Quote Originally Posted by cer View Post
Saddest truth from this podcast:

"It's like walking through an abandoned mall to get to where you are really going...You know, Spencer's is still open, but other than that..." -Gary O'Brien

Spot on description of what Future World has become.

I completely agree.
I only wish it weren't so. I LOVE Future World. Even now, as the stand-in setting for Dawn of the Dead 2. Still love the atmosphere, the music, even the architecture. I do suppose my love of the style of the attractions, and even the buildings, may stem out of being part of the 3-2-1 Contact generation. We only had one type of educational entertainment and we were glad to have it! (Read that last sentence in an old man voice.)

The very problem with Future World in the 21st century is, well, the future. In 1982, technology was progressing at a reasonable rate. Cutting-edge computers were the Apple II and Comodore 64. The Mac's GUI and Windows 3.1 would creep in over the next decade. You could cast an eye into the near future and come up with a whimsical, but grounded, idea of what communication, medicine, life would be in two decades. Something that is just within reach, but still fantastic.

Now? In 10 years we went from Blackberries to powerful pocket computers. That's not evolution, that's leapfrogging. We can print objects. 3-D objects. We can even do it with biological material. So, if we advanced that much in 10 years, try to come up with a perpetual "just around the corner" future motif that will appeal to current children as adults.

On the flip side, in 1982 we had just started the shuttle program and were ten years past the last astronaut on the moon. In 2015, even though Kennedy Space Center is 45 minutes away, the closest place you'd find a human launched into space is either China or Russia (for now).

The idea of educational entertainment since 1982 is been mainstreamed too. Everything that you would find in the pavilions that we'd spend hours playing with (even as adults) can be found in science centers, museums, Wonder Works, aquariums, zoos, etc. across the country. Or, for that matter, in your pocket, just an app store away.

In a way, our world has become EPCOT. Which leads my favorite park into a very uncomfortable identity crisis. What is the future when we live in the future? How does the future connect with the global past (not exactly modern-era) displayed in the World Showcase? World Showcase has blossomed because it's become a wonderland for the senses. It's beautiful to look at. Tastes and smells are abundant and delicious. Music fills your ears (or chainsaws in Canada). It's even magnificent to the touch, as you feel the textures of the facades, the fabrics in the stores.

EPCOT's future not being clear is both the problem and the reason for its current state.