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Happy 40th Journey into Imgination!
- Thread starter marni1971
- Start date
Inspired Figment
Well-Known Member
Wonderful as always, but didn’t this open on the 5th, ‘not’ the 3rd as some are reporting now? Unless the 3rd is some soft/cast preview opening date I never knew about prior. Better to repost this on the correct opening date rather than the wrong one now being reported. ; https://d23.com/this-day/journey-into-imagination-opens-at-epcot/
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WondersOfLife
Blink, blink. Breathe, breathe. Day in, day out.
Loved watching your videos as a kid. Love watching your videos now as a 25 year old.
vikescaper
Well-Known Member
Thank you @marni1971 for the videos and all the hard work you put into them! It’s a shame that the current version has been around longer that the original was.
Figgy1
Well-Known Member
I didn’t see their post but looks like the date is (now) correct?
Inspired Figment
Well-Known Member
Yeah D23’s was always right (the 5th) but other sources like Wikipedia and various other Disney fan sites were posting the incorrect one (the 3rd), for whatever bizarre reason.
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Animaniac93-98
Well-Known Member
Back when the ride was "more timeless, more family friendly, more Disney" than what's in EPCOT now.
Tony the Tigger
Well-Known Member
*Imagination
FigmentFan82
Well-Known Member
As long as the original is still in my heart, it's never truly gone
JediMasterMatt
Well-Known Member
Leave it to a @marni1971 reminder of Journey into Imagination's anniversary to get me to log back in after a long period of lurking (sorry, been tied up with work). Sorry in advance for the long read ahead; but, trust me - it's worth it.
I've shared this story in the past; but, it's a sad true tale with an ironic twist of fate at the end that is a perfect fit for sharing in this thread for those that haven't stumbled upon it in one of my other posts.
Having grown up with WDW and making many trips in my youth, it's safe to say that the resort was a large contributor to my childhood and of all of the attractions - Imagination was always the one that stuck with me. There was always something special about this attraction that resonated with me and like many of the things that you get exposed to when you are young, it takes the maturity that comes with age to begin to place into context WHY some things have more impact on you that others. Over time, I realized that Imagination's central theme of taking all of what you are exposed to in life is the very foundation of what makes up the essence of who you are and how you perceive the world around you. That "spark" of creativity that makes you unique to everyone else all comes from you and how you've processed all of your life experiences.
Mighty powerful stuff from a theme park attraction comprised of a catchy Sherman Brother's song and some colorful animatronics in a lengthy adventure.
My trips to WDW with my grandparents ended when I reached my busy teen years in the mid '90s and I stayed away from the resort for far too long. By the time I was ready to return, it wasn't until after I met my future wife in the early '00s and we promised we wouldn't take a trip to Disney until after we got married. When the time came for that, I began researching in earnest everything about how to plan our trip - with one very intentional exception. I intentionally didn't read a single thing about Imagination prior to our honeymoon as I wanted to experience it with my adult eyes with only my childhood memories.
What a mistake...
When the faithful day arrived, I vividly recall pulling my bride aside and telling her as we were making our way closer to the iconic pyramid structure how important this ride was to me and how I cherished those memories and now I wanted to share it with her. We make our way closer and that's when the fog of my memory began to clear. I don't remember that sign or the entrance looking like this. Why is Eric Idle here? What is going on? By the time I sat down in the ride vehicle, I knew something was very wrong.
When the ride ended, my wife said it was nice and then asked what was wrong after she saw the look on my face. I told her that this is not the same ride that I remembered and it had changed drastically. She politely apologized; but, I could tell - she didn't understand what was lost.
When I returned home, I crossed the threshold I refused to do before the trip - I searched for the history of this online and laid bare were the folly of man. Thanks to history being preserved by people like our very own Martin and others that had videos of the old Journey into Imagination online, I could at last show my wife what had been lost to the ravages of time... and the greed that only ride sponsorship can cause to dictate changes.
So, that's the saddest part of my tale; but, as promised here's the plot twist that provides at least a humorous epilogue. I've been fortunate enough in life to meet three of the people that I would list as major influences on my childhood development: George Lucas, Shigeru Miyamoto, and Tony Baxter. On each occasion, I took the opportunity to make sure I shared with them why they were so important to me. With Lucas it was providing a framework for self-discovery via exposing me to the Hero's Journey and helping place many of life's bigger picture things into an easily digestible and relatable context. With Miyamoto, it was the fun and joy of the arcades (Mario and Donkey Kong) of gaming and the sense of exploration and adventure (Zelda). With Tony, it was that spark of creativity.
When I ran into Tony at the Esplanade at DLR, he was kind enough for a quick chat and I took the opportunity to thank him for all the wonderful memories his work added to my childhood and then proceeded to share with him the sad tale above. He couldn't suppress a chuckle at my efforts to share a beloved memory with a loved one to only have it unravel immediately. What a wonderful and talented person. We were all so lucky to have his imagination shared with us.
