EPCOT Figment, well, to be replaced by Figment

[DreamfinderGuy]

Somewhat unrelated to the topic but has anyone else noticed how the OP has essentially disappeared for over a whole year now? Last seen a few days ago, but no posts since last August. Just kinda strange.

 

[Homemade Imagineering]

Somewhat unrelated to the topic but has anyone else noticed how the OP has essentially disappeared for over a whole year now? Last seen a few days ago, but no posts since last August. Just kinda strange.

That’s very strange. Back when this thread was posted, I was in such a better mood back then compared to now. Of course that probably goes for everyone else who had an immense amount of hope before last years D23, and the quarantine has made many of us somewhat irritable I’m sure. Because I don’t have the time to read through this entire thread over again, do you remember where the OP got his insider information that compelled him to create this thread? Just curious. Also, it doesn’t look like anything is going to happen with this mediocre mess of an attraction for a long time now, so that’s something I guess. Martin’s posts last year had me so hyped, and to think those plans for imagination’s overhaul are seemingly canned, at least for a long while, is incredibly sad.

 

[Figments Friend]

A re-do of the Pavilion has been on again, off again for so long.
It is just something always in flux, back n' forth, with no real movement ....at least, that is how it appears to the general Parks fan public.
Behind the scenes there has been talk ...lots of it...over the years, but again it always comes and goes with no real commitment or 'movement'.
It always gets put on the back burner as far as Disney is concerned when it comes to prioritizing projects.

As badly as i would love to see the place 'fixed', i personally would rather wait until they are focused more seriously on giving the Pavilion a worthy refresh instead of some half-****d version with non-related IP slapped all over the walls.
Wait until we have a team in place that actually cares about making real corrections happen to the mistakes done, and not just some budgeteered 'quick fix'.
That's what got the Pavilion in the mess it is currently.

Invest wholeheartedly.....and make the place truly inspirational and 'IMAGINATIVE" again.
Go big, or go home.....

-

 

[EPCOTCenterLover]

^^^ It's gotta be Figment or nothing.

 

[EricsBiscuit]

Some positive news! I can confirm that at least as of yesterday, the Figment AA in the Sound Lab room is working properly again! He’s looking and moving great! If you visit EPCOT in the near future, make sure to visit him. ^_^

Thanks for riding it for us. I have already fulfilled my biannual quota for that attraction. Maybe when the skunk effect breaks down I’ll ride it again.

 

[Homemade Imagineering]

A re-do of the Pavilion has been on again, off again for so long.
It is just something always in flux, back n' forth, with no real movement ....at least, that is how it appears to the general Parks fan public.
Behind the scenes there has been talk ...lots of it...over the years, but again it always comes and goes with no real commitment or 'movement'.
It always gets put on the back burner as far as Disney is concerned when it comes to prioritizing projects.

As badly as i would love to see the place 'fixed', i personally would rather wait until they are focused more seriously on giving the Pavilion a worthy refresh instead of some half-****d version with non-related IP slapped all over the walls.
Wait until we have a team in place that actually cares about making real corrections happen to the mistakes done, and not just some budgeteered 'quick fix'.
That's what got the Pavilion in the mess it is currently.

Invest wholeheartedly.....and make the place truly inspirational and 'IMAGINATIVE" again.
Go big, or go home.....

-

I completely agree. I just can’t see Figment leaving the pavilion. Whatever is to come, must include Figment, no matter how obscure or tied in to an IP it may be. He is a flexible character so you can include him in many situations, and yes, there are limits to where you can or cannot include him, but the concept of his character is pretty flexible. Now, would I want to see him tied into a massive IP based attraction? Preferably no, but if Disney feels so compelled to have an IP everywhere, and won’t take no for an answer, then I guess I’d have to settle for Figment and inside out. Hopefully they could find a way to include the Dreamfinder in the scenario as well. Jack did a great episode on DSNY Newscast about a possible inside out tie in scenario. I recommend checking that out if you haven’t already. Now for what I’d want to see, well, that’s simple, and of course it’s an updated version of the original, maybe even using Mystic Manor as a template, similar to how Dinosaur and Indy share the same vehicles and layout. As for now we will be stuck with the current crap we’ve had since 1999/2002, seemingly for a while unfortunately. We just have to be patient.

 

[Mike S]

A re-do of the Pavilion has been on again, off again for so long.
It is just something always in flux, back n' forth, with no real movement ....at least, that is how it appears to the general Parks fan public.
Behind the scenes there has been talk ...lots of it...over the years, but again it always comes and goes with no real commitment or 'movement'.
It always gets put on the back burner as far as Disney is concerned when it comes to prioritizing projects.

