Oh I remember this when i was super little - my parents bought me a Figment stuffed animal and then i lost it in the park and i was devastated because my my parents didn't have the money to buy another one for me - when my parents went back and asked if someone had turned it in by the time we returned home from the trip Disney mailed a care package to me with a new Figment with a letter saying they had found him for me (obviously they just took another off the shelf-but I thought that was a nice touch of the management)
cbudzyn This is what makes Disney different and they even do this sort of thing now. My wife lost her credit card and had to use the room phone to contact the credit card company. When we checked out we mentioned what had happened and they cancelled the phone charges.
+cbudzyn I remember this ride from when I was 5 in 97. it's how I learned about edgar allen poe's "the Raven". my parents also got me a stuffed figment. still have him!
This first original version was the best dark ride of all time and then Disney went and wrecked it when all it's sponsors pulled out at the end of the 80's to save on maintenance costs. Disney, bring back the original version !!!!
So they don’t care about their fans? Only money? Greedy. The current only explains the senses and imagination when the original explains that it can take you above and beyond.
Holy cow Dreamfinder's movements are so lifelike. X_X Hard to believe an audioanimatronic at any park in the 80's or 90's could move so well!!! Disney really is kick ass at this kind of thing...
I'd give anything to relive the moment I was at Disney during this time. The animatronics animation was so lifelike and real...it's forever embedded in my core memory...
My whole family loved the smell of that ride and we still talk about it today. We all thought it smelled like Dove Soap. We all started buying Dove Soap to remember the figment ride.
Disney World theme parks always had a pleasant smell throughout. Maybe not so much the ride-through zoo at Animal Kingdom. I forgot. It's been so long.
Dude why couldn't they keep this masterpiece as it is? Just give it a little tweaks of modern technology here and there but maintain the same story and concept just like Disneyland is doing with the classic dark rides over in Anaheim... It didn't need a whole makeover...
This video gave me the most intense nostalgia rush of all time, I’m almost teary eyed. I remember how much this ride hit me and stuck with me as a little kid. So magical these rides were back then.
The recording helped me understand why organ music and lightening used to scare me so bad (well…. With the accompanying thunder to boot as well) now that I know? Something in my inner child changed. Changed to enjoy it and not be afraid! ❤ but splash mountain will forever hold my trauma.
This really was such a unique ride. They really need to bring it back! It’s amazing how much this ride has stuck with me throughout my life. Even now I randomly get this song stuck in my head. I still remember most of the words. I’ll just start humming it at work and no one has any idea where it came from. I never lost that spark. I still make things from scraps and no one has a clue about where my brain gets it’s ideas. I want that for my nieces and nephews too. I want them to have the kind of imagination that allows them to see the potential in things that most people see as trash or worthless. The couch is broken? Let’s dismantle it and see what we can do with the parts. You just got an apartment and you can’t afford furniture? Let’s go to the dollar store and see what we can make. Let’s drive around the expensive neighborhoods and load the car with stuff they’ve abandoned on the curb. Having an unlimited imagination on that level is a survival skill later in life. Too many lack that ability nowadays.
I miss how long rides used to be at Epcot. This one got you off your feet for 13 minutes. Now Epcot is more concerned with people wandering and buying alcohol.
Just got back from Disney and hadn't been since 1989. I was so bummed by how much Epcot has changed, especially the Imagination pavilion : ( I am so glad you put this up to keep the old school version alive in our memories. I think the new one totally sucks (my kids liked it but they didn't know the difference).
It isn't so much that it sucks, it is more so that you had hopes that were fated to not be lived up to. The current version is simply lacking in the department of actual imagination, which is really bad as the pavilion is based on imagination, but what is there is an attempt to modernize imagination through the use of a laboratory and a scientist who has the wrong idea of what imagination actually is.
Why can't Disney bring back The Dreamfinder? I mean, the children of this generation shouldn't be afraid to use their imagination and I do believe that both figment and The Dreamfinder can help children understand that.
Well dreamfinder is in two easter eggs in the new version! There is a door that says dean finder on it and in the dream lab you can hear chuck mcann's snoring! So I like that they still do care about him
Apparently kids cant imagine anymore all the technology thrust in their face wipes that away I was born after this ride closed and technology was starting its take over but I'm old enough that I didnt have any of this my brother has a tablet and a laptop at 6 and doesn't like to go outside much I was begging to go outside hated when I had to come in was always on some type of wheels and when I was inside I was playing with my dolls or stuffed animals or coloring imagination was what kept me from being board and it still does as I try to write my own stories
Thank you so much for posting this version. I went in 89. I loved the dreamfinder and the old non-celebrity professor. My Mother and I went on the ride about 5 times in one day.
