Will we actually get a 25th Anniversary at Epcot after all?
Well, it appears at though Epcot’s new leader, Vice President Jim MacPhee, is opening the door to celebrating Epcot’s 25th Anniversary after all. In a short blog posting released yesterday by the Orlando Sentinel’s Scott Powers, the man with the coolest job in newspapers, we find that Disney may be on the verge of reversing one of the least popular decisions in recent memory.
New Epcot Vice President Jim MacPhee is opening the door to possible public events, saying last week that the Oct. 1 anniversary would include “some surprises for our guests.”
So what can they do? Let’s keep in mind the phrase “some surprises” probably does not mean anything big. No new attractions or parades can be expected here, though another parade along the World Showcase promenade would be a good idea. So think small when posting your suggestions.
I would expect some signage near each gate and throughout the park. Whatever logo they use for those materials can be slapped onto pins, hats, and t-shirts as well. I would also imagine we would see some additional creative merchandising concepts, especially of the limited edition variety. Something like a limited addition watch or snow globe, a commemorative book or DVD, or even a big fig of Mickey in his famous astronaut outfit from the early days of Epcot would all be good ideas. The only suggestion I would have is to use Figment as much as possible on these items. He is, after all, the original Epcot character.
Also, we can go retro with some of the costumes Cast Members wear at Future World attractions, maybe going back to some of those lovely polyester 1980’s “get-ups of the future”. (All of which have thankfully not become the norm 25 years later!) This could be something fun for the CM’s and a nice little touch. Also, I don’t know how easy this would be, but since I believe they want to do some work on the Illuminations globe already, how hard would it be to go back to the original fireworks show for the month of October? Okay, that one may be a bit bigger than I was thinking.
But Epcot is not about nostalgia, it’s about looking toward the future. As much as Epcot purists may get the warm and fuzzys thinking about Dreamfinder or the old 45 minute Exxon infomercial, that’s not what this park is about. My suggestion would be to use the 25th as an opportunity to raise money for an international children’s charity of the Mouse’s choice. Talk about how we can help our future generations, and come up with creative ways to raise this money. Perhaps a portion of pin sales, or something along those lines, would be the most appropriate. If Disney doesn’t want to do something big, how about they do something really good?
Eric said,
July 10, 2007 @ 1:30 pm
Two words: Captain EO.
David said,
July 10, 2007 @ 1:49 pm
One Word: OY!
John Frost said,
July 10, 2007 @ 2:00 pm
Before Brad Rex made his earlier pronouncement of “no celebration” there were rumors that Epcot would be receiving a new parade. I wonder if the work on that effort could be revived in time for the 20th anniversary. I think they would have to avoid the world showcase area as much as possible since the Food And Wine festival takes up so much square footage now.
Biblioadonis aka George said,
July 10, 2007 @ 6:45 pm
I think the strength of an Epcot celebration would be in Future World. World Showcase really hasn’t changed too much.
But seriously, would it draw crowds? Early Epcot/Future World attractions were not experienced by a lot people. So ,the chances of making money are slimmer than a general Disney magic parade.
It is probably going to be limited to a book (if they can do it in a few months) or just logos on shirts, pins and hats.
Raidermatt said,
July 10, 2007 @ 11:21 pm
Yeah, I think we’re looking at merchandise, some banners, maybe a guest speaker or two, stuff like that. Honestly, as long as they are publically acknowledging the date as a date of great significance (Disney-wise), I’m pretty much ok. Anything else is just marketing and isn’t necessarily genuine.
I did want to comment on the idea that not many people saw those early Future World attractions. If you look at the attendance figures, http://www.geocities.com/hopemax.geo/wdwattendence.htm, it looks like about the same number of people saw those early Epcot attractions as see the new Epcot attractions. Attendance at the resort went up 10-12 million in the years after Epcot’s opening, and thats pretty much about what Epcot is estimated to get today.
That doesn’t mean I want all the pavilions turned back, but it is some interesting data.
biblioadonis aka George said,
July 11, 2007 @ 6:19 pm
Thanks for the link to the stats. When I re-read my post, I realized I ommitted part of a phrase. When I said:
Early Epcot/Future World attractions were not experienced by a lot people; I meant to say that they were not experienced by a lot of people that are visiting the parks *today*. I would feel pretty safe in arguing that most daily visitors started coming to WDW in the past 10 years or so. Of course, there is no way for this to be accuratley known by us…so it is still up for contention.
I just don’t see a parade being a real money maker. Shirts, posters, mugs…stuff that we could take home and enjoy.
Raidermatt said,
July 12, 2007 @ 3:23 am
Ah, ok, that makes more sense. It’s been 25 years since opening and about 10 since any serious updates/changes started, so I agree there has probably been a fair amount of “guest turnover”, though I also agree it’s difficult to really guage how much.
It was just that I’ve seen people argue elsewhere that Epcot wasn’t very popular in the beginning because of various reasons, so when I read your original post I thought things were going down that road. Thanks for the clarification.
If we do assume the Epcot anniversary doesn’t mean a lot to most guests, then it does follow that it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to spend money on stuff like parades just for that purpose. Let those who care buy some merchandise.
But I do think Epcot could use a parade in general. I wouldn’t want another version of the “character parade” that runs at all of the other parks, but either a Tapestry of Nations revival or something else creative would be a real plus I think.
Biblioadonis aka George said,
July 12, 2007 @ 7:34 pm
Now…a parade celebrating all of Future World’s current pavilions with a nod to the older ones might be fun. But…
Where would it run, and
Can you imagine a float at the Magic Kingdom with a Toad float.
I can’t. The backlash would be horrendous!