We Need to Talk About Communicore Hall...

this video was brought to you by the magic Kindle company use offer code offhand at checkout to save 15% off of your entire order the entire thing the whole thing and thank you to the magic kenle company for sponsoring this video now before I start analyzing everything there is to analyze and talking about everything that's good and bad about new Epcot I want to take a moment at the very beginning of this video right off the bat to say that all of what follows is just my opinion I have gone out on multiple occasions in the past to tell you how much of a fan I am of Epcot the park both old and new there are things to like with new Epcot and there are things to dislike for sure but you don't really get anywhere in life by just yelling this sucks and it's bad and they need to get rid of it unless you're on Twitter I think you really need to sit down and analyze what came before what we have now and where these things can be good and where they can Excel and where they can fall short and where they can be bad because whether you think new Epcot is terrible it's the worst thing it's the now the worst part at Walt Disney World or whether you think it's well pulled off and it it it looks great and it's really well themed I think for me my personal opinion is the truth lies somewhere in the middle it's not as easy as saying this all sucks or this is all great I think there are absolutely aspects of world celebration or World nature World Discovery that do need help they aren't as good as they should have been and we need to talk about that we need to call Disney out on that for sure but just angrily yelling at them that everything sucks now is not the way to do it so in this video today I figured we could take a more nuanced approach on world Celebration communicore Hall more specifically because it recently opened to below average reviews sure you can meet Mickey and his friends there and there's an open sort of empty looking doctor's office Hall and people did not like it and again before we get into the deeper discussion here just to be honest with you I dislike it I do not really like communicore Hall's interior I think they could have gone way further with what they ended up doing but in this video I'm going to tell you why and what Disney could do in the future if they decide you know maybe new Epcot isn't exactly done the way we thought and it's actually not done now because the test track walls are up test track 3.0 is on its way everyone I could not be more excited okay now that I'm done yapping now that all the boring stuff is over and done with let's talk about the fun stuff let's have a fun time here that's what we're here to do me and you is we're just here to have fun together so let's talk really quickly about what communicore Hall was supposed to be before it became communicore Hall the original plan from EPC 2019 and boy it was a good one I am still lamenting the loss of that Festival Center so while we ended up getting on the east side of world celebration more or less stayed exactly the same we got a new gift shop in the form of creations and we got a new restaurant in the form of connections connections Creations it's clever it's what we ended up getting on the west side of world celebration that really got a few people a lot of people upset over what could have been originally we were going to get a multi-story festival Center that was sort of shaped like a a UFO or a leaf with a garden on the roof where one could get together with their family and get preferred viewing for a wonderful nighttime spectacular let's be honest for a little extra money and this is the tone down version of it that's not even mentioning the earlier concept that got a little wacky when it came to Art and Design but it looks really really cool it'd be an attraction in of itself to see especially at nighttime and as the seasons and festivals would change so would the festival center kind of like spaceship earth how they do special seasonal shows with the points of light on it the center would also change season to season to reflect whatever Festival was going on at the time it seemed like a really really neat idea and now we have communicore Hall and to say communicore Hall was sort of thrown together at the last second is kind of an understatement they began demolishing the old innoventions building way before they started building communicore Hall it was supposed to be completely leveled for the new Festival Center to be built then Co happened and budget cuts happened and so they sort of used the shell of the communic core hall building that exists there today previously interventions to build what we see now as the doctor's office or the very stale looking new Epcot festival center it's really interesting looking at these pictures of the innoventions West demolition because you can really tell that they pivoted halfway through tearing this building down maybe even more than halfway because part of the shell of the old inventions building was used now this building took them forever to construct as mentioned before intervention's tear down began in 2019 and commun or Hall just opened up about a week and a half ago so that's about 5 years worth of construction for this okay and now we're going to get into the part where I'm going to try to nicely talk about what I dislike so