Walt Disney World nerds cry over the replacement of Maelstrom with Frozen attraction

Hanging out with the worse coaster enthusiasts doesn't seem so bad compared to this.

"...let's demerit all of Walt Disney's work in creating the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow..."

Poor thing doesn't seem to know what they're talking about, given that Walt Disney's EPCOT and Walt Disney World's Epcot are two pretty different projects.

Those Disneyphiles sure take their work seriously, don't they?

A while back I was one that questioned the wisdom of this move, thinking it brings an element to World Showcase that may not be so welcome. Something about the original concept, atmosphere, blah blah blah.

Our Slith makes an excellent point - if Walt had been in charge of EPCOT we'd see a totally different place there at the end of the monorail. Plus, and I've said this before too, I witnessed the Disney Parks phenomenon that is Frozen and it's huge. Granted, there's thems that gets it more than me, but I get it. There's no reason on earth for this to not happen.

I'm all for this makeover as long as there's a machine I can insert a quarter into that will drop a bucket of ice on riders.

The disneyphiles need to just *let it go.*

I've inspired by this story to launch a Mantis/Rougarou protest. #savemantis

For the first time in forever, they're potentially giving Epcot another E-ticket attraction with this move. Besides, Maelstrom needed a bit of a fixer-upper. I can only imagine what the crowds will be like on a Frozen-themed ride, especially in summer.

By the way, this thread has an amazing title.

Maybe, someday, we'll actually get a visit a park that was the one Walt envisioned. It won't be *this* Epcot...

I'm just wondering why these same nerds aren't up in arms over the backlot tour.

I'd guess there probably are. Full disclosure: on exactly none of my visits to DHS did I ride the backlot tour, so I can't say it's good, meh, or blech.

I understand that the ride experience has been slowly but steadily pared down over the years; perhaps those die-hard Backlot Tour fans aren't really surprised by it being closed down?

Wait until they announce the Backlot Tour is being replaced by John Carter....then the crying will commence!

James, they ARE saving Mantis ;-).

I didn't know anyone but me even saw John Carter. What an amazing movie.

It would have been fascinating to see, had Walt lived, what would have become of his vision for EPCOT. Take a look at it here (skip ahead to the 10.30 mark for the EPCOT part). He truly wanted to create a thriving actual community where people lived and worked (including a number of them working at the theme park up the road).

While his EPCOT was literally built around corporate America -- office buildings are at the heart of EPCOT -- and no resident would be able to own their home, Walt was a keen student of people and how they interact with their environment.

When it comes to the urban planning fascination that Walt had, of course read Married To The Mouse. Fascinating book, if a little dry in terms of subject matter.

The concept of a carefully planned and working city is a great idea, but the problem is that there are so many things that have to fall into place to make it work. A lot of modern housing developments partially work this way, trying to make a neighborhood walkable to retail and such, and they sometimes get the public transportation in the neighborhood of being efficient, but they rarely get the kind of job concentration that would make it a slam dunk. Heck, not two miles from Cinderella Castle, where I live, is an area called Horizon West that was designated as a special planning district by Orange County. Its planning requirements were largely let go due to the housing bust, and its master plan for a centralized retail, office and light industrial area is still just a bunch of abandoned orange groves.

Married to the Mouse is a fascinating book, I recommend it.

If you can find it, Designing Disney's Theme Parks: the Architecture of Reassurance is also a fascinating read on a similar subject.

One of the things that fascinates me about Walt's EPCOT is, well, Walt. From pretty much anyone else, what he was proposing would be interesting but unlikely. It may well be that only the Walt Disney company, with Walt at the helm, could have convinced the Florida legislature to grant a private company the governmental privileges WDW enjoys. (If not currently, at least at one time WDW was able to construct a nuclear power plant, or institute its own police force.)

If anyone could have made EPCOT a reality, or even a partial reality, it was probably Walt Disney.

RCMAC said:

A while back I was one that questioned the wisdom of this move, thinking it brings an element to World Showcase that may not be so welcome. Something about the original concept, atmosphere, blah blah blah.

Our Slith makes an excellent point - if Walt had been in charge of EPCOT we'd see a totally different place there at the end of the monorail. Plus, and I've said this before too, I witnessed the Disney Parks phenomenon that is Frozen and it's huge. Granted, there's thems that gets it more than me, but I get it. There's no reason on earth for this to not happen.

I was also questioning it until I found out just how much Norway influenced the backdrop of the film.

In the words of a great American boxer, "If I can change, and you can change, then everyone can change!"

Speaking of Married to the Mouse...the book presents solid evidence that Walt knew that there could never be full-time residents in EPCOT without ceding control over RCID. Furthermore, he knew that *before* he made the "Florida Project" film that touted EPCOT as a residential community.

It was smoke and mirrors from the start.

Every

Person

Comes

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Tired