In Defense of World Showcase?- Bored Caitlin, 9/30

Part of World Showcase’s appeal to its visitors is the idea of traveling the world, going “around the world in 80 minutes,” so to speak. Each of the eleven pavilions attempts to present to its visitors a taste of its representative country. But is this taste “real?” I would say yes and no. It’s real in the sense that the park’s designers actually visited each country and did extensive research to present visitors with as authentic a taste as they could. World Showcase isn’t real in the sense that it’s a simulation. It isn’t the real Eiffel Tower or Temple of Heaven that the visitor sees in the park, but reasonable replicas. The visitor is also essentially viewing each country from the designer’s point of view, and there’s only so much one can pack into a small theme park pavilion. This is why I find it extremely problematic when some visitors believe that World Showcase is a reasonable replacement for actual world travel.  In fact, the authors of The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World tackle this attitude straight on, saying “critics might say that one cannot gain a full appreciation of any diverse nation by visiting a two-acre theme park pavilion. We agree, but think they’re missing the point... inspiration is the main goal of World Showcase--the inspiration to actually visit these countries. [The visitor is] the judge as to whether it works.”