EPCOT Figment, well, to be replaced by Figment

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

And get some real decent merchandise instead of looking like your wearing a Turd of him on your head....

It’s a bit surprising to me they stopped selling these far better looking, more on-model Figment hats I bought a good few years ago in favor of taking the Park Pals vinyl figure and using the pattern off that. Not quite sure why they thought that looked better

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

Like I said earlier though, hey, if they re-released that hat I mentioned with an artist’s beret with a little collared purple bow tie ala the classic Realm of Art Figment, That would be an instant buy from me :

 

[Homemade Imagineering]

With the recent GTA 6 delay we may just get Imagination 4 before GTA 6 if all pans out at D23

 

[Centauri Space Station]

1:24… in ‘plain sight & sound’ :


The ‘only’ part of the monorail spiel that does this.. “The glass pyramids are your gateway to Journey Into Imagination. Inside you’ll find the 3-D adventure, ‘Honey, I Shrunk the Audience’. Join Prof. Wayne Salinski as he recieves the inventor of the year award for his incredible shrinking machine”. Yeah, “real slick” wording right there… “Inside”. But sure Disney, it was all Kodak. That Kodak sponsorship contract Ya know, the one they were able to honor for all those years with updates to the Magic Eye Theatre like Captain EO (which for those who don’t know, yeah, that starred Michael Jackson, ‘the’ biggest pop star ever.. and who knew.. they didn’t need that awning & queue rope for that show when it was around.. and they sure as heck didn’t need to change the ride during those years) and the updates done to ImageWorks that I mentioned previously in the early 90s, until “suddenly” they weren’t able to anymore… and the laughs just keep on coming ladies & gentlemen. Apparently, they had gotten pushback even ‘before’ this had happened when word got out that Figment, Dreamfinder and the original ride was being removed entirely.. and it was due to pushback he was even utilized as a cameo for the ‘99 renovation and even then.. as of course we all know (and what should’ve been known even then), that kind of nonsense wasn’t gonna end well. LOL
View attachment 892200

PS: Gotta love this shirt sold at the time too btw, all things considered… yeah, they “Shrunk Figment” alright. GEEZ :

View attachment 892199

To be fair the ride was never directly mentioned in the spiel until 2002. The 82-86 version was “The glass pyramids are the gateway to your Journey into imagination, you can also express your own creativity in the imageworks, and take a Magic Journey in 3D!”

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

To be fair the ride was never directly mentioned in the spiel until 2002. The 82-86 version was “The glass pyramids are the gateway to your Journey into imagination, you can also express your own creativity in the imageworks, and take a Magic Journey in 3D!”

“You can also”, it was never “inside you’ll find” as it mentions Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. No mention of ImageWorks either.. curiously, despite being mentioned in other prior monorail spiels.
Granted, Wonders of Life really only focuses on Body Wars as the main attraction, but still.. like, that was always the main attraction of that pavilion, that didn’t change between spiels.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

Like I said earlier though, hey, if they re-released that hat I mentioned with an artist’s beret with a little collared purple bow tie ala the classic Realm of Art Figment, That would be an instant buy from me :
View attachment 892245

Soooo..Pretty much this version...With a beret? That would sell out at the FARTS Festival...

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

Soooo..Pretty much this version...With a beret? That would sell out at the FARTS Festival...

No, I mean this hat with the beret

And personally, I wish that acronym was referred to as #IFOTA. That actually includes all the words rather than just the first and last. Like #IPHOTO. Making & Taking your own imaginative pictures, Art. Makin’ Memories, literally. Certainly much better than “farts”. Though I’ll admit, ironic since the current attraction offers a Skunk costume with a skunk scent, while roughly in the same area, the original iteration featured an Artist’s costume with Rose scent.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

No, I mean this hat with the beret View attachment 892248
And personally, I wish that acronym was referred to as #IFOTA. That actually includes all the words rather than just the first and last. Like #IPHOTO. Making & Taking your own imaginative pictures, Art. Makin’ Memories, literally. Certainly much better than “farts”. Though I’ll admit, ironic since the current attraction offers a Skunk costume with a skunk scent, while roughly in the same area, the original iteration featured an Artist’s costume with Rose scent.

