The Most Beautiful Place In The World

[nemorathwald]

I was inspired to post this by a blog post on EPCOT Central about whether the Future World section is becoming too visually cluttered.

My grandfather is with me. I step out of the darkness of a virtual reality lab-- back when nobody even knew what VR stood for-- having just experienced one of the first consumer playtests. At that moment I realize this medium will fuse all of my most passionate childhood interests (animation, theme park rides, puppetry, games, computers) into a single art form. My imagination is primed.

The entire wall opens up, and we emerge, squinting, into the bright sunshine of the most beautiful place in the world: the central plaza of Epcot Center between Communicores East and West. The architecture evokes being a gnome in the toy chest of a colossal demigod of dreams. Geospheres and languid curls have been painted and lit in brave but carefully-measured color combinations. We shade our eyes under fronds of plants imported from all over the planet. A gigantic concentric-staged fountain dances its 10,000 spouts in computer synchronization to the theme from The Rocketeer. Colorful metal banners spin their screw-driven spiral shape in the wind, as if they were submarine propellers somehow made of ice cream. Flocks of light whirl and bank on the tips of fiber optics in the pastel concrete, bursting their emergent complexity and dying in fractal singularities. A group of dancers dressed like a red version of Blue Man Group form some kind of contortionist version of a cheerleading pyramid. The Monorail approaches and is reflected in the lagoon. It glides silently overhead.

Comments

[paranthropus.livejournal.com]

I agree. Those awnings in particular, brought in during Epcot's millennium face lift, really add to the clutter. It could be argued, though, that they provide much-needed shade.

The challenge in theme park design, and WDW design in particular, is to provide a place that is both timeless and new. You want to appeal to people's sense of nostalgia while at the same time bringing enough new stuff to the table that people would keep coming back year after year. The Epcot designers were smart enough to engineer this principle in to the park. World Showcase and Spaceship Earth provided the continuity, while Innoventions would constantly be renewed and updated. The problem with this plan is that Innoventions is completely enclosed. Theme parks communicate "new-ness" with visual spectacle: stuff that makes for impressive photographs and travel brochures. People just don't bother taking pictures of the new stuff inside of Innoventions, they are too busy playing with all the new gizmos. Everyone takes pictures of Spaceship Earth, though. So of course Disney has to stick a giant Mickey hand next to it. It might mess with the original intent of the park, but it is an acknowledgment of the realities of the tourism business.

Visual clutter = perceived novelty = more beer bellies through the turnstiles.