I miss this version terribly and the 2 later incarnations pale by comparison. A revision to a "steampunk" genre, resurrecting Dreamfinder, and putting Figment front and center is the way to go.
It seems like there's so much to see in this ride, I wish more footage of it existed. I'm so glad someone caught it on camera, as it was closed before I was even a year old. Hopefully they'll bring it back someday with updated scenes, effects and animatronics!
I never went to Disney World or Land and as a child most rides scared me so I went on so few and I was never near this ride. However I must say, losing this ride is a loss for our future. Sure, you can argue children with enough imagination do not need some purple suited man with a dragon to awaken that. You'd be surprised, though, at how many children do need this encouragement. They need to be told not even that they are special, but that they need to think and hone their imagination. Math and logical sense is no doubt important, but without imagination and the realization that thinking outside the box can lead to wonderful new creations... we have lost the ability to innovate and truly express what could be wondrous new ideas. I can only imagine that more than a few successful and even unsuccessful artists who attended this ride as children are now adults and hum this to themselves as they are creating and their imaginations are helping to contribute to the advancement and benefit of the world. I hope in the future someone, maybe even just some crazy fanatic with limitless money, recreates the ride down to the smallest detail for future generations. Just watching this poor quality version of the ride combined with some videos and what I've read, it's just too important of a ride to die for good. The message that it conveys to "cultivate your unique imagination" is so important. The way that message is delivered is, in my opinion, so absolutely brilliant that I cannot think of a better way to inspire and teach it to a young child.
it's so sad to see what it became. I had found memories of this. Atleast the Dreamfinders ship is still in Epcot in one of the stores. Also Who in the hell dislikes this? It's a classic.
I never went on the old version or the second version. I like the third version, the second version is the worst I guess, and the first version is as good as the first one. But Dreamfinder’s singing sounds like he’s gurgling shower water or like he chainsmoked 5 Cigars before singing the song. Maybe both
I really enjoyed this version, Disney got this right the first time. My problem with the later version the way they changed Figment. In the original, he was a wide eyed child discovering his own imagination and what he could do with it. In the later version he is a brat. Come on Disney, you did it for the Enchanted Tiki Room, bring back the original.
I don’t care for new figments personality. He used to be humble and willing to listen, learn, and well….. gather up those ideas!!! The idea bag isn’t full enough! 😊
I always used to look forward to the imagination area of Epcot. Wish they would change it to focus heavily on the imagination of things like creating Music (and good music with chord progression and contrast), Art and Animation, Physics-Inventions-Astronomy Sciences, Robotics and Automation, Magic and Illusion, and really making what might seen as fictional into reality which is true imagination and has shaped this modern era. The Tour of a Science Lab with a fart joke and a cartoon dragon being a nuisance is pretty lamo.
Disney is supposed to be working on a major overhaul of EPCOT that is supposed to be close to it's original concept. I really hope they bring this back. This one they got right the first time.
It needs an overhaul, but going the original route would be a big step backward. I'm not saying I don't want to see the same angle with Dreamfinder and all that, but I think technology's evolved to the degree that going the same route they did in 1983 would be less than spectacular. Perfect world, I'd say they should gut the pavilion, and redo the ride with a trackless system like Mystic Manor in Hong Kong.
They’re doing a major overhaul yes. But, not without IPs. Certain attractions will go away. But, they’re also wanting to bring back something in Wonders of Life, redoing Innoventions, at some point they’ll revamp Mission:Space. But, with Imagination, the head imagineer basically told everyone they’ve been sitting on a cash cow and ignoring it (aka Figment is a crowd pleaser). So, it’s an overhaul but they’re just trying to keep it along the same aspect of the original concept. Educational and experimental. I don’t think epcot will ever go back to the original days. But, I’m glad they’re still trying to keep it educational. I trust Joe Rhode and his ideas. He loved Walt and his dreams, and he will do what’s best for the park. I’m glad that this pavilion will truly go back to being Imagination and not all about the senses.
Personally, the one IP that I wouldn’t mind seeing in EPCOT, is Professor Ludwig von Drake. He would fit in perfectly, and I would love to see him used more.
