Theme Park Thursdays feature photos from one of our theme park adventures in the past.
Virgin Spaceship Earth (1985)
EPCOT Center opened in 1982, and its icon Spaceship Earth anchored a minimalist environment when compared to a park like the Magic Kingdom. Today's photo was shot in 1985, just 3 years after the park opened, and you can see the wide open spaces, trees that still were growing, and lots of white or light colors used in architecture. You can also gaze upon my Mom, Dad, and sister Karen standing patiently while I snapped a photo with a Kodak Instamatic 126 film camera.
Over time, however, Disney felt that this look wasn't good enough. More "stuff" was needed. EPCOT was boring. It needed things to keep your attention. So this open plaza around the Fountain of Nations and between the two CommuniCore buildings (later renamed Innoventions) was filled in a bit, as you can observe from another photo shot in 2006 from roughly the same perspective.
Blinged Spaceship Earth (2006)
You can see "sails" suspended in the air, rotating "whirligigs" to provide "kinetic energy," Pin Trading areas, additional staging blocking the view of the fountain, and a color scheme that shifted to tan. Oh, and that stupid Mickey wand… added in 2000 and thankfully removed in 2007.
Which view do you prefer?
It also doesn't help the second photo is is gray and overcast…
I think it was actually raining, to be honest George.
But I think you get the idea of "clean vs. clutter" that I was attempting to convey.
The sails are nice to have for shade in the area – the wand was temporary and I was surprised how long they left it up (was originally there for the millennium even though they had it wrong — 2000 vs 2001, but that's a whole different debate.)
I don't like the wand. The sails are okay. I like how your mom's visor and shirt match.
Believe it or not, my Mom's visor is actually a branded EPCOT Center hat. It features the same logo/text combination as my tan visor seen here (though you can't really see it at all).