborhoods really confuses me, as the original layout of the pavilions doesn’t really fit and they aren’t moving major locations.
