Your an Imagineer in charge of adding a New Country to Epcot

yodiwan1 · Post by **yodiwan1** » Sep Sun 30, 2007 11:16 pm

good point i didnt even tihnk of illuminations, my bad

Croaker · Post by **Croaker** » Oct Mon 01, 2007 9:32 am

js3901 wrote:no, not over the lagoon. It'd be really difficult to pull that off what with Illuminations going off every night. I think the Friendship fleet (the boats) are enough to get from one side to the other.

we could then watch news like the monorail fire again. laugh.

listened to WDW Today they were discussing the pavillion's and the possiblility of Australia having a pavillion. check it out, its episode 313 http://www.wdwtoday.com/

The ideas i've read are great, while i understand them not wanting to over do a country ie. africa in Epcot while Africa is a theme in Animal Kingdom, i think it could be done and done well. Just because Magic Kingdom has Liberty Square doesn't mean we shouldn't have the American Pavillion.

What about expansion ideas to the existing pavillions? I'd love to see a StoneHenge exhibit added to England.

yodiwan1 · Post by **yodiwan1** » Oct Mon 01, 2007 2:01 pm

i tihnk the idea of a Greece pavillion does sound pretty good. They can even show the old cartoon with goofy doing all the Olympic events!!! After lsitening to the podcast, I think Australia would make for a gret land in AK., koalas are so darn cute!!

TikiTikiRoom · Post by **TikiTikiRoom** » Nov Mon 05, 2007 11:49 am

Egypt. They should install a ride travelling through a pyramid, through the history of Egypt. Seeing mummies, excavations....that'd be pretty cool. Or some sort of Mummy Encounter ride.

Cheshire Cat · Post by **Cheshire Cat** » Nov Mon 05, 2007 2:18 pm

Egypt. They should install a ride travelling through a pyramid, through the history of Egypt. Seeing mummies, excavations....that'd be pretty cool. Or some sort of Mummy Encounter ride.

Revenge of the Mummy !! Oh, no wait... they can't do that, huh?

Jacca5660 · Post by **Jacca5660** » Nov Mon 05, 2007 2:31 pm

yodiwan1 wrote:i tihnk the idea of a Greece pavillion does sound pretty good. They can even show the old cartoon with goofy doing all the Olympic events!!! After lsitening to the podcast, I think Australia would make for a gret land in AK., koalas are so darn cute!!

That would be cool. They could do a tour of all the ruins!

meticulus9 · Post by **meticulus9** » Nov Tue 06, 2007 8:37 am

i would probably say the country to add would be australia. but i think they would add that to Ak prior to WS. maybe the swiss....

Guy · Post by **Guy** » Nov Tue 06, 2007 8:49 am

India would be a good one. I was actually very surprised when I went to Epcot that India was missing. Good food, a deep culture, and excellent music.

broncoflyer8912 · Post by **broncoflyer8912** » Nov Tue 06, 2007 10:57 am

They should add Ireland, but i figure they won't do that since UK is almost the same.

Another country I think would be cool to add would be Brazil, and then they can put in an attraction where crazy soccer fans come after you! lol

Jacca5660 · Post by **Jacca5660** » Nov Tue 06, 2007 12:04 pm

After reading through all the ideas here. I've come up with some conclusions and ideas of my own. When thinking of adding a new country to world showcase, I have a short list of criteria for what would make an acceptable country.

1: It would have to be a country that likes us (I mean the US)
2: It would have to be politically stable
3: The socio/economic situation would have to have a minimal impact (A lot of jobs are being shipped overseas and causing resentment here).
4: It would have to actually be a country and not just a territory.
5: It would have to be economically viable (It would be hard to show a third world country in a good light)
6: It would have to be safe. (there are countries out there that would be lightning rods for terrorist attack.)
7: We as Americans would have to have an over all favorable opinion of said country. (It would be a hard sell if Americans didn't like a country over all.)

