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Disney Accused of “Bait and Switch” After Media Event Angers Guests

For years, guests visiting EPCOT at the Walt Disney World Resort were treated to a large construction zone as Disney crews worked hard to reimagine the massive theme park. Walt Disney’s Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow was supposed to feature some visions of the future, so, of course, major updates and renovations are needed. This most recent construction and reimagining is one of the largest EPCOT has seen since it opened in 1982.

spaceship earth
Credit: Disney

Related: 5 Free EPCOT Attractions You Don’t Know You’re Missing

As part of the new reimagining of EPCOT, Future World was changed into three distinct neighborhoods — World Discovery, World Celebration, and World Nature — to accompany the World Showcase. Then, this past October, a new Moana (2016) attraction opened in the World Nature area of the theme park called Journey of Water, Inspired by Moana.

One of the big projects was the updating and complete reimagining of CommuniCore Plaza.

A large topiary sculpture of a woman, lush and green, set in a vibrant garden with trees, colorful flowers, and a view of a large geodesic sphere in the background under a sunny sky.
Credit: Disney

Related: Disney Teases New ‘Coco’ AND ‘Encanto’ Areas!

The original CommuniCore area was dedicated to showing guests what the future could be like and featured several fun exhibits. The new CommuniCore Plaza, however, now features fun additions like a stage for a brand-new Encanto (2021) show!

There is also a new quick-service eatery that will feature favorite dishes from EPCOT’s four festivals year-round! Guests will be able to find dishes from the International Food & Wine Festival, the International Festival of the Arts, the Flower & Garden Festival, and the Festival of the Holidays.

communicore hall concept art
Credit: Disney

On June 9, Disney invited the media to check out the finally completed CommuniCore Hall. Then, on June 10, the area opened to all EPCOT guests. While the press and social media influencers seemed really impressed with the redesigned area, guests who visited on the official opening day were less than thrilled.

In fact, they were downright mad at Disney.

When the media visited the new CommuniCore Hall, there was a ton of fun lighting, banners, activities, and more. However, when regular guests were let in the next day, most of those decorations were gone, and the area didn’t look anything like what Disney had touted.

I showed up literally HOURS after this event, on the opening day of this space, to find it all sanitized, closed up, and silent. Signage down. Walls closed up.

Disney have you ever considered treating us peons with the pretend offerings you toss in front of media outlets?

Related: Disney World to Close One of EPCOT’s Most Popular & Iconic Attractions

The room had some lighting, but overall, things were pretty dull. There were some tables and chairs, but for a brand-new area, it seems like there should have been a lot more. The area was also pretty deserted, which is somewhat surprising. Central Florida is experiencing some extremely high temperatures, so you would think that people would just head into the hall to escape the heat, but even that didn’t really happen.

Welcome to the EPCOT University West Common Room, where you can find alcoholic slushies and charge your phone. The Magic of Possibilities

https://twitter.com/SirBrayden/status/1800225041784918228

Some big Disney fans were also disappointed in the fact that the area seemed to have lost all of its personality. They shared before-and-after images of the CommuniCore area, and the differences were startling.

Listen, we don’t want to pile on, honestly, but we are not sure what Disney is thinking with “Communicore Hall”. We went from a wondrous playground of forward thinking concepts and future tech to what looks like a mid-level mall food court. Are we crazy for not “getting” this?

https://twitter.com/Parkeology/status/1800608435010183394

X (formerly Twitter) user Wallin Ballin gave a stark opinion on why Disney might have chosen to seemingly “downgrade” the area from what it once was. They said that EPCOT was supposed to represent what could be and all the possibilities the future held. Unfortunately, with how much we are looking at screens, we have lost the ability to appreciate our surroundings, which allows companies to “cheap out.”

The reason Communicore Hall is so especially depressing, is not just that it’s cheap, empty, or even that it’s profoundly boring, it’s because rather than be an escape from reality, it’s a reminder of it.

Epcot was originally intended to be a park about the future of planet earth itself. Rather than represent an escape from reality into fantasy, it was an escape from the present, into the future.

It was meant to embrace the potential of real future cities and communities, embrace what the internet renaissance would bring.

But in reality all the renaissance brought was spaces that look a lot like Communicore Hall. Whilst we get lost in our phone screens, we’ve lost care for what the world looks like around us, allowing corporations to display cheap efforts couched as minimalism.

Rather than embrace a new future, rather than pave the way for a new imagination, Communicore Hall reminds us of the future we already arrived at, a future that many now probably wish they could have escaped from, and into the fantasy worlds once dreamt long ago.

https://twitter.com/wallin_ballin/status/1800602693888594154

X user Futureport 82 had an even more dismal outlook on CommuniCore Hall. They felt like Disney not only didn’t know what it was doing with its domestic parks, but the company didn’t care.

Communicore Hall is the perfect example that WDI and Disney:

1. have no idea what they’re doing in the US parks
2. have no plan on how to fix that
3. how little they care about 1 and 2

Future World 2024 is a total mess, and likely completely beyond fixing. And they don’t care.

https://twitter.com/futureport82/status/1800444681270239676

With the opening of CommuniCore Plaza, most of the construction at EPCOT has been completed. Despite the new area’s lukewarm reception, there are still a ton of other great things to enjoy at EPCOT.

Guests are really enjoying The Journey of Water, Inspired by Moana, as well as one of the most exciting rides in the entire resort — Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. Then, beginning August 29, guests will be able to start enjoying the popular International Food and Wine Festival, which will run through late November.

What do you think of the new CommuniCore Plaza and CommuniCore Hall? Let us know in the comments!

Krysten Swensen

A born and bred New England girl living the Disney life in Southern California. I love to read, to watch The Golden Girls, and love everything to do with Disney and Universal. I also love to share daily doses of Disney on my Disney Instagram @BrazzleDazzleDisney!

3 Comments

  1. It took 4 years for a shell of a building to be built for some cheap tables and chairs? Guess it’s true now…. the magic is gone.

  2. I want to know what took them so long. They built a box. The show was cute-but very hot standing there for 20 minutes. The umbrellas were not enough and even if there were more I don’t think they would help. The food offerings were meh. There were no fans on the queue to meet the characters. Very disappointing. I like the old Epcot better.

  3. I have only seen this “box” from the outside while it was being assembled. Much of it consists of only a ceiling, looking like a carport! At lease guests will have somewhere to escape summer rains.

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