WDW Epcot: General Discussion

Rob said:

Disney have announced a few more details about the new nighttime show coming to Epcot that will replace IllumiNations. The new show will be a celebration of Disney music and how it inspires people around the world and make use of massive floating set pieces, custom-built LED panels, choreographed moving fountains, lights, pyrotechnics and lasers.

They have also confirmed that the new Ratatouille ride will be named Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure.

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The new show a celebration of Disney Music show won’t be launching until 2020, however there will be a temp show replacing illuminations next fall called Epcot Forever (the image above is concept art from this show rather than the permanent replacement) and will feature classic Epcot tunes with pyro, lasers, special effects etc.

We now have track for GotG amongst that mahoosive building:

The scale of this ride is quite something!

It's a shame that I just cannot get excited about these parks any more due to their pricing. I just cannot justify paying ridiculous amounts just to visit one park for one day when I can visit Busch Gardens all year for the same price with free parking.

I really want to rediscover my Disney enthusiasm from years gone by, but I just can't

I must admit, Galaxy's Edge has sparked my interest a bit, it looks splendid!

MakoMania said:

The scale of this ride is quite something!

It's a shame that I just cannot get excited about these parks any more due to their pricing. I just cannot justify paying ridiculous amounts just to visit one park for one day when I can visit Busch Gardens all year for the same price with free parking.

I really want to rediscover my Disney enthusiasm from years gone by, but I just can't

I must admit, Galaxy's Edge has sparked my interest a bit, it looks splendid!

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For me Disney pricing depends how you look at it. If I take a two week trip to Florida (in 2019), I know I'm going to pay £417 for two weeks of Disney tickets, £249 for Universal 2-park and £150 for Discovery Cove, Busch Gardens & SeaWorld (all prices from FloridaTix).
In that two week trip, I will probably spend 2-3 days at Universal, so that's £125( or £83) a day. (in this case it may be a little cheaper to get tickets in the US at around $270, but its the park-to-park for Hogwarts Express that increases the cost).

One day each at SeaWorld, Busch Gardens and Discovery Cove, so £50 each park is a great deal, especially for Discovery Cove.

At Disney I will probably have six or eight park days across the four parks, as some parks need more than one day, or I just want to take it easy and do a half day sometime, plus one or two waterpark days. So lets assume eight Disney park entries between theme parks and water parks, so that's £52 per day. And the UK tickets include the photo downloads for free.

So per day, for a UK visitor on a normal two week holiday, Disney is not really any more expensive than the SeaWorld parks, unless you plan to spend significantly more time at those parks, compared to Disney, but I expect the average guest will have more time at Disney or Universal than at SeaWorld/Busch.

In fact its the Universal Parks that come out as very expensive!

^I can't mentally take more than one day at each Disney park. The crowds make me go insane!

On a 2 week holiday I probably do a day at Magic Kingdom, a day at Animal Kingdom, a Day at EPCOT and half a day at Hollywood Studios. A day at Uni Studios, 2 days at IOA, 3 days at Busch Gardens and 4 days at SeaWorld.

Some construction updates from Epcot:

Over in the France pavillion, projection domes for Ratatouille have been installed:
Meanwhile track is currently up for GotG:

Disney have confirmed some more info on the redevelopment of Epcot, the entrance area is to be redesigned with the current ‘leave a legacy’ tombstones removed outside the park gates and replaced with landscaping/planting. Looks like a significant improvement.



They have also announced the Wonders of Life pavillion will finally be getting a proper replacement in the form of the ‘Play Pavillion’ described as ‘a space devoted to fun that will feature an innovative city that will come to life under the dome of the Wonders of Life. The pavilion’s city will be filled with interactive experiences featuring your favorite Disney characters, hands-on activities, and other entertainment’



Both of these projects are due for completion in time for WDW’s 50th in 2021, along with Ratatouille and Gardians of the Galaxy.

Fantastic news, smoking is just not socially acceptable in kid heavy places like Disney anymore, especially since marijuana is likely to be legalised in Florida. Universal & SeaWorld might follow suit.

Stupid move tbh. Why not make the smoking areas more discreet and less of them instead? This will just lead to people smoking in inappropriate places.

I agree as a non-smoker; completely banning it is asking for even more cranky people...

And there's enough of those at Disney parks as is...

You can't have people smoking pot at Disney though

It's an inevitable decision now that it is/will be legalised. Bad news for regular smokers but there's not much that can be done. Disney simply cannot allow the smell of marijuana to be filling their parks.

Madness. I don't even smoke and I think it's a terrible decision.

This is an awful idea. If you smoke and go there during a peak day and spend 8+ hours on park it's going to stress you out massively.

And that's why there still will be smoking areas outside the park

Really helpful, given that a round trip from the back of the park would take the best part of an hour.

Can't believe I'm actually sticking up for smokers here.

Smoking is absolutely vile. It isn’t behaviour that parks should have to tolerate, let alone accommodate it. But as has already been highlighted, the issue with there being no designated smoking areas inside the park is that people are just so inconsiderate and obviously won’t make that extra effort to leave the park to smoke, they’ll just do it wherever the f**k they want.

I'm not a smoker, but this is a stupid decision. It'll just mean more people smoking in queue lines, which is hardly a good thing.

MakoMania said:

You can't have people smoking pot at Disney though

It's an inevitable decision now that it is/will be legalised. Bad news for regular smokers but there's not much that can be done. Disney simply cannot allow the smell of marijuana to be filling their parks.

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What are you on about? Why is the smell of dope any worse than the smell of tobacco? Why is it any worse for children? Do you know anything about dope?

Sam said:

What are you on about? Why is the smell of dope any worse than the smell of tobacco? Why is it any worse for children? Do you know anything about dope?

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The smell of dope is far more socially unacceptable than the smell of tobacco. I thought that was fairly obvious.

MakoMania said:

The smell of dope is far more socially unacceptable than the smell of tobacco. I thought that was fairly obvious.

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It isn't obvious. Almost everyone I know - dope smokers and otherwise - prefers the smell of dope to that of tobacco, and social attitudes to it are changing at the speed of light (as evidenced by the legalisation).

Just so I'm clear on your moral compass...

Keeping captive killer whales in such small tanks that they kill people in frustration - fine
Adults enjoying a spliff outside - not fine?