Just because there's no video or audio of imagination breaking down doesn't mean it never happened. I believe there was an issue that they decided to remove rather than fix. Also moving imageworks downstairs was a factor in the decision.
Heck, the original energy exterior music loop is "lost" because no full audio/video recording either exists or has been posted online.
I actually recorded a CM spiel of an Original ‘Journey’ breakdown cira 1985 on cassette tape.
Still have it.
I used to ride through as a teen with a tape recorder on my lap and record the audio.
I was in the ‘Literature’ section when the ride vehicles stopped and the Show audio in the entire Attraction was shut off and the announcement came on.
I remember it well, even without the recording, as my vehicle was directly under a shaking letter which made me slightly nervous sitting under for about five minutes.
The show audio came back up shortly afterwards, but was then shut off again.
It was surreal sitting there in the silence with only the slight squeaking sound of props.
Eventually the ride vehicles started moving again, but the show elements remained off and no audio was turned back on.
All of this was captured on both audio tape and I also shot a few photos of ‘standstill Figment’ in the finale room.
Unique pose, with his arms down and his head looking up as ‘dead’.
The cause was due to ride vehicles not lining up correctly with the ‘turntable’ Show scenes.
At that time, a CM had to sit in a chair in the dark right next to the entrance to watch the vehicles and make sure they lined up correctly to enter the space.
If they didn’t, all went 101.
Decades later I heard Tony talk about why this would happen…
According to him the ride vehicles were designed to be ‘self thinking’ vehicles that were programmed to not bump into each other.
They were designed to speed up or slow down depending on how they were spaced apart from each other during the course of the expereince.
Part of the reason the ride portion of the Pavilion did not make Grand Opening Day of EPCOT Center was because of delays caused by trying to sort that out.
There were a lot of challenges.
He said the reason for the issues with the vehicles sometimes not lining up with the ‘turntable’ was because the ride vehicles were doing their job too well as far as being ‘intelligent’ self roving units and the rotating show scenes were the sticking point.
A mis-match of the two speeds between them is what kept causing problems…thus a CM needing to be posted near the rotating entrance to insure things went as planned most of the time.
I wish I could remember his exact telling….he explained how the ride vehicles worked and communicated with each other, and slowed down or sped up when needed.
The Attraction was ahead of its time in some respects, the ride vehicles being just one such element.
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