INSIDE DISNEY: The Magic Eye Theater

Celebrating the re-opening of Captain EO, at EPCOT, I’ve decided to do a special Inside Disney today. One, because it is one of the most famous series of my blog. Two, because 2 weeks ago, you guys made the blog post “Top 10 Disney Villains” the most visited of Stratoblog’s existence, until now. And third, because this is the 2nd part on the 3 part Inside Disney series on the Imagination pavillion. We started with the Imagination Institute, we are now taking a break on the Magic Eye Theater and after that, we’ll travel back to the original Journey into Imagination. So let’s begin with this edition of Inside Disney- all about the Magic Eye Theater!

Magic Eye Building

The Magic Eye Theater building is located next to the Imagination pavillion. Lets be detailed, right. If you look at it from an helicopter, it kinda resembles the look of the Universe of Energy pavillion- large on one side and constantly minimizing until it reaches the other side, with a half of the other side’s size. It was created as the place for the return of 3D movies to Disney- since 1956, Walt and his Imagineers were developing the first theme park 3D movies, such as “The Mousekeeter 3D Jamboree”. But then, it would stop, until 25 years later, EPCOT came, and so did the Magic Eye Theater. But do you know taht the Magic Eye Theater is not exclusive to EPCOT? Let’s flashforward a little, to 1986. There was a big stage called the Space Stage at Tomorrowland, where Magic Journeys would usually be exhibited- but Imagineering decided they could do more, so that whole area became a new Magic Eye Theater. And embarking on the copy express, they imported the famous Captain EO movie that had just premiered. After 1987, every other Disney park with a Tomorrowland had it’s own Magic Eye Theater.

Magic Eye Journeys

Do not be deceived by that poster. It wasn’t a bit after 1986 when Magic Journeys came to Fantasyland, but let’s talk about that later. Magic Journeys was the first film exhibited in EPCOT’s Magic Eye Theater and on Disneyland’s Space Stage. Way before we talk about the movie, let’s talk about the deadline problems the pavillion was facing.

As we all know, Imagination was the last pavillion to start construction (even though Kodak was one of the firsts to sign up for sponsorship), and meanwhile, the director and its crew were also having deadline problems. So they decided to have a small preview so Imagination guests would have something to see (if this would actually happen, only ImageWorks would be open at opening day). Before the preview, there was a small short with Ron Schneider’s first performance as Dreamfinder, and Billy Barty voicing Figment (thanks to dreemfinder for pointing that out!) . In the short, Dreamfinder ran through Imagineering, seeing lots of models and things from other attractions. But, as we all know, the movie was ready in time.

But we are not ready to move to the show, because we still have the preshow. As you got your 3D glasses and waited, a picture-only preshow would play, with a Sherman Brothers song, Makin’ Memories. It was all about shooting pictures and making memories- which is what the pavillion’s sponsor, Kodak, did. The pictures would change from old, black and white pictures to newer ones, this time already colored. A group that sounded like a barbershop quarter and an woman sang the lyrics. “And when we’re making memories, happy days can re-appear.”

Then we finally move on to the real show. Magic Journeys was a trip through a child’s imagination, fitting for an Imagination pavillion. However, some of the images on the movie are still to this very day consdiered… trippy. If Alice in Wonderland has got your fingers wishing to stop this madness, then Magic Journeys definitely wasn’t for you. Besides, the score and the Makin’ Memories song were made by the Sherman Brothers, so thats a plus.

But lets set Magic Journeys aside…

Magic Eye Captain

In 1986, audiences were pleading for a new 3D movie. So Magic Journeys ended its 4 year long run on EPCOT and moved over to Magic Kingdom, to make way for a new 3D show featuring Michael Jackson and a cast of inter-stellar creatures as they journey to bring the gift of life and music to countless worlds of despair. A ragtag band led by the infamous Captain EO. Aaaah, see what I did there?

However, Captain EO was more than a 3D show. Rusty Lemorande, producer of the film, suggested to George Lucas, the film’s executive producer, who wrote the script together with Francis Ford Coppola (and Lemorande too), that the film should have a new type of technology, a sensory power, that would expand from the screen to the theater itself. The new technology is still to this day called 4-D, and Lemorande is considered the Father of 4-D, since Captain EO is considered by many the first 4-D show, using lasers, lightning, smoke, and much, much more, all to put the character inside EO’s world. The score of the show was made by James Horner.

