On this week’s (1/16) T3PO Live show (now airing live every Thursday at 4 pm, so don’t miss it, thanks) we began with a discussion of the truly silly and inappropriate new “recycled material” costumes for the American Adventure’s “Voices Of Liberty” acapella singers…and then meandered into EPCOT and particularly World Showcase in general when one of the chatters asked us (Vash, Joshua, Nolan, Erika, Ron and I) about the potential for new countries joining the circle around the lagoon. Joshua shared a map that shows room for about DOUBLE the number there now. Complexity ensued, and I have some thoughts to share, deep or otherwise.
First, we have to remember that EPCOT the THEME PARK (as opposed to Walt’s vision of it as an actual city—gloriously idealistic but clearly misguided since cities actually have citizens who VOTE, not, as we saw with the Reedy Creek regimes, employees who toe the line) came from a template that was the New York World’s Fair, where Disney made such a splash with Small World, Mr. Lincoln, the Ford car ride through the primeval world, etc. etc.
EVERY pavilion at World’s Fairs—whether industrial or national, was PAID FOR by the sponsors. Disney decided they could do the same trick, much as things in their existing parks such as Disneyland’s Pendleton Mills shop or Carnation’s ice cream and the like, with both industrial giants like GM, Kodak, Exon, etc. etc. AND with the TOURISM agencies of various countries.
Thus Disney could put the huge burden of building and maintaining a whole park full of such attractions on the sponsors and not their own stockholders, even while profiting from the ancillary hotel, food and beverage, and merch sales that went with them.
The concept Art for World Celebration in Epcot – Disney
Indeed, when some, even today, wonder why only certain brands of beer, wine, candy, or woolens are sold in the EPCOT World Showcase national pavilions, they fail to understand the commercial relationship that made it make sense back in the 80’s—you had to have a brand with enough U.S. Distribution to make exposing your brand to U.S. consumers a good idea. They could then go home to Podunk or Poughkeepsie and find that beer on their liquor store shelves. And you had to have enough hope of foreign tourism from Americans to give them a taste of what they’d see and taste and smell in the real thing if they chose to visit.
And all of THAT was based on an economy and a world view that is, for better or worse, now utterly obsolete.
First and foremost, the sights of the world’s many nations are available 24/7/365 online in 4k. Sure, not the real thing, but easier and cheaper than international travel.
Perhaps more importantly—we live in a world where people have priced one week in BALI, in luxury, including everything from airfare to meals to perks as being CHEAPER than a WDW vacation. Suddenly, the level of potential tourist visits to EPCOT for a motivating real vacation to the nations has entered rarified financial strata just as our inflationary world has done for everything.
Key art for CommuniCore Hall and Plaza at Epcot
Indeed, for most of the families who came and wondered at EPCOT in the 80’s and 90’s, a visit THERE today is out of reach, let alone a French, Chinese, or even Canadian or Mexican vacation.
Lastly, the concept of the meeting of international governments and cultures was based on the idealism of things like the United Nations (and the failed League of Nations before it) where it was presumed that level heads and smart people could solve international conflicts before they happened. Even the fact that World Showcase was to be peopled by “exchange students” from the various nations all living and working in harmony was cited as a noble goal AND something that would bring world peace and cultural understanding.
Well, we know what’s happened to those dreams about international institutions like the various U.N. agencies. All of the idealism in the world, literally, cannot, it seems, change human nature when it goes wrong. And when, in light of modern realities, we hear such things spoken in the past as the speech Joshua shared from the then-governor of Florida about such hoped-for harmony being a necessary and eventual result, well…it ain’t necessarily so in the light of 2020’s reality.
The underground lighting lit up for Christmas at Epcot’s World Celebration – Photo Credit: M. Montanaro
READ: Chick-Fil-A Comes to SeaWorld Orlando as Theme Park Fights to Repair its Damaged Reputation
Let’s not forget when President Woodrow Wilson, who tried so hard to keep the U.S. OUT of WWI, was finally forced by the endless stalemate there to bring the superior industrial and military power of America to the fray, was asked what his goal now was. He replied, with a straight face, “Peace Without Victory!” (That’s real, you can look it up, folks, and no, Lew’s Ghost was not around THAT far back but I’ve seen some equally idealistic claptrap since.)
World Showcase has to succeed or fail as a theme park attraction that draws guests for more than drink-around-the-world-til’-sick bar crawls if it’s to succeed into the future. I stand second to nobody in my fond memories of the POSITIVE message that original EPCOT sent and shared about both international relations and technology.
World Showcase at Sunset – Photo Credit: M. Monatanaro
But any new nations around the World Showcase pond will need a strong, realistic, and commercial reasons to pay the freight.
Right now, in 2025, those may not exist and may not well into our rapidly de-globalizing world.
IF we can dream it, We CAN do it…but first we need people who dream of REAL, sustainable, and working entertaining stories and dreams—not just failed revamps of popular things from the past or recycled fabric costumes in strange colors. That means we might not make better themed entertainment until we make a better world that’s real, sustainable, and entertainingly possible, too.
UP NEXT: Is Sega Making a New Ecco The Dolphin Game? – Rumors Over Trademark Spark Dolphin Discussion
