How popular would original Future World be Today?

[disguy]

With the popularity of television channels like Discovery and TLC I started to wonder - Would the original Epcot Future World have been more or less popular in modern times? I remember people saying it was all about education and it was a turn-off to many at the time, but now it seems people are more receptive to mixing education and entertainment.

What do you all think?

I think there would still be a push for thrill rides, but I don't think there would be as much said about the education portions of it - since we are kind of used to it now due to the documentary format of many popular shows.

:rocks:

[joelkfla]

Absolutely agree.

I loved the old FW, and miss the attractions. But today's young audiences have a shorter attention span, and the availability of similar experiences on HDTV, vide games, etc. make the original concept irrelevant.

Also, at least for me, part of the "thrill" of the old FW was the ground-breaking technology. I was amazed when the Universe of Energy theater broke apart and starting moving, and by the way the old Imagination vehicles lined up side-by-side to create a theater. But nowadays, technology advances so fast that it's really tough to impress with it for more than a few months.

[sportsguy2315]

I actually wrote part of a paper on this, and as much as I'd like to see some old school attractions (i.e. WoL and Horizons) come back, I'm not entirely sure how it would play since the crowd favorites these days are the thrill rides (M:S, Test Track and Soarin). I was born in '89, and once someone gets around to building a time machine EPCOT circa 1990 would be my first stop. :)

[Ian]

You know, I see this debate a lot. I think the point about the rising popularity of educational T.V. (a la Mythbusters, etc.) is an interesting one, but to me the real question of old FW vs. new FW does not come down to "educational vs. thrills."

It comes down to "good attractions vs. bad attractions."

The bottom line, to me, is that most of the newer FW attractions just aren't that great. I find Test Track to largely be a bore, Mission: Space doesn't really seem to have found an audience, the new Figment is just an abomination, HISTA is old and worn out, WoL is just plain gone, and Ellen's is also aging quickly, and reactions to the new Spaceship Earth are mixed at best.

Soarin' is obviously a legitimate upgrade and I think, by default, you have to consider Nemo & Friends an upgrade over the old Sea Cabs.

So for me I'm not so worried about whether there are thrill rides or educational rides or dark rides or 3D movies or simulators ... I'm just worried about the fact that most of the new FW attractions are, well, pretty lame.

[RBrooksC]

That is hard to say. I think the comment about technology moving faster than it did back in the early 80s is true. The reason why Tomorrowland in MK was switched to the future that never was. Tomorrowland is now timeless.

I think some of the rides would be considered boring and not worth a second ride. Future World is better now with the rides they have. While attractions like Horizons were great and are missed, Future World needs to move forward and things need to changed as time continues.

[gwfx1031]

Perhaps Future World is not the best name for it anymore. Just as the previous poster mentioned, Tomorrowland is not about the actual tomorrow anymore. I think it is tough to plan for the "timeless" attractions anymore due to our attention spans but try to include ways to upgrade them for the future in their initial design. I think Soarin' is a good example of that. New footage could be shot and the attraction updated using the new footage. Even Mission Space or Nemo could have a new movies and theming in the future and become "new" again.

[joelkfla]

I think Soarin' is a good example of that. New footage could be shot and the attraction updated using the new footage. Even Mission Space or Nemo could have a new movies and theming in the future and become "new" again.
That was one of the big selling points when Star Tours opened years and years ago. Not only the story, but the motion program could be updated, even having multiple different shows running in different cabins.

We're still waiting ...

[Crow]

How about a thrilling education?
i miss the original..
would have love to have seen Walts original plan for Epcot unfold though

[CaptSmee]

I know it shouldn't be said...but do you think the old attractions would be gone if they were still popular? I have never ridden Horizons, sadly because it looks fantastic, but I have seen several different video footage taken from later years and the people taking the video are always able to walk straight through the queue and climb onto an empty ride system. It looked like you could ride it over, and over, and over with no wait. Body Wars the last time we rode it was the same way. We could have ridden it 100 times in a row with little to no wait. It made me sad walking through that big giant queue to get to the loading platform that at one time was completely filled and then some. So, unfortunately no I don't think they would be popular today.

Now, Spaceship Earth however is a great example of how you can rehab and plus an attraction to re-gain popularity again. SE seemed to be falling into that same type of attraction, no matter when you went you could litterally walk right onto it. Now after a major update/renovation it's regained some of it's popularity back again and albeit they are shorter, but the queues are back in use again.

[Ian]

I don't disagree totally, but there are major exceptions to your rule. The original Journey Into Imagination was still hugely popular when they inexplicably destroyed it. That was directly sponsor related and I think the demise of World of Motion was also partially sponsor related.

And really, I wouldn't necessarily attribute the short lines for Horizons to a lack of love ... the problem was Epcot just hadn't had anything new in so long that attendance overall was really sagging. People just weren't going to the park period.

[JPL]

You have to remmber the old future world attractions were all omnimovers designed to move mass crowds through the attractions. so when attendance dropped off the lines were non-existent.

[CaptSmee]

I don't disagree totally, but there are major exceptions to your rule. The original Journey Into Imagination was still hugely popular when they inexplicably destroyed it. That was directly sponsor related and I think the demise of World of Motion was also partially sponsor related.

And really, I wouldn't necessarily attribute the short lines for Horizons to a lack of love ... the problem was Epcot just hadn't had anything new in so long that attendance overall was really sagging. People just weren't going to the park period.

It's too bad...:(...I know that I would have loved Horizons & JIYI the way that they used to be.

[dfamasb]

Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy Epcot somewhat, but I really think they destroyed it! I think they could have made it just as popular with today's crowds without making it so random and bleh. I loved the Epcot of the early 90's as a preteen much more than I like the Epcot of today as a twenty something.

[brownie]

Nothing wrong with a little education. I think you hook them with the entertainment and throw in some education. I don't know that the original attractions would be more popular today; a lot of the popular shows on Discovery are entertaining first.