EPCOT Figment, well, to be replaced by Figment

[FigmentFan82]

Neil Pateick Harris was the animator in the video. I know he's a Disney Parks Fan, but is it weird that he would appear in a video like this as just his voice? Feels.like he's a big name to get for a little YouTube video?

Honestly, and this has no basis on anything other than his voice being in this wonderful short video, I would not at all be upset if NPH were the new Dreamfinder in a new version of the attraction. I think the man is extremely talented, is popular, and generally is pretty great in any project he’s involved in.
If they are looking to freshen up the appearance and vibe of Dreamfinder, should they choose to bring him back, I’d be perfectly happy if they hired NPH to do it.

 

[FigmentFan82]

How about NPH as our new Dreamfinder in a potential movie or ride refurb? I could be open to that.

I didn’t read all the way down before posting, so I just echoed this, sorry. Yes! I think an NPH Dreamfinder would be a great choice for ride, movie, tv or all of the above!

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

Ya know.. I just wanna say.. looking at the other How Not To Draw videos. How come Dreamfinder couldn’t be included in the Figment video when Cinderella involved all of its characters in the video (Lucifer & Jaq and Gus Gus?) Doesn’t make any sense. They use Dreamfinder’s flying Dreamcatching machine in a way that makes no sense. (Like they use on the shilouette of the music sheet in the finale of the current ride) at the end, and calling it a plane, rather than the purpose it was designed for. (An analogy for the brain and how we gather input and then recombine sparks of inspiration to create new things in the opening scene). Why it wasn’t used to create Figment at the beginning to start things off, like the OG ride, to then go and create more things using that process, I don’t know. Considering the way they used it.

And yeah, “I found a bigger canvas”, and it’s “the sky’s the limit” ending from the current ride.. the mixed up version that makes no sense as opposed to it being the whimsical realm of art from the original that actually relates to art… Frustrating, they continue to get this wrong when they shouldn’t.

I Infact have a huge hunch now actually that they used the unpopular 02-current edition to mainly guide it, rather than the beloved original version or the new 2024 book based on it that I mentioned. Cause if you remember, in the mixed up 02-current Honey I Shrunk themed ride w a deceiving title, he also pretends things are what they’re not (here he pretends a drawn spark is an octopus and a ruler is a boat… in the current ride he pretends a train of thought is a train in the sound lab… cause that has a lot to do with hearing. then again, the heck does testing your hearing have to do with creating things. Or from Channing telling Figment he’s turned his open house upside down, he takes that “spark of inspiration” to make a house that’s upside down.. uggh.. cause again, “thinking upside down” is the heart of creativity, yeah? Yeeeah.. right).

Cmon guys.. are we being for real here. We need to get that 02-current ride fully and completely exposed for what it is, who was actually behind it, and why they did what they did with it, so it’s not used in future Figment stuff anymore. (I’ll give ya a hint, the original creative team had nothing to do with it)
This is also why I’m guessing, they decided to get a celebrity animator to guide this thing aswell, with no help from Dreamfinder.. because they got a live Eric Idle as Dr. Nigel Channing in the 02-current mixed up Honey I Shrunk themed version. Was better when you had 2 fully fictional characters , a whimsical magician ‘Dreamfinder’ & childlike purple dragon ‘Figment’ guiding the thing (they’re imaginary, yes? With names that reflect the theme and most importantly their purpose in the ride. One collects, recombines and distributes new dreams & ideas, and the other is a Figment of Imagination brought to life using his process that’s curious, is a helper, and wants to learn more about creativity, and fit in a ride dedicated to creating & imagining things in a whimsical creative way) For crying out loud guys… has Disney not learned anything? They seriously believe that 02-current ride of pretending things are something they’re not rather than the original that was about creating things using ideas/sparks of inspiration, is the model that should be used and what people love or what it was created to be. What the heck?! Despite the 20+ year backlog of complaints and Tony Baxter, the creator of the Original himself, being very vocally against/disapproving of the current version and wanting the original restored back & enhanced correctly for all these years. Despite the clearly photographed & videotaped evidence out there it was done under totally shady/fraudulent means by screwing with the guest flow (queue ropes, signage, and monorail spiels) to intentionally lower the ride & imageworks attendance levels when Honey, I Shrunk the Audience was introduced in late ‘94 to then use the data to go and close Imagination in late ‘98 and retheme it in ‘99 to tie in with that. OMG..