Captain EO made full use of its 3-D effects. The action on the screen extended into the audience, including lasers, laser impacts, smoke effects, and starfields that filled the theater. These effects resulted in the seventeen-minute film costing an estimated $30 million to produce.At the time, it was the most expensive film ever produced on a per-minute basis, averaging out at $1.76 million per minute.

A new paint job to the theater and voila, EO is ready to be shown. But did you know that there was a preshow to Captain EO, although no one remembers it? The thing is, the song was pratically unknown back then, and if there is only an excerpt of the Makin’ Memories preshow, for With a Smile, EO’s preshow, there is no audio or video recording of it. Thats why no one remembers it.

As you entered the theater, you are introduced to EO and his team, who are trying to find a landing beacon in order to deliver a gift to an Evil Queen, played by Angelica Houston. Through the power of dance and music, EO and his team transform the planet, the goons into dancing actors, and the queen into a beautiful woman. EO, of course, is the greek name for dawn, and his gift symbolises the dawn of a new era in that ex-sad little planet.

Captain EO holds the record for being one of the only attractions that returned to its original place, replacing its sucessor, with no changes to the main film. But, before we go talk about EO returning to the theater, we have to send him away. And to do that, we’ll have to shrink him.

Magic Eye Audience

The year is 1994 and Michael Jackson’s image is not the same. Not counting, though, that EO is not that popular anymore. It was time for a new show. But before we talk about that show, I want to shift your attention to a little matter we have at our hands. Magic Journeys stayed from 1982 to 1986. Thats 4 years. Captain EO stayed from 1986 to 1994. Thats 8 years, double the time that Magic Journeys stayed. So the new show would stay double the time EO stayed. Therefore, if it started on 1994, it would end 16 years later… in 2010. Can you, my present friend, confirm this? I’ll confirm it a little later.

So Disney decided it was time for a major overhaul on the theater. Based on its newest movie hit, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, the Magic Eye Theater would become the Imagination Institute. Disney wanted this show to be heavily focused on comic, so one of the new characters created only for this show, Imagination Institute’s chairman, Doctor Nigel Channing, would be played by Eric Idle, a british comedian of Monty Python fame. All the cast from the movie would return, and this new show would be named Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. The music would be scored by Bruce Broughton, who worked on Honey, I Blew Up the Baby.

New paint job and new signs were put on the Magic Eye Theater- I mean, the Imagination Institute’s Theater. New signs were put on the waiting area, with famous people who created things- better, imagined things for the greater good. The preshow was consisted of two parts. The first part would be an interview with the chairman, Nigel Channing, about what the Institute does (and a clear hint at how things can- and will- go wrong over there, with things blowing up and going wrong during the interview). The second part would be the True Colors preshow, another preshow with photos featuring the True Colors song, by Cindy Lauper. And here’s where things get funky.

Somewhere in the middle of HISTA’s run, the preshow was changed. Instead of the heartwarming and inspiring True Colors song, what was put in place was a new video preshow called Every Picture. Basically, it was a narrator saying “With imagination, every picture *insert an action here*”, and it was what Kodak wanted, an living ad for them. Mix that with a safety and informational video featuring Nigel Channing, and bam, True Colors is gone with the wind! Here’s the deal: what happens is that Wayne Szalinski is receiving an award for his amazing shrinking machine. You know, the one that shrunk his kid and blew up his baby. Anyway, he is receiving the award, and things are sure to go wrong. Go into the theater- this is a 4D show with a WHOLE NEW LOT of effects. And I mean a LOT. Let me detail them part by part.

The show begins, and things are already going wrong: Szalinski is shrunk and flying around the Institute. The show starts, more Szalinski problems and its time to demonstrate his Dimensional Duplicator. However, Adam drops his rat on the case, and he is duplicated- to stop the duplication, they cut the power, however, the rats are already loose, and squirm towards the theater, into the audience. And you feel them. Next, more 3D madness, until Szalinski is blowed up (I mean, enlarged), and demonstrates the Shrinking Machine, shrinking you, the audience and Nick, his son, into the size of mice. Thats where more 4D madness happens. You get lifted by Adam, and the whole audience is on platform that lifts too. Then, Nick’s snake appears and you feel a whip of wind. You are finally enlarged, and Szalinski is receiving his prize- however, the dog has been enlarged too. And before you can leave, he sneezes on you. 4D madness.

HISTA also made Imagination change to Imagination Institute on 1998. And HISTA went on for 16 years… with no change.

Magic Eye Returns

Until today. The Magic Eye Theater name returns together with Captain EO, who kicks HISTA out of its place to return back since MJ’s death. What does it means for the theater’s future? I don’t know. I just know that this is Captain EO with the HISTA 4D effects.