It's obvious that Journey into Imagination had an impact on many others. From all of us here at the epicenter of WDW geekdom of course; but, also radiating out into the mainstream consciousness as evidenced by Trey Parker using it as foundation for what was planned as South Park's 2nd feature film that became a 3 part mini-series in Imaginationland.
As Martin mentioned, it's sad that this attraction and so many others from EPCOT Center have been lost due to the sands of time. The sad truth is that the solution to WDW's "woes" with DEMAND far outweighing the SUPPLY it has in attraction capacity is that EPCOT Center of the past was perfectly positioned to alleviate that. It was a park that was physically big enough to put tens of thousands of guests through the front gates and then once inside have dozens of attractions that not only had extremely high hourly capacity; but, were LONG enough experiences to keep those guests occupied and off the streets. EPCOT Center of the late 90's could absolutely consume guests. The only question was - could it satisfy them enough?
There is no denying that by the time the millennium began to turn, many of the original EPCOT Center lineup had started to become a bit "stale" and could've used some attention via the form of "plussing". Instead, the winds of change blew many of these projects back via corporate sponsorship decisions and when left to external devices making operational choices - a sleek "new" attraction may glow a bit brighter than simply spending your marketing dollars on making something already existing better. Thus, many of these beloved attractions went under the knife to transform into something different; but, not necessarily better. Because new is expensive, new rides now all have to try to skew the demographics to appeal to an audience that wants a bit more thrill/motion in everything. The company simply doesn't have faith in investing large sums many of the tried-and-true types of attractions (boats/omnimovers) because they believe that is why the old EPCOT Center style rides suffered from declining attendance. Not that it had nothing to do with many of those rides had not changed or had improvements since they opened or that they were all very long rides that took a long time to ride let alone re-ride. I do know that there is an excuse now about long attractions not being able to hold the smart phone generation's TikTok attention span long enough.
Perhaps, this anniversary will remind TDO that the concepts of the past can be used to spark their imaginations on how to resolve the problems facing the resort in the future. Magic Kingdom will always suffer unless more compelling reasons are made to not be in that park - which there will always be a reason. An EPCOT Center with a Test Track 2.0 AND World of plussed Motion AND Cosmic Rewind type coaster AND enhanced Universe of Energy AND a plussed Horizons AND Mission Space would go a long way towards providing this. Another thing I learned from my childhood that the simple what to end up with more at the end of the day is to ADD and not SUBTRACT - which is what WDW has been doing for over two decades. Not only look at the loss in hourly capacity; but, look at the loss of how much time those guests that would've been serviced by one of the classics would've been off the streets and not in line for something else.
Anyway, back to where we started - Journey into Imagination. A true masterpiece that was lost due to letting the sponsor dictate what they wanted and not what was needed.
Oh, and if anyone in WDI is reading this... a friendly reminder that one could easily solve the maintenance nightmares of the original Flight into Imagination's turntables by using the very kinetic and in vogue LPS RV tech. Simply have the RVs and the Dreamcatcher locate to each other for the duration of the flight. No mechanical locks causing issues with variable speed and drag.
I've shared this story in the past; but, it's a sad true tale with an ironic twist of fate at the end that is a perfect fit for sharing in this thread for those that haven't stumbled upon it in one of my other posts.
Having grown up with WDW and making many trips in my youth, it's safe to say that the resort was a large contributor to my childhood and of all of the attractions - Imagination was always the one that stuck with me. There was always something special about this attraction that resonated with me and like many of the things that you get exposed to when you are young, it takes the maturity that comes with age to begin to place into context WHY some things have more impact on you that others. Over time, I realized that Imagination's central theme of taking all of what you are exposed to in life is the very foundation of what makes up the essence of who you are and how you perceive the world around you. That "spark" of creativity that makes you unique to everyone else all comes from you and how you've processed all of your life experiences.
Mighty powerful stuff from a theme park attraction comprised of a catchy Sherman Brother's song and some colorful animatronics in a lengthy adventure.
My trips to WDW with my grandparents ended when I reached my busy teen years in the mid '90s and I stayed away from the resort for far too long. By the time I was ready to return, it wasn't until after I met my future wife in the early '00s and we promised we wouldn't take a trip to Disney until after we got married. When the time came for that, I began researching in earnest everything about how to plan our trip - with one very intentional exception. I intentionally didn't read a single thing about Imagination prior to our honeymoon as I wanted to experience it with my adult eyes with only my childhood memories.
What a mistake...
When the faithful day arrived, I vividly recall pulling my bride aside and telling her as we were making our way closer to the iconic pyramid structure how important this ride was to me and how I cherished those memories and now I wanted to share it with her. We make our way closer and that's when the fog of my memory began to clear. I don't remember that sign or the entrance looking like this. Why is Eric Idle here? What is going on? By the time I sat down in the ride vehicle, I knew something was very wrong.