much about this space although I do want to say before I get started people saying that interventions in 2019 or 2018 2017 was better than this you're wrong the interventions was just terrible like I get why some people might want to like it but they both have that abandoned sort of office building Vibe except the new one is an abandoned office building in 2024 the old Epcot interventions West was sort of an abandoned office building in 1993 so kind of ironically as we begin talking about the negatives what I dislike about communicore Hall I do think it is better I think it is a vast improvement from the old interventions West now interventions West during its prime when there were exhibits and there were things to do in that Wing absolutely not but another thing to think about is we haven't seen communicore Hall in its prime yet because there's no Festival going on right now those pictures I've showed you of that empty building where there's just chairs and lights and little flags hanging from the walls that is meant to be a sort of Festival Center that's the replacement for the UFO looking building we were going to get so right now it's completely empty because we're on diet Epcot diet Epcot meaning there are no festivals but even with all of that said I still have a problem with how clean with how sterile with how empty this space feels even when there's a festival in town who's to say that it'll be that much more lively I mean it might be for all we know I do want to give it the benefit of the doubt there but I also don't want to be a fence sitter because this is not this obviously budgets got cut Co happened all right stuff happens that's fine but there needs to be something else I've mentioned this in videos earlier but the world celebration Falls a tiny bit short for me not these orange things I absolutely love them they are my friends and not the gardens surrounding it but the middle The Hub of world celebration this planter here it just it needs to be a fountain see it's not about the fountain it's not about kinetic energy although kinetic energy is extremely important and Disney needs to focus more on kinetic energy with lands and expansions that open it's that world celebration Gardens feels close to what Epcot should be to what new Epcot should be but they're missing that little tiny classic piece of Disney and I think a fountain in this planter that sort of echoed if you will the Fountain of Nations that used to be there would go a long way to adding that Ambiance to adding that classic Disney feel back into Epcot it needs a touch of Whimsy I think communicore Hall also needs a touch of Whimsy a touch of Disney because there's nothing in this picture that screams Disney to me except for the flags on the wall and to even say that screams Disney is a bit of an overstatement because Flags exist other places that being said though here's concept art of what communicore Hall would or could look like during the Festival of the Arts which is usually held early on into the year and this obviously looks a lot better than this so the space right now seems really empty and abandoned because there is nothing going on so I think it's worth waiting until when's the next one food and wine later this year to see if communicore Hall will truly come to life and if it doesn't that's a whole separate video that's going to be a whole lot less constructive than this one but if it does end up looking better more full more utilized I will be a very very happy Disney fan now while I could go on and on about how the space feels underutilized it feels empty it feels like a shell and how much I dislike it a lot of people have already covered those bases for me online all the discussion about how bad communicore Hall is has already been had what I want to do is talk about some things that I found in communic cor Hall that I actually like that I think are done well now it's not a ton of things because overall I dislike this communic Hall more than I like it but they also think that there are things that Disney did correctly and they need to be padded on the back for they need to be praised for in addition to criticizing them for what they did wrong because that's important that's how we hold the conversation that's how things get better now what I'm about to say may shock a couple people out there and and that's fine I think I've made my position on this known previously but I actually enjoy connections and Creations I think they're awesome I think the creation shop could stand to have a little bit more theming it's mostly just around on the exterior of the space on the walls but connections I think is a very neutral space a very nice relaxing space with that beautiful classic Epcot style mural on the wall and being able to look into the kits I think connections is great on a scale from 1 to 10 five being like middle of the road okay I would give connections probably a s seven and a half on that scale I'd give Creations probably a six better than okay but not fantastic could absolutely be better but you know over there across the way at communicore Hall that's easily a three or a two but what's keeping it from going down to a one or even a zero I will tell you now after talking and rambling for about a minute and a half the first thing I like about communicore Hall it may be a bit divisive but I think the exterior is great