The Destruction of EPCOT Center | A Look Back to the Classics and Why They Were Destroyed

It's kind of crazy how Epcot was born of looking to the future, and is being ruined by people who don't have proper foresight.

Wasn't Epcot supposed to be a park dedicated to Walt Disney's fascination with the future and education? Feels like turning to IPs to retain relevancy is a cheap last ditch effort to update without having to put in much thought or innovation...and in turn, it's spitting on the grave of Disney himself, honestly. Epcot literally stands for "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow", and leaning on cheap movie IPs for new attractions doesn't reflect this in the slightest. Absolutely shameful, Disney's shooting themselves in the foot over and over again with these horrible ideas. Epcot was my favorite because it was innovative and different...it was a breath of fresh air. So sad to see it slowly dying. :(

It's horrible that a park empire that was built on the concept of nostalgia can't even allow its own nostalgia to endure. I want Test Track, but I want Test Track AND World of Motion. I want Horizons AND Mission Space. Eisner may have "ruined" Disney, but right now Chapek has a good many people willing to hold his beer. Offer less, charge more, destroy what people love. It's not even a "what would Walt have done" issue anymore, it's "what would a sane person do?"

EPCOT should be a place of inspiration, not just only full amusement.

Thank you for pointing out that Chapek's definition of "more Disney" is not an accurate one. Especially considering Walt's original EPCOT vision and even the way it was transformed into an innovative discovery park. I feel sad for EPCOT and it's fans.

I had no idea Epcot had so many animatronic rides!!!!! Those are my Fave 🥺🥺😊

I agree with all of this. It’s heartbreaking when people think Epcot is the worst park. They don’t know what it once was and what it was meant to be. “More Disney” is absolutely not what Epcot needs. 😢

Epcot used to be our favorite Disney park. It was educational and fun and we had no problem with our children missing a couple of days of school because they were still learning. Now it's just a stagnent park with the same festivals year after year. I really miss the original Epcot

It is heartbreaking that they destroyed these incredible attractions, the loss of Horizons being the greatest of them all. They were built by the best and most experienced imagineers Disney had. They (Disney executive management) literally had no idea what they had. A complete failure of imagination.

My favorite Epcot memory is from my first time visiting in 1989. At the end of the night the park had cleared out and Horizons was a walk on. My parents and I rode it three times so we could try each of the endings. It will always be my favorite ride at that park.

I would say chasing popular Ip's killed Disney more than anything else when it comes to their amusement parks. They trashed good rides that people liked in favor of some new hip movie. The problem was by the time the project was constructed often that "new hit movie" was old news and the kids who grew up with it were already teenagers. Yet Disney seemed to almost hate any successful ride that wasn't part of their animated collection. I think they disliked the fact Figment was probably more popular than say Donald Duck or Minnie mouse.

I just wanna say that, as a fairly young person who has grown up in the internet age, I find all these attractions about how old technology functioned to be really fascinating. Maybe there would be a period of some years where these attractions felt outdated, but I feel they would've cycled back around to being incredibly interesting after a point (although I guess it wouldn't be profitable for Disney to keep them during that period). Anyway, just my thoughts, loved the video!

Epcot is experiencing the continued “Dumbing down of Disney,” along with all of the parks.

I wouldn't say the old EPCOT attractions were outdated, rather they just need to be updated to fit the times better, like how Disney updates Pirates and Haunted Mansion with new scenes. Lets hope with the new Spaceship Earth this is done well.

I know it sounds dumb, but I've always felt personally connected to Epcot, even as a little kid. One of my earliest baby pictures is my dad carrying me in front of Spaceship Earth right after it opened, and the 2 other times we went back, we always seemed to spend more time there than the other parks. It was just a really special place and time I think.

When I went to EPCOT, I was inspired to go into STEM fields of work, I wanted to be an imagineer, I wanted to be someone that pushes the boundaries of science, even if that isn't who I am today, that want was still there. I can't go to "EPCOT" today and feel inspired to innovate the world of tomorrow anymore. This is going to harm generations to come, they'll only think of it as another place to go on some rides and no more. If people aren't willing to want to learn, then make them! That's what it used to be, education and fun in one package, that's why I loved going through places like the now retired and demolished innoventions (I've mentioned this on other videos of his). I think the park is beyond saving now, it doesn't feel like an experimental prototype community of tomorrow anymore.

When I was 15 in 1983 my parents took me to Disney world. I ended up spending twice as much time at EPCOT than the main park. I loved it. Watching this video brought back a lot of fond memories of that place. I saddens me to know it's only a shadow of it's former self. I always considered going back but from what I've heard lately I'll never spend another dime on anything Disney creates.

This makes me miss the EPCOT of my childhood so much. So much of the park feels rather hollow now

This video is a perfect essay on why the original EPCOT was important up until the early 2000's and how it evolved. I noticed however that you didn't include Wonders of Life. It wasn't original by any means, being the last pavilion to be built in 1989, but it had an interesting history in such a short span of time at the park and it never got updated or changed much at all. I grew up going to the park when Innoventions was dying its slow death in the mid-late 2000's, but at least back then we still had Energy, the Original Test Track, a competent Spaceship Earth, and a still true to theme land pavillion. Now it looks like we only have Spaceship Earth and the Land. All of these newest additions; Guardians, Frozen, Moana don't belong in the park in any way. Donald in Mexico and Remy in France get a pass because they are fairly well tied to the country they are in. This new vision of EPCOT is a true insult to Walt Disney the person as well as the glorious past of imagineering and the fans who loved what the original park and it's early years were. Chapek and the new leadership don't give a damn what the fans want, only the once in a lifetime guest who just wants to see characters from TV and movies at the parks. Chapek and Iger make Eisner look like a saint in terms of creativity and management. Yes, Eisner had a rough time after Frank Wells died in 1994, but his first ten years were excellent. Eisner saved Disney just so Iger and Chapek could shit all over it.

I went to Epcot in 1999 so I saw some of the last vestiges of epcot center. I was interested in coral reefs and fish so the Seas was my favorite exhibit. I eventually got a degree in marine biology and though I don't work in that field, the subject means a lot to me. I loved finding nemo, but I refuse to ride the replacement for the original show and go into the aquarium from the back entrance. There are coral colonies in some of the tanks that are still alive today that I saw in 99 so I enjoy pointing out to my family and friends the corals that I am certain are over 20 years old. If it ever got fully revamped and those corals removed I would be very sad.