The State of Epcot

[Nick]

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?

Most of what has been talked about lately IS very plausible. Also, no one has talked about an Imagination re-do as something even close to something more than fan speculation in many months. All things Tron are far off the table as well... click bait sites just love to bring up that rumor.

Give things some time and everything will play out. I posted this back on page 33. Anything outside of this stuff I would consider highly unlikely.

• Energy is getting a GotG overhaul.
• Communicore (outside of mouse gear) will be updated/overhauled, green lit. Mouse Gear to get a new name.
• Mission Space will get a refurb/update
• Land will get an update
• Seas will get refurbished
• Test Track will remain as is
• Spaceship Earth will receive an update
• Brazil Pavillon
• Ratatouille Ride in France
• Coco overlay in Mexico
• Ride for UK
• Replacement for Illuminations.

All of this was accurate as of March 10. The only thing that has changed is the M:S refurb became officially announced and the Rat ride is far more solid than it even was then.

 

[GadgetGuru]

We'll have answers at D23 in middle of July

 

[GAcoaster]

Most of what has been talked about lately IS very plausible. Also, no one has talked about an Imagination re-do as something even close to something more than fan speculation in many months. All things Tron are far off the table as well... click bait sites just love to bring up that rumor.

Give things some time and everything will play out. I posted this back on page 33. Anything outside of this stuff I would consider highly unlikely.

• Energy is getting a GotG overhaul.
• Communicore (outside of mouse gear) will be updated/overhauled, green lit. Mouse Gear to get a new name.
• Mission Space will get a refurb/update
• Land will get an update
• Seas will get refurbished
• Test Track will remain as is
• Spaceship Earth will receive an update
• Brazil Pavillon
• Ratatouille Ride in France
• Coco overlay in Mexico
• Ride for UK
• Replacement for Illuminations.

All of this was accurate as of March 10. The only thing that has changed is the M:S refurb became officially announced and the Rat ride is far more solid than it even was then.

I concur with all of that from my sources, except the UK ride. There has been no mention of that from anyone I know (except on here).

 

[shiekra38]

I concur with all of that from my sources, except the UK ride. There has been no mention of that from anyone I know (except on here).

A psychodelic Beatles ride would be fun, but that probably won't happen ever haha

If WS gets a significant ride upgrade Epcot would be in the running for best park in Orlando...It really is very different from everything around..I hope to see it get its life back

 

[Hatetofly]

Shanghai totally screwed over Epcot

 

[Alicia]

Shanghai totally screwed over Epcot

Unfortunately, due to unforeseen financial issues arising from the Shanghai project, the "dream big" plans for Epcot have been scaled back to only a new hat for Figment. That is all.

 

[Mr. EPCOT]

Shanghai totally screwed over Epcot

omg, what happened

 

[DoubleJ]

Shanghai totally screwed over Epcot

Unfortunately, due to unforeseen financial issues arising from the Shanghai project, the "dream big" plans for Epcot have been scaled back to only a new hat for Figment. That is all.

From conversations I had with an insider yesterday, everything is still a go for Epcot overhaul. Disney is quite happy with results from Shanghai so I'm puzzled by this information.

 

[chewbacca1995]

A psychodelic Beatles ride would be fun, but that probably won't happen ever haha

If WS gets a significant ride upgrade Epcot would be in the running for best park in Orlando...It really is very different from everything around..I hope to see it get its life back

Ideally, WS should add 1 B, 1 C, 2 Ds and 1 E to compliment the existing lineup (1 E, 1 D, 4 Cs)

I'd support something like this:
Mary Poppins carousel in UK (B-ticket)
Germany-themed boat ride/dark ride (C-ticket)
rumored Gigantic dark ride for new Spain section (D-ticket)
Rat clone from Paris in France (D-ticket)
Mt. Fuji coaster in Japan using the proposed Fire Mountain ride system (E-ticket)

With that kind of lineup, Epcot would be on the right track in half the park too bad FW needs a $2.5 billion overhaul to fix all that's needed fixing for the past 15-20 years. By the time they're finished it'll be more like 20-30 years. And then there wouldn't be much room for a $750 million-$1.25 billion enhancement of WS.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

From conversations I had with an insider yesterday, everything is still a go for Epcot overhaul. Disney is quite happy with results from Shanghai so I'm puzzled by this information.

I have a feeling he might be talking in retrospect, we wouldn't be in this situation if it wasn't for Shanghai.

 

[GAcoaster]

I think it's more a case of EPCOT has had to wait and what it is getting is scaled back. At least there are now plans to do SOMETHING with it and make some fixes.

 

[epcyclopedia]

I have a feeling he might be talking in retrospect, we wouldn't be in this situation if it wasn't for Shanghai.

Epcot is generally viewed as a bank for other capex projects. So when Shanghai was over budget and such it came from Epcot.

You'll notice the most expensive attractions are mostly at Epcot. It spends the money between supporting pretty much everywhere else.

 

[Hatetofly]

My comment about Shanghai was that it greatly slowed down projects in the states. Disney has an INCREDIBLE amount of capital locked up in upcoming projects. They need Shanghai to continue to perform at a higher level and they need Avatar open and bringing in money NOW. Disney is a massive global juggernaut of a company but they don't have unlimited capital to invest into the parks and wait for results. In order for things to really pick up steam for Epcots overhaul they need to start bringing home the bacon soon.

 

[epcyclopedia]

And my understanding is that the success of Festival of the Arts helped.

 

[belloq87]

My comment about Shanghai was that it greatly slowed down projects in the states. Disney has an INCREDIBLE amount of capital locked up in upcoming projects. They need Shanghai to continue to perform at a higher level and they need Avatar open and bringing in money NOW. Disney is a massive global juggernaut of a company but they don't have unlimited capital to invest into the parks and wait for results. In order for things to really pick up steam for Epcots overhaul they need to start bringing home the bacon soon.

The pessimistic side of me is telling me that this is a recipe for not much happening at Epcot, even by the 50th.

 

[Nick]

It's looking less and less like Impressions de France may not survive the addition of Ratatouille and instead would be used as part of the queue or possibly a new movie (which would most likely tie to an IP).

 

[Jon84]

The UK and France ride additions make perfect sense. Once those Gondolas start flying in at the International Gateway this will become a much busier area of the park.

 

[epcyclopedia]

The UK and France ride additions make perfect sense. Once those Gondolas start flying in at the International Gateway this will become a much busier area of the park.

They're going to have to reconfigure the International Gateway turnstiles to handle increased capacity.

 

[Jon84]

They're going to have to reconfigure the International Gateway turnstiles to handle increased capacity.

Agree, it's far to busy at the moment just when a Friendship Boat arrives.

My guess is that it'll all pull out into the currently open area towards the bridge. Hopefully with separate lanes for Boats/Foot Traffic and the gondolas.

 

[Nick]

They're going to have to reconfigure the International Gateway turnstiles to handle increased capacity.

They will be adding about 4-6 new turnstiles to the existing amount. Security will be moved back a bit too, as only those walking in from the Boardwalk area will need to be screened... those on gondolas will have already gone through screening at the station.