Epcot Unplugged: The Lights of Winter

Posted November 13th, 2009 By: Jackie Steele

Back in March, there was a lynch mob forming. And they were looking for D23’s blood. D23, said many a jaded fan, was just an attempt by the mouse to wring more money out of its fanbase. Further, claimed the mob, it was an elitist venture that sought to set up a class division inside the Disney community. I disagreed, and defended the mouse, and even posted a rather lengthy diatribe on this site as to why I felt D23 was a good thing and how it wasn’t motivated by corporate greed.

I’ve stood by Disney through a few perilous years. Of the Eisner years, I’m oft quoted as saying, “there are Walts and there are Roys, and you need both to make a project work. Eisner’s a Roy… but Roys are important because without them, the Walts can’t wow us.” I’ve supported (though admittedly somewhat wistfully over the loss of the hydrolators) the change from Seabase Alpha to the Nemo overlay because of the fantastic amount of life it has brought back to the pavilion. I ride Mission: Space and enjoy it. Test Track is a great ride to me. And God protect me from internet harm, I enjoy Spaceship Earth’s newest incarnation. I’m also fortunate to be able to associate on occasion with a handful of Imagineers, whose work I hold in the highest esteem. Many of these guys are class acts through and through, and couldn’t be nicer or more-talented.

Sure, there are things that the mouse has done that I haven’t agreed with; I’m not a foaming fanboy (one either side of the coin). But I generally like the things that Disney does; and I’ve defended a lot of the less-popular ones because I like to think that I can see a broad-minded view that includes all aspects of the business: the fact that Disney isn’t just catering to repeat visitors (especially on the east coast); the fact that unique live entertainment is well-received (just look at how well it does at Disneyland); and the fact that when kids are at Disney, no matter whether they’re at the “adult” park Epcot or at Magic Kingdom, they want to see characters.

But I’m sorry to say, I’ve gotta break ranks with the mouse on this one. This is one time where Disney has truly, honestly disappointed me. And that’s really hard for me to say about a company that has been so enjoyable to me. I’m D23. I’m DVC. I’m an annual passholder. I have a Disney Visa. I figured it out one time; over the course of 365 days, about a month of my year is spent in a Disney park or at a Disney resort hotel. I tell people I’m a 1/12th citizen of Lake Buena Vista. A lot of the happiest days of my life have happened at Disney Parks. Disney has brought some wonderful people into my life. And even during the most-miserable trip I’ve ever had (due to outside circumstances), I found bright spots (like the front desk CM Daisy who, at 1AM in the lobby of Pop Century, offered to type up the obituary I was handwriting — my great-grandmother had died fairly suddenly back home while I was on vacation and had requested that I, a reporter at the time, write her obit).

But even a good friend can let you down on occasion. And this week, that’s what happened. The rumors were circulating; but surely they couldn’t be true? Lights of Winter was as much a part of the holidays at Epcot as Candlelight Processional or the Holidays Around the World. The lighted arches and stylized snowpuffs along the courtyard and bridge connecting Future World to World Showcase lit up the night with a festive holiday glow that set the tone for World Showcase’s multicultural holiday festival.

We held out hope, even though more and more evidence was coming to light. The lights were still in their over-grown storage area backstage. They weren’t in their usual staging area. Then unofficial info started to leak to castmembers that the lights wouldn’t be returning. Ever. The mouse remained silent. Finally, only after what can best be described as a social media barrage by fans, came official word. 140 characters, on Twitter of all places, told us that due to “obsolete” technology, the lights were being retired.

It was heartbreaking. And I don’t mean that in a pedestrian turn-of-phrase; it really was disappointing. And now, as pictures are beginning to emerge from the park of just what the area looks like with a Christmas Tree being the only decoration, Epcot looks just plain naked. It honestly looks like a lesser effort was given to decorating that section of the park than at my local mall. And that’s a serious inversion from days gone by when Disney was the granddaddy of spectacles. The idea behind decorating Disney for a holiday always seemed to be that if people didn’t stop almost involuntarily and stare with mouths agape, it wasn’t quite good enough.

And yes, there are still plenty of those experiences at the Disney parks. Magic Kingdom’s light display on Cinderella’s Castle will stop a crowd dead in its tracks. And people at Disney’s Hollywood Studios will stand for HOURS just watching the Osborne lights pulse and the snow fall. But there was something special about Lights of Winter.

I think it’s that it was “just right.” It was a spectacle to behold; but it was a cozy spectacle. Osborne Lights seems to be most interested in how many lights we can cram into a square inch; quantity is the goal. Let’s face it… that’s why they wound up at Disney, because their original neighbors complained. Meanwhile, over at Magic Kingdom, the castle dreamlights are certainly beautiful; but they themselves aren’t really the spectacle. They’re primarily about creatively using the castle itself as a canvas, highlighting it with a kiss of light reminiscent of a Thomas Kinkade painting. But at Epcot, Lights of Winter was all about the lights. Just the right amount; a large-enough scale to be impressive, but cozy enough to be welcoming and inviting. The kind of lights you could walk underneath with friends and family and feel connected with the display. They also managed to find a nice balance with their surroundings. A monorail passed through them, but neither seemed out of place; they bridged a land of innovative new living with a showcase of timeless international charm. And their simplicity may have been their greatest charm. They weren’t the most-elaborate display, but like Spaceship Earth, they were straightforward, bold, and completely awe-inspiring. Sometimes simplicity is welcomed.

