The Rise and Fall of Tomorrowland and Innoventions

[Croaker]

after reading through my Imagineers guide books, Epcot book and various other books on Disney's imagination and concepts. I can't help but wonder, What happened? the direction of Tomorrowland, Innoventions, The Unique Stores on Main Street (Magic shop, Arcade, etc.), Food choices. (note..i'm shocked Dole Whipp is still only available in Two locations yet the Coca-Cola Icee is growing and expanding.) so....what happened? I see Inoventions staying dull as opposed to cutting edge, i see Journey into Imagination look like the sequel to Highlander......(thats bad!) My wife stumbled across this website. http://www.storyofstuff.com/ No matter your Political stance, no matter your ecological stance...watch the video through. pay particular attention to "Planned Obsolecence" and "Perceived Obsolecence" I think you'll see the characteristics not only in Disney...but also in those opinions on the Parks themselves.

There is no way Tomorrowland can stay in the future like it did when it started. There is no way Inoventions can stay on the cutting edge, sharper image even struggles to do this. Unique is a thing of the Past. Disney is Unique by itself, so why not cut some cornors and save some money? We used to have pride in what we do. Pride in how we do things. I want to give some Kudo's to Subsonic, for his pride in his service. He doesn't get paid to do this...he does this for the love of the Ambiance. His Love of the Ambiance has overflowed to allow us all the ability to share in this wonderful thing. Imagine if we could do that when a friend gets sick? help him pay his bills. Imagine if we shared our time with kids whose parents drop them off at the boys and girls club and don't pick them up till 8p.m. on weekdays. Imagine allowing someone who is rude the grace and forgiveness as they cut in line on your favorite ride in front of you. Imagine taking a friend to Disney and paying for the entire trip. sounding like a John Lennon song i know, but we need to open our eyes realize and appreciate when something is done for Love...we need to embrace and share it. What do you Love? and are you willing to give of yourself to share it with others? Disney did, he took that chance. God Bless him.

[stev02]

Wow, touching post Croaker. I agree with everything you say and God Bless Walt for his dreams. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and that website is so informative!

[Captain Schnemo]

What happened?

Eisner.

[casrin]

I liked when they switched the focus on Tomorrowland from "the future" to "the future that never was." I thought that was a fun, whimsical sort of way to be futuristic but acknowledge that keeping up with what we supposed could be the future was going to be next-to-impossible. I liked that switch, honestly.

Innoventions nor Communicore ever held my attention to begin with, so I can't say much more than that.

Walt Disney's dreams and the push for making them a reality though... having the tenacity to see it through and create such a legacy is astounding and I do whisper a thanks to him often. His imagination gave my brother six more years of life that the cancer would have otherwise taken. That perspective is enough for me.

[elizabethswann]

The only reason I go to Innoventions is because they have Guitar Hero there. That's pretty much what they have there - video games/interactive games since the first floor is closed and supposedly being worked on.

[Jacca5660]

after reading through my Imagineers guide books, Epcot book and various other books on Disney's imagination and concepts. I can't help but wonder, What happened? the direction of Tomorrowland, Innoventions, The Unique Stores on Main Street (Magic shop, Arcade, etc.), Food choices. (note..i'm shocked Dole Whipp is still only available in Two locations yet the Coca-Cola Icee is growing and expanding.) so....what happened? I see Inoventions staying dull as opposed to cutting edge, i see Journey into Imagination look like the sequel to Highlander......(thats bad!) My wife stumbled across this website. http://www.storyofstuff.com/ No matter your Political stance, no matter your ecological stance...watch the video through. pay particular attention to "Planned Obsolecence" and "Perceived Obsolecence" I think you'll see the characteristics not only in Disney...but also in those opinions on the Parks themselves.

There is no way Tomorrowland can stay in the future like it did when it started. There is no way Inoventions can stay on the cutting edge, sharper image even struggles to do this. Unique is a thing of the Past. Disney is Unique by itself, so why not cut some cornors and save some money? We used to have pride in what we do. Pride in how we do things. I want to give some Kudo's to Subsonic, for his pride in his service. He doesn't get paid to do this...he does this for the love of the Ambiance. His Love of the Ambiance has overflowed to allow us all the ability to share in this wonderful thing. Imagine if we could do that when a friend gets sick? help him pay his bills. Imagine if we shared our time with kids whose parents drop them off at the boys and girls club and don't pick them up till 8p.m. on weekdays. Imagine allowing someone who is rude the grace and forgiveness as they cut in line on your favorite ride in front of you. Imagine taking a friend to Disney and paying for the entire trip. sounding like a John Lennon song i know, but we need to open our eyes realize and appreciate when something is done for Love...we need to embrace and share it. What do you Love? and are you willing to give of yourself to share it with others? Disney did, he took that chance. God Bless him.