it really fits in sort of perfectly with World celebration Gardens in the middle of what used to be future world where you can kind of come out of the trees and the bushes and the plants and the sculptures of world celebration Gardens into communicore Hall and I also love how the exterior sort of Echoes spaceship earth behind it and like most everything at the Disney parks it is better after dark you just wait for that sun to go down and the exterior lighting package really helps bring this space to life the inside yes still looks dingy and sort of dead but the outside really says Epcot to me I I can't explain it more so than the other side honestly more so than the the former communicore East there is another thing outside of communicore Hall that's technically part of communicore Hall that I absolutely adore and that I think will be looked upon fond as the days go by and that's the world celebration stage I believe it's called Curt Curr L hosting the Encanto show it's basically what you would find in Tomorrowland a Tomorrowland stage at both Disneyland and Disney World the Tomorrowland stages are the same thing where a cast of characters and cast members host singalongs trivia dance parties it's just a fun stage and then when the festivals Will Roll in you'll have demonstrations and music shows and I think music and live performances are what really set Epcot apart from every other Park except for you know Magic Kingdom and Disneyland Epcot does it so differently and so well I think people are being way too harsh on the show and being way too harsh on world celebration stage the world celebration stage something else I think is an upgrade from what it was previously although I don't love it the way that it is now if that makes sense the Mickey and friends meet and greet area I think the theming inside is superior to the former meet and greet area in Inventions although I do wish there was more if that makes sense like I'm I think it's better but it's still not where I want it to be I will say however the artwork that you can find while you're waiting in these cues is absolutely gorgeous it's a little bit hidden underneath the awning or the overhang but once you get under it and once you get inside it is so colorful and there are homages to Classic Epcot everywhere you look I mean bonus points for Horizons at least Disney hasn't forgotten nobody has while I don't hate it it definitely falls short of what I think a character meet and greet could be like come on Mickey's house at Disneyland It's nowhere near bad and a certain improvement over what came before and part of part of me is wondering if the old character meet and greet plan was to have it also in the big UFO looking Festival Center I think that would have been neat to like Meet Mickey with the windows behind you looking out over the world showcase that would have been super super cool but aless it was not meant to be okay that was a a bit dramatic but now that we've talked about the positives of communicore hall because I do think there are some good things about communic cor Hall do they necessarily outweigh the negatives I don't really think they do unfortunately in this case I think communicore Hall was a very quick fix for what Disney needed in World celebration the front half of the park and they needed to get it open and they needed a character meet and greet and they needed a stage and they needed something to go there for the time being I'm not saying that communicore Hall is temporary I guess in the long run almost everything at the Disney parks is temporary communicore Hall absolutely could be torn down within the next 10 years but what I am saying is that you can tell it was sort of rushed and that's the sad part about it I think Disney excels when they really put their hearts into something you can tell it reflects in the final product I think Toontown at Disneyland is a very good comparison to what we got with communicore Hall and World celebration it's a retheme of an existing land into something new and something different while still trying to maintain what came before and Toontown I think pulled it off a bit better both World celebration Gardens and communicore Hall Were Meant to refresh the middle of Epcot to refresh future world new Toontown at Disneyland land was also meant to give this land that opened up in the early '90s a bit of a facelift to modernize it to make it more interesting and more interactive I mean for crying out loud without removing an existing attraction Toontown got a brand new e dark ride in the form of Mickey and Minnie's runaway Railway which is already a huge win but outside they added play areas they made use of space that was previously going unused they added a new restaurant a bunch of new seating areas a bunch of stroller parking and not not a whole lot of Shade that's a complaint I have about New Toontown but it took what previously existed with Mickey's Toontown and improved on it and added new things on top of that communicore Hall is mostly just a replacement it doesn't really add anything new except for the stage which as I said earlier I actually really like the Mickey meet and greet that was there before the long empty lonely hallway that was also there before also Moana the Journey of water replaced Another Part Of Inventions West and let me just tell you that theour joury of water is