Absolutely not. There's a sponsorship contract that needs to be honored and unless both sides agree to terminate the contract, the ride is staying under GM's watch for the time being.
The State of Epcot
- Thread starter Brian G.
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- Apr 18, 2013
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Cars actually has Corvettes and other GM vehicles in the movies.
Again I don't think it's happening, but like I said before a Cars overlay would be the best thing ever for GM. Put Lightning and the others in the post show alongside the current cars they're marketing and people will gladly stand in line to have a photo emailed to them from GM of their Cars experience at Epcot (along with some other promotional stuff). There is also a Cars GM connection in that the head guy for the Cars franchise is the son of someone significant in GM history. I forget the exact details, but it could be the case that Pixar would be willing to get behind it if done right.
GM doesn't want you taking a picture with McQueen though. They want you walking around and checking out the real cars that you can actually buy in a no pressure situation. Adding in a M&G for an animated car only distracts people from browsing the cars.
- Apr 18, 2013
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Yeah but they know everyone is there with their kids. If kids just see a car lot at the end of the attraction they're going to be begging their parents to go to the next thing. If the kids see Cars characters (especially after just riding a Cars ride) mixed in with what GM is selling they're going to be begging their parents to stay and see the characters giving GM more people looking at their products rather than walking through. That's the whole point of sponsorship, you have to keep people engaged willingly, forcing it on them in a room they can easily walk out of is mostly just wasted marketing dollars.
As I said, GM has sponsored this attraction or it's predecessor for 35 years. They see this as their building and what is in it should be theirs. They don't want what they see as a GM building to be slapped with a Disney IP.
- Apr 18, 2013
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I completely get that thought process, I'm just not sure that that's necessarily what GM wants. We can't pretend to know what GM might want one way or the other. Identifying a product with a particular IP is a very valuable thing. Again I don't think this is happening, but for all we know this is something that GM pitched to Disney and Pixar doesn't want to be perceived as selling out. In any case the only point I was trying to make is that if they wanted to overlay this with Cars they could make it work and it could also work in a way that benefits GM. This isn't as crazy of an idea as putting Frozen in Norway, so with Disney nowadays I wouldn't be really shocked to see this.
We can never know exactly what anyone is thinking, but Test Track is already one of the most popular rides in all of WDW without a Cars IP attached to it. What is the incentive to let Disney come in mess with your attraction?
And yes, it is GM's attraction more than it's Disney's.
- Apr 18, 2013
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That was my point of why I don't believe this rumor. It's already very popular in a park that is very off balance. I can however see how GM could care less about the rest of the park and possibly want more, as you said it's their attraction more than Disney's. I suppose it's entirely possible that with the addition of the extra theater for Soarin and all the festivals that whatever numbers are provided to GM could show a small decrease and GM could be pressuring Disney to make changes. At the end of the day they're simply looking for return on their advertising investment. My guess is they're happy with how things are, if that's the case Disney has no reason to rock the boat. If they're not happy then that could be what's behind this likely false rumor.
My guess was this was just a pitch by some guy at WDI that never made it past the pre-blue sky phase. Jim then found out about it and opened his mouth.
- Apr 18, 2013
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That too is a possibility, although I would think Imagineering would rather stay away from sponsored attractions as much as possible as that brings someone else to the table that can just shoot their ideas down. Honestly if I had to definitively guess where this came from I would go with someone just made it up. It sounds more like fan speculation based on the lowered expectations of Disney. I mean if your making stuff up and trying to pass it off as a "rumor" you don't go for Carsland or something like that you go for something like this that makes people stop and think "hey maybe there could be something to that" simply because a few things line up logically specifically ride system and the new movie coming out.
First I ever heard the rumor was from Jim Hill last month. Now everyone's reporting it. I cannot track it down as existing prior (at least not about the characters from Cars 3 specifically.)
Now of course Cars 3 has topiaries and a play area set up near Test Track for Flower and Garden, and that's something they've been doing for years, so it's not like Cars isn't somehow related to Test Track in some way.
Maybe a message got messed up after being passed to Jim about the new character as a topiary near Test Track to promote the new film. It's been Lightning and Mater for years, but this year it's Lightning and Cruz. So yea, I can see how that might've got misconstrued through a game of telephone on its way to Jim.
- Apr 18, 2013
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Jim Hill basically just spouts off anything he hears or wants to believe. He is right every now and then, but so is a broken clock.
- Dec 2, 2015
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There's just so many better things TDO can be doing to enhance Epcot... overhaul Energy, bring in a true WoL replacement, update Mission: Space (they're doing this), overhaul Imagination, update LwtL, overhaul Seas (more edutainment in Nemo ride), update SSE, replace Illuminations, overhaul Innoventions, redo the main entrance, update the CircleVision shows, add two new countries to WS, Japan E-ticket, Rat clone (they're doing this), UK C-ticket (could be a B-ticket, but still good)
Granted the park needs about a $2 billion overhaul, so it's really just about priorities :tongue:
A Test Track update seems like a waste IMO
Granted the park needs about a $2 billion overhaul, so it's really just about priorities :tongue:
A Test Track update seems like a waste IMO
- May 5, 2012
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To sum up this entire thread. No one knows anything, but everyone has their own blue sky ideas about what should be done. We chase rumor after rumor and no one has credible information. Let's just rename this thread the Epcot blue sky thread. We go from Inside Out is coming to imagination, to Guardians of the Galaxy at Energy, the countless rumored country additions to world show case, to what ride would be a better fit into France. I'm ok with speculation it's fun. But does anybody have any real information about Epcot?
- Nov 15, 2012
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