Vintage Epcot videos

mindflipper · Post by **mindflipper** » Feb Wed 03, 2010 9:47 am

Please, don't use subsonic to promote illegal vandalism at the theme-parks.

Jacca5660 · Post by **Jacca5660** » Feb Wed 03, 2010 10:39 am

Wow!! What a blast from the past!! I forgot what the park was then and what it has become. Not ALL of the changes have been bad, it just seems like the ones from the Eisner era to just a few years ago where done by the MBA's and had very little to do with anything EPCOT was about.

As for the GRAVESTONES. I believe if you read the contract that Disney had you sign, there is a clause that states Disney can move them anyplace on the property they want. They just have to be on PROPERTY. Let's pray that there is an unused piece of swamp they can go to!!

Future Guy · Post by **Future Guy** » Feb Wed 03, 2010 10:57 am

Innoventions plaza just kills me. When they redid the fountain railings and painted the breezway entrances last year we all thought that a refresh of the entire area was a sure thing. I mean, surely they weren't going to leave those purple-and-gold whirlygigs there to clash with the bright blue and green breezeway entrances, right? But they did. Now the whole area is an ugly clash of mid-1990s and mid-2000s aesthetics.

Disney better fix this or I'll . . . I'll stomp my foot and make an angry face!

mindflipper · Post by **mindflipper** » Feb Wed 03, 2010 11:11 am

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeew, somebody's not happy!!!

That plaza is just plain ugly. Don't forget the tarps or whatever they're called! It just looks trashy. It's Future World - is the future going to be tacky and trashy?

Jacca5660 · Post by **Jacca5660** » Feb Wed 03, 2010 11:32 am

mindflipper wrote:Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeew, somebody's not happy!!!

That plaza is just plain ugly. Don't forget the tarps or whatever they're called! It just looks trashy. It's Future World - is the future going to be tacky and trashy?

Sounds more like white trash world!!

Jacca5660 · Post by **Jacca5660** » Feb Wed 03, 2010 1:52 pm

I was corrected, Disney only has to leave the GRAVESTONES in place for 15 years!

mindflipper · Post by **mindflipper** » Feb Mon 08, 2010 10:15 am

Well, since we're traveling that nostalgiac road of vintage EPCOT...how many people remember when EPCOT used to be actually "user-friendly"?

We all complain that EPCOT has such a cluttered feel, none so more true than Earth Station, the exit area of Spaceship Earth. When in first opened in 1982, that circular area used to be wide open with information booth at the center and giant screens around the top advertising the different pavilions of World Showcase and Future World:

Now in that photo at the bottom you can see a bank of computer screens. What are they? They are the World Key Information:

A series of touch-screen computers with menus that allowed the user to find out information about EPCOT, and, if necessary, get in contact with a live person to answer questions or make dining reservations. These touch-screens were not only located in Earth Station, but also at various kiosks throughout the park.

How many people out there remember the now extinct World Key Information system?

boilerbabe · Post by **boilerbabe** » Feb Mon 08, 2010 10:45 am

WOW! I vaguely remember that! Sometimes I think simpler was better.

mindflipper · Post by **mindflipper** » Feb Mon 08, 2010 10:51 am

Here's another fun one. This is from a promotional castmember calendar from 1982. It's a list of World Showcase pavilions. Only eight opened in 1982, and two are missing from the list but came years later, and one on this list never came to be:

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Feb Mon 08, 2010 5:28 pm

Very cool! Thanks for posting.

Watching these sure takes me back and reminds me of very fond memories. For me, there are things I liked better then than now, but I also like alot of changes Disney has made through the years.
Somethings impress some folks while others disappoint. Overall, I think they get it right more times than not. I will agree, Epcot needs a nice refreshing though. Some new colors and such woud be a welcome sight for most I believe.

MmeLeota · Post by **MmeLeota** » Feb Mon 08, 2010 6:50 pm

How many people out there remember the now extinct World Key Information system?

OMG!!!! I totally remember this!!! I was about 13 years old the first time I went to EPCOT. I was with a few friends and we were going to make reservations for a restaurant in the World Showcase. There was a lady on the screen to help us out, but what I didn't realize is that she could see us as well! So she asked how many for the reservation and I turned around to take a count...then she replied back with a laugh "You're really good at that..." she totally caught me off guard and I think she got quite a laugh out of it! Those were so cool since we had never seen anything like it at the time...

Thanks for posting those pics!

mpwheat · Post by **mpwheat** » Feb Mon 08, 2010 6:54 pm

Thanks for posting this!

Things I loved about the EPCOT videos:

- How quiet the park was!
- The CM costumes
- World of Motion...I miss it so much!
- The inside of the old Land Pavilion...Kitchen Kabaret/Listen to the Land/Farmers Market...wow, I miss Kitchen Kabaret...
- World Showcase characters...haha!

Future Guy · Post by **Future Guy** » Feb Tue 09, 2010 9:12 am

Fun fact: the WorldKey kiosks in Earth Station were once the ONLY way you could make an ADR at EPCOT's table service restaurants. In the morning there would be a mad rush to get to Earth Station and make a reservation before the restaurants were all booked for the day.

Earth Station was a great way to show people how technology that seemed in 1982 to be remote and hopelessly complex could actually be a part of their everyday lives. Remember that there were no GUI interfaces back then. The only way to interact with a computer was via the command line. And although everyone knew that computers were supposed to be the wave of the future, the limited capabilities of the primitive PCs we had back then made it hard for the average person to imagine just what they'd want to use a computer for. The computer-driven touchscreens in Earth Station, though, provided a tantalizing glimpse of what the future would hold in that area.

kcarts · Post by **kcarts** » Feb Tue 09, 2010 9:25 am

I remember the first time we went to Epcot. It was Oct 3, 1982 and my father made a run for the WorldKey kiosk to try to get us a reservation for Rose and Crown (I remind him of this everytime we have dinner there now). It couldn't have been any later than 9:30 in the morning and we were SOL. Being 10 years old, I thought that place was the coolest place in the world.

mindflipper · Post by **mindflipper** » Feb Tue 09, 2010 9:51 am

I remember having to queue for the World Key at Earth Station! It had a line in the mornings that rivaled Spaceship Earth itself!