D23 Expo 2019 (First page with major info)

[SaintsManiac]

We are skipping Epcot in November for the first time ever. It feels weird and I wonder if we'll make some time for it at the spur of the moment. That's the luxury of having APs or hoppers.

I feel bad for people buying base tickets and heading into that mess the next however many months.

 

[Tink1987]

Honestly I am suprised rat isnt opening this year, they have had the building up for quite a while, and the ride vehicles and tech is all cookie cutter from DLP , I assume they may be having some of the same engineers working on Rat working on the Railroad. If thats the case, then i can understand the slow down since that would be newer ride vehicles and tech

I think a lot of the attention has been focused on Rise of the Resistance as well.

Not sure if I want Ryan Reynolds narrating history to me but, I’d be hella happy to let him ride next to me in the attraction.

If narrating history is what the kids call it these days

 

[Ambehnke]

I'm with yall on "fighting" the EPCOT purists.....

For me growing up, EPCOT was a snooze fest. TBH, without FEA, my kids felt the same way. I think that the additions are going to make that park have a higher repeatability for families like mine and I’m excited for the changes.

I think being upset that a ride won’t open when you go is 100% warranted. I say that because unlike the period of no expansion, we have seen insane price increases. It’s hard not to pay more YOY and not want more..... It changes the equation. If I have to pay more to go next year, it makes sense to wait until at least one of the new rides is open...My .02

This is 100% it for us. It’s the pricing and what we can do otherwise for the same price or less. We are looking at Europe this spring weighing in at about 2k less than our last Disney trip. Yes, we also know how to do it on a budget, but I don’t always want to vacation on a budget. I’d rather wait til we have more new experiences and spend the money on it then.

 

[Ambehnke]

We are skipping Epcot in November for the first time ever. It feels weird and I wonder if we'll make some time for it at the spur of the moment. That's the luxury of having APs or hoppers.

I feel bad for people buying base tickets and heading into that mess the next however many months.

I can’t imagine skipping Epcot! What about Epcot Forever? Might be worth hopping to see that!

 

[SaintsManiac]

I can’t imagine skipping Epcot! What about Epcot Forever? Might be worth hopping to see that!

We are considering it, but it would be a LONG day. It's frustrating to have zero clue on what park hours will be!

 

[Tigger's ally]

While I have always enjoyed Epcot, and my kids always enjoyed Epcot. (They enjoyed spending time at the dancing waters and fountains and fiber optic sidewalks...)
I will agree spending a day with today’s $$$ ticket prices, at Epcot is now a very hard sell to non-regulars.

A co-worker did his 1st WDW trip last year. 4 days, but they did MK 2x and didn’t go to Epcot.
Next year their daughter is old enough that they will go for FEA. I’m guessing Disney has a lot of research showing similar patterns.

As an Epcot fan, I have changed my habits quite a bit. The wife and I love Soarin and make sure to do it once or twice each trip. Other than that, we spend all of our evenings in the world showcase taking our time, enjoying different snacks and dinners and always ending the nights with Illuminations. I hesitate to label me an "Epcot Purist" though, I just have always liked the World Showcase and would love to see more lands added. That is contrary to being a purist in and of itself.

 

[rteetz]

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Yeah, after spending $ on MK, AK and Studios we all wanted some investment in Epcot. And we are getting it. May not be what we personally wanted, but it definitely is $$$ and attention for the park that needed it the most.

That is what I have been saying (to myself and others) - is this exactly what I have done if I was in charge? No .... is this better than the rotting corpse of Innoventions? um, yeah (and I mean that figuratively and in the sense that I think there are rotting corpses under Innoventions and thus the smell)

 

[TheMaxRebo]

We are skipping Epcot in November for the first time ever. It feels weird and I wonder if we'll make some time for it at the spur of the moment. That's the luxury of having APs or hoppers.

I feel bad for people buying base tickets and heading into that mess the next however many months.

It would be nice to have some dates as to when construction will start. I mean, obviously they have started to work on the entrance, but when is SSE closing for the refurb? When is the one innoventions building being worked on/torn down, etc.? Like, in November, none fo that might have started and be fine - or it could be a complete mess (thinking same for my trip in February, but I now we will do at least one day there as I want to see EPCOT Forever and want to eat at Space 220)

 

[Farro]

It would be nice to have some dates as to when construction will start. I mean, obviously they have started to work on the entrance, but when is SSE closing for the refurb? When is the one innoventions building being worked on/torn down, etc.? Like, in November, none fo that might have started and be fine - or it could be a complete mess (thinking same for my trip in February, but I now we will do at least one day there as I want to see EPCOT Forever and want to eat at Space 220)

That's what I find frustrating too, we still don't really know anything!

