Warning, sleepy mind induced long-winded diatribe incoming:
In all fairness, E.P.C.O.T. was originally meant to be a showcase community filled with real families that live there and work in cutting edge versions of commercial factories and businesses. Walt wanted everyone that visited the Magic Kingdom park (and future theme parks) to drive through the middle of the domed city center (where the weather was always perfect) just to show off what the future could look like. Everyone in town would use people movers to get from their homes to work, monorails to get to farther locations, and they would only need to drive a car on weekends when they needed to leave town.
"EPCOT Center" and now "Epcot" were never really what it was originally supposed to be, so why should it be pigeon-holed into something it never was now?
Having said that, of course I miss rides like Horizons, World of Motion, and even the Wonders of Life pavilion (oh yea I loved me some Cranium Command and Body Wars.) I even miss the more educational version of Test Track with the actual test track elements in it that actually taught you about testing cars. But edutainment attractions haven't been packing 'em in the way the other parks do with thrill rides or things based on existing things people already know, so the park has to evolve, unfortunately.
I like watching parks change and grow. I was terrified about Frozen Ever After, but now that it's there, it feels right. Maelstrom had its fans, but it was a weird ride with one good scene surrounded by a bunch of unnecessary nonsense (ocean oil rigs?) and a mild drop. It was usually a walk on. Frozen is a decent ride, very well themed inside and out, and is quite popular in the park. Why be mad that Epcot is getting some love? I for one welcome our IP overlords.
If it's a matter of evolve or die, I say evolve. Horizons and World of Motion were walk-ons in the early nineties. I would ride them over and over and over again. Part of that had to do with them being omnimovers, but more of it had to do with the un-re-ridability of storytelling based slow moving rides like that. Other people in my party would say, we already did that - it's boring - what else is there to do?
Dinosaur (CTX) teaches people far more about dinosaurs than UoE ever did, in just 10 minutes (including the pre-show) and it's a heck of a lot more fun. Maybe this new coaster will manage to teach us something. You never know. I do know that everything UoE currently teaches us we all already pretty much know. The common youngster of today probably knows more than the average adult in 1996 about where fossil fuels come from, what solar energy is, wind farms, etc. And when Bill Nye and Ellen fly over deep water horizon style oil rigs I don't think the audience is having the same awestruck feeling that was intended for that wide screen sequence, in lieu of the events of recent history.
What was my point? Probably something like: I'd rather Epcot change and be a fun and happenin' place than decay and die a slow death trapped under the weight of its own nostalgia. A little nostalgia is ok. We keep Spaceship Earth. We keep some version of Living With the Land. We keep the concept of learning about different cultures of many varied countries. But maybe we liven things up a bit with some fun and adventure. If for nothing else, at very least to keep the park alive and well, well into the future.
/End diatribe.
