Innoventions West demolition picking up pace as roof removal continues

FerretAfros1 hour ago

There really seems to be a stunning lack of curiosity across the board for an organization that likes to think of itself as a premiere design house. It’s not just Epcot that eludes them, it’s anything that’s beyond their realm of familiarity, whether that’s small details or larger philosophical themes to be incorporated in the spirit of a place.

Too often, they simply take what is familiar and comfortable, and apply that without regard for context. This can mean anything from copying a detail in a way that doesn’t really make sense, to designing entire areas without consideration for how it will actually function on a day-to-day basis with real guests, CMs, and weather.

Passport to Dreams has done a great job of highlighting examples of how, over the years, WDI’s California-based teams have slowly but surely removed elements unique to MK and replaced them with equivalents from DL, whether they make sense or not. One of the best examples is the Jack Sparrow-era removal of MK’s original POTC queue soundtrack and replacement with DL’s interior queue music loop. Instead of suspenseful noises of unseen pirates pillaging the fortress that the queue winds through, it’s now smooth jazz interpretations of the attraction’s memorable song. Not only does this detract from some of the park’s most atmospheric place-setting, but the loop is also too short for WDW’s significantly longer interior queue, so guests hear it repeat before they even board the ride. It’s a downgrade from nearly any perspective, but it got approved because DL’s version of the attraction is better, right?

It’s the same mindset that brought Toy Story Land to WDW without any protection from the harsh Florida weather. It’s why Epcot’s abstract nighttime show is getting replaced with one focusing on familiar characters and songs. It’s why the statues of Pele and Hina from DL’s Tiki Room lanai are plunked down in MK’s river, despite having nothing to do with the Clyde and Claude pre-show. If it’s not going to make it more like Disneyland Park, it’s not worth doing.

Even people I know at WDI who have visited various Disney parks around the world on their own, seem to simply see things and say “Huh, that’s different here,” without any considerations for the intent behind them. They’re all very good at their isolated jobs, but seldom put it into the context of the bigger whole to understand how the various parts relate to one another. They might just as well be designing parts for an automobile, systems for a factory, or buildings for common use, as opposed to anything in a theme park. And these are the “good ones” who actually enjoy the parks in their free time, unlike so many of the decision-makers that oversee the parks who have no particular passion for their product.

Across the board, it seems like there’s so much focus on the “what” that WDI often fails to think about “why” they’re doing what they’re doing. Beyond just copying things from an unrelated park, it also leads to faux-detail ornamentation that ultimately creates architectural nonsense, like WDW’s Ratatouille area facades and the Riviera hotel. There’s a fundamental lack of intellectual curiosity and understanding about how all the elements of a designed environment relate to one another to further an idea. They’re so focused on the small details that they don’t step back to think about whether it actually works together. Too often WDI misses the forest for the trees.

It really says a lot that previous generations of Imagineers were able to better at consistently capturing the spirit of a location from an encyclopedia article and a couple old postcards than the current generation is with lavish research expeditions to real-world locations. As an organization, there is far too little emphasis placed on really understanding why elements are included and how they further the design; everything is just superficial ornamentation to them, easily interchangeable with little regard for a larger purpose.