So thats the Magic Eye Theater history. Its really a Magic Eye story… This was Stratofarius, and I’m saying goodbye, and have a pleasant tomorrow.

INSIDE DISNEY: Ellen’s Energy Adventure

Oh, Ellen. Ellen DeGeneres. What do we don’t have talk about her.

TV Show host, future American Idol judge, voice of Dory on Finding Nemo, host of an Oscar, but most importantly, the host of the Universe of Energy at EPCOT. That’s right, folks. Before we get back to our regular schedule, I would like to have an Inside Disney on Ellen’s Energy Adventure, the current attraction at the Energy pavillion at EPCOT. So let’s get started, shall we?

Our history begins in 1996, when people were complaining that the Universe of Energy, while a good attractions, was too dry and academic. Some people went on it just to see the dinosaurs. Ellen DeGeneres, host of the Ellen Show, was then contacted to be the star of the new attraction. The script would base on Ellen going back in time to discover the origins of energy with Bill Nye the Science Guy so she can win a Jeopardy game against her roomate on high school, Judy, who has a PhD on Energy. There would be only one exterior change: the heat meter colors on the building would change to the colors of a palette. However, that later changed back to the original painting.

The pavillion closed in 1996. When the inside was being refurbished and the 1 million Ellen animatronic was being installed, it was discovered that dinosaurs were actually multi-colored. The Imagineers decided to re-paint the dinosaurs to match this discovery. Once again, that was dropped with the exterior painting in a much needed refurbishment. There was going to be new film with Ellen, Bill Nye, Alex Trebek and Jamie Lee Curtis playing Judy. They re-created the Jeopardy set since the original couldn’t be used, and one of the biggest parts of this refurb was, as mentioned before, the 1 million Ellen animatronic, which was going to fight a dinosaur that was trying to eat her.

However, not everything was handy dandy and just fine. Soon after the pavillion closed, Horizons went seasonal and World of Motion entered its lenghty refurb to become Test Track. This would leave only Wonders of Life in this side of the park. It was then decided that the old films would play in the theater while the rest of the film was being shot. The Ellen animatronic was covered and every old movie got back. This was odd, because the old pre-show used the Kinetic Mosaic. According to MouseWiki:

The original pre-show featured a unique eight minute film presentation known as the “Kinetic Mosaic,” which was invented by Czech film director Emil Radok. The mosaic screen consisted of 100 rotating prism-shaped flip screens (reminiscent of those on the classic game show Concentration), arranged in a twenty five wide by four high array. These flip screens rotated under computer control and were synchronized to a live-action motion picture that was projected onto their surface. Each flip screen contained three sides with white projection surfaces on two sides and a matte black surface on the third. The combination of the film and the screens’ rotation created undulating, sometimes three-dimensional-appearing images. During the conclusion of the pre-show, the song “Energy (You Make The World Go ‘Round)” was played.

But on Ellen’s Energy Adventure, there wasn’t going to be a Kinetic Mosaic pre-show. So the Kinetic Mosaic movies played on a normal screen. The results weren’t the best but it worked. On the diorama: there was a dinosaur fighting with… a rock? Actually, it was the Ellen animatronic! Now onto the last theater: guests stayed a long time in the dark, since the scenery for the old Theater Two (called the EPCOT Energy Information Center) was removed.

So you now have Horizons back on seasonal scheme, all the film has been shot, World of Motion is still becoming Test Track. WDI then thought “I think this is a good time to change the films”. The pavillion closed and in 14 days all the film had been changed. The name started as Ellen’s Energy Crisis, but was quickly renamed to Ellen’s Energy Adventure. The new film now told the story of Ellen, who sleeped watching Jeopardy and thinking that she doesn’t needs Energy after a visit from Bill Nye the Science Guy. She has a nightmare where she is in an energy only version of Jeopardy against Judy and Albert Einstein. Judy gets all the questions right, and as the first round ends, Ellen says: “It’s this a nightmare, or what?”, gaining her first points, since that is correct. Ellen then freezes time and Bill Nye appears once again, but this time, he wants to help Ellen win the show. They then embark on an Energy Adventure which takes them through the origin of fossil fuel on the Dinosaur age and the origin of other energy sources. Ellen then comes back and defeats Judy in almost all the questions. The last question is: What kind of energy source will never run out? The guests are then taken to the theater where they began their journey (but it looks like a different theater. Here Alex makes a reference to the old pre-show). Ellen gets the question right by answering brain power, winning the Jeopardy show. She then ends saying LOOK OUT A DINOSAUR! Nah, just kidding. Bye now! And as she ends the show, a dinosaur could be heard.

