The Imagination Pavilion at EPCOT, part of Walt Disney World outside of Orlando, Florida, is finally getting a refresh.
News of the project was announced at D23 in Anaheim, California, just down the street from Disneyland. No concrete details of the project have been revealed, beyond the fact that Figment, the plucky dragon and symbol of your imagination, will be a part of the new version of the attraction.
While the pavilion itself opened with the rest of EPCOT Center on October 1, 1982, the only attraction open at the time was “Magic Journeys,” a 3D film in the adjacent Magic Eye Theater. But the flagship attraction, Journey Into Imagination, which introduced the world to the kindly Dreamfinder and his dragon friend Figment, conjured by the power of imagination, wouldn’t open until the following year, on March 5, 1983.
That initial attraction, overseen by legendary Imagineer Tony Baxter, is one of the masterpieces of Walt Disney Imagineering – a lengthy dark ride, with tons of audio-animatronic figures, detailed show scenes, unforgettable music (including a theme song by the Sherman Brothers) and a unique ride system that was deceptively complex and cutting edge. When the Michael Jackson-led, Francis Ford Coppola-directed “Captain EO” 3D movie debuted at the Magic Eye Theater, the Imagination Pavilion became one of the hippest spots in all of EPCOT – or at least the Future World section of the park.
Towards the end of the 1990’s, though, Disney and the attraction’s corporate sponsor Kodak got itchy for a redo. And that led to the disastrous opening, in 1999, of Journey Into Your Imagination. The track was shortened, show elements eliminated, with scenes that were cheap and uninvolving. The Imagineers had folded in elements from “Honey, I Shrunk the Audience,” the 3D movie that had replaced “Captain EO,” but they had also removed adorable Figment and the grandfatherly Dreamfinder – the flagship characters of the attraction!
At the end of the 1990’s they also closed down ImageWorks, an interactive exhibit on the building’s second floor that included the rainbow tunnel, one of the coolest, most photographed locations in all of Walt Disney World that would have been a social media sensation if it was still around. (Here’s an amazing photo of Jackson in the tunnel. Honestly it might be the greatest single photograph in the history of mankind.)
After the failure of the new version of the attraction, former Disney CEO Michael Eisner demanded a fix. (It was reportedly the least popular Disney attraction on property.) This led to a hasty re-do that debuted in 2002 called Journey Into Imagination with Figment, which returned the cuddly dragon character to the attraction, left the Dreamfinder in the dust and was slightly more palatable. And we’ve been stuck with this version ever since.
Somehow, in the years since the lesser version of the attraction has been in operation, the popularity of Figment, as a character and a mascot for all of EPCOT, has only increased. He’s featured on countless pieces of merchandise, often as the ambassador of EPCOT’s seasonal food festivals and sells an ungodly amount of plush. At one point a feature built around the character, shepherded by Seth Rogen’s Point Grey productions, was in the works. The character is that beloved.
Whatever is next for the Imagination Pavilion, we do hope that they do something with the Magic Eye theater, which has been showing a smattering of very old Pixar shorts for years now, along with the main Imagination attraction. It would be great to see both return to their former glory – a place where you could really dream that anything was possible. With the help of a little dragon, of course.
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