If you think the current version is bad, you should have seen the one in between this one and now, talk about HORRIBLE. Makes todays seem like a masterpiece. LOL
This brought back so many great memories. I went to the grand opening of Epcot when I was a kid and went back every year through high school. This was my favorite ride and Figment was the best! I loved this old ride. I haven't been back in 20 years and I'm grateful I haven't been forced to see the reincarnations. In my mind Figment is still riding the Imaginator singing his song.
I think it would be incredible for Dreamfinder and Figment to be characters in Kingdom Hearts 3 (edit 10/28/2020: A future KH game). They already have a ship that can travel along w/ the Gummi Ship (assuming it's found). They could even use Spaceship Earth as a base, acting as the ultimate EPCOT tribute. Hey, if Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn can show up next to all those other characters, anything's possible.
It would've been perfect for Dream Drop Distance, especially as a counterpart to the Fantasia world. But I could see Figment and the Dreamfinder hanging out in a restored Daybreak Town in KH3.
Harness the limitless power of Imagination! The difference between victory and defeat can be decided with just “one little spark”! New “Horizons” await you on the battlefield! “If you can dream it, you can summon it!”
Thank you so much for this video. The various remakes do NOT do the original justice. The original is the best. This was the defining ride for Epcot, especially long before Disney characters roamed the parks.
This ride is still good since I can still ride in my wheelchair. The Horizon and The World Of Motion where very accessible for wheelchair bound Personal as well. Since they took them away and changed those rides it not accessible any more. I feel in love with EPCOT since it was my first time at a Disney park I could ride rides in my chair. So this one and two more are still left for the accessibility. It ashame they are down grading instead of upgrading.
I had a short-term job working on the original Journey Of Imagination when I was like 15. I was one of the people who rode the ride one final time before it shut down and they opened the new one. Me and my coworkers were LITERALLY breaking down in tears. And this year they're going to replace The Great Movie Ride with some Mickey and Minnie bullshit. I get it Disney. You want to stay fresh. But isn't 2 new lands enough? Did you have to completely change the star attraction of the part too!?
This was the best attraction when I was little. The song was still stuck in my head. I was pretty bummed after years later it changed. However, Figment will always be in my heart. ;)
I think the new version of this ride was really cute when I took my trip to WDW last year, I still think the new version is cute, but after watching this I do agree that this version was a lot better.
And a huge page of signatures of folks willing to donate a dollar per, just to buy out the sponsors that may want to mess up the Imagination pavilion even more. “Inside out” like!??? I watched that, I don’t need a ride! What’ll it be? A road trip, and something between test track (ex world of Motion) and a hockey game narrated by fuzzy brain cells. (Or are they different types of chemicals? Yknow, because Joy =dopamine) I don’t need to dawn fancy but broke 3d glasses for a movie I thought was cute, but that’s it. Might as well do splash mountain until the sensation of falling leaves and gets replaced by a MORE LOGICAL sensation, of simply going down a giant slide with too much forward thrust. Which ….. is what I expect…. Of a WATER SLIDE…..😂
Oh my goodness, what a nostalgia rush! I remember the first time I went to Epcot, that was one of my favorite rides! Thank you so much for uploading this!
Sponsors didn't want to fund a complete refurbishment, so they opted to gut the ride and take a bare bones approach instead. Evidently, it didn't work at all.
AdrenalineAddict610 In all honesty, the ride was a bit dated and could have used some technological enhancement; however, the core concept and experience should have stayed the same, so this version is far superior to the current version.
Apparently there was a lot they wanted to do to bring the ride up to date, but Kodak had the final say and wasn't looking to sink any more money into it than they needed to.
The version they have now is nice, but this version is much, MUCH better! It also seems to last longer than the current one. Why would Disney change this? Would love to go back to this one.
JK Hanie Hopefully, actually, many old shows are coming back. Captain E.O., the original Enchated Tiki Room (the Florida one got rid of Zazu and Iago and went back to the old one)
***** I loved Captain Eo! I had not seen it until last year. So cool! I love Mission Space too, but I really miss Horizons too! I wish they would reopen this, if not in Epcot, then Magic Kingdom or Disney Land? Hopefully!
Personally, i’d just put the current version out of it’s undead misery, and replace it with the rumored inside out ride, and instead refit a theatre in the imagination Pavillion, for a dreamfinder and figment 4D show.
I know people hate the new figment ride, but I have a soft spot for it. I remember being really little and meeting figment when he walked around the parks alone-this was post Dreamfinder-he offered to ride, but I was too scared. Now he doesn't wander anymore, but the ride I love because of that memory (though i will admit as an attraction this one is much better)
My favorite ride when I was there in 1985. When I went back with my 12 year younger brother, 15 years later, I was sad that I couldn't share the ride with him as it was closed.