Do you note that there’s something that Ellen’s Energy Adventure, The Timekeeper and Honey I Shrunk the Audience have in common? Maybe that’s because these attractions scores were composed by Bruce Broughton, who also composed soundtracks for lots of other Disney attractions. He, together with Michael Giacchino, John Debney, Gregory Smith, Bruce Healey, Russel Brower, and more, are the main composers for Disney Parks attractions all over the world after the 90′s. We’ll talk about that when we get to Disney Fifty Five: The 90′s. Talking about scores, one of the things that made long-time guests sad when Ellen’s Energy Adventure opened was that the Feel the Flow and Energy You Make the World Go Round songs were missing. However, they have not disappeared from the world! Just go to mousebits.com, one of my favorite sites, and you can get most of these audio tracks for free. Enjoy the tip!

So we got to the last part of Inside Disney, where we analyse what the future has on store for the attraction we discussed on the post. Ellen’s future? The problem with Ellen’s Energy Adventure is that its script was based off lots of pop references and tv culture. That tend to gets old with time and soon the script of the ride was outdated. However, rumors have surfaced that a 4th version of the pavillion might be coming and the only thing thats going to be kept are Ellen, and the building. And the theaters. And the diorama. If you are interested on a more inside look on the “Ellen’s script is outdated and needs to change” matter, wait for an Imagineer That for this attractions. Imagineer That is our segment where we discuss the problems on attractions and how they can be fixed.

Thanks for reading everyone. I would like to give a major thanks to Martin Smith and the Mousebits community for the audio portion of my knowledge. Once again, there may be some errors on the Ellen’s Energy Crisis portion of the article but thats because it is one of the least known “attractions” on the entire Walt Disney World resort. And for all of you, keep “feeling the flow”, and have a tomorrow full of energy.

INSIDE DISNEY: Great Movie Ride

And I’m back ladies and gentlemen.

Last post ended the 2009 season of Stratoblog (cause I love ending seasons of the past year in the new year, totally). Since last post was a Top 10, I figured: hell, why not start the 2010 season with an Inside Disney? And this one is about another favorite attraction! Yaaaaaaaaaaaay.

So let’s start this movie, as we enter the Studios singing the most addicting song of all Disney Parks- What? Yes, more addicting than It’s a Small World but you would call that “addiction by annoyance”. Lights! Cameras! Action! It’s the Inside Disney for the GREAT MOVIE RIDE!

Concept:

The history of the Great Movie Ride starts at… the mind of one of the Imagineers? Correct, but, you know what, the Great Movie Ride wasn’t even supposed to be on Hollywood Studios. It wasn’t going to be called the Great Movie Ride too. It wasn’t going to be on Hollywood Studios for one reason: the idea didn’t even exist! The Great Movie Ride started as the concept for a new pavillion at EPCOT. This idea started back at 1985-6 when the Living Seas was just ready to open. Both sides of Future World had 3 pavillions now, and the idea for a 7th pavillion began to appear. It was the Movies pavillion, that was going to take guests through a ride in famous movies and have them interact with those movies (some of the ideas were that they could choose their ending and that they could change what would happen to the hero of the movie). The new Disney CEO, Michael Eisner, liked the idea and wanted WDI to adapt it for a 3rd gate (that means a 3rd theme park). Ideas of a 7th pavillion were later brought back in 1988 when Wonders of Life gained… well… life.

Movies pavillion becomes MGM Studios:

And so WDI began adapting the idea of the Movies pavillion to a new theme park. It was to be a theme park based on movies, but someone had a better idea: how about we make it a theme park thats actually a movie studio?! So guests can see films being made! And so the idea of a live Studio was born. There was going to be a live action section and an animation section. Thats when MGM popped in. They liked the idea of using that theme park-studio to film their movies and so have more publicity to them. MGM became the sponsor of the park, a feat that no other company ever did before. The park went under construction and an icon was needed. There was the Earful Tower, a replica of the tower that standed next to the Disney Animation Studios at Burbank, but that wasn’t enough. They wanted something big, something that screamed Hollywood. And what screamed Hollywood most than the Chinese Theater, where big blockbuster movies premiered? And so it was decided that the Chinese Theater would be the new park’s icon. Right? Right? Wrong. The park’s icon is indeed the Earful Tower but the guests thought it was the Chinese Theater since it was so centrally located. And one of the rules for creating that replica was that the replica wasn’t supposed to be the park’s icon. And they needed something to go inside that theater, too. So lets put the whole Chinese Theater story aside and lets get back to the star of this article: the Great Movie Ride!

