TR: Epcot 11/15/2004
Dave Althoff Jr
Note: This one is also available on the World Wide Web at:
http://capital2.capital.edu/admin-staff/dalthoff/adventures/tr2004/uswdwec01.html
Or follow the link to Epcot at:
http://capital2.capital.edu/admin-staff/dalthoff/adventures/tr2004
Trip Report: Epcot
Reedy Creek I.D., Florida - 11/15/2004
======================================
"Now that's a surprise...!"
I left the Disney/MGM Studios to go to Epcot. Instead of driving over to
Epcot, I decided to park at the Magic Kingdom parking lot and take the
monorail over to Epcot. Partly that's because it seems appropriate to
arrive at Epcot by monorail; partly that was to accommodate my intention
to visit the Magic Kingdom for the fireworks show at the end of the day.
There were a lot of variables that went into my decision to do things the
way I did, and in hindsight, it turned out to be a good choice. More about
that when I get to the Magic Kingdom tomorrow...!
I entered Epcot, and was immediately struck by how DEAD it seems to be.
The presence of dozens of polished stone blocks covered with stainless
steel panels just inside the entrance do kind of give the area the look of
a cemetery, but that isn't really what I mean. What I mean is, there were
no people wandering about, there is almost no motion just inside the gate,
there is nothing happening. The park appears lifeless. Instead of these
giant stone monuments, they need a fountain or something, perhaps some big
kinetic sculpture or something. Anyway, hopefully things will get better
as I move on into the park.
I walked on into the park and directly up the escalator into Spaceship
Earth. The ride hasn't changed a bit since last year. Well, no, that isn't
quite accurate. The ride is still a simplified Omnimover dark ride up into
the giant golf ball, and I still haven't decided whether the Egyptian is
wearing a Donald Duck tie. What has changed a little bit is the exit from
the ride. The horrible post-show display has been removed, and when you
exit the ride you now face a giant blue wall that directs you directly to
the exit. It's the park's centerpiece attraction, and it needs help.
I took a quick walk through Innoventions which is still little more than a
glorified video arcade, and not a very good one at that. Okay, there are a
couple of other displays in there, but those are still more for the
purpose of advertising than entertainment. GM had a concept van on display
that looked like a bad idea to me: everything behind the driver's seat was
scaled for small children. Fine if you're carrying small children around,
but useless for the lunchtime carpool at work, and besides, small children
grow up. There were some neat ideas in there, but the complete package
looked like it was pretty short-sighted.
I went over to Test Track and entered through the single rider entrance.
Once inside, it was obvious that I needn't have bothered...I could have
actually got into the ride sooner if I had gone in the normal entrance, as
there was no line. This is yet another ride where the ride loads
continuously, but it has a somewhat pointless batch-loading pre-show. I
suppose the batch-load preshow was a great benefit when the ride was
barely running, but today, the ride seemed to be running pretty reliably,
and with a small crowd, it could have run very nicely without the preshow.
When I came out of the preshow, I was shown immediately to a vehicle.
Test Track is a neat ride, but at times I think it tries to hard to beat
the riders over the head with some of the details they are supposed to
learn. The comparison of ABS braking to non-ABS braking, for instance, is
not especially convincing, especially as you can feel the dynamic braking
cycling in both demonstrations. The cars are equipped with 4-wheel
steering, and without ABS they simply drive the car through a simulated
skid, which means nothing ever skids, and it doesn't feel at all out of
control. But if you can stand the inside part of the ride and the bad
jokes that go with it, the high-speed run is somewhat entertaining. The
ride is interesting, but I don't think it can be at all described as
'exciting'.
