My plan for the Japan pavilion would draw upon these never-realized ideas. Epcot does already have a couple of thrill rides with Mission Space and Test Track, but one thing the park is lacking is a rollercoaster. For this reason, I think that the Mount Fuji coaster would be a perfect fit for the park. One can argue that Disney already has enough mountain-themed rollercoasters, but each one has its own unique theming, details, and identity. I am envisioning this coaster to be along the lines of the Matterhorn at Disneyland or Big Thunder Mountain at Magic Kingdom in terms of both the ride experience and thrill level. Guests would travel both inside and outside the mountain from its base to the snowy summit, passing through caves, past waterfalls, and even narrowly escaping an avalanche.
Not only would this rollercoaster add a much needed attraction to the pavilion, but it would also make the pavilion even more visually stunning.
In addition to the Mount Fuji coaster, I would also add the long talked-about Bullet Train simulator.
With this attraction, guests would feel as though they were entering into the car of a train only the windows would be replaced with high-definition screens that would display beautiful images of the Japanese countryside. Guests would travel past some of Japan’s amazing natural wonders, some of its most enduring landmarks, and into several of its best-known cities. The compartment itself would lurch and shake to simulate the feel of movement, but the experience would not have the same thrill level of other simulator attractions, such as Star Tours. With these two additions, the Japan pavilion would be able to offer something for everyone.
Morocco is one of the most beautiful pavilions in World Showcase with a level of detail that is not matched by any other country. With its winding alleys and assorted shops you really feel as if you are actually in Morocco. However, like Japan, Morocco lacks an attraction to help draw guests into the pavilion. For this reason, many guests just walk past Morocco unless they have a dining reservation at Restaurant Marrakesh. This pavilion was probably the most difficult to think of an attraction for. I thought it would be best, as a way of balancing the attractions in World Showcase, to have something that would appeal more to children and therefore looked at Moroccan folktales for inspiration. One of the most popular pieces of literature in the Arab world is One Thousand and One Nights (more commonly known as Arabian Nights). This is a collection of various stories and tales that, while they did not originate in Morocco, are reflective of the country’s culture and history.
It would be extremely tempting to put an Aladdin attraction in Morocco since it is one of the stories found in Arabian Nights, but I do not feel that World Showcase is the proper venue. Another popular tale from Arabian Nights is the Seven Voyages of Sinbad and this has actually been made into an attraction at Tokyo Disney Sea called “Sinbad’s Storybook Voyage.”
This boat ride takes guests on a journey along with Sinbad and has a feel that is very similar to It’s a Small World. Along the journey guests visit busy Far East towns, discover vast stores of treasure, encounter mermaids, caravans, and even a gigantic genie. The ride includes hundreds of audio animatronic figures and even features a song entitled “Compass of Your Heart” written by Alan Menken.
Here is a video of the Tokyo attraction:
The France pavilion currently has everything that a World Showcase pavilion should with two sit down restaurants, a counter-service bakery, a variety of shops, entertainment, and even an attraction. As much as I enjoy the film Impressions de France, it gets lost among the various World Showcase films and does not have the same uniqueness as the circlevision films in both Canada and China. For this reason, I would expand the theater and bring in a new stage show.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is one of Disney’s more underrated movies and features an array of beautiful music that makes its adaptation to stage very easy. With its darker themes and imagery, this is definitely a movie that is appreciated more by adults, but it still includes its lighter moments that children can enjoy. This new stage show would be very similar to the Hunchback show that was orginally performed at what was then the Disney-MGM Studios, but it would also include more dramatic elements more akin to the Hunchback Broadway-style music that was performed exclusively in Germany. While I am not the biggest fan of having Disney characters in World Showcase, Hunchback of Notre Dame is one of the most famous pieces of French literature, written by Frenchman Victor Hugo, and is set in the French capital of Paris and centered around one of the country’s most enduring landmarks. In this way, the show would still be a great tribute to French culture.
Here is a clip from the original Hunchback musical at MGM Studios:
Here is a montage of the Hunchback musical from Germany:
The United Kingdom is another pavilion that lacks a true attraction and, like with France, I would introduce an attraction centered around a popular Disney movie, but one which has its roots firmly in English culture. Mary Poppins was a series of children’s books written by English author P.L. Travers that was then adapted into a musical film by Disney in 1964 starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. The movie to this day continues to be one of the most beloved of all Disney movies and features an assortment of memorable songs written by the venerable Sherman Brothers. Its combination of music, fantasy, and beautiful scenery make it the perfect candidate for a dark-ride style attraction, something that the United Kingdom pavilion desperately needs.
The exterior of the attraction would be designed to look like Cherry Tree Lane as if it had come straight out of the movie.
