Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Mapping the Magic: Epcot 82 and 83 Part 2


Back to the early years of EPCOT. Today we dive into part 2 of our 82-83 map deep dive. Let's take a look at World Showcase. Like we said in part 1 the 83 map was made to be more user friendly for guests by replacing the pavilion icons with simple outlines of the pavilions. The same was true in World Showcase where we see the nation's flags removed and the outlines put in their place. Also, the order of the countries is changed again to make things easier to understand for guests.


In the 82 map the first country we learn about is America. Although The American Adventure is the centerpiece of World Showcase it was confusing for guests trying to understand the order of countries around the lagoon. So in 83 America is moved to its proper order as they are now listed in clockwise order starting in Mexico. One little change that I see was in France they no longer list Impressions de France as being housed in the Palais du Cinema. This may have been to simplify things as the name of the show is above the door to the theater and the Palais du Cinema name is all the way at the top of the building out of eye line.


After our trip around the world, we get a map of the other world... Disney World. Not much change here except for some line placement in the top right and the Dutch Resort Hotel on Hotel Plaza Blvd. gets renamed to Americana's Dutch Resort. Also the Main Entrance Toll Plaza is changed to the Main Entrance Toll Plaza for Resorts and the Magic Kingdom. Again most likely to remove confusion for guests.


On the info page the Car Care Center is dropped for info on Dining Reservations and about visiting Earth Station to make them. A fun note is that it says you can't make lunch reservations at Earth Station but at the Restaurants only. I remember this as a child being mad that my grandfather couldn't talk to the person on the TV to make our lunch reservations and I knew he wasn't about to pay sit down dining dinner prices. Another neat little thing I saw in the second column is that they added a list of languages that are available for the Foreign Language Translator Units including Spanish, French, and German. I wonder if this was given more info or if they weren't all online in the early days.

Visit tomorrow for part 3 for what I think was the coolest part of these guide books... The Spinner Wheel.

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