Yeah, like Italy. I have no reason to go in there unless I was eating - and quite frankly I can get pizza and Italian food anywhere so I really never do. I'd rather hit Germany or Morocco for eating - but they suffer from the same issue. Even if it's something pretty basic, I really think all pavilions should have something. Even the rumored Mary Poppins spinner ride would be great for kids in the back-stretch of World Showcase.
I agree. I don't think it has to be a ride in every one, but
something - a cultural movie, regular hourly entertainment (not what they used to have where you had to time your visit just right in order to be able to see it), something like the Beauty & Beast Singalong etc... As far as rides, adding the Mary Poppins attraction and then yes river ride in Germany that's been mentioned a couple times would be perfect.
Maybe I'm weird, but the World Showcase is my favorite part of WDW.
I remember enjoying Epcot (Future World) as a child, but I have no memory whatsoever of the WS. If that's because it bored me so I forgot it, or we just never went, I'm not sure.
On our first trip with our kids (they were 5 & 8), we were all "meh", especially the kids. Honestly, it felt like a big concrete, overheated (June/July trip) open-air shopping mall with shops and restaurants and not much else. The kids, while they enjoyed elements of it (pick a pearl, face painting and the Mexico boat ride), weren't all that enthused. It was a lot of walking in the hot sun, for not much honestly. They also didn't enjoy Future World that much, for that matter. They enjoyed Figment & ImageWorks, but hated TT, Mission Space was still too much for them, and Soarin' lines were still way too long back then for us to try it without a FP+. Sadly, I don't think we were aware of Nemo and the Seas so we missed that.
Our next trip with them they were older, 9 & 12, we went during Flower& Garden, and
that was a completely different experience. That is the trip honestly, where we all fell in love with Epcot. I mean, the beauty alone of F&G, all the different things to see, kept us all entertained. They loved the butterfly garden. All the topiaries really made the WS come alive to us. They were older too, so better able to appreciate the architecture and scenery of WS. We were able to catch some of the entertainment. And of course they had added Frozen. The character place was there now and it was great to meet so many characters in such a short period of time. We got to do Soarin' which they loved. We did Nemo & Seas which was a huge hit. I'm so glad we did Epcot, because based on our last trip there, we were actually considering skipping it.
So, all that to say... I really do think they need to do more at Epcot to appeal to families with younger children, especially in the WS. Because while I know there are hardcore fans here whose young kids love Epcot/WS, in the real world, a lot of the families I talk to have the same impression as we did when our kids were young: there just wasn't much there for them.