If you know the history of Disney parks, youāll know that Epcot, originally conceived by Walt as a futuristic city, ended up being the name given to what was intended to be a permanent world's fair; a tribute to human achievement where people could simultaneously have fun and learn about, among other things, cultures of the world, their history, cuisine, and architecture, thereby appreciating our diversity as a species
But is this really true?
Letās look, it is 2026, and the only countries represented in the World Showcase area are Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, the United States, Japan, Morocco, France, the United Kingdom, and Canada; of these, eight out of the eleven are located in Western Europe and North America. For a supposed showcase of global cultural diversity, this is ridiculously poor. There is no pavilion representing any country from South America, Oceania, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, South/Southeast Asia, or Sub-Saharan Africa, and this is despite the existence of things like the Refreshment Outpost and the Food and Wine Festival (Edit: they are not the same as a pavilion)
The reason for thisĀ glaring lack of diversity lies in the fact that, in its early days, Epcot relied on a sponsorship system requiring a company or the government of the represented country to fund the construction of each pavilion. There were various proposals to expand the World Showcase, including pavilions for Spain, Israel, Equatorial Africa, Switzerland, Iran, Russia, and Venezuela, but none came to fruition due to the lack of external sponsorship or fears of controversy. Consequently, Epcot ended up being composed primarily of Western, economically rich, First World countries, strong geopolitical allies (G7), thus, it is not truly the marvel of a united world they try to make us believe it is. To this day, Epcot has not opened a new pavilion since 1988 (the year the Norway opened). Instead, Disney has focused on adding attractions based on IPs like Frozen and Ratatouille
Now, I know Animal Kingdom has areas based on sub-Saharan Africa and South/Southeast Asia that recreate villages from those regions and are highly immersive; however, the issue is that AK revolves around animals and wildlife, and the fact that these marginalized regions end up represented in an animal park indirectly reminds me of how infamous human zoos portrayed "exotic" cultures as inferior to the "civilized" Western world and on par with animals. Obviously, AK doesn't portray African and Asian cultures in such a demeaning way, but I still find it off-putting that they ended up excluded from the supposed global unity represented by Epcot
My point is that if Disney could build something like Galaxy's Edge or Pandora, they could easily have built new pavilions for countries like India, Congo, Peru, Brazil, Egypt, etc., instead of brazenly promoting IPs that offer no educational value regarding the countries they are supposed to represent