|
Last Update
to this page: January 7, 2012 (page first posted)
The World Showcase's United Kingdom
Pavilion is like a tiny painting
of Arthur Treacher in a
gilded frame, flanked by
large statues of Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen on one side and
a row of Moulin Rouge showgirls on the other. What's there in that
frame is perfectly fine, especially if you
like fish and chips, but there's hardly enough going
on to make it stand out for anything ahead of its basic
smallness. In spite of the pavilion's good looks it
invited
potential
confusion for WDW visitors already familiar with the
Magic Kingdom, as they had been
led to believe that a Tudor facade should wrap around a
ride involving ghosts or be called Toad Hall, not be
used to hide restrooms. The absence
of a bona fide attraction isn't the key issue,
however, hounding the UK. Germany and Japan are similar in
that regard, still they have, at least, an enveloping Biergarten and/or elevational dynamics which allowed diversionary investments
of time "getting lost" within or even just looking up at something tall. But
the UK's representation at EC has always been
a markedly slight congregation of
pretty gardens and handsome two-story buildings. Viewed across the World Showcase
lagoon, the pavilion gets a little lost without a focal point like Italy's
Campanile tower or Mexico's pyramid. And while the location
is certainly good for fifteen minutes of window shopping or an hour's worth
of dining, it has always fallen squarely to the
pavilion's stellar live entertainment to spark inspired
moments.
WED knew this, of course, and the
company never tried to make the pavilion out as
anything more than what it was
i.e., it's where the pub is. The space
behind it to the west was marked on early EPCOT Center blueprints as "future expansion" with
a dotted outline indicating that there was room for a ride
or show. One original attraction concept was referenced in this excerpt from a
July 1975 edition of Eyes and Ears:
In this artist's
rendering of Great Britain's pavilion, guests would board London
double-decker busses which would be departing Piccadilly Circus every few
minutes along cobblestone streets ... bound for castles, cottages and
other great traditions of England.
The company's 1978 annual report predicted a more
modest outcome, with a pub, themed shops, the "distinct beaux arts
facade of Selfridges Department Store" and a 200-seat theater with a
British travelogue film.
Those ride and film ideas
never saw further promotional mention as EPCOT Center moved
forward. Once double-decker busses were implemented as a means for
getting guests around World Showcase itself, it wasn't likely WED
would build an attraction around those vehicles. The truth is that
most people would have been happy to merely walk through a
scaled-down replica of Stonehenge in the field out back (think of the
photos!) But for whatever reasons*, that field never saw
anything possessed of intrigue. And for all the
trips my family and I made to EPCOT Center since 1982, and having
lived just a few miles away since then, I've spent less
time at the UK pavilion than at the real Tower of
London. The best reason for doing
this page before others, then, was to create a spot for proof of
something that actually MIGHT have gone into that space behind the UK
street scene. It's something I didn't know about until December
2011, when a trip to Theme Park Connection's grand opening
celebration (free hot dogs AND old WDW paper? Thanks Scott and
Amanda!) yielded three pages of concept renderings that - minus
dates and contextual backup - paint a fairly concise
portrait of an EPCOT Center concept that went
nowhere.
* My working theory as to why the UK pavilion was minimal is that, concurrent
with EPCOT Center's construction (1979-1982), British businessman
Lewis Cartier was also developing a United Kingdom-themed park
in Kissimmee called Little England. Cartier actually got
a small number of buildings put together in the middle of a
field ... about as many as you see in Epcot's UK pavilion ... but the project
hit dire financial straits and never opened. It would make sense
that WED would wait to see what Little England became before expanding the
UK pavilion and, presumably, doing something more impressive than whatever
Cartier did a few miles down the road. By the way, my
working theories are usually
wrong.
|
more to
follow 
