Adding Characters...

[julian]

So I'm watching a video of Living with the Land, just to relax after a long day. The memories it brings back are so exceptionally vivid that I can smell the pavilion.

And as I watch it I can help but think that soon Disney will add on some Pixar Character that loosely ties into a nature theme - "Living with the Land Starring Tarzan" - causing the ride to lose any educational or classic factors that it has.

Does anyone else have a problem with the poorly thought out additions of Pixar characters within every ride - the "kiddifying" of Epcot?

I feel like what was once the one place in Disney that was free from characters is just becoming a second Magic Kingdom.

Thoughts?

[azcavalier]

Actually, the *only* ride I can think of that they've done this to is turning "The Seas" into "The Seas with Nemo". Unless you count the Timon and Pumba film...which I don't...So, I think that your fears about the "kiddifying" of Epcot are a bit premature.

Not to be picky (but I guess I am), but Tarzan is not a Pixar character.

And with all the problems they're having with the tank in The Seas pavilion, it wouldn't surprise me to see them shut it down and do a major overhaul on the interior.

[DizneyRox]

There's a problem with the tank(s) at the Living Seas?

I'm always the last to know...

Disney can't catch a break it seems. But I guess maybe decisions are catching up on them.

I do agree somewhat on the dumbing down of the Epcot attractions though. Mexico, Canada, and SSE all are "dumber" now than they used to be. Maybe not because of characters (well, Mexico is) but it does seem to be a trend.

[azcavalier]

There's a problem with the tank(s) at the Living Seas?

I'm always the last to know...

Disney can't catch a break it seems. But I guess maybe decisions are catching up on them.

I don't know that it has anything to do with their decisions. It's just that, that amount of salt water, over that length of time is going to cause problems. Apparently there are both filter and structural problems (leaks). At some point, they're probably going to have to drain the tank and just replace the structure.

It closed on October 7th for a while, and currently all dive programs are suspended.

As for the dumbing down of Epcot, since i've only known Epcot in it's current state, I can't really comment on it. Other than the Mexico ride, which I thought was dumb to begin with. I don't know that it's any "dumber" now. It's more entertaining, though!

[Ian]

There absolutely no doubt in my mind (althought it's obviously only my opinion) that Epcot has veered away from its roots pretty substantially.

I would not, however, blame the insertion of characters into too many rides/attractions for that. As someone has already mentioned, the only two attractions that come to my mind with characters in them are The Three Cabs in Mexico and The Seas With Nemo and Friends.

Now I happen to dislike both of these and think neither one really added much to the attraction, but I wouldn't say they're necessarily worse either. Certainly not solely for the addition of characters anyway. They could have added characters and done a really nice job with it (like they did with DL's Small World), but instead they did what WDW pretty much always does and cheaped out, made a lame attempt to "refresh" the attractions, and botched it. That could happen with or without characters.

See also: Spaceship Earth, Mission Space, and Journey Into Imagination.

[LVT]

There are a lot of characters in EPCOT, via the meet and greets. It sounds like you only mean the rides.