Had the ride along with Figment & Dreamfinder continued to be marketed properly, along with Honey, I Shrunk the Audience simply using the exact same method in queing, signage, and marketing setup as Magic Journeys & Captain EO.. that never would’ve happened.
That's very true, but I believe that HISTA was only supposed to be a placeholder, as the movie was already 5 years old at this point, and I think Disney would have (without the long-term financial philosophy change) put in a attraction that would have been better. I honestly think this was both companies fault, and was just a matter of bad timing.
I agree.. but also, don’t blame yourself for repeating that whole “it’s all on Kodak” point. That story/blame of it being all Kodak’s fault has went around for way too long... There was certainly more to the story than simple Kodak funding issues. Funding issues don’t account for not using that budget properly and drastically changing the theme when absolutely unnecessary.
it might have been worse..... just playing devils advocate. We know how the Kodak story goes. But what if Kodak pulled out. We know how epcot and sponsorship goes. Do we get Horizons (bs on the sinkhole), or WOL. Or do we get a complete redo Energy or WOM. Figment could be gone entirely or the building even razed. As an architecture fan, someone who was there in 83 and a huge figment fan (i was 8 when i first saw him, he was cooler than mickey in my eyes) as much as what we have is a travesty and waste (the two rides after the original, no dream finder, the entire top floor and the building not being loved as it should be), part of me hopes that since we have any semblance of figment (esp with new popularity) and they building still stands.. thats theres hope. In another multiverse maybe theres a festival tent where JII was and figment is long dead.
Figment was removed in the second incarnation except for a very small tribute, so there is that. But I definitely agree that the fact that the building is still a shell of its self without any crazy changes is a blessing for the pavilion's future.
Hopefully that was just an Iger principle, and hopefully as his creative ideas depart, the unrelenting idea that "every attraction in these parks are going to be based on a movie or going to be made into a movie" goes with him.
What people don’t tend to remember or realize is that initially when rumors spread of Journey into Imagination closing entirely for a Honey, I Shrunk themed darkride and that Figment & Dreamfinder would be gone entirely. People signed petitions & campaigned to keep the ride long before they changed it. Hence why Figment was shoehorned in at the last second it seems, particularly in the Your Imagination version. Course, once the backlash became a lot worse.. we got the ‘02 version we still have currently
In a sense, that last second addition of Figment almost added insult to injury. The 1999 version of the attraction essentially was the Imagination Institute idea, and only in 2003 did Figment return in any recognizable nature.
I've never seen that art! Was this proposed a continuation of Dreamfinder and Figment, or a replacement like JIYI (but far superior than that)?
Yup... IMO, still looks sterile, cold, overly industrial, and completely misses the point both in a visual & narrative point on what imagination is all about. It’s supposed to be about ideas and how new ideas are basically other ideas combined in unique & different ways to create new things. That’s what creates “new” things. I still can’t see how presenting Imagination through a strictly scientific view is an improvement when the original presented it in a broad, abstract way through most of all creative occupations/mediums.
Basically a higher budget/more high tech version of Journey Into Your Imagination. Which again, wouldn’t have fixed the drastically inferior narrative & overall theme. It just would’ve had possibly higher quality special effects & illusions really.
It couldn't have got much worse than what we got in 1999.
If it doesn't work, I expect EPCOT forever to return temporarily until Davison can figure out how to use the barges for a new ROE.
True! And actually.. Harmonious is seemingly ‘yet another’ example of how budget really doesn’t mean anything when the overall concept, “story” or narrative is a bad fit for the park and not executed properly. And on another note, let’s hope that a JII overhaul wouldn’t be “rushed” per say in terms of quality and execution. Granted, since the original ride is already planned out and basically most of it would just have to be rebuilt.. it’d be a lot easier, quicker, and thus cheaper to build. But it all depends really... we’ll just have to wait & see what happens.