absolutely amazing it's probably my favorite recent addition to Epcot more so than Cosmic rewind more so than Ratatouille I love this walkthrough attraction walkthrough attractions as you know I believe are underrated and it's educational Moana journey of water is absolutely an improvement on what came before and is themed really really well I just don't know where the connection was lost between this and communicore Hall it could be that it's easier to theme something off of a movie a pre-existing intellectual property than just a vague concept of Celebration but I think minus the planter that should be a fountain World celebration Gardens is very well done so I just don't know with communicore Hall at the end of the day it sticks out like a sore thumb I do have a theory and I'm going to share that with you thusly I suppose I think communicore Hall and World celebration as a whole is the biggest victim when it came to budget cuts due to covid-19 and other factors for new Epcot and I think it's definitely a case of during the demolition of the old interventions West plans changed budgets changed and they had to make do with what they already had and nowhere is that felt more in World celebration than in communicore Hall plants and trees you can put as many of those in as you want to and I think they should honestly put some more in at Epcot especially in the front of the park but entertainment venues and themed Pavilions those are a bit harder and a lot more expensive to do and yes I am showing the land Pavilion right now I said what I said I think the main problem s here that communicore Hall is facing is one a lack of budget obviously considering what we were supposed to get before the shutdown and the budget cuts happened but also to the lack of Direction I don't think Disney really knows themselves what they want World celebration to be I think World Discovery they have that figured out with space 220 and Guardians of the Galaxy you play Pavilion is a well that's just a whole other topic that we don't need to discuss right now they also have World nature figured out I think I don't think there are any changes coming to the land or sea Pavilions and then Moana is great imagination Pavilion we can also skip over that one for now cuz I don't think Disney knows you get back you get back don't touch him don't touch him but with World celebration it's very much an abstract concept same with future world back when Epcot first opened how do you represent the future in a way that's Timeless I don't think Disney really wanted to do that with World celebration they just wanted to make something that was sort of modern and I made a post a little while back on the Twitter website that I don't blame you if you don't go on with the recent departure of one of the heads of Walt Disney imagineering you can see that some of the most recent projects definitely reflect her history with gendler architecture now gendler is an Architecture Firm that is headquartered in San Francisco but has offices all over the world and some of their buildings are actually really impressive and no I'm not biased just because I see this building every time I go to Walt Disney World if you know you know and I mean come on just the ones that I'm showing you right now feel like they could go somewhere at Epcot or tomorrow land these designs feel very sort of futuristic but modern and creative all at the same time what happened with communicore Hall this brings to mind some of gendler's more creative projects more so than this which brings to mind I guess maybe one of their offices now all of this being said I've looked at permits going back years to like 2019 2018 and I do not believe gendler were the Architects for communicore hall or World celebration so I'm not saying the company themselves are creatively bankrupt or whatever I am saying the though that the former head of imagineering past with the firm may have ended up influencing the look the vibe the feel of new Epcot especially communicore Hall and Disney has final say over all of this none of this is gendler's fault I mean if you want to know why the new DVC tower for the Polynesian Resort looks the way it does there might be an answer there and I say might because this is all speculation for all we know everything I'm saying is completely wrong and this is the vibe that Disney wanted to go with for new Epcot and the Polynesian Village Resort Bungalows what are they called Disney's Polynesian Villas and Bungalows the inside looks nice I also don't want anybody misinterpreting this as me slinging hate at the former head of Walt Disney imagineering there are things that were opened under her tutelage that I think really turned out well like the example I used previously in this video new Toontown so not everything is bad I just think when Disney is going for a modern or futuristic look they tend to overstep it and make it look more like a Weston or a Marriott than I think they're intending to at least these days they do so where do we go from here what steps can Disney take to amend the communicore hall failure um I don't know I am going to turn that question over to you do you think it needs a complete tear down do you think it just needs something extra like me just a a couple extra touches and by a couple I mean a lot of extra touches here and there or do you think that's fine the way that