The $4.6 Billion Dollar Mistake of EPCOT

people love epcot myself included nothing can beat the strange sense of comfort and nostalgia that this park can provide and it's almost like the grandparent of theme parks it's a warm familiar embrace in a rapidly changing industry but unfortunately i'd argue that this isn't a good thing i feel the reason why it's nostalgic and has remained a constant for so long is because nobody knows what to do with it epcot center is problematic at its core compared to disney's entire theme park liner epcot is the least defined we've mentioned problems in the past with other parks such as animal kingdom california adventure park and walt disney studios park and whilst they contained many mistakes it was mostly surface level their identities may have been weak but they had them and when refocused they were able to embrace them but how do you embrace epcon what even is epcon it varies from person to person so how do you refocus that the experimental prototype community of tomorrow epcot walt disney's dream and the real underlying reason as to why walt disney world was built in the first place this gigantic expanse of land which has a larger surface area than some independent nations was never meant to be just a theme park resort destination but was built for walt disney to construct his own personal experimental city but he would never see it built he would pass away before the project would ever get underway a project that itself was entirely problematic we will get into that soon but eventually he would be picked up by his successors who would each have their own idea as to what epcot means to them a permanent world's fair a cultural celebration a future technology showcase a perpetual festival a series of unique pavilions a culinary smorgasbord or simply a series of bars to drink around the world there is no single epcot but many different interpretations that all come with their fair share of mistakes and problems this week i'm excited to announce that we are partnering with hellofresh a service that i've used in the past and have genuinely enjoyed i've had a break from hellofresh as we moved houses and getting a box this week reminded me of how fun and rewarding it can be sitting down with my wife and going through the great range of recipes that they provide you have the option to learn something completely new every week or just keep it familiar we did all of this from the comfort of our own home which means i don't have to battle a grocery store full of people as i panic about whether i've gotten all of the ingredients because ninety percent of the time i forget something which means another trip to the store with hello fresh they pre-portion the ingredients which means less stress less wasted food and less prep also as somebody who is trying to reduce their tum tum hello fresh is a great option to keep me away from those tempting deep fried fast food goodies and keep my diet fresh and healthy with low cal carb smart vegetarian and pescetarian options you can take it that extra step to ensure it's catered to you and your lifestyle this week i cook the japanese beef bowl a personal favorite in our household and it was as delicious as always so if you want to take the stress out of cooking and try some delicious meals go to hellofresh.com and use code review time 12 to get 12 free meals including free shipping once again that's hellofresh.com using code review time 12 to get 12 free meals including free shipping when working on disneyland over on the west coast walt disney was largely dissatisfied with the zoning regulations he had to deal with in anaheim when they eventually started work on the walt disney world project many years later in florida they pushed for what would be called the reedy creek improvement district or rcid which would allow disney to have relative autonomy away from government bodies when constructing walt disney world and more importantly epcot for this to go ahead florida legislation would need to approve the rcid using their strength of creative production walt disney studios shot a short film on october 27 1966 that would outline the project's scope and concept to persuade the local government and american industry written by famed imagineer marty scala the 25 minute long film is hosted by walt himself who goes into great detail regarding epcot and its ideals but certain aspects about this project when presented through the film felt a little authoritarian for example as no one living in epcot would own their land or home residents would have no local voting rights walt stressed that this control was merely to ensure that technology could easily be changed within homes but it does seem a little off also all adults living in epcot would be required to be employed which was a defense to ensure that no slums or ghettos would be formed in this same sense it also meant that there were no retirees because everybody needed a job and it was mentioned that their jobs would be helping to operate the magic kingdom the city central core shopping areas the hotel the convention center and most other walt disney world amenities quote everyone living in epcot will have the responsibility to maintain this living blueprint of the future end quote when you factor in that nobody owned their homes removing their voting rights and pretty much everybody worked for the company that controlled the community you can see the cracks start to form on this idea within the wrong hands this is a really bad thing imagine the pressure on workers to ensure that they're in tip-top shape because at any point disney