For 'excitement' you're better off to visit Test Track's neighbor,
Mission: Space. This time I entered through the normal entrance (oddly
enough, they were running the evil FastPass machines, but nobody seemed to
be using them, as there was no wait for anything) and walked directly into
the first preshow staging area. That's the part where they warn you about
dark enclosed places, loud noises and spinning, and explain the "training"
that is to happen shortly. I don't object to the preshow here nearly so
much as over on Test Track even though the Mission: Space preshows (there
are two) are even more annoying and patronizing than the one on Test
Track, simply because Mission: Space is a batch-loading ride. After a few
minutes, no more than 39 of us [Footnote 1] boarded the ride. This time I
got a better look at the display system before the console was dropped
back, and it appears to me that the CRT is positioned above the viewport.
I sat down and pulled down the shoulder bar, and the console dropped back,
putting the viewport right where I could see it. I noticed that there is a
strong blast of cool air right on my head. Knowing the conditions that
have appeared to cause the most serious motion sickness in parks (hot,
humid days, for instance), I'm guessing that the cool air is supposed to
have the opposite effect. At the launch, I felt the rotation start, and I
don't think the forces have been toned down any. Mission: Space winds up
as easily the most convincing simulator I have ever ridden. The motions of
the cabin are more subtle than those of the usual shaking box simulators.
But that's because the thing can actually generate sustained
accelerations, the thing that most simulators simply can't do. It is,
however, absolutely, totally, completely incapable of simulating
weightlessness. Pity, it would be neat if someone could figure out how to
do that in a sustained fashion without the use of high-performance
aircraft or drop towers.
I considered my options. Epcot was absolutely dead. There were more
people in line for Mission: Space than I had seen anywhere else in the
park. I know that most of the stuff in The Land has closed, and The Living
Seas was a total disaster the last time I was there. I decided to skip the
rest of "Future World" and continue into the World Showcase. I must say,
Future World is looking extremely dated, extremely dead, and very much in
need of a major overhaul. There is a very large building that appears to
be completely empty (I think there is a sign on it identifying it as
"Odyssey" or something like that. The Spaceship Earth post-show, as
useless as it was, is completely gone. The Land and Living Seas pavilions
are largely gutted. This is a park that is crying for help. My suspicion
is that it has suffered a decade or two of neglect as someone hoped that
the park would survive on its shopping and dining experience back in the
World Showcase. Well, it could probably do that, but it is fair to charge
people $55 per person admission to a park where the only real draw is
expensive souvenirs and $60 dinners? EPCOT was Disney's second gate. As a
sort of permanent world's fair, it had a unique appeal. It offered
displays of 'edutainment' that provided neat experiences, glimpses into
modern technology and progress. It was neat, but it was neglected and
allowed to deteriorate. My guess is that an attitude set in that the only
people who didn't know better or people on length-of-stay passes who
wanted to have a great dinner ever went to Epcot. Now the park has two
outstanding attractions in Future World, so the situation is improving.
But this is still the older park that is screaming for some attention from
the park planners. Either that or it is screaming to be closed. The good
news is that the park has recently received two major one-of-a-kind
attractions, with another major attraction on the way. It's about time!
I started working my way clockwise around the World Showcase. My first
stop was the Mexico pavilion, where I had never stopped before. Inside is
a large market, and a restaurant, and a dark ride. The ride, whose name
escapes me at the moment [Footnote 2] is a flow-driven-boat (think it's a
small world) dark ride. Most of the sets in this particular dark ride use
projections of film clips rather than animated sets, a bit like selected
sections of the dark ride in The Land, or like Spiderman and Men in Black
at Universal, but on a MUCH smaller scale. The really memorable part of
the ride came at the end. The boat pulls up onto a conveyor in a corridor
just upstream of the unloading platform. There a recording plays, saying,
"Please remain seated until the boat comes to a complete stop at the
unloading platform," in a male voice. That message is followed by another
recording, this time in a female voice, saying, "Please remain seated
until the boat comes to a complete stop at the unloading platform." Then
the cycle repeats. This got my attention, because I think it is the first
place on Disney property where I have heard such a message and it wasn't
repeated in Spanish. Ironic that the one place where the message wouldn't
also be repeated in Spanish would happen to be the Mexico pavilion, don't
you think?