The Great Movie Ride:

So there was the Chinese Theater. And there was the Great Movie Ride. Guests boarded boats and were guided by… well… guides… from the Hollywood Studios backlot to a magical journey through the movies. Passing through scenes of the most famous movies of all time: Singing in the Rain, Mary Poppins and others, they entered the Underworld, where they would stop since the guide wouldn’t want to pass a red light. Then things went really bad. A gangster appears and starts to talk with the guide. The guide reacts, knowing that he’s a famous movie character. The fight starts and bullets go from one side of the room to the other. The gangster enters the boat and takes the passengers away, leaving the guide to his doom. Did you know that there is actually two “movie character controls boat” scenes? One of them is the gangster scene and the other is the Western, where a robber escapes the Bank, blows it up and then takes control of the boat. They pass some more scenes until they get to the Indiana Jones scene, where the movie character leaves the boat and goes get a jewel, but is warned by a strange man, who tells him that the jewel is cursed. The movie character ignores him and touches the jewel. Smoke goes off and the old man is revealed to be… the guide! And when the smoke disappears, we find a skeleton of the character where he once stood. He then tells us that everything can happen on the movies. More movie scenes, a movie finale and then, BAM, its over. Liked that quick resume? I love quick resumes. I love them.

The Fantasia Hat:

Well, back at 2001, a new structure appeared at the park.  To commemorate the 100th birthday of Walt Disney (if he was alive of course), a replica of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice hat was placed in front of the Chinese Theater. But why? Some say its because guests thought the Theater was the park’s icon, and according to the rules that Disney should follow if they wanted to make a replica of the Chinese Theater, one of them was that the Theater couldn’t be the park’s icon. Or maybe that they would have to pay royalties every time someone took a picture of it. Who knows. What we know is that the hat stands there until this day.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of INSIDE DISNEY. Its a short but enjoyable history. A history of the greatest movie ride that ever existed. The Great Movie Ride.

INSIDE DISNEY: Spaceship Earth

Like a grand and miraculous spaceship, our planet has sailed through the universe of time. And for a brief moment, we have been amongst its passengers.

And its with those inspiring words that I begin the second edition of Inside Disney, still on EPCOT and now looking at one of my favorite attractions. Be noted: this post WILL be larger than life. Wanna know why? Cause I’m going to cover all of the versions of this loved attractions. So let us rejoice and move on, as we continue our journey on today’s Inside Disney, covering an all time favorite: our Spaceship Earth.

Early Concepts:

This is one of the original artworks for Spaceship Earth. Notices how it looks more brown than white? And the environment around it was different- well, the environement around it had 3 phases: Concept-1982-1999. As well as the Post-Show/Earth Station: 1982-1994-2007. We’ll talk about that later, though, lets focus on the ride. It was supposed to tell people about communications and how they grew larger and larger- a theme that Spaceship Earth would share with its cousin, CommuniCore. The ride inside was just about the same thing as the ride we had on 1982- with one small difference: there was a scene that was supposed to take place in the Dinosaur age. Apparently this scene has been removed.

1982:

The park opens, and together with it, here comes Spaceship Earth! This version was narrated by… well… no one really knows. Here’s the situation as Walt Dated World describes it:

There has been some discussion about who was the first narrator of Spaceship Earth.  Most fans seem to believe that the voice of the original Spaceship Earth narrator was Vic Perrin, an actor who did many voiceovers and was the “Control Voice” on The Outer Limits television show.  However, Disney Imagineer Marty Sklar did an interview saying that he didn’t understand why everyone said the narrator was Vic Perrin; it was actually another actor named Larry Dobkin.  To make things more confusing there are conflicting reports that there was another narrator after the first one but before the ride was rehabbed in May of 1986 with narration by Walter Cronkite.

As you can see, people still don’t know who was the narrator. The attraction was a guest favorite, but the script was considered too academic (not as academic as the Universe of Energy, though). The reference list went to 120 pages! Also, there was no theme song for the attraction, as all the other pavillions had. This version ran from 1982 to 1986 and was sponsored by Bell Systems, who later transformed into AT&T.

EARTH STATION: When you exited Spaceship Earth, you were sent to Earth Station. It was the… uhm… Guest Relations of EPCOT Center. You could contact live attendants to reserve dinners at the most famous restaurants of World Showcase and see preview videos of all the pavillions of the park.