Eh to each their own..I'd rather not be sweating a pillow on my head in the Floridian weather..

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

Eh to each their own..I'd rather not be sweating a pillow on my head in the Floridian weather..

Well.. if not that, how about one of these? And best yet, after IFOTA (International Festival of the Arts) they could carry these normally without the beret in the gift shops. :

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

View attachment 892030
View attachment 892035

Btw, as a side comment, it’ll never fail to make me laugh just how hard Disney tries to pass this off as the original returned. Like, they ‘really’ want to convince you it’s the same thing, with a ‘totally’ straight face. I swear, just look at the entrance sign they have right outside the door. “A whimsical slow moving ride into the realms of imagination”. Yeah.. ‘THAT’. What “whimsical realms of imagination”? I could’ve sworn I rode a fast-moving ridiculous tour through a bunch of sensory labs & offices. Like, did I make a wrong turn to the Disney Medical Care Services? Is it an elaborate prank, is that why I’m having my senses checked to supposedly inspire or use my creativity? The gaslighting surrounding this “Imagination pavilion” currently truly is both insane and genuinely ‘the’ most “hilarious” thing to witness. And I’m not laughing with them here, I’m laughing ‘at’ them. How ‘any’ executive can sit there, knowing full well what this originally was and saying with a grin that they’re “happy/proud” to “have Figment back” in ‘THIS’, despite the outcry & good merch sales for literal DECADES now, Still happening to THIS DAY (Rightfully so I might add), and Documented Proof that it indeed was the 2nd most popular attraction behind Spaceship Earth until the HISTA Queue Rope & Signage BS that I’ve just clearly evidenced here happened is absolutely hysterical. Like OMG, how dense & obtuse could you possibly be?!
View attachment 892037

From D23 Expo a couple years ago.. again, just can’t make this up.. they wanna try ‘so’, ‘so’ hard to convince you the ride wasn’t changed that much. :

But that’s okay.. if you don’t find that element of this as bafflingly nuts as it is, check out this little “goodie” seen in the sight lab scene of the 02-current ride placed there for us all to “enjoy”, incase you needed to know further how they view us fans and this (their words btw) iconic attraction. Infact, it’s a “Focus Group” test, get it??? Our “small Figment brain” just doesn’t get what stimuli is I guess, despite that literally being part of the original version in the form of the Dreamcatching machine at the beginning, not to mention the freakin’ ‘song’, how we gather pre-existing ideas via inspiration and combine them in our own unique ways to create new ones. “Q.E.D. = Visual Confusion”. Indeed! Please tell me, which one of those concepts makes a lot more sense, in regards to the ‘creative process’, not strictly “stimulation”. I’d also love to know how an eye chart, white board, and butterfly swinging in a bird cage is more entertaining than a literal dreamport (a representation of our brain, where all great ideas are stored, all shown in abstract fun ways) or whimsy in the form of how the ‘ideas’ sung & thought up from the song at the beginning then manifest in the next song verses through a realm of art, through a carousel of animals, origami art piece and colors come to life. Or in the realms of literature & theatre where words & set pieces from stories & creating new shows make exciting (sometimes spooky), and engaging concepts in those mediums come to life :

And that doesn’t even get into the fact, type in the word “imagination” on google.. and look what comes up. Like, bro.

And sure, perhaps you could make the argument… “Okay, but doesn’t Figment technically win in the end”. Alright, sure.. but “imagination is just turning your thinking upside down”. ‘That’ is the key that turns Dr. Channing’s thinking around (apparently) and gets Figment to praise him for having a wonderful imagination. and again, why in the world is almost the entire ride’s runtime just a bunch of sensory tests & experiments getting interrupted with more stuff related to the 5 senses and not realms of imagination or creative ideas. Like dude.. was someone that petty & annoyed about the fact they had to redo the ride again (yeah.. ‘that’ redo) and that people (huh, no kidding) were upset the ‘2nd most popular ride’ in the park was closed deceptively to make way for one of the ‘least’. And like I said.. why on earth would you spend your budget doubling down on the very clearly unpopular IP theming while leaving anything that resembles the original, down to the last 30 seconds or so. Wasn’t the whole point to infuse the spirit of the original back in? What in the world went wrong? And that’s the question we all need answered. ‘Why’ was this done.. what was the thought process behind these show scenes?