 

[SaintsManiac]

It would be nice to have some dates as to when construction will start. I mean, obviously they have started to work on the entrance, but when is SSE closing for the refurb? When is the one innoventions building being worked on/torn down, etc.? Like, in November, none fo that might have started and be fine - or it could be a complete mess (thinking same for my trip in February, but I now we will do at least one day there as I want to see EPCOT Forever and want to eat at Space 220)

Indeed. We might hop over there for a couple of hours if Spaceship Earth is still open. We'll be at Pop, so we can take the Skyliner back. Decisions, decisions...

 

[Tigger's ally]

That is what I have been saying (to myself and others) - is this exactly what I have done if I was in charge? No .... is this better than the rotting corpse of Innoventions? um, yeah (and I mean that figuratively and in the sense that I think there are rotting corpses under Innoventions and thus the smell)

Yeah, what most people don't realize is that if they themselves were put in charge ( and spent every dollar available) what they put in would not be what the person standing next to them would put in.

It's really as simple as the new coaster going in. When they announced it, half the people said it doesn't fit, the other half said "Great a new Coaster!"

 

[jknezek]

That's what I find frustrating too, we still don't really know anything!

Disney itself may not know when these builds will truly start, though I'm sure they have general ideas. With the full push on RotR and the seeming delays on the Railroad and Rat rides, there may be legit problems getting enough of the kind of workers they need. Especially considering workers are also deployed on GotG and Tron at the moment. These newly announced projects are in the pipeline, but its possible that timeframes are dependent on when previous projects finish. While I'm sure they are constantly being updated on those timeframes from the project managers, it might be pretty fluid if manpower is being shifted around to address the ongoing builds. Especially given whatever problem RotR ran into in California obviously is being addressed in FL.

 

[rteetz]

Disney itself may not know when these builds will truly start, though I'm sure they have general ideas. With the full push on RotR and the seeming delays on the Railroad and Rat rides, there may be legit problems getting enough of the kind of workers they need. Especially considering workers are also deployed on GotG and Tron at the moment. These newly announced projects are in the pipeline, but its possible that timeframes are dependent on when previous projects finish. While I'm sure they are constantly being updated on those timeframes from the project managers, it might be pretty fluid if manpower is being shifted around to address the ongoing builds. Especially given whatever problem RotR ran into in California obviously is being addressed in FL.

Rat hasn’t been delayed. Actually got moved up a bit.

 

[DanielleC]

I was trying to watch the live streams of the Parks Panel yesterday and ended up watching 3 different ones because they kept dropping out. I was getting pretty annoyed with way too many saying "What about Figment?", "What about a Tomorrowland update?", "What about Brazil?" over and over and over again. I kept saying "They haven't gotten to parks yet people." The same people kept whining and griping over and over and over. I had to hide the chats it because it became so annoying.

I said what I said about a Brazil pavilion. Disney doesn't have the sponsors lined up to pay for it. What did Walt say about his parks? They will never be done. Destination D will be along in about a year. They will make more announcements then.

Tomorrowland Disneyland will get done at some point in time. Has Disney ever gotten rid of a single piece of an IP forever? Figment will be around forever in some form. Brazil, or whatever the next Pavilion is will be along when they can pay for it. Even Disney doesn't have unlimited cash.

EPCOT was supposed to change, especially Future World. It just became too hard to keep up with the technology of the future. So we're getting what we're getting. I think it looks great and look forward to seeing it. But these days I really only go to EPCOT for the food in World Showcase. I can't do thrill rides, so I stick with food, which is always fabulous and go for tame attractions like the Land and The Seas.

This is supposed to be part of "The Happiest Place On Earth" family. If you're not happy with the changes, I get that, but leave those of us who are OK with it out of it.

 

[Farro]

Rat hasn’t been delayed. Actually got moved up a bit.

You know just like me that the rumors, "by trusted sources", have been saying it would open early, as in Feb to spring 2020 - April being named most likely.
So hearing summer yesterday was a shocker!

That's the trouble with following things, you get disappointed.

 

[jknezek]

Rat hasn’t been delayed. Actually got moved up a bit.

Really, huh? Don't know why that was in my head. Oh well. Thanks for the correction.

 

[Farro]

Really, huh? Don't know why that was in my head. Oh well. Thanks for the correction.

If you follow other pages, reliable sources were saying April 2020. So it feels like a delay to hear summer 2020 now.

 

[CastAStone]

Remember in the late 2000s when Disney did nothing new for like 6 years?

Epcot hasn’t had an all new ride since Soarin in May of ‘05, and didn’t even get a “new ride” that was just an overlay between Three Caballeros in April of ‘07 and Frozen in June of 16.


Edited for clarity

 

[rteetz]

Epcot hasn’t had an all new ride since Soarin in May of ‘05, and didn’t even get an overlay between Three Caballeros in April of ‘07 and Frozen in June of 16.

Test Track got redone in 2012 I think it was.