And yet that simplicity would eventually lead to their downfall. In the scant official explanation we received from Disney, we were told that the lights were obsolete and thus were retired. That’s a shame because it represents something diametrically opposed to the spirit of Epcot. Even through its rocky transformation from “EPCOT Center” to “Epcot,” the park has always been about showcasing new technology and new ways of life. When the park opened, it was one of the first events widely covered via satellite. Who still remembers the giant satellite dish that used to sit right in the middle of the park? For many people, EPCOT Center was the place they were first introduced to computers, touchscreens, flat-panel TVs, robots, and countless other technologies. And the modus operandi has never been “destroy the obsolete,” rather it’s been “improve the obsolete so it isn’t obsolete anymore.”

But the park has done just that with Lights of Winter. Rather than upgrading to LED technology (as had been done earlier with the Osborne lights), it was determined that Lights of Winter were obsolete, so they were discarded with little fanfare and, truth be told, probably a vast hope that no one would notice. But far from it; this decision to scrap Lights of Winter has caused some of the largest outcry in the Disney community since the days of Horizons or Mr. Toad. Even people whom I have seen stand by Disney through thick and thin are saying “enough is enough.” If you want a good drinking game these days, visit a Disney online forum discussion about the lights and take a shot any time you see the phrase “straw that broke the camel’s back.”

Now, am I saying I have all the answers? No. It would be asinine of me to sit and think I can rule the world from the comfort of my laptop. And it would be insulting to the professionals at the organization if I presumed to know every little nuance of the decision. Disney knows more about human behavior on vacation than I could ever dream of. But I do know this; a lot of people who normally let things slide are livid about Lights of Winter.

One of the most plausible explanations I’ve heard to date (hard to confirm since the mouse has been mum on the subject except for literally two sentences worth of explanation) is that “obsolete” means a situation similar to what I’ve always heard was the primary problem with the seacabs at The Living Seas. It’s not that they didn’t want more parts to fix them, it’s just that they weren’t available. Now granted that’s certainly a possibility; but let’s keep in mind that we’re talking about a company that had to literally make from scratch virtually every piece of computer equipment in EPCOT Center when it opened. Beyond that, there’s the huge north shops area behind the Magic Kingdom that can make roller coasters that look like steam trains, haunted hotel elevators that move vertically and horizontally, concrete trees with vinyl leaves, and pretty much any other type of attraction component imaginable. Did anyone ask the “can-do” people if Lights of Winter was beyond hope?

Even in an age where more and more amusement technology is being outsourced (and let’s be honest; that was happening even back at the opening of Disneyland with Arrow helping out on some of the attractions), it’s easy for even the everyday citizen to buy consumer-grade equipment that can put on an even more-elaborate light show than was put on by Lights of Winter. The technology is there (as evidenced by the Osborne Lights), so maybe it’s a matter of cost?

Yes, there comes a point where things become more trouble than they’re worth. And even though I don’t pretend to know the financials of running a multi-billion-dollar amusement enterprise, I can certainly understand tough economic times. The company I work for laid of 10% of it’s work force nationwide over just two days earlier this year. At my office alone, we’ve dwindled from 25 employees in 2005 to just two this year. And lately it’s gotten so tight-fisted that we’re not even having the water guy deliver bottled water for the cooler any more. But still, despite the back-end cuts, we’ve been able to tweak our product to be more efficient so we’re still able to deliver a quality experience to our consumers. There’s always a way to do it more efficiently. The question is, did we really try?

Unless we get a more convincing argument to the contrary in the coming days, it’s becoming apparent that we have seen a real turning point at Disney in terms of how the fans are accepting change. It’s ironic yet somehow still appropriate that an arch is one of the strongest architectural structures; because the disappearance of these lighted arches has really broken the long-standing support of a lot of Disney fans. They have seen yet another beloved tradition go by the wayside (while simultaneously witnessing a price increase in the cost of the Candlelight Processional dining package), and many of them have finally had enough.

The situation seems fairly hopeless; the only glimmer of hope is a promise of a “new experience” in that now-infamous 140-character quasi mea culpa from the mouse. But it’s widely believed (again, due to lack of any real appreciable official information) that those words merely refer to a new gospel choir that will perform occasionally at the park.

But still, there’s hope… or at least a hope for hope. The fan movement is strong; hundreds have lined up to express their opinions online and in writing to Disney. Plenty more will no doubt do so at Guest Relations at Epcot. (And as an aside, I’m willing to bet they’ll be drawing straws to see who has to man the GR desk at Epcot this holiday season; there’s gonna be a lot of unhappy folks, and I suspect more than a handful aren’t going to be very cordial about it to these poor front-line CMs). I doubt there’s really much that can be done to resurrect the lights this season. But with any luck, Disney will see that it just may have taken one too many liberties with fan loyalty this time, and see fit to do a little goodwill toward its fanbase by finding a way to bring the lights back next year with updated technology. Maybe that’s not possible. If it isn’t, we’d like to at least know why.

It’s been a fantastic year for expansions and improvements at Disney Parks. The Fantasyland expansion in Florida; the in-progress overhaul of Disney’s California Adventure; new lands announced for Hong Kong; the announcement of the plans for another new park in Asia; attraction enhancements and refurbishments; vast strides in how Disney interacts with its fans via Twitter, Facebook, an official blog, and D23. With a year filled with so much promise, the future should be bright. And yet sadly, this holiday season, Future World isn’t. Do we really want to end the year by turning out the lights at Epcot?

Filed under: DizBiz, Epcot