As badly as i would love to see the place 'fixed', i personally would rather wait until they are focused more seriously on giving the Pavilion a worthy refresh instead of some half-****d version with non-related IP slapped all over the walls.
Wait until we have a team in place that actually cares about making real corrections happen to the mistakes done, and not just some budgeteered 'quick fix'.
That's what got the Pavilion in the mess it is currently.

Invest wholeheartedly.....and make the place truly inspirational and 'IMAGINATIVE" again.
Go big, or go home.....

-

I really don’t understand the holdup. Imagination is quite literally the most “DISNEY!!!” concept there is. Getting cynical maybe the fact they can’t get going with imagination is a sign of how far they’ve fallen. They can’t fix imagination because they have no imagination.

 

[aladdin2007]

I really don’t understand the holdup. Imagination is quite literally the most “DISNEY!!!” concept there is. Getting cynical maybe the fact they can’t get going with imagination is a sign of how far they’ve fallen. They can’t fix imagination because they have no imagination.

exactly, when they dont even have the gumption and will to do a stitch replacement in the most popular park, yeah its at the point now they have given up on imagination in more ways than one.

 

[Homemade Imagineering]

exactly, when they dont even have the gumption and will to do a stitch replacement in the most popular park, yeah its at the point now they have given up on imagination in more ways than one.

And it really isn’t that hard. All they have to do really, is duplicate mystic manor at Epcot and retheme the whole thing to an updated JII, and it would probably be the best thing ever. As for stitch, the same case can be said. There are so many concepts that can go into that building, and the fact that they seem to ignore it in favor of extremely unnecessary and poorly timed additions to the parks in places that don’t need replacement, or are just projects that are way to dang expensive, and suck up the budget from any overhauls to attractions that need them, such as JII with figment, is just pathetic.

 

[DoleWhipDrea]

If the rumors are true, there at least have been Imagineers that already have plans for something harkening to the original’s spirit with the Dreamfinder and Figment as the stars of the attraction and no alternative IP tie-in., so let’s cut some of WDI some slack...they have to get funding approved from farther up the ladder for these things.

The difficulty is having all of the higher-ups sign off on an attraction like that. If Josh D’Amaro is a bonafide fan of the parks and their history, and truly cares about what fans want to see, then we have a better chance. But Bob Chapek will still need to say yes, along with any of the creative heads at WDI.

I personally don’t want to see a repeat of past mistakes here, and making our fan-favorite stars compete for time with another IP/other featured characters would most certainly be a repeated mistake.

Forcing every new attraction to have some franchise tie-in seems to get it outdated fairly quickly, unless it’s a franchise that has truly stood the test of time...and even then, poor execution can have poor results. The parks desperately need diversity from all of Disney’s franchises constantly being thrown in your face. Balance is key.

 

[Homemade Imagineering]

If the rumors are true, there at least have been Imagineers that already have plans for something harkening to the original’s spirit with the Dreamfinder and Figment as the stars of the attraction and no alternative IP tie-in., so let’s cut some of WDI some slack...they have to get funding approved from farther up the ladder for these things.

The difficulty is having all of the higher-ups sign off on an attraction like that. If Josh D’Amaro is a bonafide fan of the parks and their history, and truly cares about what fans want to see, then we have a better chance. But Bob Chapek will still need to say yes, along with any of the creative heads at WDI.

I personally don’t want to see a repeat of past mistakes here, and making our fan-favorite stars compete for time with another IP/other featured characters would most certainly be a repeated mistake.

Forcing every new attraction to have some franchise tie-in seems to get it outdated fairly quickly, unless it’s a franchise that has truly stood the test of time...and even then, poor execution can have poor results. The parks desperately need diversity from all of Disney’s franchises constantly being thrown in your face. Balance is key.

I completely agree. My biggest worry however, is that they’ll eventually move figment to the Play Pavilion with an even smaller role over there, and they’ll simply demo the current attraction for a completely new attraction that has nothing to do with imagination. I know wakanda was tossed around as an idea for WS, as we found out about that yesterday. This does worry me a bit, because the Execs may find that they’d rather demo imagination due to its lack of ridership for wakanda or something else, rather than rebuilding the original attraction. Then again, I realize I’m jumping to conclusions, and Wakanda wasn’t even set to go anywhere near JII with Figment, it was supposed to be located next to Germany. Things change however, and with everything so flexible it does worry me that they’ll just end up demoing imagination for something like Wakanda in the future. Also, I remember Martin mentioning on this thread the possibilities that the pavilion could face in the future, which were full demo, partial demo, or gutting, and he mentioned that full demo would most likely lead to something completely new and different, sans Figment and Dreamfinder. That’s why I mentioned this scenario. Again, just putting my thoughts out there.

