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Hastin Zylstra's avatar

Really enjoyed sitting down and reading this article with a cup of coffee this morning. The oral-history style of both the history of Innoventions, and your personal experiences really create a wonderful loop. Really enjoyed this, DFG.

Innoventions feels like it started as a CES for the masses, and I think that was amazing. The development of that exciting period of person technology also meant things getting out of date quickly (even seeing some internet machines running Win 98 SE in Disneyland's Innoventions in 2001 felt "old", yet in Theme Park time 3 years feels like barely a blip). I'm sad I got the tail-end of that CES area with a few things left.

I have a lot of great memories in Innoventions at EPCOT, especially when the IBM Think exhibit was happening around the time that Watson was on Jeopardy! and they gave out a couple of special mini-buttons and had a small video and demo about it (later posted to their YT page). Rode Sum of all Thrills many times. Hell, my personal transportation history is thanks to Innoventions. Bought a Segway for work rides in 2010. Later, I bought my little Spark EV in 2014 because I first saw it in Innoventions and loved the design, and literally used the same Siemens EV charger that was in Innoventions, that I still have today.

Given Innoventions and its trajectory with CommuniCore Hall, is that Theme Parks are feeling less and less "dynamic" over time. Yes, there's festivals and seasonal events, but those are getting really wrote in the way that they work. Innoventions, the Disneyland Festival Arena, and other spaces actually felt fresh and dynamic on every visit (even as a frequent visitor). Now, they have an event space in the new Communicore, and it feels like understanding that you can do a temporary effort, even if it lasts a few months, is just totally gone from modern operations and the current strategy. Every day has to feel the same now, and these spaces used to make everything feel a little more special.

Again - great article, really enjoyed it. Keep it up, DFG.

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