Starting in mid-June, Agent P's World Showcase Adventure began testing in Epcot, and its official opening is on July 6. The game has continued to evolve and change over the soft opening; the drop off for phones in France was just changed last week and isn't yet well-marked.
For those who haven't played the game yet, it's exactly like the Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure. In fact, it's the same game, just with new animations (and voice overs) on the cell phone they loan to you for the duration of the game.
There are a few differences. First, there are no longer any FASTPASSES. If you want to play, you show up and they issue you a phone (or F.O.N.E. as they call it). That meant that the Innoventions FASTPASS distribution points were no longer necessary, so those are in the process of being removed.
To celebrate the new game, they've added Phineas and Ferb topiaries.
The carts in World Showcase are unchanged and still themed the same way, though the signs around them are new.
The Future World distribution point, opposite the interactive water fountain, is still there, but it has been rethemed significantly.
They've added a ton of merch near the Future World location.
You no longer swipe your admission card by yourself; they do it for you (this was always true at the carts, but at Innoventions, you swiped your own card).
As before, the system may not offer a second game to you if the game is full of other players; you'll be asked to return your device instead.
The new Cast Member costumes include "ribbons" since they are all "in military service." The ribbons have significance. They are:
- bottom-right: the black bars signify Major Monogram's mustache
- bottom-left: the triangle signifies Phineas's head.
- top-left: the colors match Ferb's outfit and hair
- top-right: all the red stands for Candace
The gameplay is just like Kim Possible; it's linear, though it's different each time you play in the land, since you don't visit every possible location every time.
They did NOT change most of the physical effects in the pavilions; they simply wrote new storylines from the phones to match the existing physical effects. In a few cases (Glockenspiel in Germany, for instance) the physical animatronics simply didn't match the new stories, and those had to be changed out.
Verdict: I'm happy with the change, since Kim Possible was off the air even before this game debuted at Epcot. My kids (9 and 5 years old, both boys) are ecstatic. They liked the KP game, sort of, but they clamored to play more Phineas and Ferb, which they watch on TV all the time. They claimed the storyline was just more engaging now, though it could merely be that they are familiar with the characters this time around.
Either way, we'll be playing more often now, which is the whole point of a refresh. Well done, Disney.
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Kevin Yee is the author of
numerous independent Disney books, including the popular
Walt Disney World Earbook series and
Walt Disney World Hidden History.