1986:

In 1986, decision was made to do something regarding the complaints about the script. So, in May 29, Spaceship Earth re-opened with several new changes. Almost all the scenes were updated, and there was, of course, a new narrator: Walter Cronkite, most famous from his CBJ’s transmissions. There was also a new script, more “light” and a new theme song had been made for the Descent (when the cars turned backwards and went down to the unload area). The Descent had a new theme, too, it was how the kids of today will create the world of tomorrow. There was also now a dummy message when the cars turned backwards. This version ran from 1986 to 1994. Here is a quote from the attraction:

For eons, our planet has drifted as a spaceship through the universe.  And for a brief moment, we have been its passengers.  Yet in that time, we’ve made tremendous progress in our ability to record and share knowledge.  So let’s journey back 40,000 years to the dawn of recorded history.  We’ll trace the path of communications from its earliest beginnings to the promise of the future.

Let us learn from our past and meet the challenges of the future, let us go forth and fulfill our destiny on Spaceship Earth.

For some people, this was the best version of the entire ride. Maybe it was because of Tomorrow’s Child, the touching song that ended the ride? It still plays in EPCOT’s Entrance.

POST SHOW: AT&T wanted a post-show, right? And they had it. Right over at CommuniCore West. It was called FutureCom. But that wasn’t enough, not for AT&T. Soon, they would want a new refurbishment. And with it, some new ideas would come.

1994:

The year was 1994. CommuniCore was going to receive a new name and new theme: Innoventions. Thats because the Computer was slowly getting in people’s houses, and soon things that people saw in CommuniCore became old and boring. And if Commu- I mean, Inoventions was going in, maybe it was time for Walter and Spaceship Earth ’86 to go out too. Sorry, Walter, it had to happen.

Now, this here was a MAJOR rehab. A total NEW soundtrack was made for the ENTIRE ride. Animatronics were update. New voices. New script. And a new narrator, of course, fresh from the Lion King: Jeremy Irons. The theme now had to change: it was about how the communications made our world shrink and shrink. New scenes were added too. This is the best version, in my humble opnion. And wanna know the best thing it had? The soundtrack. It was wonderful. And you can get it from www.mousebits.com – register and download it as a torrent. I guarantee that it will work. Here’s a quote from the attraction:

Since the dawn of recorded time, communication has revolutionized our lives and changed our world.  We now have the ability and the responsibility to build new bridges of acceptance and co-operation between us; to create a better world for ourselves and our children as we continue our amazing journey aboard Spaceship Earth.

This was the perfect chance for AT&T to do what they always wanted to do: to have a true post-show, right on the pavillion’s exit. And with that, Earth Station disappeared (but not the World Key centers, but you’ll have to wait until an INSIDE DISNEY: CommuniCore). And on its place, came the New Global Neighboorhod, an interactive post-show full of educative games about communications and with AT&T’s signs slapped all over it. This version ran from 1994 to 2007, the longest running one. And wanna know why? Cause soon, AT&T said goodbye to their sponsorship. The way was open for Siemens. And in 2007, that happened.

But before 2007 came, something happened. Something bad.

And that something involved Mickey.

Mickey Wand and Hand:

You know it, you hate it, speak up, Disney fan! (Didn’t I say this before?) The Mickey Hand and Wand. Oh god… What to say about it? It was added in 1999 with the sign saying “2000″ to celebrate the new Millenium (did I tell you that the entire park changed its theme just because of the new millenium? Talk about change.) And they said to us that it would be removed after the Millenium Celebration.

Well, it wasn’t.

Together with Leave a Legacy (a program that engraved an image of your face in metal structures that standed where beautiful gardens once standed), the Wand and Hand stayed. The sign simply changed to EPCOT and it stayed there.

You guys know how I feel about Disney characters on EPCOT. I think their place isn’t there. And the Mickey Hand and Wand completely ruined Spaceship Earth. But Siemens didn’t like that. Oh no, they didn’t.

2007:

For 13 years, Jeremy Irons guided us on the journey through time. AT&T dropped sponsorship by 2004. May I interrupt this article to tell you readers something. 2004. And this version was about how the communications made our world smaller. 2004. Don’t you get the connection? By 2004, Person 2 Person download was already a hit. Jeremy Irons (the version, not the person) became old and outdated. And Disney didn’t change it.

Until Siemens appeared.