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

From D23 Expo a couple years ago.. again, just can’t make this up.. they wanna try ‘so’, ‘so’ hard to convince you the ride wasn’t changed that much. :

View attachment 892376
But that’s okay.. if you don’t find that element of this as bafflingly nuts as it is, check out this little “goodie” seen in the sight lab scene of the 02-current ride placed there for us all to “enjoy”, incase you needed to know further how they view us fans and this (their words btw) iconic attraction. Infact, it’s a “Focus Group” test, get it??? Our “small Figment brain” just doesn’t get what stimuli is I guess, despite that literally being part of the original version in the form of the Dreamcatching machine at the beginning, not to mention the freakin’ ‘song’, how we gather pre-existing ideas via inspiration and combine them in our own unique ways to create new ones. “Q.E.D. = Visual Confusion”. Indeed! Please tell me, which one of those concepts makes a lot more sense, in regards to the ‘creative process’, not strictly “stimulation”. I’d also love to know how an eye chart, white board, and butterfly swinging in a bird cage is more entertaining than a literal dreamport (a representation of our brain, where all great ideas are stored, all shown in abstract fun ways) or whimsy in the form of how the ‘ideas’ sung in the song through an origami art piece and colors come to life. Or in literature & theatre where words & set pieces from stories & creating new shows make exciting (sometimes spooky), and engaging concepts in those mediums come to life : View attachment 892382
And that doesn’t even get into the fact, type in the word “imagination” on google.. and look what comes up. Like, bro.
View attachment 892385

View attachment 892386

View attachment 892396
And sure, perhaps you could make the argument… “Okay, but doesn’t Figment technically win in the end”. Alright, sure.. but “imagination is just turning your thinking upside down”. ‘That’ is the key that turns Dr. Channing’s thinking around (apparently) and gets Figment to praise him for having a wonderful imagination. and again, why in the world is almost the entire ride’s runtime just a bunch of sensory tests & experiments getting interrupted with more stuff related to the 5 senses and not creative ideas. Like dude.. was someone that petty & annoyed about the fact they had to redo the ride again (yeah.. ‘that’ redo) and that people (huh, no kidding) were upset the ‘2nd most popular ride’ in the park was closed deceptively to make way for one of the ‘least’. And like I said.. why on earth would you spend your budget doubling down on the very clearly unpopular IP theming while leaving anything that resembles the original, down to the last 30 seconds or so. Wasn’t the whole point to infuse the spirit of the original back in? What in the world went wrong? And that’s the question we all need answered. ‘Why’ was this done.. what was the thought process behind these show scenes?

But the biggest kicker of all here is.. despite the feeble attempts to callback to Dreamfinder in this “return” attraction. (“Dean Finder” on a door. (Apparently) Chuck McCann, Dreamfinder’s original voice, recorded snoring behind a closed Dream Lab door, next to that laugh lab door with laughter coming out after we got sprayed with skunk). (Again, why wasn’t he cast as the host? Why spend the extra money to get Eric Idle ‘back’ as Dr. Channing after the fact he so clearly wasn’t wanted nor liked in that ride’s first redo) When you walk into the queue.. (that is, after seeing a bunch of show equipment and even props of the original attraction ‘caged up’ alongside a bunch of junk that isn’t related. (Yup, none of that stuff from the original attraction was reused in the actual “return” darkride itself ladies & gentlemen. Why? I dunno, hope someone asks folks who worked on the “return” for answers. I’d love to know.). You see a few portraits of inventors award recipients .. and you see.. Dr. Nigel Channing with Figment… so uh.. why is his supposed “invention” (which apparently isn’t one, he’s a “discovery” now. Which is it?) constantly proving him wrong here? Let alone why he views him as an interference if “he” supposedly created him? (Despite us knowing full well that isn’t true, he’s supposed to be Dreamfinder’s). Honestly.. it makes *zero sense. And again, Iger is more than happy to say, with a straight face & smile.. at ‘Tony’s Legend Award Ceremony (despite how clearly vocal he’s been (not to mention guests & fans themselves) about this blatant & embarrassing sham of a ride standing in as a “return” for decades now) how happy & proud he is of this. Speaking of which, he also (falsely) brings up that folks constantly asked what had “he” had done with Dreamfinder & Figment. When it was Eisner in charge at that time.. yeah.. Something I will ‘never’ understand. Has he even ridden through the 02-current attraction before?? That’s something else I’d love to know. But if he hasn’t, just gonna say it.. I would genuinely LOVE to see his reaction recorded during the entire ride and his thoughts after, knowing what we know. And then, after that experience, finally getting to learn about what we don’t know yet atm, regarding both the decisions leading to & behind the attraction’s 2 (‘99 & ‘02) redos. Seriously. :