Next door is Norway, where I walked right on to the Malestrom. Well, I
walked right on, but the ride shut down just as I sat down. The shut-down
was only a minute or two, as the boats piled up in the station, then they
sent us on our way. It's a nice little flume-drive dark ride, featuring
Vikings and seas and storms and trolls...and it is unique among Disney
rides in that most of it involves riding backward. I wonder if this is an
Intamin reversing flume like the one at the park formerly known as
Adventure World. It's a short ride, but this time I made an effort to keep
track of where the second reversing point, where the back end of the boat
pokes out of the show building into daylight, and this time I was able to
spot it from the midway. I'd thought that opening was hidden; it turns out
it isn't.
My next stop as I walked around the World Showcase was Germany, where I
bought a bratwurst and a soft pretzel. The bratwurst was decent, and the
person who served it to me asked if I had ever eaten a bratwurst before.
Certainly an interesting question. The sausage was decent, the beer was
way too expensive for me to buy any, and the pretzel was somewhat
disappointing. I'm still looking for a pretzel comparable to the one I ate
in the Marienplatz in Munich back in 1986, and so far I haven't found one.
Maybe they serve them at the Hofbrauhaus Newport. Of course, it figures
that by ducking into a pavilion for twenty minutes I would miss something
interesting...as I was eating my bratwurst I saw the big illuminated globe
for the IllumiNations show go floating by in the World Showcase lagoon as
they set up the equipment for the night's big show. It was about 4:00 in
the afternoon, and I continued my walk around the World Showcase.
Someday I am going to actually see the show in the United States pavilion,
but this time I missed it by arriving at the pavilion just as the show was
starting. Not wanting to wait around for a half-hour, I continued on
around. A group of synchronized drummers was pounding away at very large
drums at the Japan pavilion and putting on quite a show. Getting that
level of synchronization requires a bit of planning and practice to get it
right...there is no one there to give cues or to set tempo. On the face of
it, it doesn't look so impressive until you realize what level of
coordination is required. It's what I've come to think of as, "The Segway
Effect." You may recall that when the Segway was introduced, non-technical
people who saw the thing for the first time looked at it and said, "Yeah,
so what?" while the engineers who saw it were immediately amazed, knowing
what a trick it is to get it to balance like that. It's a complicated
trick, and the most complicated part of the trick is in making it look
simple.
I decided I had seen enough of Epcot, and opted to leave the park and get
a preview of the Magic Kingdom, which was my target for tomorrow. Then, on
Tuesday night, after spending pretty much the entire day at the Magic
Kingdom, I returned to Epcot specifically to see the IllumiNations show. I
got to the park early enough to take rides on both Mission: Space and on
Test Track before show time, then I hiked around the World Showcase lagoon
to a point near Italy to watch the show. At night, the area around the
lagoon is dramatically torch-lit until just before the show starts, when
the torches are dramatically extinguished, along with the lighting on the
giant golf ball, as the program begins.
IllumiNations is a neat show, featuring fireworks used in unique
ways...for example, gigantic chrysanthemum shells exploded practically at
the water's surface. It's not an aerial display, not at all. For someone
like me who sees a lot of good aerial fireworks shows, it's neat to see
these unconventional applications. What is even more dramatic, though, is
the show's use not of explosives, but of fire, to produce amazing
fireballs on the barges in the lagoon reminiscent of the final scene in
Revenge of the Mummy. The weakest part of the show is when the giant
video-globe comes out into the middle of the lagoon and just sits there
for what feels like an hour and a half. The scene is neat when it starts,
watching this thing come out is kind of neat, watching images appear on
its surface is kind of neat, but the images don't have any connection to
the track, and for the duration of an entire song, it sits there flashing
away, making people think, "Okay, what's next?" Then the show takes off
again with more fire, more fireworks, and with lighting effects scattered
all the way around the lagoon. They are able to do some really neat things
with the show because all of the park lighting systems are tied in to the
show controller. The other particularly neat thing about the show is the
sound. Disney places speakers all over the place and has them adjusted
very carefully so that every location around the lagoon has good, clean
sound. It isn't the loudest PA system in the world, but it is plenty loud,
and it is exceptionally clean. Most critically, it was obviously set up by
sound engineers who aren't deaf, who know that the LOUDNESS control is
worthless for loud music, and who don't mistake overwhelming bass for good
sound. The show sounds fantastic, and that alone gets my attention.
