Imagineerland: EPCOT 2018 Plan: The Dream Version

Today is the conclusion of my series of hypothetical expansion plans for EPCOT, this time with the full and ambitious dream plan. Unlike the last two, which featured a lot of characters and are pretty realistic takes on what could hypothetically happen in the future of the parks, this plan is all original and incredibly unlikely. I am even going as far in this plan as pretending some recent additions didn't actually happen. This is the true ideal situation in my opinion.

When trying to put together these plans, I tried to put together my overall concept of the park, its meaning, and its organization to help me understand what I wanted to do.

In my view, World Showcase should be a collection of independent spaces that first exemplify human diversity and cultural spirit, and second show where we come from. So it would be ideal to include a truly diverse collection of counties and include attractions that reflect somehow on what makes that country unique. There's no subdivisions of this larger land because each country should be of equal value to each other.

Future World however is a singular space that first demonstrates human achievement and technological progress, and second shows where we can go. Attractions and pavilions should show how and why we can make life better for the world. It is divided into Future World West, East, and Center, and each have a different concept. West focuses on natural sciences and looks at the beneficial relationship between man and earth. East focuses on technical sciences and explores how we have used technology to break boundaries and explore new worlds. And Center ties the elements of the whole park together to show how we synthesize who we are and what we have discovered to create a better future.

As with last time, you should read the previous posts first, because this builds on them with some repeated ideas and elements.

First, the hotel is the same as the previous two plans, with the split concept that looks into the park and the connecting Peoplemover system.

The changes to the spine from the previous plans remain as well with the same buildings demolished and new buildings added. The undulating pathway through the center of the land connect the feature elements of the park concept to create the real core of the park experience. It connects the current thesis attraction of the park, Spaceship Earth, with the added fountain plaza, New Horizons, and World Showcase. The idea is that all of these elements represent the big concept of the park.

There is one additional new attraction placed on this core experience pathway, replacing what I noted as Innovations in the previous two plans. That space would hold a new version of Imagination, which, like Horizons, I always thought was more important to the park than its location suggested. Now at the very center of the park, I think it can better reflect the importance the power of imagination has to innovation and futurism. The three attractions on this path directly relate in concept. Communication allows us to dream and imagine, imagination allows us to create, and creation allows us to innovate a better future.

The attraction in its new location retains some of its whimsical water elements in its facade. A series of hopping water pads run in front of the building plus the entire facade acts as a giant digital water curtain. Water flows over the roof line, creating various patterns and images as it falls. It could show images ranging from futuristic patterns to Dreamfinder's Dream Catcher flying through the clouds (Image 4). Behind the water would be a full height glass wall, showing the load area and vehicles moving by beyond. The actual ride would be a mini-kuka family friendly dark ride. Not to be thrilling, but just to allow for a variety of motions as we travel along with the Dreamfinder and Figment on a flight through the power of imagination. The show building would be expanded east to hold the large attraction.

New Horizons is the same as last, a trackless, choose your own adventure dark ride through a variety of settings in the future. Like original Horizons, each car could choose how to alter their attraction experience with a couple alternate scenes along the main journey, focusing on different future settings and themes. The new building would hold some of the retail that was in the space formerly on the ground level, while the attraction takes up the rest of the ground and upper levels.

Future World East gets a new pavilion and one majorly changed pavilion. Also included are the Space Restaurant, the Jetpack spinner, the refurbished Mission:Space, and the enclosed Test Track rear track from the last plan (Image 2)

First on this side, the Energy Pavilion gets a new attraction. Here is where I am pretending that Guardians of the Galaxy is not happening. However, I have decided to keep the ride system and external showbuilding because I can understand the thought process and benefits of EPCOT getting a thrilling coaster. This would instead be a fusion reactor launched roller coaster, exploring the themes of alternate and experimental energy (Image 1).

Next is the new pavilion on this side, looking at Computer technology. The exterior of the pavilion is modeled on a chipset from a computer chip (Image 1). Inside is a high tech computer lab setting with a lot of interactive computer games and exhibits (Image 2). The main attraction of the pavilion is an EMV dark ride through a come-to-life digital world. The unique concept is that the setting and your experience is chosen and custom created before you ride and manipulated in real time by guests outside the ride. Imagine that your car chooses the setting and the mission you must undertake, while other guests control the elements of the world you explore, basically playing against you. Literally no way to have two rides twice.