 

[pdude81]

I got in on it FAST with a Disney Visa discount of 30% off on 11/5 only. Order yours now before your size runs out. My experience is the larger sizes run out first being American.

Damn we were on a cruise and not really checking email last week. I'll have to keep an eye out for more discounts.

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

Oh, btw, here’s another little interesting tidbit.. the animations playing for the opening scene and Sight & Smell Labs were different initially when this “return” opened in June ‘02. Figment’s eyes were initially even more bug-eyed (sometimes showing eyelids, other times not) and his tail not wagging or it’s posed awkwardly in a shot or two, and At 1:02, the sight lab eye chart/background suddenly turns and stays yellow throughout the “sing-along” segment, and in the Smell Lab scene, the animation of Figment dressed as a skunk, farting in our face looked a heck of alot jankier, he literally just bends over and farts. But oh man, they had to go and “refine” that after, didn’t they? Still kept it Skunk dressed Figment farting in our face though, of course. *fart noise* But yeah. :

 

[HMF]

From D23 Expo a couple years ago.. again, just can’t make this up.. they wanna try ‘so’, ‘so’ hard to convince you the ride wasn’t changed that much. :


But that’s okay.. if you don’t find that element of this as bafflingly nuts as it is, check out this little “goodie” seen in the sight lab scene of the 02-current ride placed there for us all to “enjoy”, incase you needed to know further how they view us fans and this (their words btw) iconic attraction. Infact, it’s a “Focus Group” test, get it??? Our “small Figment brain” just doesn’t get what stimuli is I guess, despite that literally being part of the original version in the form of the Dreamcatching machine at the beginning, not to mention the freakin’ ‘song’, how we gather pre-existing ideas via inspiration and combine them in our own unique ways to create new ones. “Q.E.D. = Visual Confusion”. Indeed! Please tell me, which one of those concepts makes a lot more sense, in regards to the ‘creative process’, not strictly “stimulation”. I’d also love to know how an eye chart, white board, and butterfly swinging in a bird cage is more entertaining than a literal dreamport (a representation of our brain, where all great ideas are stored, all shown in abstract fun ways) or whimsy in the form of how the ‘ideas’ sung in the song through an origami art piece and colors come to life. Or in literature & theatre where words & set pieces from stories & creating new shows make exciting (sometimes spooky), and engaging concepts in those mediums come to life : View attachment 892382

Well at least the 02 only subliminally implies you have no imagination, Whereas the 99 version flat out says it.

 

[HMF]

It is kind of amazing Iger agreed to pose for that photo considering the obvious symbolism.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

It is kind of amazing Iger agreed to pose for that photo considering the obvious symbolism.

Why do you think he's next to Darth..That Dark side can't be left alone after Palpatine was dethroned..

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

It is kind of amazing Iger agreed to pose for that photo considering the obvious symbolism.

