ecl@hocsj.UUCP (09/25/84)
(This is going to net.travel for obvious reasons and net.sf-lovers
because Futureworld is somewhat SF-oriented.)
EPCOT Center
A theme park(!) review by Mark R. Leeper
I guess I'll review just about anything and everything. Walt Disney's
"Apricot Center" (as I like to call it) had been recommended to me for quite
some time and I have finally visited this popular attraction. Actually, of
all of Disney's theme parks, this one sounded the most interesting. When I
was growing up and watched Disney on TV, I waited with my heart in my mouth
as the announcer told you which part of Disneyland the show was from. If he
said "from Frontierland..." my heart would sink. "From Adventureland..."
(Yuk!) "From Main Street, USA..." (I think I'll go do my homework.) "From
Fantasyland..." (Well, maybe.) I remember the lottery paying off only once.
Once he said "From Tomorrowland..." (Wow! Oh-boy-oh-boy!) Old Walt was
pretty sharp, but it took him a long time to realize that Tomorrowland was
most everybody's favorite. Toward the end of his career, most of what he
did was science or science fiction related. The "Experimental Prototype
Community of Tomorrow" was apparently Tomorrowland-park. If this really is
a prototype community of tomorrow, we have a pretty weird future ahead of
us! After working all day under a beautiful dome--where your job is sitting
on a sort of open train listening to some industrial giant tell you
everything it's doing for you, you'll return home to your modest half-scale
mock-up of China's Temple of Heaven, pick up the spouse and kiddees, go out
for some really bad Japanese food, and take in a show about the wonders of
Canada that will completely surround you, but you will have to stand up
through. George Orwell in his worst nightmare never... Well, you get the
idea.
Actually, EPCOT Center is two parks, "World Showcase" and
"Futureworld". In World Showcase, ten countries of the world smile and say,
"Come, visit us, see our wonders, and bring YANKEE DOLLARS, you rich, stupid
materialists." In Futureworld, industrial giants tell you, "There's a big,
bright, beautiful future opening up. When you think of it, think of us
bringing it to you and making BIG BUCKS." And like any Disney theme park,
admission is a long way from cheap. Working for AT&T, I got a special
discount, which as it turned out, just covered the cost of parking.
Monetary cynicism aside, what is there to see at the Apricot Center?
We visited Futureworld first:
SPACESHIP EARTH: The old AT&T seems to have been a major patron and
contributor to Apricot. Their touch-screen information booths are all
around and are pretty darn impressive. Their ride is the centerpiece of
Futureworld and can be seen from all over the park. It is a giant sphere 18
stories high. Inside is a tram ride through the interior of the sphere
showing the history and future of communication. [One side note: these
rides now use olfactory techniques as well as sight and sound. You could
SMELL the burning of Rome in this one, and the jungle in one of the others.
-ecl] It isn't great, but it is enjoyable.
COMMUNICORE EAST is Sperry's contribution. Somebody figured that as
long as computers run the show, they should be made part of the show. You
actually see the computer center and through the magic of semi-reflective
glass you see a lecturer and a cartoon figure called I/O apparently walking
around on the computers explaining what they do. Clever idea.
UNIVERSE OF ENERGY by Exxon gives you a lecture on where energy comes
from and what is being done to harvest this energy. The high point is the
full-size dinosaur models that are nearly convincing. They put a lot of
money into them and they look very good. After that, the lecture continues
on a wraparound screen showing some impressive machinery for pulling energy
from the earth in hostile parts of the world. In spite of myself I find
these block-long monsters that chew the heck out of nature in the icy North
Sea or the frozen tundra real jawdroppers that go a long way to upstage the
dinosaurs. The theater is in six sections, each of which is a giant car
guided by cables in the floor [and partially powered by solar energy --ecl].
HORIZONS is General Electric's successor to its World's Fair Carousel
of Progress, though it pushes GE a lot less and a lot more subliminally. It
is a tram ride that shows you historic views of the future, how silly they
were, and our current view now that we really know what the future will be
like. This is one of the better attractions.
COMMUNICORE WEST is AT&T with more of those touchscreens and some
videogames like PACKET SWITCH. Still, isn't much of an attraction.
THE LAND, sponsored by Kraft, is the least worthwhile of the major
attractions of Futureworld. It has the longest wait due to inadequate crowd
control. The main attraction is a water-tram ride through a greenhouse
where you can see real vegetables being grown. There are also is a
restaurant featuring talking vegetables and mayonnaise jars. Yes, it does.
JOURNEY INTO IMAGINATION is Kodak's unimaginative tram ride through the
various fruits of imagination. Your host is a bearded man and a small
purple dragon named "Figment." He looks a lot like Pete's Dragon.
Afterwards there is a sort of participation light show. It features
pinboards and an orchestra you conduct by how close your hands are to
lights. By far the best feature is a 3-D demonstration film. Most of us
have seen 3-D films in theaters and this is the same technology using
polarized light. The sad fact is that most filmmakers who do 3-D films do
not understand the limitations and capabilities of the process. Even if
they do the projectionist must do extensive fine tuning to get the image
right and few commercial exhibitors know or care how to fine tune their
projection system. Kodak is in the business of making 3-D look good and
they know what to do. Early in the film they bring a bird-shaped kite,
perfectly focused, a foot or two from the viewer's face. It was the best
3-D effect I've ever seen. Of course they were able to start with the
object at some distance and move it slowly forward so the viewer's eyes
could focus. A commercial might not allow such self-indulgence just for a
good 3-D effect. After the first time the audience's eyes were "educated"
and through the rest of the film they could use the effect freely.
I won't go pavilion-by-pavilion for World Showcase, but I will give
some general impressions. Back in the Thirties, filmmakers used to do
documentaries about other countries. They described the citizens of these
countries as being happy, doll-like people with quaint customs. These days
we know better. That image is demeaning and inaccurate. But it is an image
that is good for tourism, so the myth of the happy peasant is alive and well
at the Apricot Center. Mexico is portrayed as a border-to-border fiesta,
the French as a happy people who love Americans. It ain't so. I've been to
five of the ten countries who have pavilions here (Canada, the United
Kingdom, France, Morocco, Japan, the United States, Italy, Germany, China,
and Mexico). Only in one did I feel they really liked Americans (that
includes America). China did not play up the people's curiosity about, and
apparent love for, Americans. That is kind of a pity because China is the
only country I've ever visited where the people seemed genuinely pleased
that Americans had come visiting.
The main attractions of the various countries were shops and
restaurants, both overpriced. And to get into any but a fast-food
restaurant requires reservations by mid-morning. We didn't even try for
reservations. Instead we had lunch at a Japanese restaurant that did a
terrible job on yakitori, and had dinner at a place in Orlando's called
Luther's Barbecue. I love exotic foreign food, as many of you know me
already know. As far as I am concerned, authentic Southern smokehouse
barbecue is more exotic than Chinese in the Northeast. I can drive an hour
or so and get to a really good Chinese or Mexican or Japanese restaurant.
Good smokehouse barbecue is not to be found in the whole New York-New Jersey
area. In Orlando I can also heartily recommend the local Po' Folks
restaurant. The Apricot Center is really no place to eat.
I had been told to allow two days for the Apricot Center. Going in
late September, I found the lines were short and I covered it in one day
with time left on my hands.
(Evelyn C. Leeper for)
Mark R. Leeper
...ihnp4!lznv!mrl