could do whatever they want with your living situation oh you arrive late to work today enjoy the experimental district in which the sun cycle is reversed walt remained focused on epcot up until his eventual passing in december of 1966. shortly afterwards in may of 1967 the reedy creek improvement district was approved by the state of florida but directors of the disney company felt that their venture into city planning was far too risky now that walt disney had passed on roy disney walt's brother became the primary advocate for epcot but before this city could be started the magic kingdom would need to be completed as florida would not agree to the funding and construction of the experimental city unless they constructed a theme park first roy returned from retirement to oversee and finalize walt disney world but he also passed away shortly after the magic kingdom opened at this stage epcot had very few remaining advocates and the idea of this grand utopia started to fade from the disney company in the late 70s disney ceo card walker wanted to revisit the epcot concept but the board unanimously agreed that walt's epcot could no longer work in the current day and age citing that no one would want to live under a microscope and be watched constantly eventually they settled on a compromise the epcot center theme park no longer a city but a permanent world's fair this concept was far easier for the disney company to swallow but it didn't iron out all the problems that would arise later the imagineers were split into two camps those who wanted epcot to represent cutting-edge technology and those that wanted it to showcase international cultures these were both divergent from the concept that epcot would be a permanent world's fair but unfortunately they couldn't find a way to marry the ideas until they literally took the model for the futuristic epcot and the model for the international theme and just plopped them together where they were combined and the modern iteration of epcot was born this created an expensive problem for the walt disney company instead of building one theme park disney was now building what was essentially two theme parks this was the first theme park to be constructed with no input from walt disney and whilst there are many people who are experienced in park construction on board without a clear guidance epcot center was a victim of immense scope creep this is an idea within project management where continuous or uncontrolled changes arise once a project is started it usually occurs when the scope is not properly defined documented or controlled and it seems that for many of disney's projects what was the glue that kept them from bursting at the seams as expected construction was unbelievably expensive it cost an estimated 2.6 to 4.7 billion dollars of today's money to construct the park over a three-year period at the time it was the largest construction project on the planet the car park alone nearly rivaled disneyland in anaheim and could accommodate over 11 000 vehicles the bloated costs were a lot for the disney company to sink their teeth into at the time and they needed alternative cash flow options to ensure that epcot would be finalized for several years the oriental land company had been approaching disney regarding the prospect of a tokyo disneyland but could never iron out the details until disney recognized the potential cash flow opportunity for licensing out the disney brand and eventually settled on a deal with the overseas company if it wasn't for epcot going immensely over budget the tokyo disney resort would likely not exist today [Music] century hooray for the 21st century the 21st century begins [Music] [Applause] [Music] ladies and gentlemen epcot center the opening celebration with your host danny k finally the path debuted on october 1st 1982 and upon its opening epcot was praised as a critical and financial success managing to rebound the impending concerns from the overly bloated project but over the coming years it began to suffer from a problem that plagued many other disney theme parks in about five other videos we've mentioned the tomorrow problem which in a nutshell is the idea that if you base an attraction or land around the concept of tomorrow that eventually that future will become the present without frequent updates that present will become the past epcot for most of its history has been split into two distinct areas world showcase and future world and as the years went on future world stopped looking a lot like tomorrow consistently epcot lost much of its relevance and guests found it hard to relate to the progressively outdated theme park disney has continually provided updates and revisions to maintain the park's relevancy but this was an expensive effort that generally led to attractions being shuttered more quickly than in almost every other disney theme park in an attempt to circumvent this problem epcot has stayed away from its focus on edutainment attractions in favor for more modern and thrilling rides and much of future world was upgraded to keep it relevant many of these new thrilling experiences have proven their place within epcot but it is disappointing to see this shift through rides are easy and a dime a dozen creating intimate and engaging experiences is difficult but when it lands it sends a powerful message to its audiences that leaves a lasting impression also test tracked is now just an ad for chevrolet which always feels strange to exit you literally have to walk through a car dealership epcot has always had sponsors it's part of the permanent world's fair