Doesn't make sense to me, either. I loved this version more. It was fun, whimsical, a visual treat everywhere you looked, and had two charming guides to show how wonderful and inspiring imagination can be. The current version is cold, sterile, and Eric Idle's talent is just wasted in it.
TheBazinga314 It's the times man, the ride looses popularity and focus and the attraction gets removed or upgraded to fit the times better. It's the same reasons why Jaws and Back to the Future were taken out of Universal, and why Pirates of the Caribbean was changed to have people from the movie in it now. Shitty I know, but what can you do right?
Never knew that Chuck McCann was Dreamfinder and Billy Barty was Figment until I looked it up a few months back. Two great talents, and a favorite from back when😎
I came back from Disney World last week after a 10 year absence and thought that they totally ruined the Figment attraction. It definitely lost it's charm and it looked like it was re-done on the cheap. Thanks for downloading this!
This would make an amazing movie, if someone cared enough to do it the right way, this could be a great adventure/fantasy movie. I'm actually surprised this idea hasn't been done yet..
This got a comic miniseries adaptation a few years back that was actually pretty damn good (think Alice in Wonderland meets Wizard of Oz with a touch of Doctor Who, but more steampunk). The authors have said they're still hoping Disney will consider a film adaptation, but nothing's come of it.
If a movie based on this does happen, that would be great! As long as it has "One Little Spark" on the soundtrack and a cameo by Ron Schneider (who played Dreamfinder as a walk around character), then I would be happy.
Wow, I remember riding this at Epcot, in the summer of 1994, I was 13 years old! Wonderful day that was, including having lunch at the "French" part of Epcot and the Capt. E-O 3D show.
I still have my Figment piggy bank from 1983. This was the best version and I am glad I was able to experience it. While the only things I remember from the ride is the song, Dreamfinder, Figment, and the end where they took our pictures, I had a lot of fun on this ride. You know a ride is good when you can still remember the song over 40 years later. It's ashame what Disney did to it nowadays. Oh and I totally remember that Rainbow Corridor!! 🙂
This is one of the, if not the, best versions of the original ride on youtube. Thanks so much for posting this classic ride video, it brought back a lot of great memories! :)
Why, oh why, oh why do they have to keep changing and upgrading something which is classic and timeless as it is? WDW just isn't as fresh and magic as it used to be since now everything is just spoon-fed to you. The old versions of the attractions made you think...yes, dare I say it? .... they made you use your IMAGINATION. R.I.P. to some of the old great ones like Horizons and all the rest.
John Sabp Test Track: Chevrolet Rock N Roller Coaster: Hanes (You read that right. Underwear sponsoring a rollercoaster) Mission Space: HP May I go on? I actually like these rides but c'mon with the sponsors.
Big Al it's based on the sponsors ten year contract. Every ten years if they continue the sponsorship they make another one contract. Epcot's theme is for the future, so that being said, if still under sponsorship the pavilions must be updated to go along with future events. It's stated in the 10 year contract. However the new/ old journey into imagination with figment, since Kodak dropped sponsorship they have to wait to get approval if they want to create another journey into imagination.
Horizons (my favorite pavilion from the old Epcot Center) was replaced by that giant space laundry machine Mission:Space 🤮 Never forgive Disney for that!
mystery brick I'm sorry but Disney is a multi billion dollar corporation!!! The parks all over the world, the clothes, toys, movies ect.. then they also own other companies that make movies like American pie and Disney also owns companies that film PORN!! So they have money up the a$$. The new Toy story park is sponsored by Baby bell cheese and they have it everywhere!! Its redicalous and slowly they are losing the Disney touch and charm.
The smell was FLOWERS being shoveled into the color machine by Figment... The 'large puffing perfume bottle' gave off no scent, it was labeled 'Morning Mist'.
I thiought they did because we left Florida in 1983 and I remember the rainbow tunnel and all the fun things at the pavillion. I know I rode this ride in 1988, but for some reason, I thought it was there in the beginning.
This has always been, and always will be, so much better than the current ride at the Imagination! Pavilion! Unfortunately, I was four years old when this closed, so I never got to ride this in person. I want this to come back to EPCOT!
Please refresh my memory, wasn't at the imagination attraction a plastic molding machine that you could create a figment in plastic.. it was back in the 80's and I think it was that...