In all, Epcot is a park that needs some attention. My feeling is that in
recent years, Disney has concentrated too hard on opening additional gates
and not worked hard enough on keeping up the existing parks. Building
EPCOT was not a problem, as the Magic Kingdom was a fully-developed park
at the time. But Disney went on to build Disney/MGM Studios and Animal
Kingdom while Epcot was more or less ignored for a decade or so. Now,
Epcot is little more than an evening diversion for someone spending a week
at the resort (it does have some of the best restaurants in the region);
it hardly stands up as a complete park on its own anymore. And that's a
shame, as it is a terrific concept. But the big draw for Epcot now is a
collection of great restaurants and an awesome nighttime pyrotechnics
show. I see evidence that Disney is trying to fix the problem, as Epcot
has been the focus of the last couple of major new attractions, and I
understand another is on the way. In my opinion, it can't come soon
enough. The question is, will it restore life to what should be a truly
exciting park?
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
Footnote 1: The ride will carry 40 people per load, and the seat next to
mine was empty, meaning there could not have been more than 39 people on
the ride. [Return to text]
--DCAjr
Next: The Magic Kingdom
--
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Jeffrey Cook
wrote:
>I started working my way clockwise around the World Showcase. My first
>stop was the Mexico pavilion, where I had never stopped before. Inside is
>a large market, and a restaurant, and a dark ride. The ride, whose name
>escapes me at the moment [Footnote 2] is a flow-driven-boat (think it's a
>small world) dark ride
You forgot to put in Footnote 2.
--
______________________
Jeff Cook
Jeff....@verizon.net
Dave Althoff Jr
: On 28 Nov 2004 23:41:05 -0500, dal...@gcfn.org (Dave Althoff Jr)
: wrote:
: >I started working my way clockwise around the World Showcase. My first
: >stop was the Mexico pavilion, where I had never stopped before. Inside is
: >a large market, and a restaurant, and a dark ride. The ride, whose name
: >escapes me at the moment [Footnote 2] is a flow-driven-boat (think it's a
: >small world) dark ride
: You forgot to put in Footnote 2.
Whoops! So I did! I just fixed it in the web version:
Footnote 2: Just goes to show what a memorable ride it was!
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
Douglas Kell
you must improve.
Douggie in UK
"Dave Althoff Jr" <dal...@gcfn.org> wrote in message
news:coga4p$av8$1...@acme.gcfn.org...
SheppSF
Mission: Space winds up
as easily the most convincing simulator I have ever ridden. The motions of
the cabin are more subtle than those of the usual shaking box simulators.
But that's because the thing can actually generate sustained
accelerations, the thing that most simulators simply can't do. It is,
however, absolutely, totally, completely incapable of simulating
weightlessness. >>
Yeah. After I rode it, I saw a Discovery Channel show that went on and on about
the amazing sustained feeling of weightlessness, leaving me wondering whether
I'd drifted off to sleep after "lift-off" and missed something. Guess I hadn't.
Sam Marks
>the amazing sustained feeling of weightlessness, leaving me wondering whether
>I'd drifted off to sleep after "lift-off" and missed something.
Every mission I had included a period of hyper sleep. :)
Member of
The Coaster Zombies Club
P.O. Box 12
Arlington,VA 22210-0012
www.coasterzombies.org
weidwall
> I entered Epcot, and was immediately struck by how DEAD it seems to be.