it is I've seen varying opinions on communicore Hall all throughout the internet but for the most part it seems to lean towards the This Is Not Great angle I think Disney could do so much more with both communicore Hall and World celebration Gardens if they just give themselves a little bit of time and a little bit more budget and consider this phase one of world celebration phase two would include Dynamic theming elements water features colors and design that evokes classic Epcot in a way that's not just artwork on a wall granted that artwork is really really cool and then of course again we have to wait and see what this looks like when a festival is in town either all of that or communicore Hall and World celebration stay the way that they are today for the next 10 15 20 years and then in 20 years Disney can give it another swing all of that remains to be seen but rest assured I will be here the whole time to talk about it sometimes complain about it but sometimes also praise it it's weird I have a weird LoveHate relationship with this area but you know what I don't have a LoveHate relationship with candles yeah I I learned how to speak telepathically from figment after I saved him from that inside out two post I don't have a LoveHate relationship with the magic Candle Company the sponsor for today's video in fact I think I only love them they've got candles that smell like the Haunted Mansion candles that smell like the beach club candles that smell like some sort of Tiki Terrace and they can all be yours for 15% off using offer code offhand at checkout also you will check out their new magic wall diffuser that can diffuse the smells of the parks throughout your own home by simply plugging it into a w wall in choosing your favorite scent actually don't think figment gave me hypnotism Powers it's just the telepathy or you can pick from your favorite Foaming Hand soaps also meant to smell like Resorts and attractions and lands and shops all across the Disney World and Land once again I am beaming this directly to you nobody else can see this it's important that you remember offer code offhand at checkout to save 15% off of your entire order and the magic Candle company thank you for sponsoring this video even though you can't hear me right now because I'm only talking to them and now we return so I mean those are my actual thoughts on communicore Hall but more importantly my real thoughts my unbiased completely truthful thoughts on living with the land I know it would sort of be surprising to you all that I actually think that about living with the land this ride I talk about so often but it's the truth I'm just glad you could hear it hear me out at least um but that's the end of the video everybody thank you all so much for watching thank you for hearing me out on this whole communicore Hall thing I know it's a bit of a touchy subject to sort of get mean with Disney and also to sort of defend them on things that a lot of people are getting mean on Disney about so thank you for hearing me out I love to see uh what you think in the comments below and now I am going to go downwards out of frame like how I usually end my videos even though you can see me right there in this mirror that's a secret you're not supposed to know about the mirror do you know about the mirror hey there everybody thank you all so much for watching this video of me sort of tearing apart communicore Hall and I say sort of because this is I I feel like as mean as I can get to Disney without really just getting toxic I really don't like doing that especially because people who I know work there at Disney at imagineering and I know how much they care about these things I just think it's nice to point out what didn't work but also to point out what did work and what they what you liked so that way they can do better in the future and I think that's really important if you just say Disney sucks now that's not going to help anybody I truly want Disney to be good I don't want them to fail I know they're great and I want them to do better if you enjoyed this video or if you disliked this video please hit the like button it it sends a good message to the YouTube algorithm to make more videos similar to this one in a way but it also just lets me know that you liked it and if you're new around here and you want more videos hit the Subscribe button a very special thank you as always to all of my supporters over at patreon.com offhand Disney they got Early Access to this video for even just $1 a month you can join their ranks and also get early access to videos a day early and uh exclusive videos I believe there are two maybe three patreon exclusive videos that only they can watch so if that interests what was that sound if that interests you please be sure to head to the link in the description down below but you know if you'd rather do it all for free follow me for free I'm on Twitter Instagram and Tik Tok at offhand Disney just to make it easier it is storming outside that's what that sound was I'm scared for my life it's just a bit of rain everybody thank you all so much for watching this video I look forward to seeing you in the next one goodbye

Channel: Offhand Disney

Views: 51,592

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Id: fUfxX-6Bdj4

Length: 24min 2sec (1442 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 23 2024