Siemens ran the Jeremy Irons version until 2007. That’s when they came to Disney saying that they wanted to rehab the entire pavillion. Interior, exterior, EVERYTHING. They wanted Spaceship Earth back to it’s old state. And to start this rehab, they wanted the Mickey Hand and Wand had to be removed before EPCOT’s 25th anniversary, when the attraction was supposed to be open. Well, that didn’t happen, but lots of things happened. New soundtrack. New script. New narrator, Dame Judi Dench. New exterior (new gardens), and the newest thing: screens on the ride vehicles. Why is that? Well, when the ride started, you had to touch the screen and choose some options. Then, they would take a picture of your face. When the ride was ending, you w0uld have to choose more options and they would create an animated short that was supposed to be your future. The picture of your face would also be used on the new post-show, Project Tomorrow.  Here are the full renovations made in 2007:

With the new Siemens AG sponsorship, changes have been made to the ride and post show area. The ride’s updates include new scenes, modifications to existing scenes; some new costumes, lighting, and props; a new musical score by Bruce Broughton, new narration by Judi Dench; and a new interactive ending featuring a touch screen. New scenes show a Greek classroom, mainframe computers and the creation of the personal computer

The “time machine” vehicles now have an interactive screen where riders can choose their vision of the future.This resembles a similar idea on the now-defunct attraction Horizons. At the beginning of the ride, a camera takes riders’ pictures (using facial recognition technology) which are used at the end of the ride to conduct an interactive experience about the future of technology, featuring the riders’ faces on animated characters. Visitors are now also asked where in our Spaceship Earth they live; this is used in the post-show area where a map of the world is displayed with the riders’ faces on where they live.

And that is the story of Spaceship Earth, the greatest attraction on EPCOT. And may this attraction never ever change. May we always be able to ride with our guides to the future. And may we fullfil our destiny in our Spaceship Earth.

See what you can hear.

The original concept for the Imagination pavillion is really interesting.

The Gravity Lab (from waltdatedworld.bravepages.com)

According to Walt Dated World:

The premise of the ride was that guests were visiting the Imagination Institute’s Open House.  The queue had a 3-D picture of Dr. Nigel Channing (Eric Idle), the Chairman of the Imagination Institute.  Figment would magically appear in the picture.  Guests then walked past award-winning inventions from the Institute, including the robot from Flubber.

Instead of boarding the old ride’s purple cars, guests would ride red cars past an “Imagination Scanner”.  The machine reveals that the riders have cobwebs and “vacancy” signs in their minds so the Institute embarks on a quest to help everyone develop their imaginations.  The cars stop in darkness and it sounds like a train is about to crash into the cars (similar to the effect from Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride).  Guests then rode past some optical illusions and an upside-down room with water running in the toilet.  Everyone is scanned at the end of the ride and it’s reveled that their minds are now full of ideas.

Sounds interesting? Well, for 3/4 of Walt Disney World’s visitors in the years of 1999, 2000 and 2001, it wasn’t. Now, we invite you to take a journey into your imagination as we explore the original concept, what we got and why it was so hated. Welcome to the first edition of Inside Disney.

Kodak logo

The year is 1998. Kodak is ready to sign another contract and renew its sponsorship of the Imagination pavillion. Their only request? A total refurbishment of the pavillion. The Imagineers needed new ideas for the ride. The deal is: they didn’t wanted to use Figment and Dreamfinder, because they didn’t matched with the park’s new theme. They were cartoony characters, and so they would have to be removed or at least referenced troughout the ride. But where would they get a new theme for the whole pavillion?

Honey, I Shrunk the Audience

The answer was already in the parks since 1994. That was the year when Michael Jackson was removed from the Magic Eye Theater. And together with Michael Jackson and Captain EO, the Magic Eye Theater name was removed too. Well, not really, but it was referred as the Imagination Institute now. The film played a spin-off from the “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” movies in where Wayne Zalinski received a prize for his shrinking machine. The movie starred the original cast and Eric Idle, from Monty Python fame, as Dr.Nigel Channing, the Institute’s director. It was decided, the theater’s theme would expand to the whole pavillion. Journey into Imagination (the pavillion) closed in 1998.

