Figment!

This picture is from our Disney trip in the summer of 2007. For a short time Figment's Place was located near the entrance of Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. Figment would make appearances here throughout the day. Before our last visit in October of 2008, my wife learned that Figment was no longer appearing as an in-park character. She did learn that people had started requesting his return at Guest Relations near Spaceship Earth and Innoventions. I hope that he does return as Figment is one of the true classic EPCOT characters who has been around since the early '80's. With Mickey and Co. still making appearances surely Disney will recognize that Figment is also a favorite and he will return.

Return to Retro?

Recently, I've seen/heard some welcome news. First of all, on my last trip to the World, at the Imagination pavilion we saw t-shirts they were selling featuring Figment with Dreamfinder. This is quite amazing considering Dreamfinder (pictured above with Figment) has not featured in the attraction for several years now. In addition to this, some rumors have been circulating about the return of Dreamfinder in some capacity to the attraction. Personally, I enjoy the current incarnation of the attraction, but the original was first rate. I would welcome elements of the original attraction coming back. Anytime the best of EPCOT Center can be joined or returned to be mixed in with the best of Epcot I definitely think that is a positive.

Characters in Epcot

There has been a debate for some time now regarding whether traditional Disney characters should be used prominently in Epcot. When EPCOT Center first opened there was a distinct lack of the traditional characters. There has always been characters with the notable one being Figment, but the Fab Five were for the most part conspicuous except for Mickey at certain special events and the odd piece of memorabilia. The above photo represented a time when a small shift took place. When Wonders of Life opened in about 1989 several exhibits featured the expected Disney characters including the Goofy About Health exhibit. I remember seeing more of Mickey, Minnie, and Pluto in costume around the park at that time too. Now you can find character merchandise everywhere and other non-Epcot originated characters have made their way into attractions (i.e. Nemo, Simba and Lion King characters at Circle of Life). I think this shift was inevitable, and I don't mind it as long as it's done well. I'm sure with the success of The Seas with Nemo and Friends that we will see more of this in the future.

Dreamcatcher's uh, Dream Catcher

This photo from the original Journey Into Imagination features the vehicle that we first see Dreamcatcher and Figment on the attraction. This is a very Jules Verne inspired contraption. The father of science fiction also had an influence on a part of the Horizons attraction where an audio-animatronic figure was even made of him. When thinking about it he also inspired parts of the Living Seas and probably countless other ideas in Future World. I'll look at some of these other Verne-inspired ideas in later posts.