Skip to content

Epcot – But where has the vision gone?

  • by

Since 1982 Epcot has been an integral part of the Walt Disney World experience. The vision it presented of world unity and better living through technological improvements had the feel of a World’s Fair combined with the genius of Walt Disney Imagineering to make it worth repeated visits. While the World Showcase area has changed little in purpose and scope, the Future World section of the park has seen tectonic shifts in both. Both present problems.

EPCOT Central
is a relatively new blog that looks at the path the theme park is on with a critical eye. The park is about to celebrate its 25th year and it appears to have strayed wildly off course. In one post, the author suggests that perhaps the ‘owner’s manual‘ for Epcot has been lost.

Imagine that you were given the ownership of one of the most powerful communication tools ever devised. With this tool, you could make millions of people listen to your message and hear it exactly the way you intended. You would have a platform for your vision of the future, and you would be speaking to people who were eager to hear what you had
to say.

Now, imagine you lost the instructions.

Together with the Re-Imagineering blog, the volume of complaints about the vision behind and direction for the Walt Disney theme parks is ratcheting up. If this were Eisner’s regime, we can be sure they would have fallen on deaf ears. Will it be the same with Bob Iger?

[ Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ]