Hey All! Apologies for such a long break in April without content, but I hope the first part of this 2-part deep dive exploring Epcot's Abandoned World Showcase makes up for it! Originally I did intend for this to be a single episode...but I just kept finding more and more abandoned Pavilions & Attractions that went beyond the "original" version we primarily explore here, and was beginning to push over 40 minutes. So in the end it made far more sense to split it into two 20 minute episodes instead of trying to cram it all into one. That being said, Part 1 explores the Original vision (or visions) of the World Showcase Pre-Epcot Center's official opening. Part 2 will explore the Post-Epcot Center Opening abandoned Pavilions & Attractions that never came to be (and what remains of the ones explored in this video), which will arrive sometime next week! Also, a very special thanks to TPMvids for lending his glorious voice for the intro skit! If for some crazy reason you aren't already, make sure to subscribe to his channel! ru-vid.com/show-UCMddDi4iCT8Rz8L0JL-bH7Q
As a third generation Orlando native who literally grew up with WDW (born in '71) I love your videos and look forward to every new release. Really appreciate all the hard work you put into everything!
And that is better because its a disney amusement park no museum. Dont really get the EPCOT formula. Probably has something to do with the lack of culture in the USfckingA
to be completely fair, my guess is that "Africa Pavilion" was more of a placeholder name until they got an actual sponsor. the generalization would probably still be there, though :P
If Walt was still alive to this day, Disney would be a totally different company. EPCOT wouldn't be a park, it would be a city. I have no idea if such a city would of worked or not tho.
I think EPCOT is TOO ambitious which leads to another problem specific to the concept itself: who TF would want to live in a glorified employee housing?
The mere mention of Utopia should give wise people pause. That doesn't mean stop trying to improve, but there is no final ultimate state of bliss because the world won't stand still and something will always go wrong.
@@dariusq8894 If you read what EPCOT is TRULY supposed to be... it isn't a fun place. First of, you don't own anything in EPCOT - it is Disney's. Second, you don't get to live there by choice, you actually must have a job within EPCOT to live in EPCOT; no retirement homes there. Third, it being a controlled settlement meant it is going to encounter demographic problems like the a chronic lack of people to sustain the services to run the city. Its ancestor the garden city concept suffered the same problem of slow growth because of its planned design. All I see in this EPCOT is a massive waste that lived short of its goals...
Actually if you think about it in video game context, the original E.P.C.O.T is basically Final Fantasy 7's Midgar. Remember how *THAT* shit turned out? 😅
It really makes you wonder about how different EPCOT would have probably been had Walt lived long enough to oversee its final design. Maybe then we would've gotten that Rhine River Cruise.
TPMVids in the intro? What a crossover! While having all the pavilions in one building promoted the unity theme, I prefer the separate pavilions as each one is unique and stands out in their own way. And for me it looks better that way too. While I love the American Adventure show, the idea of it as a ride sounded and looked cool. A bullet train or the Mt Fuji coaster idea would've been great for Japan. Epcot needs its own mountain
It’s kinda tiring to see Africa be generalized as one place. Just like how Europe has many diverse countries and cultures, Africa does too. They could have had separate pavilions based on countries like Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Ethiopia, Egypt, Kenya, or Congo. No reason why such a diverse continent should be generalized into one thing.
It’s an American based park. I mean, does Africa have a theme park with anything like Epcot? Does any nation take on the responsibility to “accurately represent everyone” despite being based in one country… If you’re going to include 11 countries, EVERY country is going to suffer some form of simplified representation. Unfortunate maybe, but what can you expect from an attraction from another country, which has to cover multiple foreign countries. Again, does Africa have a park based in Africa but representing “the worlds” countries? It might be limited and flawed but representing everyone is a big undertaking and with budget involved it has to be realistic and simplified to a degree.
@@sketchtheparadigmyork1217 by this logic, there wouldn’t be so many European countries represented in the park. Just one big Europe. Wouldn’t make sense, would it? As well as this, they have Morocco, an actual African country, making it even more confusing.
@@sketchtheparadigmyork1217 it's not weird that they didn't do every African country its weird that everywhere else is a single country and there's like 10 European countries and Africa is just "africa" they could've chosen a country out of that area instead of just doing it as such a broad thing when everywhere else is just one country.
I remember huge drawings in Epcot advertising “ new” countries like Israel and Spain back in late 1980s or early 1990s long before they built Morocco. They were huge wooden signs so plans were scrapped for them far along in the planning.
@@Gee-xb7rt - ohhh look it's an antisemite! Billy these are what we used to call scum back in the day! Your grandpa killed a bunch of them in World War Two, but somehow they came back. Remember what we do to them? - Yeah Dad! We ignore them and let them pool in their own filth! -Good job, son. You can't help someone if they don't care!
What I love is how this proves Imagineers never throw anything away as Africa stuff used for Animal Kingdom and you can see other rides adapted for later parks.
And now Disney is essentially turning the world showcase into rides from movies (Frozen, Ratatouille, Mary Poppins, and I suspect Coco, Mulan, and others down the road). It may just be me, but the rides feel like sell-outs to the original ideas of the World Showcase where you could explore what other countries had to offer and not what Disney movies are at the theaters.
I really liked that bit in the beginning the guy you brought in to do the voice over did a really good job portraying someone slowly losing their patience.
Epcot is definitely one of those parks that I did not truly appreciate until I was older! It's sad to see it change into more of a thrill seeking park instead of a nice change of pace.
We usually have dinner in Germany at Epcot. The German sausage buffet with the live music is pretty cool, especially during Oktoberfest! If you hit it during the wine and food festival with the dining plan, you can use your quick service snacks for the food they serve around the world showcase in each country.
I’m from Venezuela, and in love with Disney since I visited it for the first time in 2005 (I was 4 years old, hehe). When I learned that Venezuela was going to be part of Epcot I got so frustrated, and seeing the conceptual art brought tears to my eyes. I wish I could do something, anything, to garantee that it will be a part of Epcot in my lifetime or in the future (we could brand it with Up. The Angel Falls are an inspiration for the falls in the movie, and you can even see that Carl bought tickets for Venezuela before Ellie got sick), but for the mean time it will remain my most earnest and profound wish
I'm about as big a classic EPCOT fan as there is, and there was still stuff here I wasn't aware of, awesome. I love looking back on all these concepts and how "Disney" they still felt despite not including characters from any movies or other properties; makes me kind of sad to consider most of the changes to World Showcase in the past few years, especially since today's Disney wouldn't really need the sponsorship money to create something jaw dropping and original like the originally envisioned rides for Germany, Japan, Italy, UK, etc.
This is why I love your channel. You put so many hours and effort into these, that it shows your passion for Disney and theme parks in general. Keep up the good work.
I’ve been waiting for this history! The World Showcase is my favorite part of EPCOT. Considering how involved so many countries were in the old Expositions and World’s Fairs of the 19th century, it’s interesting how diminished the concept became.
My first ever trip to Disney was back in September of 2019, and Epcot was the first place we went and spent the whole day there. Having been in love with exploring world cultures since I was little, I love the world showcase dearly (and I was there during the international food and wine fest, so I had a LOT of international food treats), but I worry about Disney's reliance on IPs influencing what countries will stay or go in the future.
So Great! So you were able to experience watch Illuminations on it's final days..😄 That's the last time I went recent, I was there for it Sept 30, and it was my 1st time for the Fall and the Food & Wine Festival!*😱 Also the Skyliner was about to open and Epcot Forever! Glad you Had a Loving Epcot Enjoying Feast!😍
Some of the planned stuff for the world showcase sounds really incredible. I kind of would like to see Disney incorporate some of them when they can get around to safely reopening and renovating EPCOT like they were planning to do.
The history behind the Philippines Pavilion is actually pretty fascinating. The ambassador was very impressed by the idea, but the First Lady was not; when Imagineers said it would cost 9 million dollars, she responded with "That is an astronomical figure for us. If I had that much money, I would not spend it on a pavilion in Florida to try and attract more tourists to Manila. I would use it to build sanitation facilities and schools and such for my people." Totally reasonable response, even if it's sad to think about what could have been!
While it was a reasonable response not to do the Philippine Pavillion, once the truth came out during Martial Law, her response was a lie or two... maybe.
THANK YOU!!! I love your vids and personally can't get enough of Epcot, I grew up going year after year since the opening and it's my favorite of all the parks. I'm glad you have so much more coming and hope you discover other parts of its history to do more videos on. :)
Since the last 3 weeks I watched half the videos from your channel, thanks for bringing back all the memories. Sometimes is very weird watching old and new videos hearing your past and present voice. Great channel an videos
Ill never forget when I started singing this in a liquor store, someone sang it with me. We then began singing in unison as we both went to the easier. What a merry occasion it was!
I was a kid in 1984 when we went to Epcot . And it felt like we ate breakfast in France . Lunch in Japan . And dinner in Morocco. And that was just the first day . It was still a great place in the 80s
I don't know what bothers me more. This format or that this isn't the first time. They pissed me off the first time, switched back to my relief, then reimplemented this format. Fuck RU-vid.
@@Dousch How does it need an upgrade? Genuine question, not me being a snarky asshole. The way it is currently, it's this very small rectangle that blends in with all the other text, and requires you to tap on it in order to switch to the comments section. The old way, with all the comments listed out below the video, doesn't really seem like it needed changing or improvement. That said, I guess there's something I'm not thinking of, so I'm curious what you would do to change it!
Are you on the app?. Im in the youtube app, and it did indeed chance alot.. All the comments dont show up except for just one now. You have to click on it to see everything under the video.. and, I love it, but i didnt like it at first🤔. Anyways i get anxiety everytime i look at comment threads, so this is good. Its also just really idiotic what most people say. I am not tempted to say anything back ( out of sight out of mind right?) Also another piont to bring up is there is alot of nasty bullying on this platform, youtube deffo has an issiue with that and i dont want to see most of that.
The Imagination Pavilion (7:17) is, to me, still one of the best looking buildings in the world. It's what I hoped the future would look like, and still do.
I really hated that, bc even here this song is just rediculed... And when I visted the Germany Pavillon in Epcot it was just Bavaria. a lot of US Citzizens still think we are all going to the Oktoberfest and eat Pretzels and wear Lethertrousers, thats sad...
I always appreciate how thorough and detailed your videos are. You can really see the amount of hard work that you put into them. Your channel is definitely one of the best, keep up the awesome work, friend!
I'd really love to see the Philippines come into realization. And now more than ever some more representation for African countries like South Africa, Ethiopia or Nigeria. And more South American countries. The Venezuela and Brazil pavilions also need to be built. World Showcase is lovely but there's more to the world than Europe, Asia and our neighboring countries.
In 1978 I was an Advanced Baker in Central Foods of Disney World. My initial job as to cook 500 lbs of apples, 250 lbs of cherries and 100 to 250 lbs of strawberry melba every night which involved stirring, with a metal oar, in three steam vat cookers. I actually split the sleeves of my shirt one night at a certain point. (No lie, it really happened.) Eventually I ran the ovens, and baked every bread consumed at Disney World. One night we were told to go to the employee center, about a block away, for some sort of next step orientation. We went into a room and we had the head of Benjamin Franklin on top of a clear plastic block. It was eerily lifelike. Each hair was combed into place, and the bodiless face kind of sagged. There was no announcement, just the lights dimming. Then old Ben came to life, the sagging want away, and he was looking at each of us and talking about Epcot that was soon to come, this was in 1979. I was really freaked out by the lifelikeness and the animation. It was unreal. (Bear in mind, modern computers were unheard of back then, and there was none of the disjointed shit Lincoln had at Disneyland.) The whole subject of Epcot was minor bearing what I witnessed. By the way, across the street from Central Foods was the lot of the Super Secret Squirrely Imagineers. It was enclosed in an eight foot chain link fence. They had laid down a network of yellow, red, green and blue lines that paralleled each other in a wild twist of right angles, circles, and curves. Watching them on a smoke break, They took a big piece of what looked like plywood with wheels and rolled it around the lot, following the lines. I think that was the beginning of those dark ride splits we now see. Met my wife there, the Executive Chef Baker of Disney World (our boss) Karl Seal, a German guy, "Vouyll need zat German Vazeline", made our wedding cake, then helped us steal it by handing over the chain link fence at the Employee Center parking lot on 02/13/79, wedding was the next day. The damned cake was worth about $3,000 at that time. Wife's cousin is the guy that was killed at Epcot when a manlift tipped over about two or three years ago. He had retired from Disney World. We both think Walt would be spinning in his grave over what Disney has become.