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

And this problem has Infact gotten so bad, they’ve started selling merch dedicated to the mixed up Honey I Shrunk version yet again, after years of getting record sales selling stuff dedicated to the Original non-IP themed version. See.. upside down Figment taking a bath from the current ride.. cause, that has a lot to do with creating and imagining things. I do it through taking a bath with a scrubbing brush & soap to dream up & implement my ideas. That’s a great real world occupation I use my creativity best in. Not dream up & create ideas through art & a rainbow of colors from paints or paintbrushes or paper machete creations, or literature writing words and utilizing ideas in books, or through putting on a theater show w costumes & sets.
Nah, I do basic everyday things in my house upside down.. like taking a bath, getting something out of the fridge, and watching tv to use my creative abilities.

But yeah, really. They honest to God don’t know at this point I think. Unless there’s something I may not know about, with them making some kind of rule that they can’t do anything based on the original anymore, which is asinine & makes no sense. Way to absolutely drop the ball. This is inexcusable & heartbreaking to see, that they infact don’t get it anymore and are utilizing all the wrong/bad stuff again rather than the right/good stuff that should be used.

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

And especially “nice” that they use the unpopular 02-current version as their core guiding force during the month the beloved original opened. Despite the current one opening in June of ‘02. So again, why use mostly material from the unpopular current one when clearly we’re supposed to be celebrating the spirit of the ‘Original’ one? Makes zero sense at all.
I don’t know about the rest of you folks, but I’d much rather be celebrating Figment & Dreamfinder’s big anniversary month with elements of something that was enjoyed sincerely, about real world creativity & creative mediums presented in a whimsical way, elements of the original Dream machine, Dreamport, Art, Literature, Theatre, Science/Tech, and Film scenes rather than something that’s been mixed up w crap that makes no sense in comparison, testing your 5 senses & pretending things are what they’re not, laughed at as a big joke, that’s shadily titled & described as the same thing when it isn’t at all. 100% serious too. Like honest to God, what the hell?? Those that keep pushing the current ride & its elements while seemingly preventing the original elements from being used or celebrated to the extent they should/deserve, should be embarrassed, seriously! Especially if they know the truth about it and its reputation compared to the original. And if they don’t know, they need to get educated on this fiasco, quick & do the right thing. This ride, this character, and their creators don’t deserve to have their legacy continuously desecrated like this.

 

[HMF]

Ya know.. I just wanna say.. looking at the other How Not To Draw videos. How come Dreamfinder couldn’t be included in the Figment video when Cinderella involved all of its characters in the video (Lucifer & Jaq and Gus Gus?) Doesn’t make any sense. They use Dreamfinder’s flying Dreamcatching machine in a way that makes no sense. (Like they use on the shilouette of the music sheet in the finale of the current ride) at the end, and calling it a plane, rather than the purpose it was designed for. (An analogy for the brain and how we gather input and then recombine sparks of inspiration to create new things in the opening scene). Why it wasn’t used to create Figment at the beginning to start things off, like the OG ride, to then go and create more things using that process, I don’t know. Considering the way they used it.

And yeah, “I found a bigger canvas”, and it’s “the sky’s the limit” ending from the current ride.. the mixed up version that makes no sense as opposed to it being the whimsical realm of art from the original that actually relates to art… Frustrating, they continue to get this wrong when they shouldn’t.

I Infact have a huge hunch now actually that they used the unpopular 02-current edition to mainly guide it, rather than the beloved original version or the new 2024 book based on it that I mentioned. Cause if you remember, in the mixed up 02-current Honey I Shrunk themed ride w a deceiving title, he also pretends things are what they’re not (here he pretends a drawn spark is an octopus and a ruler is a boat… in the current ride he pretends a train of thought is a train in the sound lab… cause that has a lot to do with hearing. then again, the heck does testing your hearing have to do with creating things. Or from Channing telling Figment he’s turned his open house upside down, he takes that “spark of inspiration” to make a house that’s upside down.. uggh.. cause again, “thinking upside down” is the heart of creativity, yeah? Yeeeah.. right).

