Journey Into Imagination

‘’’Journey Into Imagination’’’ is an attraction at the Epcot theme park at Walt Disney World and opened in March 1983. It has been through three incarnations over the years, all three of them featuring Figment, a small purple dragon, as a character. The ride also uses the Omnimover ride system and features the song One Little Spark lyrically or instrumentally, with it being the basis of the score in the original and current.

Journey Into Imagination (1983-1998)
The original ride opened March 3rd 1983 and was considered by many to be the best version. It began with the ride vehicles “floating” in the clouds and seeing the silhouette of a strange blimp mixed with a vacuum cleaner and hearing the humming and singing of its pilot. In the next scene we come right next to this vessel and the pilot, an old man with a red beard dressed in a blue suit and top hat, introduces himself as the Dreamfinder and saying that he uses his vehicle, called the Dream Mobile or Dream Catcher by some fans, to collect dreams and ideas to create all sorts of new things. Soon he creates a figment of his imagination who comes up from a door near the back and comes up with enough ideas to fill the Dream Mobile’s idea bag, all of which show up later in the ride. Dreamfinder then tells Figment that before we create something, we have to go back to the Dreamport which he says is never far away when you use your imagination. We then leave the side of the Dream Mobile and enter the Dreamport’s storage room, which includes a massive washing machine like device for sorting ideas. Also in the room there are numerous objects including boxed applause, a plasma ball, and a birdcage of musical notes. After leaving the storage room, you would go through several rooms based off of Art, Literature, the Performing Arts and Science. The Art room was mostly white colored, probably to represent a massive canvas, and had a large painting Dreamfinder was making using a large fiber optic paint brush, a carousel with giant origami animals, and a pot of rainbows held by Figment. The Literature room was mostly focused on suspenseful tales and had Dreamfinder playing a massive organ with words coming out of it, words that turned into there meanings, a massive book featuring the raven from Edgar Allen Poe’s story cawing menacingly, and books of horrible monsters Figment tried to keep closed. The performing arts had Figment trying on costumes backstage while Dreamfinder was conducting a laser light show similarly to an orchestra conductor. The last of the rooms, Science, featured a large machine that Dreamfinder was operating that took a closer look at the workings of nature such as the growth of plants, the formation of crystals from minerals and looking into space. At the end, Dreamfinder tells Figment and the audience that Imagination is our key to unlock the hidden wonders of our world. We then enter the final show scene as our picture is taken as we see Figment surrounded by several movie screens of him being a scientist, a mountain climber, a pirate, a superhero, a tap dancer, a ship captain, a cowboy, and a athlete. Dreamfinder, who is behind a movie camera gives us one last inspiring message and tells us to use out newly found sparks of imagination in the ImageWorks and the onride photo is shown to us on a screen next to the camera. The ride closed on October 10th 1998 to the dismay of numerous fans.

Journey Into Your Imagination (1999-2001)
The Millennium version of the ride opened October 1 1999 and featured a theme based off of the 3-D movie Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. Now guests would take a tour of the Imagination Institute and be test subjects for the new invention, The Imagination Scanner. Dr. Nigel Channing, who was played by Eric Idle, hosted this version. The ride began with guests going through the scanner and saying that the riders have no imagination. Then Channing decides to send us through the numerous labs throughout the Institute including Sound, Illusion, Color, Gravity and Connections. In sound, you entered a room of total silence and complete darkness. Slowly, you hear the sounds of cricket chirping, distant city noises an approaching train that came closer and closer until it seemed to pass over the audience’s heads. In Illusion, there is a fish swimming in and out of its tank and a cage with a disappearing and reappearing butterfly. In the Color lab, there are sounds of jungle animals and cities that cause two large light screens to change colors to the sounds. In the Connections lab, we see numerous stars that soon form into constellations. Finally in the Gravity lab, we enter a upside down house. Soon we go through the Scanner again and our minds have been supercharged with ideas and we exit to the new version of the ImageWorks. Figment’s appearances in the ride were reduced to a few cameos in the queue movies, a constellation in the connection lab, and in the end movie. But Figment’s minor role was the downfall of this ride, as it soon became the most complained about attraction in the history of Walt Disney World. It closed on October 8th 2001 to bring Figment back to a larger role.

Journey Into Imagination With Figment (2002- Present)
The current version of the ride opened on June 2nd 2002. Figment returned with a larger role and appeared in every show scene. The song One Little Spark also returned with new verses. This time, the Institute had five labs based on the five human senses: Sight, Sound, Smell, Touch and Taste. Dr. Nigel Channing returned as well and invited us to the Institute’s open house. Figment tags along to Channing’s dismay and causes mischief along the way. In Sound, Figment interrupts the experiment and comes up with a telephone and the train sound is now a “Train of Thought”. In Sight, Figment messes with the room’s eye chart and begins a sing along to one little spark. In Smell, Figment becomes a skunk and we suffer the smell. Channing, after seeing the chaos Figment has been causing, gives up on the tour and Figment takes us to his own open house, which he turns upside down with his carefree mind. Channing soon learns from Figment that Imagination should be set free and we go into the finale with numerous Figments and Figment and Channing sing the song together and we disembark for the ImageWorks. The current ride has received mixed opinions, some saying Figment has become obnoxious and annoying and hoping for a future rehab working Dreamfinder back in, while others are just glad he’s back.