The Final Days of Epcot (Center)
Way back during my Art of Animation days, I sent a massive powerpoint to Disney in hopes that at the very least they see what ideas I had in store of what their future should be. It was about building the most ambitious park in history. It was going to take a company, Nintendo, and transform all of their major IPs into attractions big and small. It was going to feature the longest coaster in Florida (Star Fox: Aerial Assault), the wildest coaster in Disney’s history, the very first major attraction dedicated to competitive gaming (Pokemon Stadium), the first major restaurant with a space theme, a scary Luigi’s Mansion themed mini-golf area within the park (and yes, there was a Luigi’s Mansion attraction as well), Disney’s first horror coaster (Metroid: Larva Hunt), and the very first laser tag attraction in Disney’s history (Bounty Hunter Showdown). By the time my dream park opened, we would have 12 rides, and a whopping 6 that is suited for thrillseekers that you would usually find in Sea World or Universal Studios.
Of course the park was rejected, and I won’t knock Disney for that. The Mushroom Kingdom was never going to happen, but it was nice to dream.
Side-note: My powerpoint (that eventually led to me having to sign a disclosure agreement) did wind up predicting a variety of future things that wound up occurring in Central Florida regardless: Universal is building a park with Nintendo IPs including Mario Kart (and maybe even a Donkey Kong water ride), CityWalk got a mini-golf course wrapped around a horror theme, Full Sail built an entire stadium dedicated to just competitive gaming, and Disney is building a restaurant revolving around an outer space theme. So yea, not saying my ideas were stolen, but it’s just fun to notice.
Now, I present this short story because the main influence towards such a wild idea is a park that when it was unveiled was literally the ballsiest, riskiest, and most innovative theme park in the history of American amusement parks: Epcot Center.
And the beginning of the end of the Epcot we currently know is coming up at the end of this month.
Epcot is inches away from transforming completely away from its 1982 counterpart once and for all. What was the original vision is going to be replaced with a new theme, new attractions, and an elimination of what was the original concept of half the park. Back in 1982, Disney dared to dream and delivered a section dedicated entirely to the future, to what can be achieved in the future, what can be dreamed for the future, and the progress we have made towards this future that sees society and life improving as a whole. Then to compliment Future World is an expo that runs throughout the year involving a variety of countries complete with their own cuisine, cultural entertainment, and educational aspects.
Epcot is unlike anything out there. There is no Epcot in the other Disney locations. There is no Epcot counterpart on the Universal side. Throughout the 1980s and the 1990s, Epcot was in a league of its own; the most culturally diverse presentation of any theme park. Spaceship Earth was an architectural marvel, Horizons and Universe of Energy was way ahead of its time, the Living Seas literally broke aquarium records, The Land contained a harvesting area that literally grows foods for other places in Disney World, and of course we have the World Showcase and one of the few places on Earth that features a collection of countries grouped together in the same area. Even the music was extremely unique, as Disney famously relied on progressive electronic music of Ray Lynch to establish the moods of the outwardly pavilions.
This unification of nations remains the most underrated achievement of Epcot, especially in the politically clustered environment of today. Just 40 years removed from becoming the enemies of the world, here was Italy, Japan and Germany sharing space with France, United Kingdom, and the United States. Just a dozen years after Nixon infamously opened a major relationship with the distant China, here they were opening their cultural doors for the rest of the world to see. Yea, it wasn’t as accurate as historians would have liked to see, but they remained a nice way for people from different nations to meet and engage in conversation and even share some of the custom foods. And on top of that, there was room for another half-dozen countries for potential future representation, with Africa, Israel, even Switzerland rumored for joining the other nations.
So what happened to Epcot? It stopped growing, and stopped looking into the future. And, the world caught up.
1999 was arguably its last major year of strongly supporting its original theme of the future and how the cultures should join hand-in-hand for embracing and celebrating the possibilities. 1999 was of course the debut of Illuminations: Reflections of Earth, the longest-running and probably the best firework show in the history of Disney World in terms of overall theming and music----until Magic Kingdom’s incredible Happily Ever After. Illuminations (the 1999 version, as the previous ones were good, but not great) was groundbreaking in every way possible, from the spectacular orchestrated score, to the mix of fireworks, lasers, and use of lighting natural and manmade. Then Epcot also had a special parade in honor of the approaching new millennium.
1999 was Peak Epcot. Innoventions was still about future technologies as well as the Sega Dreamcast being the predicted future of consoles (oops…), Test Track had become a huge hit, the World Showcase had a new parade, new fireworks, AND Food and Wine Festival, on top of having a brand new pavilion showcasing a couple new countries temporarily (The Millennium Village). The less that is said about Imagination and the closing of Horizons, the better…
But because Disney had their budgeting all over the world, because Disney was struggling a bit in the movie and television section, and because Eisner had lost his f**king head, Epcot was left to slowly rot away. Innoventions stopped innovating, World Showcase stopped expanding, Universe of Energy didn’t evolve, Imagination was still a piece of trash, Wonders of Life closed before the Healthy Era (such a close miss too), Living Seas lost its identity, and Future World was just becoming a bit dated. Although it never had the personality crisis of Hollywood Studios or California Adventure, it was a bummer for old-school Disney fans to see Epcot not evolve and remain a hollow shell of what it used to be, while still having the space (especially in the World Showcase) of becoming something more, something innovative, and continue its presence as the most unique Disney park in the world.
