What is in your imagination?

[melbm2677]

hi all my friend i was wondering if you could make a ride or a parade or even a new seccion in any disney or disneyworl park what would you do with what characters and for what public. start your imagination to work

[kronk's angel]

I would love to see a Chronicles of Narnia attraction, or even area (in Animal Kingdom).

[Just Believe]

I would love to see a Chronicles of Narnia attraction, or even area (in Animal Kingdom).

OHHH YEAH!!! That would be amazing! I always wanted them to create a restraunt based on the show "House of Mouse" and have all the characters enjoying themselves with the audience

[Shinku]

Moderators note: Please refrain from typing in all caps, thank you.

[Croaker]

I used to have an original map of epcot where it showed "Switzerland" as an upcoming country to be added to the showcase...i was excited thinking they would add more countries as the park aged. with the sucess of the "food and wine festival" i would like to think they would do that.

[AKLRULZ]

Magic Kingdom desperatetly needs a new E-ticket attraction in Fantasyland.

[netslave]

I'd love to see an original ride that featured the Fab 5 instead of just another movie ride. Mickey and Pals don't get enough love.

I always wanted them to create a restraunt based on the show "House of Mouse" and have all the characters enjoying themselves with the audience

That would be awesome! It could be Character Dining at some points, but then also have the characters on stage putting on a show. The Studios needs something like this to connect it more with Disney rather than the lame stuff they have now.

[Captain Schnemo]

A remake of Mr. Toad with Indy technology would be terrific.

[spaulo]

A remake of Mr. Toad with Indy technology would be terrific.

Holy crap. Hadn't thought of this, but that technology would certainly make for a WILD ride. Love the idea!

[Esmeralda]

A remake of Mr. Toad with Indy technology would be terrific.

That would be fantastic! I love Mr. Toad in Disneyland and it would be the perfect addition to Disney World's Fantasyland.

[Captain Schnemo]

I actually had a whole ride planned in my head for a while, which would solve one of the "problems" of the original ride, in that Mr. Toad would actually be in it.

You'd get caught in the middle of car chases and Toad would be behind you, honking at you to get out of the way, and he'd sideswipe your car and generally create menacing situations you'd need to swerve around. Of course you'd see cop cars strewn all over the place, crashed into various things.

And at the end, Toad would escape in a plane (like in the cartoon), swooping low over your car and shouting at you, then flying off into the sunset.

It would be friggin' sweet, I tell ya.

[netslave]

The Mr. Toad ride would be nice, but they already replaced it with the Pooh ride at WDW. Plus, they have Dinosaur @ Animal Kingdom that uses the Indy Technology so I don't think Mr. Toad will be making a comeback at WDW.

[Cheshire Cat]

After demolishing the 20k building though, there's a huge field behind the new pooh play area with plenty of room for a big ride. If only they could put Toad there, or make a Toontown ride. I just hope they have some awesome plan for that huge empty space that's there there now. They shouldn't let it go to waste.

[netslave]

They shouldn't let it go to waste.

I couldn't agree more. The last time I was there, they had the place fenced off but they also included a Pooh play area. I was really hoping for a really big little mermaid ride but I guess I still have to hope.

[Agosaol Brythwich]

This might take a while, so you might want to get a comfortable chair and some munchables.

One of the running debates in EPCOT is how to keep the sense of awe and wonder while ushering in new attractions. I'm sure some of the things I describe here would be unpopular. But hey, it's just one man's opinion. And so, a fictional timeline:

December 2006 --- In a shocking move, Disney hires an outsider to the newly formed position of Principle Creative Advisor for Epcot's Future World. Agosaol A. Brythwich, whose latest excursion involved dispatching cabs in the Central Florida area, was named PCA on December 1.

December 2 --- Journey Into Imagination is closed down. Wonders of Life is reopened.

February 2007 --- Mission: Space is closed. Walls are put up, and evidence of construction work is visible. For a couple of months, EPCOT is jokingly referred to as "Every Pavilion's Closing Overnight or Tomorrow."

October 1, 2007 --- 25th Anniversary of EPCOT. The occasion is marked by the grand re-opening of the original Journey Into Imagination. Some laser effects, particularly in the section devoted to "putting on the show", are upgraded, but the script for the ride itself is the same as when Figment greeted his first fans. The Image Works reopens as Imagination Station. A new 3-D, Pixar-related film opens (if there is any place for a Monsters, Inc. type show, this would be it). The exit for the ride is replaced with a bakery/gift shop, named Bakin' Memories (yes, I'm one for puns. Sue me). Some are delighted; others wonder what the use for current writers are if the policy of Future World is to revert to its original style.

November 2007 --- Innoventions East is closed. Windows are tinted, signs are removed.

June 2008 --- CompuCore opens in the former Innoventions East plaza. Entrants are invited to look Inside EPCOM, a show that delves into how 21st Century technology has enhanced the park, contrasted to the original designs of EPCOT, directly contrasting how computers have evolved in the last quarter-century in both a personal and theme-park environment. The Graphix Gardens exhibit, frequently updated, displays the latest in computer technology, a look into what lays ahead for the next several years. Floorplan wise, not a significant departure from Innoventions East, but one with a more identifiable topic. The Electric Umbrella gives way to Giga Bites, a coffee shop containing books and other gifts in line with the pavilion's theme.

September 2008 --- Universe of Energy is closed, and for a couple of weeks, that leaves only Wonders of Life and Test Track to populate Future World East, until...

