Why I Think Disney Refuses to Fix EPCOT’s Imagination Pavilion

Why hasn’t Disney fixed this mess?

EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival

For about 25 years now the Imagination Pavilion has been a bit of a black hole on EPCOT’s map, home to a deeply unpopular attraction — Journey Into Imagination With Figment  headlined by one of Disney’s most popular theme park characters, Figment. How did we get here, and why won’t Disney fix the issue? Well, that story starts over 40 years ago with “one little spark” of inspiration…

During the development of EPCOT Center, a team of Imagineers led by the now-legendary Tony Baxter were tasked with the seemingly impossible task of crafting a pavilion and attraction based on the somewhat nebulous concept of “imagination.” What they came up with would become one of the park’s early defining attractions.

Opening in 1983, a few months after the park proper, Journey Into Imagination was a tour de force attraction. Housed inside massive glass pyramids — a concept reused from an early Tony Baxter concept for The Land Pavillion — the attraction starred the whimsical scientist Dreamfinder and his purple dragon assistant Figment (also a concept recycled from a previous Tony Baxter concept, Discovery Bay).

Discovery Bay’s proto-Dreamfinder and Figment – Disney

The omnimover dark ride took guests on an adventure through the concept of imagination, with the two lead characters as their guide all set to the iconic song “One Little Spark”. Its most memorable moment was arguably the first scene, which featured large moving turntables that moved guests around the Dreamfinder’s enormous, steampunk-inspired airship as they learned about the characters.

Baxter once described the thought process behind the scene as such: “If you’re telling the story of Little Mermaid or Snow White, everyone already knows who they are, what they talk like, how they sing, etc. But in a ride like Imagination, you’re not familiar with the characters going into it. This opening scene allows you to meet Dreamfinder, understand how he created Figment, and get to know Figment’s personality, so at the end of those four minutes, you know the characters.

Dreamfinder

Supported by the Magic Journeys 3D film (and later Captain EO) along with the ImageWorks interactive playground, the attraction and Journey Into Imagination pavilion as a whole was a major part of EPCOT for the 80s and early 90s. Changes came to the pavilion in 1994, when Captain EO was replaced by Honey, I Shrunk the Audience!, a new 3D film based on the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids franchise. The introduction of said film would have ramifications that not even Figment fans could imagine.

By the late 1990s, EPCOT had a problem. In the park’s first decade, its attractions and pavilions had been paid for by corporate sponsors like General Motors for World of Motion, General Electric for Horizons, and Kodak for Journey into Imagination.

Imagination

However, by the late 1990s, many of those sponsorship agreements were expiring, and Disney was struggling to get these companies to re-up. Kodak was no exception, as the film company was just beginning to feel the industry-changing effects of digital photography.

Disney and Kodak did come to a new agreement, with the caveat that the ride would be refurbished. So, in late 1998 the classic Journey into Imagination closed. A year later, in October 1999 the ride reopened as Journey Into Your Imagination (with the pavilion name changed to Imagination!) as part of the Walt Disney World Millennium Celebration. To say the new attraction was different would be a massive understatement. Dreamfinder and Figment were eliminated, and the ride’s storyline was built around Eric Idle’s Honey, I Shrunk the Audience character Dr. Nigel Channing leading a tour of the Imagination Institute. The ride was physically changed as well, with the track shortened and the turntable sequence eliminated completely.

Nigel Channing

Journey Into Your Imagination opened to almost universal disdain, by fans, theme park critics, and even some from inside Disney ripping the new ride to shreds. The criticism was so intense that Disney closed the attraction in October 2001 after only 2 years, giving it one of the shortest lifespans in Disney theme park history.

The attraction reopened in June of 2002 as Journey Into Imagination With Figment, and the reaction was… muted at best. This new incarnation was essentially a light retheme of the ‘Your Imagination version, with Figment shoehorned in and interacting with Dr. Nigel Channing on a trip through the Imagination Institute. While it was “better” than the 1999 version of the attraction, many fans hoped it was simply a placeholder until the ride could be properly refurbished into something close to its original incarnation.

Figment’s Open House

That was over 22 years ago.

So, why has Disney left this mediocre (at best) Journey Into Imagination With Figment in place for over two decades? Well, to put it bluntly, I and many others believe it’s because Figment is simply too popular. In fact, the character is arguably the most popular “specifically created for a theme park” character the company has ever dreamed up.

It’s Figment!

He’s beloved by fans (including your author, who has a Figment tattoo), used as a mascot for EPCOT and several of its festivals, draws large lines for popcorn buckets and meet & greets, and — most importantly from a Disney perspective — moves a TON of merchandise. From Funko POPs and figurines to statuettes and accessories, you can find representations of the purple dragon across many of Disney World’s gift shops.

Chef Figment Ears

In turn, Disney seems to see no “need” to upgrade the attraction — and divert funds that can be used elsewhere — because they’re already reaping the rewards of the character’s popularity with the ride in its current form.

A Golden Figment statue commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Walt Disney World, from the author’s personal collection.

The current version of Journey Into Imagination is a shell of the classic attractions that fans have been hoping Disney would fix for over two decades, but it seems unlikely to happen until and unless its lead character begins slipping in popularity and profitability. Stay tuned to AllEars for further deep dives into Disney World history.

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What would you like to see in a new version of Journey Into Imagination? Let us know in the comments below.

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One Reply to “Why I Think Disney Refuses to Fix EPCOT’s Imagination Pavilion”

  1. I and many others would like this ride updated to it’s original glory. I think if they could up date to a inside out type of theme with the original full ride from 1983-1998. I think that will regain the fan popularity and make it a new experience also.