When the ride ended, my wife said it was nice and then asked what was wrong after she saw the look on my face. I told her that this is not the same ride that I remembered and it had changed drastically. She politely apologized; but, I could tell - she didn't understand what was lost.
When I returned home, I crossed the threshold I refused to do before the trip - I searched for the history of this online and laid bare were the folly of man. Thanks to history being preserved by people like our very own Martin and others that had videos of the old Journey into Imagination online, I could at last show my wife what had been lost to the ravages of time... and the greed that only ride sponsorship can cause to dictate changes.
So, that's the saddest part of my tale; but, as promised here's the plot twist that provides at least a humorous epilogue. I've been fortunate enough in life to meet three of the people that I would list as major influences on my childhood development: George Lucas, Shigeru Miyamoto, and Tony Baxter. On each occasion, I took the opportunity to make sure I shared with them why they were so important to me. With Lucas it was providing a framework for self-discovery via exposing me to the Hero's Journey and helping place many of life's bigger picture things into an easily digestible and relatable context. With Miyamoto, it was the fun and joy of the arcades (Mario and Donkey Kong) of gaming and the sense of exploration and adventure (Zelda). With Tony, it was that spark of creativity.
When I ran into Tony at the Esplanade at DLR, he was kind enough for a quick chat and I took the opportunity to thank him for all the wonderful memories his work added to my childhood and then proceeded to share with him the sad tale above. He couldn't suppress a chuckle at my efforts to share a beloved memory with a loved one to only have it unravel immediately. What a wonderful and talented person. We were all so lucky to have his imagination shared with us.
It's obvious that Journey into Imagination had an impact on many others. From all of us here at the epicenter of WDW geekdom of course; but, also radiating out into the mainstream consciousness as evidenced by Trey Parker using it as foundation for what was planned as South Park's 2nd feature film that became a 3 part mini-series in Imaginationland.
As Martin mentioned, it's sad that this attraction and so many others from EPCOT Center have been lost due to the sands of time. The sad truth is that the solution to WDW's "woes" with DEMAND far outweighing the SUPPLY it has in attraction capacity is that EPCOT Center of the past was perfectly positioned to alleviate that. It was a park that was physically big enough to put tens of thousands of guests through the front gates and then once inside have dozens of attractions that not only had extremely high hourly capacity; but, were LONG enough experiences to keep those guests occupied and off the streets. EPCOT Center of the late 90's could absolutely consume guests. The only question was - could it satisfy them enough?
There is no denying that by the time the millennium began to turn, many of the original EPCOT Center lineup had started to become a bit "stale" and could've used some attention via the form of "plussing". Instead, the winds of change blew many of these projects back via corporate sponsorship decisions and when left to external devices making operational choices - a sleek "new" attraction may glow a bit brighter than simply spending your marketing dollars on making something already existing better. Thus, many of these beloved attractions went under the knife to transform into something different; but, not necessarily better. Because new is expensive, new rides now all have to try to skew the demographics to appeal to an audience that wants a bit more thrill/motion in everything. The company simply doesn't have faith in investing large sums many of the tried-and-true types of attractions (boats/omnimovers) because they believe that is why the old EPCOT Center style rides suffered from declining attendance. Not that it had nothing to do with many of those rides had not changed or had improvements since they opened or that they were all very long rides that took a long time to ride let alone re-ride. I do know that there is an excuse now about long attractions not being able to hold the smart phone generation's TikTok attention span long enough.
Perhaps, this anniversary will remind TDO that the concepts of the past can be used to spark their imaginations on how to resolve the problems facing the resort in the future. Magic Kingdom will always suffer unless more compelling reasons are made to not be in that park - which there will always be a reason. An EPCOT Center with a Test Track 2.0 AND World of plussed Motion AND Cosmic Rewind type coaster AND enhanced Universe of Energy AND a plussed Horizons AND Mission Space would go a long way towards providing this. Another thing I learned from my childhood that the simple what to end up with more at the end of the day is to ADD and not SUBTRACT - which is what WDW has been doing for over two decades. Not only look at the loss in hourly capacity; but, look at the loss of how much time those guests that would've been serviced by one of the classics would've been off the streets and not in line for something else.
Anyway, back to where we started - Journey into Imagination. A true masterpiece that was lost due to letting the sponsor dictate what they wanted and not what was needed.
Oh, and if anyone in WDI is reading this... a friendly reminder that one could easily solve the maintenance nightmares of the original Flight into Imagination's turntables by using the very kinetic and in vogue LPS RV tech. Simply have the RVs and the Dreamcatcher locate to each other for the duration of the flight. No mechanical locks causing issues with variable speed and drag.
Goofy Ninja
Well-Known Member
I used to love when each of the rides were really long in Future World. Now it seems like they just want to get you in and get you out.
Inspired Figment
Well-Known Member
They’re still there, just caged up with a chain lock.