approach but now it seems like the sponsors are taking less an opportunity to inspire and more an opportunity to sell the pavilions themselves provide a unique problem as well for those that don't know much of future world is split into pavilions which act as miniature lands which group attractions that share a common theme using the land pavilion as an example it is dedicated to focusing on humanity's interaction with the earth with a focus on agriculture and travel whilst this is great for creating a cohesive themed experience and let's be honest it's just kind of cool it's less than stellar when it comes to keeping the park updated compared to standard open-air lands they are likely to be far more expensive to maintain and maintenance appears to be an all or nothing ordeal because all attractions shops and experiences are cramped into tight spaces if something is refurbished and brought into the modern era then it stands out against the rest of the additions within the pavilion if you decide to upgrade the entire pavilion then you're taking out a significant portion of the park which gas can experience also these pavilions are notorious for just either being left abandoned or having abandoned additions peppered throughout them the reason these style of pavilions work for world's fair is because their architecture and design were relevant for their time period as temporary structures but epcot's pavilions are permanent their architecture can't be easily updated and they're unable to peer into the future to accommodate for modern conditions which leads to the unfortunate reality they will become outdated which is why with each new update and addition to future world showcase disney is moving away from the pavilion idea to instead embrace singular attractions some may argue that the play pavilion is a return to the original problem but considering that it's slated to use the wonders of life building it's more of an opportunistic retrofit than a complete throwback to yesteryear even though future world has copped a lot of problems over the years world showcase wasn't exempt from its fair share of concerns they purposefully left several empty plots around world showcase lagoon to ensure that future countries could be represented within the space the norway pavilion opened in 1984 followed by morocco in 1988 and that was it for new countries however disney teased on opening day a planned phase two for world showcase and began advertising the eventual new additions around the park these were equatorial africa spain and israel each had concept art designs and plans made up but ultimately for all of them plans merely fell through it was estimated to cost between 30 to 35 million dollars to construct a new showcase pavilion and the costs were incredibly hard for potential countries to justify especially when using their public taxpayer funds to build something in a completely different country these funds have traditionally been supplemented with the previously mentioned attraction sponsors but historically disney has had a lot of trouble with these as well from them going bankrupt others being bored out several dropping their contracts and other attractions just struggling to maintain them oftentimes a stable sponsor means a stable attraction at epcot but many attractions have not been afforded this luxury over the years and have been stuck in a sort of contract limbo without sponsors disney refuses to update or upgrade many of the attractions around the park which only makes them more undesirable and adds to the overall park's problematic atmosphere as we enter the new era it's honestly hard to comment on modern epcot it's a strange celebration of the world through the rose-tinted glasses of disney's intellectual property in a clear effort to easily meld the theme park with the rest of their brand and that's where a lot of my criticism now stems from they've taken the easy round the intricate architecture of the future world pavilions are being replaced with gigantic painted boxes the rich cultural experiences around world showcase lagoon are slowly being suffocated by disney characters that share the same geographical backdrop as each country becomes less a celebration and more of an advantageous profiteering gimmick the problems of tomorrow will remain exactly that as the focus shifts from sparking imagination and inspiration to simply serving the company's flavour of the month with generic attractions and experiences that merely resonate on a surface level arguably the biggest mistake for epcot was making the park what it is in the first place because it led to everything that went wrong down the line without a clear focus epcot merely became a poorly guided amalgamation of ideas as a loose homage to the visionary that dreamed it the epcot problem can be solved stop focusing on rapidly changing technologies and possibilities and instead inspire guests through timeless ideals take a short monorail ride to the magic kingdom and plant yourself down in walt disney's carousel of progress it's not perfect but the message is lasting there's a great big beautiful tomorrow and tomorrow is just a dream away [Music] so [Music] you

Channel: ReviewTyme

Views: 194,293

Keywords: reviewtyme, review, tyme, time, reviewtime, epcot, mistakes, forgotten, disney parks, disney mistakes, problems, disney history, epcot history, failure, experimental, prototype, community, tomorrow, epcot centre, epcot center, disney world, walt disney world, theme park

Id: fiswqACFtpo

Length: 19min 14sec (1154 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 19 2021