Sunday, April 26, 2015

A Look Back at the Original Journey Into Imagination

By Keith Mahne



On March 5, 1983, the original Journey Into Imagination attraction debuted in FutureWorld at Epcot, introducing guests to Dreamfinder, Figment and a lovely little song titled “One Little Spark.” In today's article, we'll take a look back at the original Journey Into Imagination attraction as it appeared in 1983...







The original attraction’s storyline began with Dreamfinder gathering up materials to inspire new ideas. With the help of his imagination he creates a companion named Figment, who is described as having: “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 – a Figment of imagination!”






From here, Dreamfinder took Figment – and us guests – along on an exploration of the Dreamport, the place where the duo used their imaginations to try out new ideas in the arts, literature, technology and more.







The attraction’s Image Works post-show offered guests a chance to experiment with creativity hands-on in different activity stations, including Magic Palette (digital drawing), Lightwriter (laser writing/drawing technology), Bubble Music (image projection combined with sound), and other interactive fun.





The beloved Rainbow Corridor



The famous Rainbow Corridor/Sensor Maze, pictured above, assigned a color to each person who entered and followed the person throughout.






The attraction later became Journey Into Your Imagination in 1999, and the current version, Journey Into Imagination with Figment, debuted in 2002.






Here is the original Journey Into Imagination attraction taken in 1995 and in 1998. You'll also see the Rainbow Corridor! (Please be sure to pause the Disney Avenue Music Player at the top left hand corner of this page before you start the video if you are on a desktop computer):






If you would like to learn more about the history of the Journey Into Imagination attraction, have a look at this article I put together last year. Also, I highly recommend you have a listen to my interview with Ron Schneider, the original Dreamfinder character, for the Disney Avenue Podcast.



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Keith Michael Mahne is the owner and editor of Disney Avenue and the host of the Disney Avenue Podcast. He has made countless trips to the Walt Disney World resort since his first trip in 1989 at the age of four. 



Keith has a strong passion and respect for Walt Disney, the parks and resorts, and the men and women who help create them. He started Disney Avenue as a way to inform and entertain readers and to repay all those who make dreams come true every day.

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