Disney Genie service deeply unpopular among fans before it has launched

The new Spaceship Earth lighting and show is quite awesome, though.

World Showcase is still my favorite place to hang out in the parks. I just hope we see more of each country returning to its roots with entertainment and workers starting to trickle back in.

Spaceship earth looks great. You can see it from the Aventura at Universal!

It's Frozen and Ratatouille in the world showcase and Marvel in whatever the front of the park is called now that I am not in love with. I will get over it.

I should be the poster child for the Epcot Center edutainment model. I'm a dork who loved school so much I've never left, fascinated by space, science, etc.

Even I thought "Classic Epcot" was boring.

Ha, I'm with you there. I loved the ideals of Epcot when it opened, but yeah it was boring. I don't mind the IP drifting in, with the sole exception being that the night spectacular is mostly another jukebox show. Illuminations was great because it was original. Movies don't borrow music from each other, so let things like that stand on their own with original pieces.

Unfortunately, the last one of those (Rivers of Light) did not last too long. That's a shame, too, because I really liked it---but I'm one of the few who seemed to.

I'm with you, I liked it too. I don't really understand what the measure of success was for it, or how it wasn't met, because the only thing I had to go on was that the seats were filled every night for it that I saw it.

I watched the new Epcot show from the Boardwalk pool and our balcony, respectively, a few weeks ago. I am a long time fan of IllumiNations, and I’m fully willing to admit that I’m butthurt about the IP in the new show, along with the monstrosity in the lagoon. We are at n the Swan Reserve for a few nights in April, and I plan to watch from the viewing area or our Epcot view room, and I’ll probably ride test track during the show another night.

It’s a solid “meh” from me.

I liked Rivers of Light. That view looking across the lagoon toward the projection mapping on the Tree of Life was really cool.

I don't see the issue with the IP at Epcot. It all melds well with where it's gone in, especially with the new neighborhood theme of the former Future World. Epcot seems to be the park most being left in capital expansion limbo after the COVID shutdown. A lot of projects that were announced seem to have gone away, been scaled back, or at least been held back temporarily.

The new Creations Shop is awesome, the new Club Cool, while smaller, is updated and really nice. I’m looking forward to what they do with “future world”. I’m not bothered by the IP choices over there in the least, but the show is a MK style show and doesn’t do it for me.

Frozen in Norway confuses me a bit, but I think that Ratatouille fits in wonderfully in France. The area is so well done, and it’s awesome to have *more* of a country to poke around in. Honestly, I’d like to see them expand others to allow for more of a deep dive, and if that includes some IP rides, I’m all for it, as long as it’s as well done as the France expansion.

Count me out as someone who thinks the IP hurts Epcot. I think the IP supplements Epcot and makes it more of a destination for the kids. The French pavilion isn't worse now because Remy is there. I think The Seas pavilion is better with Nemo & friends than without. I thought the Energy pavilion was "interesting" because of the way the attraction was designed but I don't think I rode it in the last 10 years of its existence.

I'll throw a bone to the haters and stipulate that the Mexico ride's addition of the Three Caballeros wasn't much of an effort (though my daughter still likes to ride it and was upset when the trio was out for rehab).

I'd counter that the IP is a draw for kids. My 12-15 year olds kids are/were ranking Epcot high on their favorites list which was great for me so that we could still do the festivals.

Let's face it, Disney can't be in the business of designing parks that ONLY adults would enjoy and they clearly did their research before going that direction at Epcot. Also, I think we should remember that Epcot was designed and built before Universal arrived. A vacation to Orlando that included only a trip to the MK and Epcot...and a possible side diversion to Sea World...was common. Now they are competing for your time and your dollars while on your week long trip with some pretty respectable alternatives.

The funny thing about Epcot is that, despite its decades-long identity crisis, it's probably the highest margin park of the four. Maybe I should better account for how larger families spend their time, but there's no question that I spend more at Epcot because of the festivals.

Yes, the per cap for my family goes through the roof when we are in Epcot. I am a fairly conservative spender in the other parks but the festivals are a drain...in a good way. We were at the last weekend of Food & Wine and will be hitting the first weekend of Festival of the Arts.

The Epcot Calendar:

Art & Food & Wine
Plants & Food & Wine
Too Hot
Food & Wine
Santas & Food & Wine

(We'll be down during Plants. I like Art better, but Plants is good too.)

wahoo skipper said:

I'll throw a bone to the haters and stipulate that the Mexico ride's addition of the Three Caballeros wasn't much of an effort (though my daughter still likes to ride it and was upset when the trio was out for rehab).

Time for a Coco refresh?

Coco is exactly what we were saying on our last visit. In fact, I think they had some Coco influences of the "lobby" as we entered into the pavilion on our last visit.

I'll tell you one thing...getting into that pavilion has become quite the challenge in recent years. I'm not sure what that is about but the ride is certainly not the draw. I'm just guessing more people are going in for the Tequila than ever before.

wahoo skipper said:

Count me out...

I agree with everything you said in your post. All of it. Pretty spot on with IP needing to be introduced to keep kids enticed and excited for a park that was primarily a destination for adults, not families. In some cases I believe it is difficult to plus a ride with IP and not change the original story of the ride so they just toss in whatever works at the time (i.e. Mexico pavilion).

I don't know if it's a cautionary tale, but Hard Rock Park without the IP was a bigger disaster than with it. Probably a horrible example, but everything Disney owns is rooted in some pretty solid storytelling. The folks that don't see the association with quality clearly don't remember any of the direct to VHS crap from back in the day.

OT but speaking of direct-to-video: Lion King 1 1/2 is tons of fun. It is Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to the original's Hamlet.

$50 Pork Chop > Rip Ride Rockit

https://insidethemagic.net/2022/01/disney-guest-sends-chapek-letter-ad1/

It really sounds like she expected something they weren't actually advertising.

On to Thursday December 2nd the overcrowding really took a toll on me. There was no place I could go to get a small amount of peace.

Welcome to Disneyland during the holidays? I've never been there where I haven't had some sort of meltdown because of a human traffic jam, I can't imagine what it would be like during the holiday season.