> The presence of dozens of polished stone blocks covered with stainless
> steel panels just inside the entrance do kind of give the area the look of
> a cemetery, but that isn't really what I mean. What I mean is, there were
> no people wandering about, there is almost no motion just inside the gate,
> there is nothing happening. The park appears lifeless. Instead of these
> giant stone monuments, they need a fountain or something, perhaps some big
> kinetic sculpture or something.
Many of those stainless steel panels are covered with tiny digital
photo-tiles that Disney takes and sells at upwards of $30 a pop. These are
called "Leave A Legacy" tiles and was started as part of the Millenium
celebration, and people who purchase them are guaranteed that their pictures
will remain on the blocks until 2019. However, Disney made no guarantees
that the blocks would remain in the entrance plaza for this whole time.
(This according to allearsnet.com.) There are many, me included, who wish
Disney would relocate the "Leave a Legacy" graveyard to some out-of-the-way
spot at Epcot posthaste!!
<snip>
> I must say,
> Future World is looking extremely dated, extremely dead, and very much in
> need of a major overhaul. There is a very large building that appears to
> be completely empty (I think there is a sign on it identifying it as
> "Odyssey" or something like that.
This building is not completely empty - according to allearsnet.com, it
houses a First Aid and Baby Care Center, as well as the Epcot employee
cafeteria. It's also used for convention and other special events, such as
the annual Food & Wine Festival. Originally, it was a large fast food
restaurant.
<snip>
> My guess is that an attitude set in that the only
> people who didn't know better or people on length-of-stay passes who
> wanted to have a great dinner ever went to Epcot.
I agree that few people bought one-day tickets to Epcot, at least in recent
years, but I bet that is true of all parks except the Magic Kingdom. Don't
most people buy park hoppers these days? Honestly, of the four WDW parks, I
think only Magic Kingdom is an all-day park. When I was there, we
park-hopped like crazy.
> In all, Epcot is a park that needs some attention.
Agreed. I also feel that way about Disney/MGM. Star Tours desperately needs
updating, and I hear that is also true of the Great Movie Ride. (I've never
been on that.) I know this park is getting a new stunt show, but it needs a
lot more. It feels crowded but with not enough to do unless you want to
spend hours at a few shows.
I think, though, that Epcot may have been more empty than usual on the day
that you visited. You came the day after the seven-week Food & Wine Festival
ended. That has become very popular in recent years, and is part of Disney's
strategy for that park - same is true of the Flower & Garden Festival held
in April - May every year.
Ruth Ann
Dave Althoff Jr
: << Dave Althoff Jr writes:
Well, according to the script, you're *supposed* to drift off to sleep
after lift-off... ! 8-)
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
The Mak
news:nE4rd.115889$V41.110990@attbi_s52:
Does anyone remember what used to occupy that space beforehand? The only
things I can clearly recall from my old 1990 trip are Spaceship Earth
itself and Horizons.
SheppSF
drift off to sleep
after lift-off... ! 8-)
>>
Hmmm. Does that explain why I lost consciousness during the ExtraTERRORestrial
Alien Encounter and when I came to, there was this irritating little Hawaiian
thingy running around?
David H.--REMOVE STOPSPAM to reply
>In all, Epcot is a park that needs some attention. My feeling is that in
>recent years, Disney has concentrated too hard on opening additional gates
>and not worked hard enough on keeping up the existing parks. Building
>EPCOT was not a problem, as the Magic Kingdom was a fully-developed park
>at the time. But Disney went on to build Disney/MGM Studios and Animal
>Kingdom while Epcot was more or less ignored for a decade or so. Now,
>Epcot is little more than an evening diversion for someone spending a week
>at the resort (it does have some of the best restaurants in the region);
>it hardly stands up as a complete park on its own anymore. And that's a
>shame, as it is a terrific concept. But the big draw for Epcot now is a
>collection of great restaurants and an awesome nighttime pyrotechnics
>show. I see evidence that Disney is trying to fix the problem, as Epcot
>has been the focus of the last couple of major new attractions, and I
>understand another is on the way. In my opinion, it can't come soon
>enough. The question is, will it restore life to what should be a truly
>exciting park?
