Wishful Thinking

Much to my surprise (well, not really) I received a wealth of responses to my last entry about a hypothetical situation in which I fantasized about updating several EPCOT attractions, and what I believed would be the best.  And when I mean "a wealth of responses," I really mean two.  And boy were they livid.  In the past I have been critical of many things that the Walt Disney Company has done in regards to their theme parks, such as the FastPass, the look of "new" Tomorrowland, and, of course, the current state of EPCOT.

There is nothing right about any of this.

Spanning the far reaches of the Internet are those who love Disney.  There's a lot of them out there.  On Tumblr you'll see re-post upon re-post of all things Disney, ranging from pictures to inexplicable memes to bizarre GIFs, but it is all for the sake of Disney.  As much flack as it gets as a corporation, people sure do love it.  And that all stems from one simple thing: nostalgia.  We all cherish these things because we grew up with it; it was part of our childhoods, and a part of our upbringing.  Simply put, they made us who we are.  Alan Menken said in an interview for some iteration of a Beauty & The Beast DVD release that high school kids thanked him for teaching them how to sing, from watching the films that he worked for Disney.

We all owe him and his mullet some serious gratitude.

 As we grew up with Disney, we tend to love it.  And some of us love it a lot.  Now when you get past the broad spectrum of Disney, seeping below the animated classic and contemporary animated films, you'll come across another layer of Disney fandom: theme parks.  The culture of Disney Theme Parks is equally as broad as the films, but not as accessible.  Still, Disneyland sort of remains a standout figure in this: it was the first Disney theme park, and obviously cherished by those young and old.  And since it was situated in Anaheim, mere miles from Los Angeles county, everyone flocked to those gates to witness the next evolution in amusement parks.  I see more obsession over Disneyland than Disney World in some instances, mostly because it is regarded as a classic.

Although I thought the castle was always a little too small.

Below the line of theme park obsession among Disney fans is Disney World, as it pains me to say.  I believe both are equally as popular, and I prefer Disney World to Disneyland, despite growing up in California.  But Disneyland is iconic and therefore more people are inclined to favor Disneyland, although Disney World has special meaning to people on the East Coast, as it was the closest Disney Park to them, and instead of driving from Pennsylvania to California to capture some of that Disney magic, you only had to drive to Florida.  Although it could be that since I grew up in Northern California, there was no real buzz for Disney World among those living here, as it was too far.  All the buzz was for Disneyland.  But I'm sure it's a different tale when you talk to someone from New York or surrounding areas.

Now after you have the Walt Disney World fans, then you get to my level, several layers below the surface of Disney love.  There is a small handful of people out there with the undying love and appreciation and obsession of EPCOT Center.  And when I say handful, I mean maybe a couple thousand?  It's hard to pinpoint out there in the world of those who are hopelessly obsessed with EPCOT.  And when I say hopelessly obsessed, I mean watching the YouTube videos of the rides and specials aired about EPCOT Center, you collect the Figment merchandise and the Kitchen Kabaret plush dolls, and any T-Shirt that bears the EPCOT name, only if it was made before 1993.

Ain't got time for this garbage.

And beyond that layer... I guess people who are really into MGM Studios?  I'm not going to go to that level... yet.  But on the whole, I'd wager that there are not too many EPCOT Center obsessed people, in comparison to those who are obsessed with Disneyland.  And if there are, you please let me know because I am always thrilled to find people who share the same level of enthusiasm as I do.

EPCOT Center holds a special place in all of our hearts, mostly due to the fact that:
A. It looked cool, especially the thing that looked like a golf ball.
B. Figment was awesome and so were the jumping fountains.
C. You kinda learned something, but didn't really know it.

Joking aside, EPCOT Center offered us a glimpse into the future, looked back at the past in humorous and/or spectacular ways, and challenged us to be better.  And for a lot of us, the principles and ideas stuck with us, and when you went every year, you grew to love it on a level beyond comprehension.  For those who grew up with it, like growing up with Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs and Sleeping Beauty, or in the later generations with The Little Mermaid and Beauty & The Beast, it becomes part of your childhood and, in a sense, "part of your... life."

You thought I was gonna say "part of your world."

The die-hard EPCOT fans know and love EPCOT from their earliest childhood memory of the park, so it makes sense that the majority of us are obsessed with the old EPCOT (1982-1993).  My earliest memory was probably in 1989, with the Universe Of Energy.  We all have similar memories, and we remember the park as it existed 25-30 years ago.  When we see how much it has changed in the past 30 years, some argue for the worst, it obviously incites a little anger in us.  It's like seeing someone demolish that slide you loved so much as a child, and then leave the pieces behind so you have nothing, and then maybe in a few years someone will re-purpose it into something new, but it won't be the same.  That's how we all feel about EPCOT.  It's not the same as we remember it.

As we get caught up in our emotions about how things have changed there, and how it's not the same, we also have to take a step back and examine the situation as a whole.  We fantasize about what we'd like to see done to the park to make it better, we wonder what things would be like if it had never changed, we say "just revert Journey Into Imagination to its original state and reopen the Image Works," but there's more to it than just our wishful thinking.  Obviously the old EPCOT was outdated, and turning it back to its original state is not only expensive and time consuming, but also impractical in terms of guest expectations.

To many, EPCOT is just another theme park you visit on your trip.  The message it extends is sort of lost in the void, and the shift has been to entertain, and maybe you'll get a little information out of it.  Nothing as serious or heavy as the original attractions, but you still get a little something out of it.  But when you recount how many die hard fans there are (maybe a few hundred to a few thousand more than those at the D23 expos?), there simply isn't enough of us to warrant a massive change, as it pains me to say.  Although there was an overwhelming outcry after the second iteration of Journey Into Imagination came into existence in 1999, and they revamped it to include more Figment, it remains doubtful that they would revert it to its original state.

We have had a glimmer of hope in other forms that might suggest that they'd resurrect the old Journey Into Imagination, in the form of bringing back the original Enchanted Tiki Room and bringing back Captain EO, so who knows; anything could happen.  The point I'm driving at is that as much as we want all of our old rides to come back because we miss them, we are but less than a fraction of the visitors to Walt Disney World, and the majority of those who visit the park aren't really interested in something that was popular in the 80s.  As much as I'd love to see kids get excited about SMRT-1 and hum "Veggie Veggie Fruit Fruit" over and over, I looks doubtful that these things will make a comeback to today's youth.  Most guests are just there for the experience and fun and adventure, and are complacent about what they experience in the park (speaking VERY broadly, of course).  The average park guest doesn't sit around and study and obsess over Disney World.  If you're shelling out top dollar to do Disney World right, the last thing would be to know about the many different phases of Horizons or who filmed Symbiosis.  They want to just have a family vacation, and not be alienated by taking out rides that their kids were looking forward to and putting in old rides that we love.

Sadly, no one cares enough about any such thing except for a core audience of a few thousand or so, and I'm just estimating.  There could be more, there could be less.  But if EPCOT taught me anything, it's that you have to be optimistic.  And even though we'll never get the EPCOT we grew up with, we might get it in slightly different forms.  And Disney has been hinting at it for some time now.  They haven't forgotten their roots, they're just trying to make it appeal to everyone.  They've dropped little fun things like the old pavilion logos around the park, they hold expos and things for annual pass-holders.  And I believe in the future, we are going to get something that placates us all.  Just as long as they don't turn Wonders Of Life into a character meet & greet!