I dunno, I mean.. keep in mind, the reason why Dreamfinder & Figment and Darth Vader were there is because of Tony’s involvement with (of course) the original Journey Into Imagination pavilion and the original Star Tours. All in good fun of course But you certainly can’t deny that it’s hilarious & fitting to have each by whom. Might’ve been done as a surprise. Bwahaha! At this point though, I ‘really’ wanna see or hear Bob Iger’s reaction to riding what he’s (apparently) so happy/proud of. Just imagine it, let’s just say before he heads to EPCOT on a business trip or something, he decides to watch a video of the original ride on YouTube to refresh his memory maybe, on its creation, whatever, and perhaps wants to comfort himself by heading to EPCOT and feeling assured, atleast he’s got “the return of Figment” to be content with by his name and he wants to see for himself what his imagineers did to “fix” what was a wrong. And then he goes on it and… oh my god, let the laughter from all of us hearing about his reaction ensue. Bob, both Tony (& I’m sure others) and we’ve been telling you about this problem for 20+ years. And then he begins to learn the history of how and why ‘that’ happened… But hey, maybe.. just maybe, that’ll wake him up to what has to be done with that pavilion atleast. If he starts making more & more moves like that, I think alot of us could be a heck of a lot more forgiving towards him, right? Like atleast then we can see that he’s genuinely trying to steer the ship around.

 

[HMF]

I dunno, I mean.. keep in mind, the reason why Dreamfinder & Figment and Darth Vader were there is because of Tony’s involvement with (of course) the original Journey Into Imagination pavilion and the original Star Tours. All in good fun of course But you certainly can’t deny that it’s hilarious & fitting to have each by whom. Might’ve been done as a surprise. Bwahaha! At this point though, I ‘really’ wanna see or hear Bob Iger’s reaction to riding what he’s (apparently) so happy/proud of. Just imagine it, let’s just say before he heads to EPCOT on a business trip or something, he decides to watch a video of the original ride on YouTube to refresh his memory maybe, on its creation, whatever, and perhaps wants to comfort himself by heading to EPCOT and feeling assured, atleast he’s got “the return of Figment” to be content with by his name and he wants to see for himself what his imagineers did to “fix” what was a wrong. And then he goes on it and… oh my god, let the laughter from all of us hearing about his reaction ensue. Bob, both Tony (& I’m sure others) and we’ve been telling you about this problem for 20+ years. And then he begins to learn the history of how and why ‘that’ happened… But hey, maybe.. just maybe, that’ll wake him up to what has to be done with that pavilion atleast. If he starts making more & more moves like that, I think alot of us could be a heck of a lot more forgiving towards him, right? Like atleast then we can see that he’s genuinely trying to steer the ship around.

Well, since we are nearing the supposed end of his reign as CEO Part two, it probably won't happen on his watch. The next CEO will have to make that call. Hopefully whoever it is makes the right decision.

 

[jah4955]

I dunno, I mean.. keep in mind, the reason why Dreamfinder & Figment and Darth Vader were there is because of Tony’s involvement with (of course) the original Journey Into Imagination pavilion and the original Star Tours. All in good fun of course But you certainly can’t deny that it’s hilarious & fitting to have each by whom. Might’ve been done as a surprise. Bwahaha! At this point though, I ‘really’ wanna see or hear Bob Iger’s reaction to riding what he’s (apparently) so happy/proud of. Just imagine it, let’s just say before he heads to EPCOT on a business trip or something, he decides to watch a video of the original ride on YouTube to refresh his memory maybe, on its creation, whatever, and perhaps wants to comfort himself by heading to EPCOT and feeling assured, atleast he’s got “the return of Figment” to be content with by his name and he wants to see for himself what his imagineers did to “fix” what was a wrong. And then he goes on it and… oh my god, let the laughter from all of us hearing about his reaction ensue. Bob, both Tony (& I’m sure others) and we’ve been telling you about this problem for 20+ years. And then he begins to learn the history of how and why ‘that’ happened… But hey, maybe.. just maybe, that’ll wake him up to what has to be done with that pavilion atleast. If he starts making more & more moves like that, I think alot of us could be a heck of a lot more forgiving towards him, right? Like atleast then we can see that he’s genuinely trying to steer the ship around.

Supposedly Horizons was Eisner's favorite ride...but that didn't stop him

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

Supposedly Horizons was Eisner's favorite ride...but that didn't stop him

Wait, is that true?? Or is this just a joke referencing the whole controversy surrounding Iger’s comments on Pirates of the Caribbean recently?