Happy Day Before Easter everyone! We admit it, we’ve been lax with this blog. Some of you are probably like “What’s this email and what’s an Epcyclopedia?” because it’s been so long since we posted anything of merit about Epcot.
First off, it’s not entirely our fault. There really hasn’t been any news or information to post about. Why? Because Epcot just isn’t a focus of Disney or Imagineering lately. It plods along with mediocre attendance – which is still much higher than Animal Kingdom or Hollywood Studios – and thus it is not considered a problem to fix, despite being the park with the largest schism between its physical intended operational capacity and the actual attendance. Long story short, every person in Animal Kingdom or Hollywood Studios is a blood traitor to Epcot because that’s where their warm bodies were intended to be when Epcot opened, but we can’t win every theoretical war and we can’t blame people for wanting to ride Tower of Terror or see monkeys.
Sea Monkeys? Maybe that would make an interesting new motif for the next version of The Seas pavilion.. And speaking of next versions – there’s a lot of cycling that’s going to occur soon at Epcot. Future World pavilions have a lifespan and Energy, Imagination, and Mission: SPACE are all up for renewal soon. But again, Disney/WDI doesn’t seem to care too much about that. Until they announce something we’re left with the non-happenings that are currently occurring:
- Fountainview is becoming a Starbucks. April through late-Fall.
- Character Spot is reopening with a new design TODAY (reportedly, it hasn’t been photographed yet so in theory it hasn’t happened.)
- Morocco is getting a new waterfront dining location that will seemingly kill the Marrakesh – which was never terribly popular in the first place.
- There’s a new restroom block being built between Japan and the American Adventure.
- A concept to rework Imagination’s old Kodak shop to be the home base for Phineas and Ferb’s World Showcase game was discarded and the building sits unused.
- Disney built a snack kiosk in the middle of Innoventions Plaza that was poorly designed (the counters are too low) and will seemingly never be used.
- Fastpass+ has been installed at numerous rides/attractions but is waiting for the software to work before it can be deployed.
- Existing FASTPASS kiosks at the various attractions are soon going to serve no purpose and will need to be removed.. and replaced with.. what? No one knows, not even Disney.
And.. that’s it. It’s not terribly interesting is it? So to keep ourselves amused – maybe even you too – we’re working on other ideas and other things to explore until the inevitable “something” occurs. Epcot cycles, it will always cycle, nothing is permanent. At some point this seas of boring nothingness will relent. It has to, if for no other reason than Mission: SPACE costing a fortune to operate, having piss-poor guest satisfaction ratings, and the sponsor likely to bail out when its contractual obligation ends soon.
Until then.. here’s some concept art of the China pavilion. We have this awful backlog of researched images and information just sort of sitting in figurative heaps on the hard disk (literal heaps of art and information on shelves in our “archive” too.) We’ll share some of it as the mood strikes us. Don’t worry, we’ll keep an ear to the ground fr something actually happening – but we’ll be damned if we’re going to report the latest Ear Hat release for Limited Time Magic. Leave that to the bloggers on Disney’s payroll. We’ll stick to our beliefs – not giving crap non-news an ounce of screen time and publicity. Enjoy.
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