#FigmentFriday: The Flight to Imagination
The opening act of the original Journey into Imagination was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Shortly after boarding your omnimover ride vehicle, you entered the clouds. There, guests spotted the silhouette of an eclectic blimp-like machine with a vacuum on the front and bagpipe on the rear. We were greeted by the affable voice of a jovial professor-like character: “Oh, hello there. So glad you could come along. I am the Dreamfinder. Ah, ha, ha, ha.”
So began the long, strange trip of Journey into Imagination. An attraction with mesmerizing and quirky qualities that endeared it to many guests (like me) who still remember it fondly today. As you flew alongside Dreamfinder, the sky passed by behind, and the Dreamcatcher caught sparks of imagination. Dreamfinder introduced you to the journey, one that would take guests around the universe filling the Idea Bag (that bagpipe-thing).
This Flight to Imagination was a prolonged scene, and had time to establish itself before making its big reveal: Figment, the character who would become the star of the attraction. With Dreamfinder giving him a dash of “childish delight,” he was perceived as inquisitive and lovable within his first 10 seconds of ride time–something that the current version fails to establish at all.
From there, Figment and Dreamfinder filled the Idea Bag, encouraged guests to follow them to the DreamPort, and sang the first verses of that song we all know and love. In this 2+ minute scene, the Imagineers had managed to pack more of an emotional punch than many other rides do in their entirety–and the experience was just getting started…
Here’s an overview of the current Imagination pavilion by Ed on Flickr, with the original track also shown. In this blog post, you can see a clearer view of track plans that show just how large this turn-table scene was in the context of the ride (and how now, it’s not even used).
If crowd-sourcing photos wasn’t quite lazy enough for content creation, don’t worry–we get even lazier with some embedded tweets…
The first of these is a blueprints for what amounts to a cross-section of the turn-table theater containing the Dreamcatcher and ride vehicle.
A genius figured it all out. pic.twitter.com/l9YyFNFeC4
– Tom K Morris (@TomKMorris) August 12, 2016
These come from a slew of tweets yesterday by legendary Imagineer Tom Morris. If you don’t recognize that name, you should. Most recently, Tom Morris had a significant role in making the design of Cars Land “work.” Before that, he was show producer for Hong Kong Disneyland, a lovely little park with the initial build done on a tight budget. On the other end of the spectrum, he was show producer of Disneyland Paris’ Fantasyland and Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant, both of which had a whimsical and charming yet lavish design that followed John Hammond’s mantra of sparring no expense.
Those are his most notable (to my knowledge) projects, and all have been well-received by fans. I guess he also worked on the Walt Disney Studios Park, but we’ll give him a pass on that one since I’m told the budget for the entire park was $378.
As you can see, he also worked on construction of the original Journey into Imagination at EPCOT Center. That plus the slew of other successes bestows ‘legend’ status on him in my mind, even if Disney has not officially conferred the same on him, yet.
Another turntable structure shot. Steel in foreground is moving partition wall. Clouds were attached to this. pic.twitter.com/v2FwCRguCz
– Tom K Morris (@TomKMorris) August 11, 2016
Hopefully you can use the first photo and blueprints above to contextualize this photo. If you look at the track plans, you’ll note separators in the “Flight to Imagination” scene. This is because there were five identical Dreamcatcher scenes to start the original Journey into Imagination.
Upon entering this scene, the ride vehicle attached itself to the turn-table, with one-fifth of the show scene visible. Both the Dreamcatcher blimp and ride vehicles then moved at the same speed, which allowed for a prolonged, 2+ minute opening scene that was constantly moving yet appeared to be static (in some regards), but without backing up the attraction.
Ah, the holiest of holies, the turntable platform! Anyone know if it’s still under there? pic.twitter.com/XPLo27LreQ
– Tom K Morris (@TomKMorris) August 11, 2016
Depending upon who you ask, the original Flight to Imagination turntable was removed (albeit not necessarily physically removed) from the attraction’s show scenes because it was unreliable or had slowly driven itself into the ground. My guess is that “maintenance costs” are the real reason, with everything else being subterfuge.
Rumors persist (mostly from Cast Members who have worked the attraction) that at least remnants of the turn-table are still down there, but I guess we won’t know for sure until the rip-up the current flooring and redo this attraction in a manner befitting of the original.
Slightly enhanced/color corrected version of @TomKMorris‘s awesome construction photo from earlier today! pic.twitter.com/2QbqIZCcf7
– E82 The Epcot Legacy (@EpcotLegacy) August 12, 2016
Really cool construction photo showing progress on one of the original Dreamcatcher blimps. I’m not sure if it’s officially called the Dreamcatcher–the attraction never called it that–but that has become the de facto name via usage over the years.
It is really a shame that the entire turn-table scene was simply eliminated from Journey into Imagination because it had issues. The scene was incredibly ambitious and captivating, and should have been fixed or replaced with a comparable, workable solution. There has been a disturbing trend at Walt Disney World of forgoing complex effects and components for the path of least resistance, which is regrettable. Disney is a creative company: throwing in the towel for a simpler solution should not be an option.
Your Thoughts
Do you remember the original Flight to Imagination scene with Dreamfinder piloting the Dreamcatcher? What did you think of this experience? Do you wish Disney would restore it to its former glory? Share your thoughts or questions in the comments!
Hi Tom,
This is probably the last thing on your mind, but I just scored a great vintage Epcot Center Figment ball cap (pink with figment painting), and wonder if you would know anything about it by seeing a pic. I think it must have been sold October 1982 before the attraction opened, but when the pavilion did. If you’re willing to take a look, I could send a couple of images. If not, trust me when I say that it’s super awesome. Glad the 17 Disney Expo was amazing!
Thanks for considering!
Carrie
These Figment posts have taught me so much! Like you, I loved Journey into Imagination as a kid, probably even more than anything at Magic Kingdom. When I first went back to Epcot in 2006 with my future husband, we hopped on the ride out of nostalgia and were at first shocked that it was practically deserted. We quickly figured out why.
However, after a May visit with our girls, now 5 and 2, I can report that Figment the character still has a powerful hold on the imaginations of brainy kids. i haven’t told her the ride used to be better (until I read your descriptions, I was pretty fuzzy on the details anyway) because it already made her happy, and was the main reason we dedicated 2 days to Epcot on this visit. At least the after-ride play area is in decent shape! I’ll hold out hope for future enhancements that will restore Figment’s glory.
I loved the original Imagination ride with figment. Was so disappointed with the replacement when we went back to WDW a couple of years later (as were my kids). Loved the professor and the crazy song that stayed in your head the rest of the day!
I loved this ride in its in its original form, why they spoil’t it, I will never know,With that and Horizons Epcot was a great place, not anymore.
This is cool. Thank you for sharing. I really like seeing all of the old things and how they were built.
I regret not seeing this attraction in the first incarnation. The only time I visited during that time frame was with an absolute chore of a woman. In the fullness of time I married well and returned to WDW and the current incarnation was the first time I saw it. From all I’ve seen and read, I obviously missed something quite special.