There has been a lot of talk within Disney corporate about updating Epcot,
with potential plans for just about every attraction/building in the works.
Which ones end up coming to fruition remains to be seen.
I think that Epcot has become mostly an evening park, particularly in the
off-season. Many, many people head to Epcot from the other parks at the
end of the day to see Illuminations and do an attraction or three. This
could explain why the park was SO slow earlier in the day on your visit.
The minimal crowds had yet to arrive. Also, as others have noted, the Food
and Wine Festival -- which is a big draw -- had just ended.
Before the new Wishes fireworks show at Magical Kingdom, which keeps that
park open later than it previously had, the Magic Kingdom often closed at 7
PM or so in the off-season. This would usually be followed by a large
percentage of the people in the park heading over to Epcot. It was always
amusing to see the throngs of people waiting for the monorail over to
Epcot.
A friend of mine is at Disney now, and plans to see Illuminations at least
4-5 times during his week there. I don't think he ever heads to Epcot
first.
I honestly can't remember the last time that I entered Epcot before 6:30 or
so, arriving there from another park.
>Footnote 1: The ride will carry 40 people per load, and the seat next to
>mine was empty, meaning there could not have been more than 39 people on
>the ride. [Return to text]
The park obviously wasn't busy enough to make full use of the single rider
line at that time. But it's the only way to ride when there is a long
queue -- at busy times of year, or at the end of the night, when everyone
heads to Epcot from the other parks.
David H, davi...@STOPSPAMbellatlantic.net, Boston, MA
PLEASE remove "STOPSPAM" from my address when replying via e-mail.
"Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by
the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree
in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support
him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not
to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he
fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is
unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or
anyone else."
-- Theodore Roosevelt
The Mak
> "weidwall" <weid...@nospam.com> wrote in
> news:nE4rd.115889$V41.110990@attbi_s52:
>
>> Many of those stainless steel panels are covered with tiny digital
>> photo-tiles that Disney takes and sells at upwards of $30 a pop. These
>> are called "Leave A Legacy" tiles and was started as part of the
>> Millenium celebration, and people who purchase them are guaranteed
>> that their pictures will remain on the blocks until 2019. However,
>> Disney made no guarantees that the blocks would remain in the entrance
>> plaza for this whole time. (This according to allearsnet.com.) There
>> are many, me included, who wish Disney would relocate the "Leave a
>> Legacy" graveyard to some out-of-the-way spot at Epcot posthaste!!
<snip>
Oh dear, I forgot to snip in my previous post. Sorry for any confusion.
Take 2:
Does anyone remember what used to occupy Leave a Legacy's beforehand? The
Keith Hopkins
news:Xns95B2EE00...@24.168.128.90...
> Does anyone remember what used to occupy Leave a Legacy's beforehand? The
> only
> things I can clearly recall from my old 1990 trip are Spaceship Earth
> itself and Horizons.
As I remember, it was an open courtyard with the Plexiglas fountain in the
middle.
--
Keith Hopkins
suss...@visi.comblock (clear the block to reply)
"When you see "Red #6" you wonder what happened to the people
who tested Reds 1 through 5, and whether there's a walled-off
compound in the Nevada desert populated entirely by crimson-skinned
telekinetic giants who must be constantly sedated lest they snap their
chains and destroy the world." - James Lileks
Rob Steere
it over what they have there now.
The fountain is still there, they just took off the plexiglass sculpture on
top of it, and added rocks and stuff for the water to flow over. (Before, it
just kind of flowed down a tile surface, and then fell into the pool
underneath in one sheet of water)
-Rob Steere
ste...@charter.net
"Keith Hopkins" <suss...@visi.comblock> wrote in message
news:41af33f3$0$85015$a186...@visi.com...