Disney Imagineering Files New Permit for EPCOT's Test Track Reimagining

Jayspency4 hours ago

More pre/post shows!

UNCgolf4 hours ago

No, we're talking about the same thing -- just different opinions on it. To me, a park that's a bunch of unthemed roller coasters has little to no variety. A difference in feeling is far less interesting than a difference in content. I.e., I found a lot more variety in original EPCOT than I find at a Six Flags.

danlb_20005 hours ago

Maybe we are talking about two different things. When I talk about the lack of "variety" in the original park, I mean a mix of different ride systems so you get visceral differences in the rides. The original Epcot rides provided a lot of variety in what you saw an heard, but not in what you felt.

UNCgolf8 hours ago

Disney shouldn't design for people going on a regular basis, though (and I don't think they do). People are going to get bored with certain attractions no matter how good they are if they are visiting several times a year. I understand the point people are making, I just don't think it holds up based on the actual evidence. It also apparently isn't an issue for the large number of parks that currently exist with little to no variety in the ride offerings. More importantly (and this is probably the biggest issue)... they could have increased ride variety through additions instead of replacements. Not that I'm suggesting that all of the original EPCOT rides could still exist today -- some would be wildly outdated, which is the reason they were losing popularity in the first place -- but the park would be much better today if they stuck with the original pavilion concepts with updated attractions.

SplashJacket9 hours ago

Many video games have very repetitive gameplay loops, but their fans still love them because the core gameplay is strong. That’s not to say those games could benefit from swapping some of that repetitive gameplay with fresh, new, different gameplay to keep players engaged and interested. OG Epcot was very repetitive but its attractions were strong, so people loved them. That’s not to say it couldn’t benefit from more variety.

abaker197510 hours ago

I remember visiting EPCOT for the first time in 1987. I was twelve at the time. At that time, I did think all the "rides" in EPCOT were boring and they all did the same thing. My adult brain (who is now more into dark rides) thinking back, now remembers Horizons and WoM fondly. I do remember thinking WoM was amazing as it went up a floor and at that time, I thought the video used to make it feel you were moving fast was exciting! I think it would be good if they could refurb Spaceship Earth back to an A show and have one other E ticket dark ride that could somehow give the awe and fun of UoE, WoM and Horizons. It would need to be a brand new (or replacement for WoL) to house or give the reason for a brand-new dark ride. Test Track is perfectly fine for what it is, and the park needs. I hope someday Mission Space gets drastically changed. Space is a great concept for a pavilion at Epcot, but the attraction there now is very underwhelming.

doctornick11 hours ago

Energy was basically multiple activities all in one though - the pre-show with the awesome Radok blocks, a film while in the theater, then the ride. Kind of like the Seas, it was a fully fleshed out pavilion but was presented in a more linear fashion of the experience. Personally, I think Horizons was the weakest of the original Epcot pavilions, so I don't really hold that up as a model of anything. I think replacing it with a Space concept was absolutely a sensible choice, but the execution left something to be desired - the original Space ideas where M:S was just the first portion and overall it would have been more robust would have been great IMHO.

doctornick12 hours ago

The ride they messed up on was not keeping original Imagination. That one was a timeless classic that would have survived the test of time with just upkeep. It was the most distinctive of the classic FW rides too and the one that avoided the "sameness" of the other rides with their history lessons then aspirational futurism. I agree that having one of WoM or Horizons would have been good too (I'd vote for WoM myself). In an ideal world, it would have been great to have both WoM and something akin to Test Track running together as that would have been complimentary.

FiestaFunKid12 hours ago

Energy had to go IMO - too long, too old, too Ellen. I will miss the song. Seas was just IP overlayed, so is still very much the same type of ride - so they added little variety here. Keeping one of WoM or Horizons (with updates) would have made sense in retrospect and could have been viewed as an enduring classic like Pirates or Mansion. You could argue Horizons replacement already has aged out. This would not have kept Epcot from adding new style attractions like Soarin', etc - and would have maintained precious central theming.

danlb_200012 hours ago

I only visited "classic" Epcot once, I visited in 1985 but not again until 2009. If I had been going on a regular basis I would have preferred a larger variety in the types of rides.

Rich Brownn19 hours ago

To be fair, nether Energy nor Horizons had anything but the ride in the pavilion. Exxon did have an interactive area in CommuniCore though

doctornick23 hours ago

One thing though that I will say about classic Epcot is that the actually had pavilions - areas with multiple related activities. While I think the rides needed to have some better variety of experiences, they should still have more robust and cohesive pavilions. No reason why M:S couldn’t have an area or show devoted to space travel (not just a kiddie play area) or some more in-depth transportation exhibits in TT and so on. And we list the upstairs Imagination. And of course WoL which had a movie and a show and a ride. Why isn’t there “more” in all that space in Cosmic Rewind? (And I absolutely adore that ride, but there still could be additional “stuff” there.) That to me is the bigger issue with how FW changed from its origins.

Jayspency23 hours ago

Nows a good time to present my perfect epcot center future world lineup that will appeal to everyone while adhering to the theme of the park! -Spaceship Earth -adventure through inner space adaptation of cosmic rewind -something in WOL (or WOL itself) -Horizons/mission space (idk I like both) -Test Track -JII 1.0 -Soarin -living with the land -something with the seas -world showcase is fair game

Mr. Sullivan23 hours ago

EPCOT also lost it's popularity with that form as well. It cut both ways. Sure, it opened as a success and stayed that way for awhile, but there's a reason the park started shifting toward where we are now years ago. People stopped caring. We can't change the history. The decision to add rides like Mission: Space and Test Track didn't come from nowhere. I understand that OG EPCOT fans really, really loved it. I am sure I would have too. EPCOT is my favorite park on property, and I'm sure it would've been at that time as well. But we've all got to stop pretending that OG EPCOT would survive in the modern world. It was becoming less and less of a point of interest and relevance even in the world of the 90s. And yes, its lack of variety was very much a part of it. I think a lot of OG EPCOT fans have gotten it into their minds that their love of the park and everyone else's love of the park was the same, and it just isn't true. Yes, people loved EPCOT as it was when it opened because when it opened, it offered something insane and new that everyone was blown away by. Fast forward 15-20 years? OG EPCOT fans were still there, but everyone else had moved on. The evidence that people started to find it boring is there in the response Disney gave to it. Like I said, the idea to add thrill rides didn't come from nothing. It came in response to people starting to get bored of the same ride system used over and over again, even if the attractions themselves were quality. What was good for audiences at that time was not what was good for audiences down the line. People's tastes and interests changed, and EPCOT felt that change before they started moving toward offering different types of attractions.