 

[chad5871]

And it really isn’t that hard. All they have to do really, is duplicate mystic manor at Epcot and retheme the whole thing to an updated JII, and it would probably be the best thing ever. As for stitch, the same case can be said. There are so many concepts that can go into that building, and the fact that they seem to ignore it in favor of extremely unnecessary and poorly timed additions to the parks in places that don’t need replacement, or are just projects that are way to dang expensive, and suck up the budget from any overhauls to attractions that need them, such as JII with figment, is just pathetic.

I thought I remembered reading somewhere in this thread that since the Mystic Manor ride vehicles are trackless, the ride mechanisms require the floor to be perfectly flat and stable. Due to the state of the the current pavilion building and its floor, it wouldn't be able to handle this type of ride mechanism and the building would essentially have to be razed and rebuilt.

 

[Homemade Imagineering]

I thought I remembered reading somewhere in this thread that since the Mystic Manor ride vehicles are trackless, the ride mechanisms require the floor to be perfectly flat and stable. Due to the state of the the current pavilion building and its floor, it wouldn't be able to handle this type of ride mechanism and the building would essentially have to be razed and rebuilt.

Which isn’t out of the realm of possibility. Demolition is one of the options they may go with if they feel it is needed, and everything is up in the air right now so who knows what they’ll end up going with.

 

[Haymarket2008]

I thought I remembered reading somewhere in this thread that since the Mystic Manor ride vehicles are trackless, the ride mechanisms require the floor to be perfectly flat and stable. Due to the state of the the current pavilion building and its floor, it wouldn't be able to handle this type of ride mechanism and the building would essentially have to be razed and rebuilt.

If they have to demolish the building in order for us to get the Dreamfinder/Figment attraction we've always wanted, then so be it. The one caveat: keep the pyramids, adjust the design.

 

[Homemade Imagineering]

If they have to demolish the building in order for us to get the Dreamfinder/Figment attraction we've always wanted, then so be it. The one caveat: keep the pyramids, adjust the design.

Agreed. The only issue is that Martin stated what he believed would happen depending on what they eventually go with. He listed partial demo, full demo, and a complete gutting. I believe I remember him saying that if full demo occurs, they’ll most likely build something based on the concept of imagination, but it’ll be on a smaller scale and probably won’t include figment or the Dreamfinder. Then again this was just a proposal, and things are constantly changing, especially now, so anything can really change between now and whenever they green light something.

 

[Admiral01]

Let’s just dust off those old plans for JII from the early 80s and simply rebuild what was already there. Gut the building, modernize the tech, improve the infrastructure and systems, but just go with what’s been proven to be loved. It’s already been done once...the building is designed for the original attraction...just fix what was changed and rebuild. No need to reinvent the wheel.

Then give us a Mystic Manor type attraction elsewhere. From scratch. Without destroying something else.

 

[DreamfinderGuy]

What would

Let’s just dust off those old plans for JII from the early 80s and simply rebuild what was already there. Gut the building, modernize the tech, improve the infrastructure and systems, but just go with what’s been proven to be loved. It’s already been done once...the building is designed for the original attraction...just fix what was changed and rebuild. No need to reinvent the wheel.

Then give us a Mystic Manor type attraction elsewhere. From scratch. Without destroying something else.

If only it were that easy. The Flight Into Imagination scene will never rotate again, at least not in the current building. Even if it could, just simply "putting back what was there" wouldn't solve the issues it had while it was in service. I'd love to see the original come back just as much as anyone else, but the next incarnation physically *has* to be at least somewhat different.

 

[Brer Panther]

What would

If only it were that easy. The Flight Into Imagination scene will never rotate again, at least not in the current building. Even if it could, just simply "putting back what was there" wouldn't solve the issues it had while it was in service. I'd love to see the original come back just as much as anyone else, but the next incarnation physically *has* to be at least somewhat different.

Considering that so many recent trackless dark rides have at least one scene where they just park the riders in front of a large screen for a few minutes, they could use that tech for the Flight Into Imagination scene instead of a giant turntable.

 

[pdude81]

What would

If only it were that easy. The Flight Into Imagination scene will never rotate again, at least not in the current building. Even if it could, just simply "putting back what was there" wouldn't solve the issues it had while it was in service. I'd love to see the original come back just as much as anyone else, but the next incarnation physically *has* to be at least somewhat different.

Not using the same turntable, but there have been a few technological advancements in the past 40 years. I don't actually assume they would reboot this ride with the same layout, but I'd like to think that there are options for doing that if the building is more or less gutted.

 

[DreamfinderGuy]

Considering that so many recent trackless dark rides have at least one scene where they just park the riders in front of a large screen for a few minutes, they could use that tech for the Flight Into Imagination scene instead of a giant turntable.

Of course! But the point still stands that the original attraction can't be 100% restored in the current building.