The ride itself would be an omnimover that would take guests through various scenes from the movie. The music would be the real driving force of the attraction, with each scene representing a different song. Among the songs highlighted on the ride would be Jolly Holiday, Spoonful of Sugar, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, Feed the Birds, Chim Chim Cher-ee, Step in Time, and Let’s Go Fly a Kite. Mary Poppins remains to this day one of the most beloved Disney movies, and this attraction would pay homage not only to the movie but to an important piece of English literature.
Between United Kingdom and Canada sits the World Showplace pavilion. The building was originally used in the year 2000 for the Millennium Village that housed exhibits from a variety of countries and included shopping, food stands, and even small attractions. Since the end of the Millennium Celebration, however, the building has been used primarily for special events, such as the Party for the Senses during the Food and Wine Festival. This is another large area that would be the perfect location for another new pavilion in World Showcase. I would add a country that has been rumored to be coming to World Showcase for years: Russia.
A formal announcement was actually made that a Russian pavilion would be built in World Showcase. The pavilion would have been surrounded by red brick walls, opening into a recreation of Red Square, with a very impressive recreation of St. Basil's Cathedral, with its multicolored domes and twisting towers, towering over it.
Unfortunately, just after the initial announcement, the Soviet Union collapsed and later Russia faced severe economic troubles. Both of these events meant that Disney couldn't persuade the Russian government, nor any Russian businesses, to pay for the pavilion’s construction and the plans were shelved.
The pavilion was going to include a show entitled “Russia: The Bells of Change.” This innovative theatrical experience would have combined audio-animatronic characters, animated sets, film, and live actors to surround guests with the personalities, achievements, and volatile history of the country. I envision this being a show very similar to the American Adventure only with more live actors and dancers rather than solely audio-animatronics. I imagine the show as featuring music from some of Russia’s greatest composers such as Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, and Stravinsky. The show would also highlight dancing, which is a very important part of Russian culture. Among the dances showcased would be ballet as well as trepak, a traditional Russian dance best know for being in The Nutcracker:
Just as the American Adventure is hosted by two audio-animatronic figures in Benjamin Franklin and Mark Twain, this show would likewise be hosted and narrated by a famous Russian: Leo Tolstoy, who is considered by many to be the greatest literary novelist of all-time.
The pavilion would also feature both a sit-down and counter service restaurant highlighting the various flavors of Russian cuisine. Soups and stews play a very prominent role in Russian cuisine and the counter service restaurant would feature an all-you-can-eat soup bar. The sit down restaurant would be along the lines of the Beirgarten in Germany. Because Russia is such a large country, its cuisine is influenced by people of many different ethnicities and different areas of the country specialize in different types of food. The restaurant would feature a buffet divided into different sections each highlighting a different Russian ethnic group or area of the country. The restaurant would also feature a stage where there would be live entertainment throughout the course of the meal featuring traditional Russian song and dance.
The final country on our journey around World Showcase is Canada. This pavilion already features one of my favorite restaurants in all of Disney World, Le Cellier, and that I would not change at all. However, I would add a counter service restaurant that would serve Le Cellier’s cheddar cheese soup along with an assortment of Canadian pastries. As far as attractions, the pavilion already features the O’ Canada circlevision movie starring Martin Short, but I feel it could use another attraction as well.
I think that the Canadian landscape lends itself very well to a raft ride, something along the lines of Kali River Rapids at Animal Kingdom or Grizzly River Run and California Adventure. The ride would take guests on a thrilling journey through the rapids of the Canadian Rockies, encountering native plants and wildlife, such as audio-animatronic moose, black bears, beavers, and bobcats, in addition to waterfalls, whirlpools, and geysers. Indeed, the appearance of Grizzly River Run is an apt comparison for what this ride experience would be like.
Not only would this raft ride give Canada, and World Showcase, and additional thrill attraction, but it would also serve an equally important aesthetic purpose. As it stands now, when looking at the Canada pavilion from across the water, the view of the pavilion is dominated by the show building for Soarin’ in the background. This new raft ride would help to hide this intrusion.
All of these changes that I have envisioned for World Showcase would help make this area of the park more than just a place for shopping and dining; it could actually now open at 9am along with the rest of the park rather than waiting until 11am. Guests would now have an assortment of attractions to choose from, attractions that would range from mild to thrilling and offer something for everyone in the family. All the while, each of these attractions would still serve to present a view of the country it represents. Overall, my plan for World Showcase would help solidify its purpose of educating and informing guests about the various countries’ cultures, histories, traditions, and people.
This concludes my re-imagining of Epcot. Up next we will move on to a park that has a lot of potential but also needs a lot of work, Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
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