Cmon guys.. are we being for real here. We need to get that 02-current ride fully and completely exposed for what it is, who was actually behind it, and why they did what they did with it, so it’s not used in future Figment stuff anymore. (I’ll give ya a hint, the original creative team had nothing to do with it)
This is also why I’m guessing, they decided to get a celebrity animator to guide this thing aswell, with no help from Dreamfinder.. because they got a live Eric Idle as Dr. Nigel Channing in the 02-current mixed up Honey I Shrunk themed version. Was better when you had 2 fully fictional characters , a whimsical magician ‘Dreamfinder’ & childlike purple dragon ‘Figment’ guiding the thing (they’re imaginary, yes? With names that reflect the theme and most importantly their purpose in the ride. One collects, recombines and distributes new dreams & ideas, and the other is a Figment of Imagination brought to life using his process that’s curious, is a helper, and wants to learn more about creativity, and fit in a ride dedicated to creating & imagining things in a whimsical creative way) For crying out loud guys… has Disney not learned anything? They seriously believe that 02-current ride of pretending things are something they’re not rather than the original that was about creating things using ideas/sparks of inspiration, is the model that should be used and what people love or what it was created to be. What the heck?! Despite the 20+ year backlog of complaints and Tony Baxter, the creator of the Original himself, being very vocally against/disapproving of the current version and wanting the original restored back & enhanced correctly for all these years. Despite the clearly photographed & videotaped evidence out there it was done under totally shady/fraudulent means by screwing with the guest flow (queue ropes, signage, and monorail spiels) to intentionally lower the ride & imageworks attendance levels when Honey, I Shrunk the Audience was introduced in late ‘94. OMG..

I honestly think we are much closer to the end of JIIwF's lifespan than the beginning of it.

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

I honestly think we are much closer to the end of JIIwF's lifespan than the beginning of it.

Maybe so, but so far, we’re seeing a repeat of very similar issues without the Honey I Shrunk IP theming & the 5 senses element attached to it. They still refuse to use Dreamfinder for whatever weird reason despite him being a core part of the new Golden Book they released. The mixing up of the creative process problem probably could’ve been solved easily if they had just used Dreamfinder and his Dreamcatching machine as intended, rather than mixing it up. They draw up Figment at the beginning.. but he’s drawn without recognizing that, the whole “two tiny wings, eyes big and yellow”, etc. ‘is’ the process being demonstrated in front of our eyes. And yet they then proceed to say, imagination is finding a spark of inspiration to then pretend something is what it isn’t (a drawn spark looks like an octopus and now it is an octopus). And again, why use the dream machine at the end, not use its functions (a vacuum that sucks up ideas floating around, and then those ideas are recombined to create whatever it is, coming out of the hatch, hence Figment, his name and his role). It’s instead described as a plane and it does nothing it did in the original opening, why?? Not enough thought put into it, it seems. Not wanting to follow the original ride closely enough, for whatever reason. When it explained & showcased the process perfectly. And if you paid close enough attention, you’d realize all the ideas they think up, when dropped off at the dreamport, are then used to form the rest of the journey, every realm, every idea. Honestly

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

I’m not sure how gathering input (sparks of inspiration) to then recombine and create new things is such a hard concept to understand. Let alone how ideas that fit a medium like art, apparently can’t be utilized where they fit. (In the original ride, they used a rainbow of colors, red & gold from Autumn flowers, purple & blue from twilight hours, green from summer hills, and a paintbrush should be used to bring painted creativity to a realm of art, featuring handcrafted origami creations.)

But apparently they mixed it up here, to my shock. Pretending things are what they’re not. A drawn spark looks like an octopus so it is one now. A ruler looks like a boat, so now it is. And apparently Figment is just a random thing drawn that’s described as something, rather than a Figment of imagination, made using the creative process (gathering input, recombining, & creating a new thing). Hence why he’s made from abstract ideas (aka: little sparks of inspiration), that are then combined to create who & what he is.

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

And one last thing, I never remember Dreamfinder singing about & telling us at the beginning of the ride that with his flying dreamcatching machine, he can look at something, like say, a dog and say “that could be a car, and now it is one!” “And you know what, with my imagination, that purple car.. that could be.. a purple dragon! Cause it looks like one. See the body and the wheels supporting it that look like arms, and parts of it look like wings, named Figment! And now it is him!”
I’m point positive, that guy talked about and sang about how he collected little sparks of inspiration to recombine together to create marvelous new ideas. Stuff wasn’t just transformed to something else by thinking of it as something else. That guy looked for sparks to be inspired by and combined them together in ways that made sense to create something new, and that’s how he made new things. I have no idea how someone could’ve gotten this mixed up, hearing this song, reading the 2024 book I mentioned, or watching the original ride all the way through. But I dunno, perhaps I missed something hearing that song and watching that ride opening scene for all these years. So again, the animation & character design of Figment in the new video, LOVE IT. That’s spot on! The references to the original you see in the background, love that! The rest, needs work. Stick to the original ride, not the current one :