Well spoken like a true Christian!!

[nirvashone]

What happened?

Eisner.

Eisner was there strictly for profit. I remember being little and always wanting to go to Epcot just for Innovations. Back in the day they had endorsement from SEGA, Nintendo, Sony and others, and it was so much fun. No every time i go into innovation i feel like im walking into a home and garden show

[HakuOni]

What happened?
Eisner really didn't care about what disney had set off and his ideas. all he cared about was profit so he has been exploiting the movies changing everything towards movies in order to gain profit. it is soo sad.

[blinkereye123]

Hey folks. Lately I've been going through some personal problems, (not
hing [i]too[/i] critical), but it's seems to have led me to a very weird mind
set. Namely, I keep thinking of things that have come and gone, and all
the possibilities that seem to have gone with them.

With this topic I can't help but wonder out loud if [i]any[/i] of the ideals
and or hopes that were set forth in the original concept of, not just TL or
Epcot, but [i]all[/i] of the Disney parks have any merit in the real 21st
century.

To explain. When you step into a Disney park the whole idea, obstensi
vely, is to leave the real world behind and allow yourself to dream, rem
ember, and be inspired by what you experience around you. At least,
that [i]was[/i] the original plan.

Now I know that times change, people's priorities change, and yes, not
everyone has the same set of values :roll:. But when you have some
thing that was designed to keep hope in the human spirit alive hasn't
in some ways been corrupted.

That is to say; if all people see is profit and pride of ownership in every
thing--including the human spirit--then we're all lost.

I, myself, can only hope and pray that at some point we get our collected
selves together and maybe, [i]just maybe[/i], understand what Walt,and
others wanted; to let our imagination and drive bring their promises to
fruition.

Anyway, enough of my rambling, told ya I was in a weird space :wink: .

Later, Peace.

[Jacca5660]

What happened?
Eisner really didn't care about what disney had set off and his ideas. all he cared about was profit so he has been exploiting the movies changing everything towards movies in order to gain profit. it is soo sad.

You are so right, HIT NAIL ON HEAD!

[Captain Schnemo]

There's always a market for hope and optimism, as long as the project is good. It's easy to be cynical (just say "whatever" after any serious statement), but it's really hard to do something that inspires people or gives them hope that doesn't seem cheesy.

I've never seen any evidence that people don't want to see optimistic stuff and that they somehow prefer negativism...but if you're going to go the hope route, you've got to be very good at what you're doing, otherwise people aren't going to buy it.

There is hope for hope, though. Look at how much better the Pixar movies have done than the cynical crap Disney has been producing since the onset of the Eisner era.

People are hungry for earnest optimism that doesn't suck and I expect they always will be. Children should always have the opportunity to get that message, and, in my opinion, should be steered away from all that awfulness on the Disney Channel until they're at least old enough to understand irony.

By the way, the real victory of Eisner was convincing people that things like a valid Tomorrowland are impossible. They aren't, by a longshot, but you see people saying how smart it was to cop out with "the future that never was", because they've got us thinking like marketeers instead of old school Disney customers that were amazed by what Walt did for us.

[RREng77]

With this topic I can't help but wonder out loud if any of the ideals and or hopes that were set forth in the original concept of, not just TL or Epcot, but all of the Disney parks have any merit in the real 21st century.

I think Captain Schnemo responded well to this point. To go a step further, we'll always dream and hope, but with the increasing prevalence and encouragement of sarcasm, we're losing our appreciation for sincerety.

I, myself, can only hope and pray that at some point we get our collected selves together and maybe, just maybe, understand what Walt,and others wanted; to let our imagination and drive bring their promises to fruition.

Keep your chin up, and become part of the positive influence we all need. It's hard to swim upstream, but the water is cleaner the further we get. Our example will certainly give others the necessary gumption to follow - especially if they're struggling with the same concerns.

[bamato]

This is depressing... It seems like it's a good thing that Eisner isn't in control anymore. Is Bob Iger much better does anyone know?

[Captain Schnemo]

He could hardly be worse, and he does seem to be trivially better, but I haven't seen any significant decisions that hint at a serious change in direction. For every sort of hopeful thing they do, they do two horrible things.

But, y'know, there's always hope and all that.

[Jacca5660]

This is depressing... It seems like it's a good thing that Eisner isn't in control anymore. Is Bob Iger much better does anyone know?

With Eisner's scorched earth policies Iger is doing better just by staying out of the way. He did take credit for bring Pixar in and putting their people in key creative positions. He's putting a lot of money back in the parks (It had to be done). So yes he is doing better then Eisner.