Ruth has been to Epcot. I have not. Going to Epcot was one of the 2 reasons why we went to Orlando after our recent cruise. I wanted to see what this venerable Disney property is like and maybe sample a 2nd major attraction. One woman tried her best to persuade us to go to her favorite Orlando lure, a wildlife park called Gatorland. But then we talked to people and decided against buying tickets to Epcot, for now. Some said that it has become tired and rather dull. Others said that it remains entertaining only if you go with small children who have never been there.
But then we learned that Epcot is scheduled for major changes over the next couple of years and decided to seek out some of the lesser known attractions in this city built to thrill. This will give us an excuse to come back to the only city of more than a million, if you count the entire metro area, that I’ve never been to. This was our 2nd reason for going to Orlando after 3 weeks of cruising.
Epcot’s nightly fireworks show called IllumiNations has been wowing visitors since 1999, a very long run, and will be replaced by what promises to be a new and even more spectacular fireworks extravaganza next year. The Disney organization, which has produced the 3 biggest movie hits of 2018–Black Panther, Incredibles 2, and Avengers: Infinity War–promises other Epcot upgrades too.
Lately Disney World and Disney’s other properties have been capitalizing on the successes of its purchases of such companies such as Pixar and Marvel as well as its own moneymakers like Frozen to create theme park attractions. This will apparently continue. Epcot’s new ride, which is scheduled for a 2021 opening, is being built around Ratatouille. The world’s longest enclosed roller coaster based on the wildly popular Guardians of the Galaxy franchise is being planned and will also open by 2021 if all goes well. It seems like a good time to wait to increase the fortunes of the Genius Company that Time says is “Leading the Magic Kingdom into Tomorrowland”, and we wouldn’t have eaten at Shakers American Cafe and learned about Florida’s swampy past if we had gone to Epcot as planned. Hank