Don’t agree...World Showcase is still great! Disney has always relied on sponsors, and since no other countries have wanted to sponsor pavilions no new countries have been added.
Ravenpotter EPCOT is the one place I still think should not have IPs in it. That’s why it hurt to see a ride that should have been in either the Magic Kingdom or Hollywood Studios there.
Here’s my list of countries that should be part of Epcot’s World Showcase in the future! - Brazil - Costa Rica - Australia - India - Ireland - Egypt - Greece - South Africa - Polynesia
I love Epcot. Its my favorite park. The first time my husband went to Disney (our first year together) I don't think he understood why because Magic Kingdom seemed to be more popular and busy. When I think of my childhood at Disney, I think of Spaceship Earth, Horizons, Figment, Body Wars, Veggie Veggie Fruit Fruit, Maelstrom. When I'm there it feels like home. It will always be the first park we visit as soon as we get on Disney property ❤
It's always been my favorite park, too. I'm sad that there are so many of those rides I never experienced, despite having visited Disney loads of times since the late 80s. I didn't know most of it existed; I just followed my parents around, lol, but even without all those attractions, I still loved Epcot more than any other! (Well, okay, I had a brief love affair with MGM as a kid because of the Roger Rabbit stuff. :P)
I hate how people group African countries together and just label it “Africa.” Africa is not a country. There are so many different cultures and traditions in every African country.
A Philippines Pavilion would have been really interesting. The food itself is pretty adventurous (do you like hard boiled duck embryos?.) I was struggling to remember what stood out as far as landmarks, architecture, and culture. There was heavy Spanish influence (as was pictured in the concept art with the cathedral in the background.) Then I remembered the fishing huts that stood over water on stilts, the unique styles of canoes, gondolas, horse drawn carriages, motorbikes with a two person carriage, and heavily decorated mini-buses called Jeepneys that were part of it's insane public transportation network. It would've have been fun.
This is fascinating stuff dude. Wow, I find it inspiring to see the original vision of one of my favorite parks in the world, not to mention all of the changes it went through after it opened and the big changes it's currently going through. This gave me a cool idea though, what if someone could recreate the original vision in a modem world. A new model or even a virtual experience, taking into account that it was in a world where all the countries accepted and supported Walt's proposal.
So all but one (nine and one third, in this case) of the pavilions in World Showcase were imagined in the original concept, eventually all of them would be built (in Scandinavia's case, just Norway was the finished one). If South Korea were a pavilion in Epcot today, there would be KPop apparel and stuff now, or even its so called KDrama shows that people see on Netflix would be included as merchandise or something. And being Filipino, I am pretty surprised seeing my country getting an Epcot pavilion at the time. If that was built, we would not have a problem speaking to the cast members in our own language.
I was surprised too that the Philippines was originally going to have a Pavillion too on EPCOT, but alas, like Israel and Venezuela, nope, not happening! Oh well, can't win them all.
It has always bothered me how the world showcase highlights individual countries and "Africa". Even then "Africa" is only called an outpost. Obviously Morocco is represented but Subsaharan Africa gets the short shrift.
Very cool. I remember going to Epcot just after opened which would have been 82 or 83 and seeing all the signs for all the new countries that were coming many of which never actually arrived
If even just one or two of the attractions intended for existing pavilions were built it’d REALLY expand entertainment at EPCOT. Still so much potential there!
TPVIDS!!! I knew it!!! ... sad to admit but i do .. get you guys confused for a moment.. and i wasn't paying attention to the icon of the channel! lol Thank you for the Collab! I love you both!