 

[AidenRodriguez731]

And one last thing, I never remember Dreamfinder singing about & telling us at the beginning of the ride that with his flying dreamcatching machine, he can look at something, like say, a dog and say “that could be a car, and now it is one!” “And you know what, with my imagination, that purple car.. that could be.. a purple dragon! Cause it looks like one. See the body and the wheels supporting it that look like arms, and parts of it look like wings, named Figment! And now it is him!”
I’m point positive, that guy talked about and sang about how he collected little sparks of inspiration to recombine together to create marvelous new ideas. Stuff wasn’t just transformed to something else by thinking of it as something else. That guy looked for sparks to be inspired by and combined them together in ways that made sense to create something new, and that’s how he made new things. I have no idea how someone could’ve gotten this mixed up, hearing this song, reading the book I mentioned, or watching the original ride all the way through. But I dunno, perhaps I missed something hearing that song and watching that ride opening scene for all these years. So again, the animation & character design of Figment in the new video, LOVE IT. That’s spot on! The references to the original you see in the background, love that! The rest, needs work. Stick to the original ride, not the current one :
View attachment 909971

Crazy because this short, while giving a lot of nostalgia, is obviously not based on the original attraction. It’s based on the current when Figment does exactly this? I don’t see the complaints here. You’re comparing how Dreamfinder acts to how modern day figment acts

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

this short is obviously not based on the original attraction. It’s based on the current when Figment does exactly this?

That’s exactly the problem I’m illustrating. I made that comparison on purpose. The original made sense, the current one doesn’t when talking about creativity. Why on earth would they base new Figment stuff on the version of the ride that isn’t popular, that we’ve been complaining about for 20+ years, including the creator of the character himself, rather than the one that made perfect sense and actually is popular? Honestly. Does that make any sense to you? It sure doesn’t to me. Infact, I feel it’s pretty insulting if you ask me, seeing as this month is when the ‘original’ opened and not the current mixed up Honey I shrunk themed one w its deceiving title. It shows that clearly Disney does ‘not’ get why we love this character or this ride. Nor seemingly wants to continue or get this character & concept right . They’d rather double down on what is clearly wrong instead of fixing it the right way. Insane

 

[AidenRodriguez731]

That’s exactly the problem I’m illustrating. I made that comparison on purpose. The original made sense, the current one doesn’t when talking about creativity. Why on earth would they base new Figment stuff on the version of the ride that isn’t popular, that we’ve been complaining about for 20+ years, including the creator of the character himself, rather than the one that made perfect sense and actually is popular? Honestly. Does that make any sense to you? It sure doesn’t to me. Infact, I feel it’s pretty insulting if you ask me, seeing as this month is when the ‘original’ opened and not the current mixed up Honey I shrunk themed one. It shows that clearly Disney does ‘not’ get why we love this character or this ride. Nor seemingly wants to continue or get this character & concept right . They’d rather double down on what is clearly wrong. Insane

Probably because and hear me out this one. They want to focus on the ride they actually have and not the version that hasn’t been seen in 25 years. The current figment does make sense. He has the curiosity of a child, just like in the original. He interprets things based on how they look, sound, etc and uses his imagination to plus them up. Similar to how people look at a cloud and see something using imagination.

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

Probably because and hear me out this one. They want to focus on the ride they actually have and not the version that hasn’t been seen in 25 years. The current figment does make sense. He has the curiosity of a child, just like in the original. He interprets things based on how they look, sound, etc and uses his imagination to plus them up. Similar to how people look at a cloud and see something using imagination.

and that’s a more realistic concept than the original? Pretending something is what it isn’t, is something you can actually implement in a real life creative occupation? Pretty sure coming up with new ideas via collecting sparks of inspiration to recombine to create new things and seeing examples of that happen in ‘Art, Literature, Theatre, Science/Tech, and Film, is far more applicable & relatable in real life than pretending something is what it isn’t while getting my 5 senses checked like I’m at a doctor’s clinic til I see a house doing normal, non-creative things upside down that supposedly is what imagination is.
And again, that’s just blatantly ignoring the very clear complaints from both us fans ‘and’ the character’s ’creator’ himself, happening for 20 or so years now. Which is wild. Keep in mind, the original attraction was the ‘second’ most popular attraction in the park, the current one isn’t. It’s one of the least. So again, where is the common sense/logic there?