That stated, let's look at what's been mentioned here. Antarctica and South America are continents, not countries. I would dare to say with all the people here from various South American countries, you would get a lot of people upset with a continent-wide pavilion. Antarctica is a continent also, and has no culture or population of it's own. Right now, if you keep up with current events, it's becoming very disputed. There are varying countries trying to stake claims to very large areas of the continent and surrounding waters for mineral and oil rights. It was set up as a non territorial free zone. That's not working out too well. So, I have rejected these two out of hand.
Next, political stability. I'd have to reject India, Ethiopia, Thailand, Zimbabwe, Russia, and except for a couple of countries, South America. Most of these countries are fighting ongoing wars (mostly civil). Yes, I know we are fighting on several fronts. Russia is fighting a couple of the old USSR territories. Ethiopia and Zimbabwe have internal conflicts. India is constantly at odds with most of it's neighbors, and it seems about once every couple of years it threatens to bomb Pakistan (I remember it's even threatened to NUKE them). Thailand, which used to be the most stable country in Southeast Asia is, well, let's just say their conflicts are internal and on their boarders. From what I've read, their boarders move..A LOT.
As for Socio/Economic situation. There is a lot of resentment for India in this country. I'm a technician and know technicians. There are a lot of people who get very upset that our jobs are being sent to India. It may not be of India's doing, American companies have gone to India and told them what they needed to do and what training they needed to give their people so our jobs could be sent there. I just don't feel there would be a real good reception for an Indian pavilion. I feel /think you might also have the same problem with a few different South American and Southeast Asian countries. These are starting to become hard economic times for certain sectors of our population and that would have to come into consideration when choosing a new country pavilion.
I would have to also say that some countries, either perceived or real, are thought of as third world countries. India, Ethiopia, Puerto Rico, Zimbabwe, Thailand, Argentina, and Chile are thought of by a lot of Americans as third world countries. I didn't say they were. I just said they were perceived as such. Yes, I did put Puerto Rico on this list. I've been to PR and once out of the tourist areas, living conditions are ghastly. In some areas, running water is thought of as a luxury. I don't think I have to explain too much on how I put India, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, and Thailand on this list. The vast majority of the people in these countries are still living in the 18th century. Yes, I know they have some very modern big cities. All you have to do is get on the outskirts of them and you go back a couple of centuries or worse. Personally, I don't think of Argentina and Chile as third world countries. I am talking about over-all perception not mine.
Yes, they would have to be safe. I feel Israel would be a lightning rod for attack. Yes, I know Israel is one of our staunchest allies, politically and economically stable. If you look at our world today..well I feel you can get the Idea. On this subject, I'm not too sure if I would add Egypt here. I would not have any problem taking my family there. You don't hear about many attacks in Egypt. They most likely have the strongest standing army on the planet. They are also (internally) very tightly controlled. I would only question how much protection their pavilion would need. I feel that if you have to talk security risk, it most likely would not be a good Idea to add a pavilion to the EPCOT world showcase.
As to addressing if they like the US. Now lets face it, we do not get high marks around the world when it comes as to how people perceive us. So I feel a major factor would have to be "How do they feel about the US". To this end India, Russia, Argentina, Chile, Zimbabwe, and Ethiopia all get low marks. Don't get me wrong, they love our money and jobs, but I don't think they feel warm and fuzzy when they think about the US. For that matter I'm not really sure how the people of Egypt perceive us.
Now who does that leave? By the way, I've just compiled this list of countries from what people have suggested on this string. Australia, Greece, Brazil, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, Ireland, Holland (Amsterdam is a city in Holland!), and South Africa. All meet my stated requirements. I wouldn't put Ireland on my personal list because we already have one called Great Britain. That is inclusive of Ireland, England, Wales, and Scotland. I feel any of the others that are left would be great additions to the world Showcase. It would be very hard to choose which one. My personal favorites would be Australia (You could do this one with New Zealand), South Africa, Brazil, and Holland (As was stated in an earlier post. I would want one or two of their laws at the pavilion).
This is all just my opinion and I could be wrong. With that said I do expect several of you to take this apart and rip it up. You know who you are!

djgilleke · Post by **djgilleke** » Nov Tue 06, 2007 1:08 pm

Holland would be great for new pavillion! (i'm dutch myself

)...
i mean...
sailing threw the tulip fields, through the canal's of Amsterdam and The Hague, be witness of a typical dutch flood...
or making a time ride with spykers (dutch sport cars) through the dutch history...
and after the ride that you can watch dutch tv programs like 'spuiten en slikken' (spit and swallow) about sex and drugs...
and make a restaurant with all the typical dutch meals... like ''snert'' and '' boerenkool met worst'' and off course ''bitterballen'' and ''kroketten''... then Epcot will be the only place to eat bitterballen and kroketten.
I'm sure it would be a great concept.

Epcot allready asked holland for a pavillion in the beginning of the world showcase... but holland sayed it costed too much...

... typical dutch too... pfoo

Captain Schnemo · Post by **Captain Schnemo** » Nov Tue 06, 2007 7:46 pm

That's a pretty good analysis, Jacca.

I'd differ with you on Russia. Pretty much all the negatives that apply to them apply to China and I think it's actually helpful to include nations like this, since part of the purpose of World Showcase is to encourage understanding.

Frankly, I think Americans could use a lot of education when it comes to countries like Iran, but I don't expect Iran to sponsor such a pavilion or any Americans to think clearly about the nation.

I'd settle for a little slide show explaining to Americans that most of the people they call "Arabs" are not actually Arabs. That's a pet peeve of one of my Muslim friends.

yodiwan1 · Post by **yodiwan1** » Nov Tue 06, 2007 11:40 pm

oy, here we go again.....

Spain seems like a pretty good idea.....or Greece....i can already see the mickey shaped falaffels!!!

Jacca5660 · Post by **Jacca5660** » Nov Wed 07, 2007 11:59 am

Captain Schnemo wrote:That's a pretty good analysis, Jacca.

I'd differ with you on Russia. Pretty much all the negatives that apply to them apply to China and I think it's actually helpful to include nations like this, since part of the purpose of World Showcase is to encourage understanding.

Frankly, I think Americans could use a lot of education when it comes to countries like Iran, but I don't expect Iran to sponsor such a pavilion or any Americans to think clearly about the nation.

I'd settle for a little slide show explaining to Americans that most of the people they call "Arabs" are not actually Arabs. That's a pet peeve of one of my Muslim friends.

Let's face it, If I did this with the countries in the World Showcase now, very few would still be there.

broncoflyer8912 · Post by **broncoflyer8912** » Nov Wed 07, 2007 12:09 pm

We need to have a Survivor type competition with each nation having a famous native competing, and the winner's nation gets a spot in EPCOT