Journey into YOUR Imagination blueprint

No longer we would be travelling with Dreamfinder and Figment through our imagination. Now, the theme had changed, and it was the perfect chance for the Imagineers to fix one of the attraction’s biggest problems: the turntable scene. The turntable scene was the opening scene of the ride, where a set of cars would turn and lock into one of the five identical scenes that were spinning in a turntable. When the scene ended, guests would un-lock and continue the ride. Many pauses and ride stops were caused by this scene, so it was decided to add a small piece of track that would cut 40% of the original ride. The Flight to Imagination scene (aka turntable scene), Photos, Movies, finale and more would be lost. This new space would be occupied by a bigger ImageWorks since it was one of the most loved parts of the pavillion. ImageWorks would now be downstairs, directly after the unload and the upstairs part of the pavillion, where the old ImageWorks was would be now, empty. Guests would now have to exit the pavillion to visit the Magic Eye Theater and there would be a bigger and more detailed queue (the old Journey into Imagination queue was just some railings in front of the load area).

Dr.Nigel Channing (played by Eric Idle) and Figment

The theme would now be the same as the Honey, I Shrunk the Audience movie. Dr. Nigel Channing would now guide us through the Imagination Institute’s newest invention: The Imagination Scanner. As we entered the scanner, it would be revealed  that our minds were empty. Then Channing decided to take us through several “labs” where we would have our imaginations improved. The first lab was the Sound Lab, where your car would stop and you would hear a train go by right next to you (a similar effect was on the now extinct Mr Toad’s Wild Ride). The next lab was the Illusion lab, where we saw different illusion effects, such as a “magnifying” glass, a fish out of his tank, a disappearing butterfly, and much more. A reference to the Haunted Mansion was made in this lab as Channing said: “Is this looking glass actually magnifying… or, is it your imagination, hum?”. The third lab was the Color lab, were we would see the color of sound. This effect was achieved by several lights that would change colors and light up according to the sounds that played. A rumor says that there were actually NO lights, we were seeing a screen that showed the light. The next lab was the Connections lab, where Figment made a brief appareance, made of points of light. We would be taken to a room full of stars, which would make lines and reveal images of different things. The last lab was the Gravity lab, where we would see a house upside down, full of effects, such as the toilet flushing and the water dropping on the sink. We would be taken again to the Imagination scanner, who would overload with our now refreshed Imaginations, and then explode, revealing walls full of images and videos of the different things we saw throughout the ride. Figment made another appearance, this time saying that were “quite clever, all of you!”. Curiosity: the person who voiced Figment for this version of the ride was Billy Barty, the same who voiced Figment in the original version. Billy Barty died before the ride would be refurbished into Journey into Imagination with Figment, so Figment is now voiced by Dave Goelz, who also voices Gonzo from the Muppets. The ride then ended with Channing inviting us to put our imaginations to work in the ImageWorks, and Figment asking if we could imagine too. Channing answered: “Everyone can, Figment!”.

Imagination Pavillion

The ride then opened in 1999, in a less than a year refurbishent, with a lower budget. The ride was… well… hated. Some of the complaints were: too short, music-less, boring, awful, un-imaginative, is this really from Disney?, where is Figment and Dreamfinder? and… well, a lot more of those comments. Yes, the ride was short- this version was only 6 minutes long with 2 ride stops while the original version was 15 minutes long with no ride stops. No, this wasn’t music-less, there was a theme song for the ride, called The Institute Theme, and some tunes on the Connection lab and the finale. The biggest complaint was the reduced role of Figment and the total removal of Dreamfinder- even Michael Eisner hated it and ordered a 5 million overhaul of the ride. Eh, I think that was Eisner’s best idea without Frank Well’s help. *cough*UnderNewManagement*cough*.

Journey into Imagination with Figment finale

The problems were adressed: One Little Spark was brought back, together with Figment. Over 10 Figment animatronics were added to the ride, new film was shot with Eric Idle and Dave Goelz voicing Figment. The theme was now a tour instead of experiments, with Channing wanting us to capture our imagination and Figment wanting us to set it free. Nothing survived from the old ride except the disappearing butterfly and the Gravity lab, now themed as Figment’s house. But here is the question? Is the new version an improvement or an example of how Disney changed? Think: Back at 1983, the original version had more animatronics than video screens. This new version has more Figment appearing on video screens than being an animatronic. And when he is, some problems occur (the Figment on the new Sound Lab is holding a phone backwards and has his eyes crossed out).

What Disney did wrong with Journey into YOUR Imagination? Was the low budget? The removal of the classic characters from the first version? The removal of incredible scenes like the turntable scene? Whatever it was, the guests weren’t ready for such a change. But here’s, my friends, for a 4th version of the ride that will be equal as the old good ride.

Sources:

• Martin Smith and his ultimate tributes
• Disney wikia
• Google (duh)
• Martin Smith once again for his audio mix of the ride.
• WDWNT Crew for their “Back to the Future – Journey into Imagination” episode.