 

[DisneyHead123]

Honestly I never quite got the Figment mania. If there’s a trippy 1980s dragon who has my heart it’s Puff for sure. (“Time is far stronger than magic.” ) That said, I do think a redo of this ride would be a perfect “new CEO” project for D’Amaro to announce. Giving some love to a beloved fan favorite that represents the history of the park… the only tricky thing would be modernizing it enough for today’s audiences without accidentally making a new version that people still dislike.

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

… the only tricky thing would be modernizing it enough for today’s audiences without accidentally making a new version that people still dislike.

That’s the thing, you don’t. Did Haunted Mansion, Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean, etc. have to be drastically reimagined for “today’s audiences”, despite them being much ‘older’? No, and Infact, the last 2 reimaginings of this ride prove this. The original was a timeless classic that simply needed to be enhanced w new tech & spfx like what I mentioned above, the reimaginings aren’t.

 

[DisneyHead123]

That’s the thing, you don’t. Did Haunted Mansion, Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean, etc. have to be drastically reimagined for “today’s audiences”, despite them being much ‘older’? No, and Infact, the last 2 versions of this ride prove this. The original was a timeless classic that simply needed to be enhanced like what I mentioned above, the reimaginings aren’t.

I dunno, in the LL era I don’t see it happening. Could see something akin to Tokyo’s Peter Pan. For your sake I’ll hope I’m wrong though!

 

[Spectro shire]

That’s the thing, you don’t. Did Haunted Mansion, Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean, etc. have to be drastically reimagined for “today’s audiences”, despite them being much ‘older’? No, and Infact, the last 2 reimaginings of this ride prove this. The original was a timeless classic that simply needed to be enhanced w new tech & spfx like what I mentioned above, the reimaginings aren’t.

Speaking of Pirates....does Johnny Depp really need to be in every scene?

Back to Figment now.

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

Speaking of Pirates....does Johnny Depp really need to be in every scene?

Back to Figment now.

No, but truth be told, the few added Jack AA figures still never came at the expense of the actual ride show scenes itself or the theme for the most part. The core ride itself is still the same, with the same show scenes, unlike the current Imagination ride which has had it show scenes drastically changed for the worst.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

It would not fix everything, but it seems so simple to just record new video and audio with “dream finder” rather than Dr. Nigel.

Just having dream finder host, the attraction would help a lot.

The other change I’d love to see is a new scent rather than the skunk. I feel like that is very 90s style humor. Perhaps the new sent could even be rose that way the lyrics would still make sense.

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

It would not fix everything, but it seems so simple to just record new video and audio with “dream finder” rather than Dr. Nigel.

Just having dream finder host, the attraction would help a lot.

The other change I’d love to see is a new scent rather than the skunk. I feel like that is very 90s style humor. Perhaps the new sent could even be rose that way the lyrics would still make sense.

It in fact references the rose smell, but again, it does it in a disrespectful manner. Like “hey, remember when you smelled rose in this ride? Well too bad, you get skunk instead”. You actually see that switch happen in front of you. First you see a rose on the slot machine, then Figment comes in, dresses as a skunk and farts. Even the song lyrics “that’s how you tell a skunk is not a rose” does this. But honestly, slapping Dreamfinder doesn’t fix the core problem. If this video had Dreamfinder, it still wouldn’t make sense in how they get the creative process (the core concept) wrong. The ride & its show scenes still makes no sense anymore in comparison to the original. It’d basically be pulling the same stunt done in ‘02. Keep the lousy, controversial retheme, but slap Figment in, without understanding/blatantly ignoring his purpose and why he was utilized the way he was in the original, all fixed.
They need to just do the right thing, admit they destroyed it by reimagining it & doubling down on the retheme rather than restoring it back fully, and restore the show scenes back to what they were w the kind of tech & spfx enhancements we’d expect . It’s still mostly the same track and show rooms with the track leading through the opening scene & film finale covered up by the retrofitted current queue and downstairs ImageWorks area. It’s still underneath the hollow floor boards (you can even feel & hear it when you stomp on the floor).