Tag along with your favorite feisty dragon in Journey Into Imagination With Figment, an attraction that's fun for little ones in the Imagination! Pavilion in the Future World area of Epcot theme park. Journey Into Imagination With Figment begins with an invitation by Chairman Dr. Nigel Channing to attend an open house event at his prestigious Imagination Institute.
Inside his precious sensory labs, Dr. Channing sets out to prove how the 5 senses-sound, sight, smell, touch and taste-capture and control the imagination. But much to Dr. Channing's chagrin, the playful purple dragon Figment has joined the tour, too. Full of mischief and music, Figment derails Dr. Channing's sound experiment, screws around with the sight chart and causes quite a stink in the Smell Lab. Taking over the tour, Figment leads you to his whimsical upside-down house where, from this topsy-turvy perspective, he proves that imagination works best when set free.
Wander through the queue and see part of the Imagination Institute. There is a portrait gallery of Inventor of the Year winners, which includes Dr. Channing, Dr. Wayne Szalinski (Honey I Shrunk the Audience) and Dr. Brainard from "Flubber."
The colors become much brighter as you enter the loading and unloading zone. Slow moving red vehicles (similar to tose on Spaceship Earth) crawl by as you move from the moving ramp into the vehicle. There are 2 rows and both can comfortably seat 2 adults or 2 adults and a child. A large adult may want to sit in their own row. The back row is slightly wider than the front row.
Once inside the vehicle, Dr. Channing begins to provide an overview of your Open House experience and it's here you get your first glance at Figment! Travel through several "labs" that study our senses and how they are intertwined with our imagination --Sight, Sound and Smell. One never gets to Taste and Touch, as Figment - well - he has other plans for the "Open House".
There are special effects, we are dealing with our senses afterall, so be prepared especially for the sense of Sound and Smell (see Touring Tips below for details).
the Institute has five labs based on the five human senses: Sight, Sound, Smell, Touch and Taste. Dr. Nigel Channing returned as well and invited the riders to the Institute's open house. Figment (Dave Goelz) 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 from the previous version is now a "Train of Thought".
In Sight, Figment knocks the letters off the room's eye chart and begins a sing along to "One Little Spark". The materializing butterfly from the old version was carried over from the previous version, but rather than appearing in the cage, the effect is now reversed so that the butterfly disappears.
In Smell, Figment becomes a skunk which sprays the riders with a foul odor.
Touring Tips
- After your Journey Into Imagination With Figment, take your imagination and let it loose at the ImageWorks. Conduct an orchestra, experiment with lights and video, make dragons sing, check out the live show Digital Imaging which features the world's largest digital camera, and explore the interactive stations at "the creative playground of the future."
- Imageworks is also a retail center. One of the best souvenirs can be found here. You can have your picture taken with a ton of background choices such as Disney characters, Disney movies or Disney theme park settings.
Facts
- Opened March 5, 1983.
- An homage to the initial incarnation of this attraction can be found on an office door in the initial show room under the name "Dean Finder" instead of "DreamFinder".
- The ride features the song One Little Spark, composed by the Sherman Brothers. While the song was once performed by an audio-animatronic character, the Dreamfinder and his creation Figment, in the current (as of 2012) version of the ride, it is performed by Eric Idle and Figment.
- There are four cars per train that fits 7 riders (3 in the front; 4 in the back).
History
The original attraction opened on March 5, 1983. It began with the omnimover 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 the riders 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 (Chuck McCann) 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: "Two tiny wings, eyes big and yellow, horns of a steer, but a loveable fellow! From head to tail, he's royal purple pigment, and there, Voila! You've got a Figment!" (usually thought to be a dragon or winged alligator) named Figment (Billy Barty). Both of them come up with ideas to fill the "idea bag". When the idea bag is full, Dreamfinder declares that the ideas need to be emptied in the "Dreamport" which, as he says, is "never far away when you use your imagination". The ride closed on October 10, 1998 in order to begin a major renovation of the attraction.
The attraction reopened on October 1, 1999 as Journey Into YOUR Imagination and featured an updated theme based on the 3-D movie Honey, I Shrunk the Audience (1994). 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. Figment's appearances in the experience were reduced to a few cameos in the queue movies, a constellation in the connection lab and at the end of the ride, where he is only heard, but is shooed off by Channing ("Figment!!!"). Dreamfinder was not present at all in this version. The attraction closed on October 8, 2001 and again, went through another rehab.
The attraction reopened again on June 2, 2002, now as Journey into Imagination with Figment. Figment returned with a larger role and appears in every show scene. The song "One Little Spark" also returned with new verses. In August 2010, the Kodak company ended its sponsorship of the pavilion after nearly 28 years.
Hidden Mickeys
- On the ride, Figment is resurrected and you get a look into his upside-down house. In his kitchen, look at the meal, Onion Rings on the table make up a simple hidden Mickey.
- About halfway through the ride, there are tables with 3 spotlights illuminating them. One large, and two small spots on the floor below the tables.