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 Park News - (7/2/09) Here is something you don’t see everyday... fire trucks driving through Epcot’s Future World. Following this YouTube link to see a video shot at the park on June 24th, as the crews were called in to deal with a small electrical fire at the park.
(6/22/09) A new photo update showing off a quick look at the Contemporary Resort before heading off to Epcot has been posted to MouseSteps.
(6/10/09) Epcot is busy taking down all the Flower and Garden Fest decorations and you can see a little of the progress over at MouseSteps.
(5/6/09) Just a quick update for any Universe of Energy fans, but the long rehab is over and the attraction, Ellen and all, is back up and running once again.
(3/30/09) A huge new update of 240 new pictures from the park, covering the entire Flower & Garden event quite well, have been posted to MouseSteps this week.
(3/24/09) New pictures from Epcot’s Flower & Garden Festival have been posted to Orlando United.
(3/21/09) Coming as no surprise at all, it seems that GM’s 10 year sponsorship contract for Test Track is coming to an end later this year. Even before the recession hit the automakers in the wallet, I was hearing for the past couple of years that GM was very unlikely to resign their deal with Disney. With the giant automaker relying on government aid to keep it’s doors open for the time being, renewing the deal is going to be a tough sell. Of course the most interesting item in the article comes at the bottom, where they say that there has been some internal talk at Toyota over possibly jumping in to sign a deal with Disney for the attraction, though they would likely want to make a few changes.
(3/18/09) Epcot will open The Great Piggy Bank Adventure, a new financial education attraction in Innoventions, on May 19th. The new attraction is sponsored by T. Rowe Price.
(3/15/09) Remy, the rat star of Ratatouille, has now come to life in the form of a min scale-sized animatronic character making the rounds at Epcot in France’s Chefs de France restaurant (Mon-Sat) during the lunch and dinner hours. You can see awesome photos and videos of him in action at MouseSteps. Apparently he’s set to be there for at least the next six months.
(3/12/09) Another look at the upcoming Flower & Garden Festival can be seen at MouseSteps this week along with a peek at some other Disney resort construction sites like the new Treehouse Villas and the Contemporary Resort.
(3/6/09) MouseSteps has posted several new pages full of pictures showing off the set up for this year’s Epcot Flower & Garden Festival. The official dates for the Festival are March 18th through May 31st. Here is a link to the official International Flower & Garden Festival page as well.
Ride Rehabs - The following information is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate.
Nothing is known to be closed at this time...
2009 - Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure - Now Open - (1/14/09) One of our readers has already stormed Epcot and completed three of the Kim Possible missions (Norway, UK and France) and has posted a video showing off the entire UK Mission and posted it to YouTube in two segments.
(1/8/09) The long running test of Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure at Epcot will launch into the full grand opening on January 28th according to the LA Times write-up though the system is currently open daily as part of the Soft Opening.
(8/29/08) Later this year Epcot guests will be treated to an all new interactive Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure game. Using the latest technology, Disney’s Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure invites guests of all ages to become secret agents,  teaming up with members of Team Possible to save the world from various comical villains and their mad inventions. As guests embark on this international adventure, they will receive an official “Kimmunicator,” at kiosks throughout Epcot. The interactive, handheld device is designed to help them maneuver through the mission. The interactive device connects guests with a variety of Kim Possible characters who provide clues to stop villains from taking over the world, control top-secret equipment hidden inside the World Showcase pavilions. Guests can play in seven of the World Showcase pavilions: Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Japan, France and United Kingdom. Each pavilion features a unique mission including distinctive visual events and a different super villain from the animated series. (Note: A test run of the Kim Possible adventure game was performed two years ago for a very limited time.)
Late 2009 - The Sum of All Thrills - (4/18/09) According to Orlando Attractions Magazine, Disney has found a way around that exclusive use contract Universal signed with Kuka it seems, as a new Innoventions attractions is on the way called The Sum Of All Thrills that will end with guests being able to take a ride on a Kuka Robocoaster arm ride. The Disney version however, will likely enclose the riders inside an enclosed cabin, much like Cyberspace Mountain over at DisneyQuest. Look for it to open around the end of 2009.
2010 - New Attraction - (7/15/08) While we don’t know much at this point, I’ve heard a rumor indicating that the next major attraction coming to Epcot could be as early as 2010. The only problem is I’m not sure if this is a new ride or perhaps more like an all-new version of Illuminations. Anyone know more?