There's two other additions to this area of the park. Instead of having one large Innovations like in my previous plans, this version has a smaller more specific version on each side of the park. In three small adjacent buildings by Mission: Space are a variety of technology showcase exhibits that relate to the pavilions of Future World East. The last addition is another Peoplemover for the park, this one starting by Test Track, running over the land and through the Innovations building, into New Horizons, interacting with many of the scenes of the attraction, and then making a large loop out over the edge of the lagoon before making the reverse trip (Image 3). I like the peoplemover and think every park could do with a peoplemover. Plus the added kinetics and futuristic transportation technology fit well in this side of the land.

The West side also gets a new pavilion and a couple altered attractions. The Aquatopia and counter service location from the last plans are included (Image 3). Also in this plan is a major refresh and modernization to the interiors of The Land Pavilion.

Also added, adjacent to the lagoon and New Horizons, is the House of the Future. If it should be anywhere, it should be in EPCOT. so I decided to add it in. It is the same design as the original, with modern interiors and technology (Image 4)

Starting at the north end, all Finding Nemo is removed from The Living Seas. Instead, the new dark ride explores the mystery of the deep by traveling through shipwrecks and shark infested waters before reaching Sea Base Alpha (Image 2). The interiors would be restored to the classic modern underwater research facility.

The all new pavilion is a Health Pavilion, which I think makes more sense on this natural science based side of the park. The exterior is modeled on a red blood cell, allowing for a glass enclosed main atrium space inside (Image 2). The attractions include a shooting dark ride where guests attack viruses in the body, and an animatronics show that hearkens back to Cranium Command with modern story, figures, and animation (Image 1).

The former Imaginations pavilion becomes something new since Imagination moved to the center of the park. Instead, this becomes the new Climate Pavilion of the park. The glass pyramids call back to the original Tony Baxter Land Pavilion concept, with the glass biodomes, and I think they could be effectively converted into simulated climate enclosures (Image 2). Imagine being able to see it snowing inside the front pyramid and fall trees in the other as you walk by. These simulated environments would be the post show to the main attraction, a suspended weather balloon dark ride through the climate extremes of the world, such as the polar icecaps, the Sahara, the rainforest, and the jungle (Image 1). On the left side of the pavilion, in front of the theater, there is a small explorable rainforest added and the upside down waterfall fountain is changed to something more organic (Image 3). The theater inside becomes a very 4D weather demonstration show, including real wind, rain, fog, and lightning effects.

The Innovations for this side of the land includes another smaller glass pyramid and focuses on earth sciences, such as health, ecology, and geology.

This version of the park, the one I prefer, covers a lot of really important scientific and technological topics while still adding some new fun and exciting attractions to Future World.

World Showcase also has a lot of additions, including 6 new countries, maxing out the available land of the park. Most of the existing pavilions also get attractions or updates to their existing attraction.

Starting at Canada, the existing movie is replaced with a 360 degree dome film about the Northern Lights and Canadian culture. Similar to what I had with the IP plan, but without Brother Bear. The pavilion structure is well suited for a movie, but I wanted to update it and make it a little different than the China movie. I wanted there to be some variety of attraction systems across the park.

The World Showplace still gets an updated facade. I decided to keep this facility instead of replacing it with a pavilion because it has shown to be very useful for the many special events that the park holds. I think in general the festivals are good for the park and still fit in with what I have in this plan.

In the UK, there are two attractions. The carousel that was load for the Mary Poppins attraction is now just a normal park carousel. Behind it is the other attraction, a theater for live British Literature comedy musicals. Rotating between 2 or 3 shows such as The Knights of the Round Table, Shakespeare's Greatest Hits, and The Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes, the shows would be full scale productions of comedic retellings of famous stories, similar to what the World Showcase Players used to do on the streets. I liked the idea of introducing a live performance venue in World Showcase somewhere, and this made a lot of sense because of the subject matter possibilities.

Next, France remains as is. I am again pretending that Ratatouille doesn't actually happen. Also adjacent to this area is the Skyliner. I am adding an enclosed tunnel for the section that passes behind World Showcase to prevent views of the backstage space. Maybe it could be a look out to a nighttime skyline of Paris.