Then came Iger.
Bob Iger was never really focused on the parks, instead focusing on improving goodwill with other companies (Pixar) and cleaning up some of the messes Eisner had left behind. And to his credit, he did a spectacular job transforming Disney into the undeniable global powerhouse that we see today. But along the way, theme parks had to take a backseat in risks and instead relied on IPs that had become successful to pay the bills. Epcot saw Nemo and Frozen, Hollywood Studios saw Toy Story…and Frozen, Animal Kingdom saw Avatar, and lastly Magic Kingdom saw Stitch, Ariel, and Belle be part of the changes. No new park, no new major land (Let’s be honest: Pandora and Toy Story Land have their strengths but both places are a bit small), no major risk. Epcot was founded on risks, was founded on outside-the-box ideas.
Then Universal Orlando completely stepped its game up, rode the Harry Potter wave (and finally trying to stop depending on so many claustrophobic 3-D attractions) into claiming 25% of theme park market share in Central Florida for the first time in its history. And although Sea World is a distant third, its attendance has gone up double-digits in recent years after focusing more on cheaper prices, better deals, Epcot-like food festivals, and having some of the best coasters in Florida. So in order to keep pace away from the competitors, Disney has had to stop opening attractions and instead focus on entire experiences. The New Fantasyland was extremely polarizing, Pandora was a massive success, and only time will tell what happens to East Coast Galaxy’s Edge. Epcot is next on the list to expand…but first it had to remove all the retro themes of yesterday against a shifting climate.
So in order to really save Epcot, it needs to change what it used to be. And the long-running Illuminations is the first to go. Expanding the World Showcase was never going to happen as political shenanigans has become a major issue and Disney won’t spend the required money to really reach out and try to place more countries in its festival-heavy area, nor will you see most of the major countries be willing to put money to join the Showcase either.
Side-Note 1: I don’t care what your opinion is on Donald Trump, but goodwill towards the United States has definitely dipped during his administration, and you can point at the news and the dip in trade and tourism numbers as evidence. Even the delightful Canada is having issues with the United States, and they hardly fight with anybody.
Side-Note 2: Can Disney afford to expand World Showcase on its own? Yes. Is it financially risky? Yes. Can they attempt to nonetheless reach out to other countries and governments? Yes. Is it a headache to try to appeal to faraway governments and companies of said nations? Definitely, yes.
Keeping up with the future was also never going to be a possibility as the future has become monopolized and monetized by companies afraid of progress (who owns electric cars nowadays? Car companies that still are dependent on gas). The educational aspects of Epcot also had to slowly dissipate, as technology (we take for granted how easy it is to research information) and a disinterest in science and history had also marred Epcot and made it an infamous joke (Simpsons poked fun on Epcot during a popular episode when it used to be funny). Not all the changes have been disastrous (Festival of the Arts and the expanded Food and Wine Festival are phenomenal, and we now have a full tequila bar in the Mexico pavilion) but they haven’t been enough to ease the pain of a park in subtle tatters.
The game-changing fireworks display Illuminations and its long-running series of shows will be gone come October 2019. Soon, gone will be Future World. And soon after that, Spaceship Earth is going to change its message slightly. Not confirmed but nearly guaranteed, Imagination will surely be gone. The Living Seas will never make the comeback it deserves, and neither will Wonders of Life. As an old-school Disney fan, it’s a tough pill to swallow, but clinging on to what it used to be has always been what we excel at…and also what we struggle with. Times have changed, and hanging on to what could have been will blind us from the fact that at the very least Epcot is finally having its first major overhaul since 1999 when they infused entertainment steroids into the World Showcase.
Those first 20 years of its existence however remains a benchmark in theme park entertainment, as Epcot became the most unique park of all-time, and even though it’s a fraction of what it used to be, it’s still leagues above the average experience for adults….while being only slightly above-average for the average child that isn’t interested in other cultures. Illuminations bowing out after a 20-year run and even discontinuing the name is a sure-fire sign that Epcot is definitely looking forward and not anywhere into the past. I will be there at Epcot on the final week of Illuminations, and reminisce of a past that made us hopeful of a better future and made us dare to dream big.
Epcot was an impressive and immersive dream never fully realized, but still dared to attempt, and its ceiling was simply the world completely changing in ways the Walt Disney Company and all of us in general never fully expected. But boy is it still a beautiful park.