???? - Trains Across America - Rumor - (1/13/09) Screamscape sources have come forward with another report about that rumored train ride concept in development. Many seem to recall an old idea for the Japan pavilion that would have had some kind of Bullet Train attraction concept that sounded more like a simulator than anything else, but from everything I’m hearing this sounds like a real small-scale train ride. The simulator concept may still be on reserve though, depending on the budget involved. We’ve also heard that several locations were being looked at anywhere from the faux-Africa area all the way down to the France pavilion because if you look at just about any aerial map you can see that there is ample room behind almost every single World Showcase pavilion in this area of the park. So it all comes down to just how big or small do they want to make it, and if they’ve got a sponsor willing to pay for it.
(1/5/09) The latest buzz about that rumored Epcot Train project is that the primary concept is still to build a train ride that guests can actually ride on and not just another train display. The question is, just where in Epcot would they even think to build something like this?
(12/30/08) According to a Screamscape source the Trains Across America concept for World Showcase is indeed a real and current blue sky project. Unfortunately there is little else to report at this time other than it is something under consideration.
(12/29/08) I’m not sure how series this is but one of our readers claims to have come across some concept drawings for Epcot for a project referred to as Trains Across America. Of course the scale of the project in the drawings ranged from the installation of another toy train garden with American landmarks to a larger version of the same concept that would use a real mini train ride. Given the lack of buzz about this and the current state of things in the world today, I’ve got to wonder if this is just a random blue sky plan that may have fizzled. Anyone know more?
???? - Russian Pavilion - Shelved - (1/14/08) While Jim Hill got everyone buzzing and excited about adding a new Russian Pavilion to World Showcase last week, one of our own sources says not to get our hopes up for it just yet. While they confirm that apparently the old plans were pulled out again and new ideas are being talked about within the halls of Imagineering, they don’t believe that there any support for the project yet from Walt Disney World management who apparently is kind of clueless about the purpose of World Showcase.
WDW Management sees World Showcase more as a giant retail mall rather than an amusement park, full of shops, food stands and table service restaurants, all anchored by the nightly fireworks show… and they’re good with that. When something is changed or updated in World Showcase, it’s usually due to political pressure from the pavilion’s host country over concerned of outdated stereotypes, which was a primary reason behind the new CircleVision films in China and Canada, and possibly behind the update to Mexico’s flume ride as well. You never know though… if the buzz over bringing Russia to Epcot is big enough, they just might go for it. After all, they’ve kind of run out of the attractions in Future World to update at this point.
(1/9/08) According to the latest entry at Jim Hill Media, “The Russians are Coming!” No… not in a Red Dawn kind of way, but apparently WDI has revived their old plans from Eisner’s Disney Decade (1990-2000) and is looking to build a Russian pavilion once again World Showcase. This makes sense really since way back in the day apparently the Russian Pavilion got to the point where it was fairly far along in the design phase before the collapse of Russia caused the whole project to go with it.
Way back on one of my first visits to Epcot back in 1990 or 1991 I was pulled aside by Disney CMs at Epcot and asked to take part in a focus group on possible new attractions they were considering for the park at the time. It’s kind of funny to think about the ideas they presented to us then and what happened to them all.
Back then they talked about adding some kind of new “Space” themed pavilion to Future World which we know eventually became Mission: Space. A River Rapids ride in the unlabeled African area of World Showcase was discussed, but we know that project ended up being moved into the new Animal Kingdom park project instead. Then they showed off lots of artwork and plans for a Mt. Fuji roller coaster project to go in behind the Japan Pavilion which was the groups favorite idea of all. Of course we how know how this project was kicked around for years, objected to by Kodak, and later revived at Animal Kingdom as Expedition Everest. What they say about Imagineering is definitely true… a good idea is never gone forever but can usually come back when the time is right.
Case in point now would be the Russian pavilion… which was probably just about the only concept they showed us way back then that had yet to resurface… until now. Way back then the idea was to build a big building that would have a similar look to the famous Saint Basil’s Cathedral (which is actually not part of the Kremlin). They had an interesting list of attractions they wanted our opinions on as well that included what sounded like big show on the scale of the American Adventure that would merge filmed footage, projected displays and animatronic figures to retell the history of Russia. There was also some kind of slow moving flume ride concept that would be themed to a classic Russian fairy tale that escapes me, but according to Jim Hill it was to be Ivan and the Magic Pike. For those of you yawning already, there was also a thrill ride concept thrown into the mix as well. This idea proved to be the second most popular attraction idea in our focus group, coming in just behind Mt. Fuji and before the Space Pavilion concept was a thrill ride themed to the Russian Olympic bobsledding team. I don’t even think they had any artwork for it at the time, it was just something being talked about, but our group just loved the idea of a wild bobsled ride.
If the Russian Pavilion idea is coming back, it’s a good time for it. The Russian economy is said to be back on its feet and after spending most of the last decade updating all of Future World, it’s about time to start revamping World Showcase. Of course there is no telling if any of the old ideas will become part of the new pavilion plans or if they have come up with all new ideas instead. Right now we just have to wait and see what develops.
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