October 1, 2008 --- The rebuilt Horizons opens in its old home, 25 years to the day after it first became operational. Again, some touches are made to make it more current, and less susceptible to aging. The multiple choose your own endings are refilmed. Advances that have already occurred since Horizon's closing are changed. However, most of space is rebuilt as is, the sea sections are relocated to be seen as further from any shore, and the desert locales are restored. The Omni film? Back.

December 2008 --- Innoventions West is closed. At the same time, Soarin' is removed from The Land. Why would EPCOT's latest hit be taken out?

July 2009 --- The new Universe of Energy opens. The laser show that ended the original UoE is run as a pre-show, complete with "Universe of Energy" coming in through the speakers. Although Emil Radok is no longer with us, the kinetic mosaic is brought back with an all new film detailing the present problems and opportunities in today's energy environment. The dinosaur diorama remains, but the conclusion of the ride, which would take up the last two rooms of the ride, take place in a 360-degree space, where camera from all directions would run projections that create a holographic effect around the cars. From the journey of fossil fuels (resting in the earth to refining to being placed in autos) to the holographic animation of an energy-efficient future, the effect would be almost close enough to touch. The cars would move along (maybe even amidst if the technology is sufficient enough) this look at a future that can be. The re-released "You Make the World Go Round" plays as the look into the future regresses back into today, and the 360-degree space reveals its circular wall of mirrors, showing us where all this can begin: with ourselves. The back of CompuCore also opens as The Universe restaurant, where meals are cooked with updated solar technology, becoming a working example of a ZEB (zero energy building).

September 2009 --- Test Track closes.

October 2009 --- The Take Flight pavilion opens in the former Innoventions West. What is Take Flight? It would be two rides, one in each of the halves of the building. One is Soarin'. The other, a simulator ride that takes place in an enclosed theater experience (a la Back to the Future at Universal Orlando), would be Spaceflight One. Inspired by the successful flight of Spaceship One in 2004, Spaceflight One would be a realistic alternative to Mission: Space. While few of us will actually go to Mars, the possibility of space tourism is very real. The ride would simulate the takeoff of a Spaceship One (if the screen played actual footage from SSO, all the better), then follow as it blasts its way into its orbit of 400,000 feet. We take off from the beginnings of personal space travel into a future where it is far more prevalent, as we see a new celestial culture forming before our eyes. We finish by landing back in Future World, where we began. Both rides exit into the center, now the Kitty Hawk Cafe, a restaurant/gift shop with heavy aviation atmosphere (pics/posters of earliest planes, zeppelins, Concordes, et al.)

December 2009 --- Wonders of Life closes at the conclusion of its 20th year; walls go up. Also, the Restaurant Revue, a throwback to the days of the Kitchen Kabaret, is opened in The Land in Soarin's former home. and updated to current tastes, while maintaining the basic themes. Any surplus room would be used to expand The Land's agricultural product.

June 2010 --- WeatherWorks opens in Test Track's place, with the building restored to its prior look. A dark ride based on the effects of weather on the cultures of today and tomorrow, WeatherWorks would be more somber than, say, World of Motion. The ride, complete with audioanimatronics, show the history of man's attempts to handle extreme conditions. We see what can be done to relieve the burden of global warming, and what is in the works to better shield us from the elements. Some of Test Track's effects (the heat/cold) can be recycled here. The TransCenter is now StormCenter, where interested parties can find information on warming, hurricanes, et al.

July 2010 --- The Seas closes.

December 2010 --- Adventures Through Inner Space opens in Wonders of Life's stead. The external building is designed to look like a compound, with spheres for atoms, and walkways to either ride represented by the bonds between the atoms. Like Take Flight, there are two rides. One, titled Miracles from Molecules (a nod to the original ATIS), is a Body Wars-esque ride that reduces the viewer to the size of a nanobot. Here, we see what is possible with nanotechnology, as we glide through a world were atoms are almost as large as we are. The other is a minor coaster, also based on the microscopic, as we zoom through small life forms both bad (viruses) and good (immuno cells). More or less, a nod to Wonders of Life.

June 2011 --- And finally, the return of The Living Seas. Sort of. The opening film, which hadn't aged save for the electric outline of Seabase Alpha, returns. In place of the hydrolators and trip to Seabase Alpha is a journey to Seabase Mariana, a trip that puts the dark in dark ride. The lights dim as your Omni Mover goes deeper and deeper into the pavilion. Every couple of seconds, a flash of light illuminates a living, 3-D portrait of this little-seen world, much like the fade ins/outs of the film (shots of various plant and animal forms burst in front of the walls that the Omni Movers would face, although I would think an unannounced flash of a larger-than-life angler fish would be the jolt of the park). The Omni Movers move into the light, and Seabase Mariana, which would be Alpha circa 1986, before the character intrusions.

... and this is what happens when you're driving for five hours from Thanksgiving weekend, and the only CD you have in the car is WDW music. Too much time on your hands. Way too much.

Would this overhaul be too costly? Probably. Would it be risky? Absolutely. Do I come off as a megalomaniac? No doubt. Should EPCOT be taking more chances with its views of the future? The 1982 version had a sense of the epic, a sense of awe. Even if my version falls well, well, well short of that, I think EPCOT should be back in the future forecasting business, in seeing how the future, as gloomy as it may appear, is never written in stone, that opportunities are always abundant, and that we are always the masters of our own destiny.