Next is the first added country. My thought process behind the country selection was to try to represent cultures and continents currently left out of World Showcase. The existing park is very very European with some Asian countries added in. There's a lot more to the world than that. Africa, South America, and Asia were my focuses. I also wanted to try some options that are not always the constant rumors. I wanted to go unexpected.

The first added country in this plan is Ethiopia. Africa actually gets two counties added, and this one is meant to represent North Africa. I choose it because it is one of the largest countries of the continent and has a distinctive and popular cuisine. I really wanted to avoid the African hut style of the Equatorial Africa pavilion or the rustic village from Animal Kingdom, and Ethiopia gave some great options for that goal. The main icon of the pavilion is Fasilides Castle, a 17th century stone palace built by an Ethiopian emperor (Image 1). The pavilion is set in the city of Gondar, where the castle is really located. The interior of the castle is some explorable space and the table service restaurant. The castle grounds area is bounded by low stone walls, and across is a village style area that holds the retail (Image 2).

Beyond the castle ground is the second highlight element of the pavilion: a huge swiftly flowing waterfall, cascading down a cliff side, based on the Blue Nile Falls (Image 3). Wooden flume boats periodically emerge from these waterfalls, splashing down in the river below. This flume dark ride loads in the dock building of the castle and floats along the river into the showbuilding for an animal based African fable adventure.

The next country added is Peru, just like the last plan, but without the IP. The city is modeled on Cusco, specifically the old historic area of the city, and is the representative for South America. It is still the same design with the ancient Incan ruins, church courtyard, and force perspective never ending street. The coaster attraction is similar but instead is an mining and archaeological trip that discovers an authentic Incan lost city right underneath the town.

Japan next gets the Bullet Train Pass simulator attraction, where guests take a very fast trip through the Japanese landscape and cities in train car simulators. Guests enter the existing castle, but then exit it again and walk into an indoor nightime Tokyo city street. There is the train station and the start of the attraction.

The American pavilion gets the same added restaurants and the side street from the past two plans.

In Italy, this plan adds a dark ride on the west side of the piazza, in the same space I added a Pinocchio ride last time. In this plan, it is a Venetian Carnival spinning dark ride. A fun musical soundtrack moves us through the city in celebration.

The next new country follows, replacing the Germany train garden. This pavilion is India, representing the second largest county by population in the world. At the edge of the water, the first element is the Gateway of India from Mumbai, the setting of the pavilion (Image 1). One goal of mine in this plan was to add more elements on the water side of the path, so that the pavilion countries felt more enclosing. The pavilion has two main buildings, representing different elements of Indian history and architecture. The front of the pavilion is the Taj Mahal hotel, holding the table service on the second level, and representing the more modern and ornate part of Indian style (Image 3). On the other side of the public square is Crawford Market, a slightly older public market place that holds the retail and the counter service market (Image 2 and 4).

The attraction for the pavilion is a huge boat ride using the Shanghai Pirates system that takes guests through a lavish Bollywood style musical of Indian history and culture.

Saudi Arabia is added next and is the same pavilion as the last two plans. The attraction is instead a 1,001 Nights flying carpet dark ride.

The other half of the currently open lot is used for the other African country, South Africa. I decided to go a very different direction with this country and go both more modern and more ancient at the same time. On the edge of the water is a recreation of Umhlanga Lighthouse (Image 2). The front half of the pavilion is modeled on the Groot Constantia Manor House, a historic museum and winery that architecturally has Dutch influences (Image 1). The main building and its adjacent garden hold the table service restaurant and is surrounded by smaller winery buildings with retail (Image 4).

Just past the winery building is the other half of the pavilion, showing the literal start of man. A hill side rises up ahead with a series of cave entrances in front of us. In front of it are a couple of early African structures, modeled on the village of uMgungundlovu, which is the queue to lead inside. Inside is a explorable cave system modeled on the Cradle of Mankind, the real cave system where the earliest human remains have been found (Image 3).

Moving along, in Norway I am pretending that Frozen does not exist. Maelstrom would still exist and should be updated with more modern effects.

