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 The development of that exciting period of person technology also meant things getting out of date quickly (even seeing some internet machines running Win 98 SE in Disneyland's Innoventions in 2001 felt "old", yet in Theme Park time 3 years feels like barely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.
Hey Hastin!! It's really great to hear from you again, I've missed you on Twitter. It's the loss of people like yourself in my timeline that in part pushed me to start writing here, so it's wonderful to know some of those that "are missing" can still find me elsewhere.
I don't think the CES angle would be nearly as effective in EPCOT today as it was in the 90's, but I would be lying if I said I didn't wish they were still trying that. I feel like they took the same lesson from early Innoventions and tried to make it feel "more Disney" in an effort to make the park more cohesive. Early Innoventions could be found at CES almost exactly, but later Innoventions didn't have an exact match elsewhere. An argument could be made that it was a very World's Fair type undertaking though, which is perhaps why I feel it's so natural for EPCOT. It was a really interesting time for the park for sure, and I wish they would lean into more experimental things like that more often.
It's awesome to hear that EPCOT played a role in you getting an EV, I think that's something the park could and should lean into again and I'm really hoping the next incarnation of Test Track does exactly that. I went through a phase a little bit ago where I was really enamored by the legacy of GM's EV1 and it made me so happy to see that it was displayed in Innoventions for a good while, even though the car itself was never made available in Florida. The EV dream really has always been at EPCOT.
I think you make an excellent point about the parks becoming more static so to say, and that's something I might have to tuck away for a future write up about. One of extremely few redeeming factors I will give CommuniCore Hall is that it has the potential to host one or two Innoventions-style exhibits or specialty things at some point in the future, but I truly do not expect that to ever happen. Even with the festivals, they run long and there's less and less to differentiate them from when the same thing happened the year before. Rather than a temporary exposition they feel like just switching the park to a different mode for a while, for better or for worse. Installing side exhibits is one thing, installing ones that can be cycled out and updated is another. Sadly, I don't think there's much of an interest in doing either anymore.
Thank you for the kind words, truly. I look forward to doing more writeups like this in the future, though I feel like this one kinda got out of hand with the giant word count. I'm looking forward to seeing how things go for this page from here :)
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.
Hey Hastin!! It's really great to hear from you again, I've missed you on Twitter. It's the loss of people like yourself in my timeline that in part pushed me to start writing here, so it's wonderful to know some of those that "are missing" can still find me elsewhere.
I don't think the CES angle would be nearly as effective in EPCOT today as it was in the 90's, but I would be lying if I said I didn't wish they were still trying that. I feel like they took the same lesson from early Innoventions and tried to make it feel "more Disney" in an effort to make the park more cohesive. Early Innoventions could be found at CES almost exactly, but later Innoventions didn't have an exact match elsewhere. An argument could be made that it was a very World's Fair type undertaking though, which is perhaps why I feel it's so natural for EPCOT. It was a really interesting time for the park for sure, and I wish they would lean into more experimental things like that more often.
It's awesome to hear that EPCOT played a role in you getting an EV, I think that's something the park could and should lean into again and I'm really hoping the next incarnation of Test Track does exactly that. I went through a phase a little bit ago where I was really enamored by the legacy of GM's EV1 and it made me so happy to see that it was displayed in Innoventions for a good while, even though the car itself was never made available in Florida. The EV dream really has always been at EPCOT.
I think you make an excellent point about the parks becoming more static so to say, and that's something I might have to tuck away for a future write up about. One of extremely few redeeming factors I will give CommuniCore Hall is that it has the potential to host one or two Innoventions-style exhibits or specialty things at some point in the future, but I truly do not expect that to ever happen. Even with the festivals, they run long and there's less and less to differentiate them from when the same thing happened the year before. Rather than a temporary exposition they feel like just switching the park to a different mode for a while, for better or for worse. Installing side exhibits is one thing, installing ones that can be cycled out and updated is another. Sadly, I don't think there's much of an interest in doing either anymore.
Thank you for the kind words, truly. I look forward to doing more writeups like this in the future, though I feel like this one kinda got out of hand with the giant word count. I'm looking forward to seeing how things go for this page from here :)