So why haven’t I heard of any of the recent World’s Fairs? Aren’t they as cool as the old days? Or is it part of the changing of society? Is there anything worth seeing at the recent/upcoming ones?
By the way, thanks for zombifying this. Reminded me of how cool I thought Habitat '67 was. And it still is.
It kind of seems to me that the Olympics have sort of replaced the World’s Fairs as a “show off your city, get tourists in, build some stuff” thing.
Some people say Epcot is the new world’s fair and it never goes away.
The recent World’s Fair in China beat all attendence records. Of course, it did so - according to articles I read - by giving provincial officials quotas of attendees and making them bus people in by the millions. Even back in 1893, approximately half the attendance of the Chicago World’s Fair was foreign. It was under 5% for China.
Then travel was exotic, exhibits had to seen in person, and countries competed for glory with artwork, industry, and weaponry. What is the possible draw today to get people to travel halfway around the world to visit a temporary pavilion?
Presumably only people who have never been to Epcot.
The CoP was moved to Disneyland before making its way to Orlando. And the audience is still on the merry-go-round, revolving around the stage.
Who needs a World’s Fair? The Internet has everything and more.
I only saw ten seconds of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure: The Animated Series, but I flipped past it just as the boys arrived back in ancient China, and Ted said:
"Whoa… it’s like Epcot, only bigger!"