Finally, the last new country added is Malaysia, bringing Southeast Asia to World Showcase. The front of the pavilion is modeled on Xiang Lin Si Temple, a Buddhist temple in Malacca City, and holds the main restaurant of the pavilion (Image 1). Past the Temple is a palace garden style area with Melaka Sultanate Palace sitting on a hill at the end (Image 2). Inside is cultural space, and the buildings on either side of the garden hold the retail and a counter service location. This pavilion does not have an attraction because its one of the smallest plots in all of World Showcase.

The conclusion to the trip around the world is in Mexico, where the existing boat ride attraction is restored to El Rio del Tiempo.

That concludes the additions to World Showcase, bringing 6 new diverse countries and a lot of attractions to the land. The breakdown is 5 European countries, 4 from the Americas, 4 Asian countries, 3 countries from Africa, and one in the Middle East. I really enjoyed researching and learning more about all these cultures and all the amazing places to visit that I used as sources for the pavilions. I would hope that these selections would be as fun and interesting in real life if really brought to EPCOT as it was to design them.

This is the kind of EPCOT I want to visit because I like science and technology and traveling and culture. I know that's not where EPCOT is going, but that is why this is the dream plan. I can only hope that however EPCOT ends up, it still keeps something like this no matter how many characters are added as well. Let me know what would be in your dream EPCOT. Maybe we have some overlap.

So this concludes my series with plans for EPCOT. That means that Hollywood Studios will be the next major part of this series! That is going to take some time though, just as this series took some time. However, I plan to have some other posts to fill in until them, with a plan to get back to one post a month.

Also, I am in Walt Disney World this week, so follow me on twitter if you don't already so you can follow along with all the pictures and thoughts I plan on posting!

9 comments :

NerdmanReturnsJanuary 29, 2018 at 10:22 AM
Excellent plan! Future World is pretty much perfect, and as for World Showcase, it is just as excellent.

That said I was surprised by some of the choices made for World Showcase. I was surprised for one by some of the country choices, such as the decision to not include Egypt or Russia from your last plan, but I did like some of the choices such as India and Peru.

I was however shocked that you didn't include the Rhine River Cruise in Germany nor did you include your Library of London: A Classics Adventure ride. While a Royal Theater does make sense, I kind of felt both could have managed to fit.

Overall, an excellent plan and I can't wait to see what you do in your Disney's Hollywood Studios plan. For that, can I recommend a land dedicated to classic Mickey Mouse Black and White Cartoons? Maybe call it Timeless River like the world with a similar premise that's in Kingdom Hearts 2?
UnknownJanuary 30, 2018 at 2:42 AM
Great plan! I especially like you're plans for Future World. It keeps the spirit of the original park while still acknowledging that it needed to be updated.

By the way, in the post, you said that "every park could do with a peoplemover." Does that mean that the future dream plans will also include peoplemovers?
Mark RussellJanuary 31, 2018 at 3:11 PM
A pretty good design with some new ideas, though I thought your London Library ride would be involved.

My one concern is that path going from Future World to World Showcase. It's the only way in and out, and I could imagine there being bottlenecking, even with those smaller paths.
AndyFebruary 2, 2018 at 8:23 PM
This is totally mind-blowing!! I like the balance of nature/technology in future world because it seems like it should have always been this way, but imagination and wonders of life kind of stuck out currently/previously on either side. Imagination makes a lot more sense in the middle with Spaceship Earth and Horizons, and gives Epcot the ideological center and “thesis statement” it has always deserved.

I really love the countries and attractions you’ve chosen for World Showcase; I feel like they are all unique and represent diverse and interesting places that definitely deserve to be included (more so than some of the countries already here, I think). South Africa has a very unique design and is easily my favorite, even out of all the existing countries. I feel like there is a pretty good balance from different cultures all over the world except Australia/Oceania (though I guess Malaysia kinda fills this role)... do you have any plans for it in Animal Kingdom?
emmie3sdFebruary 16, 2020 at 10:45 PM
What if future world was returned to S.E.A.? like with different people a part of the society discovering new technologies or things in the ocean(the sea pavilion) Even dreamfinder could become a part of S.E.A. if they did a trackless redo of journey into imagination with new technology.

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Monday, January 29, 2018

EPCOT 2018 Plan: The Dream Version

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