The grand opening of Journey Into Imagination Pavilion
The Journey Into Imagination Pavilion is a Pavilion located in Future World West at EPCOT, centered around the creative process and exploring different forms of creative expression.
From 1982 to 2010, it was sponsored by Kodak. It is opened on October 1, 1982. On October 10, 1998, the attraction closed. It was replaced by an updated version of Imagination! Pavilion, as part of Walt Disney World's Millennium Celebration in 1999.
History[]
The Journey Into Imagination Pavilion started out in 1982 as an area in which the show Magic Journeys was played. When Journey Into Imagination opened a year later, the area was dubbed The Journey Into Imagination Pavilion. It held from 1983 to 1986 Journey Into Imagination, the Upstairs Image Works, and Magic Journeys. In 1987, however, Magic Journeys was replaced by Captain EO, a more advanced 3D Film created by George Lucas and starring Michael Jackson as the title character. In 1995, Captain EO was replaced by Honey, I Shrunk The Audience and starred Rick Moranis as Professor Wayne Szalinski and Eric Idle as the Imagination Institute chairman Dr. Nigel Channing.
In 1997, Fujifilm (Kodak's biggest rival at the time) came to Disney with an offer: make JII into a thrill ride that had nothing to do with imagination whatsoever. Kodak's sponsorship contract was almost up, and Fujifilm knew that when the contract ran out, Disney would need someone to sponsor the building. Kodak, however, wished to stay with Disney and continue the contract. Kodak realized that in order to compete with FujiFilm, they too must come up with a new attraction to go into the building. Their proposal was to make Journey Into Imagination, already an E-Ticket attraction, into something more scientific. The ride would also be shorter and have cheaper special effects. At the time, Journey Into Imagination was the most expensive ride in Epcot to keep running, despite the fact that it got more visitors in a day than Epcot's flagship ride Spaceship Earth. The guests made it all worthwhile for Disney to keep it running, but Disney still wasn't satisfied with it. It was the most technologically advanced dark ride in history. A roller coaster would mean much more money to build and keep running, and they feared it wouldn't be nearly as popular as Journey Into Imagination. Therefore, by the end of 1997 Disney accepted Kodak's idea.
In 1998, the original Journey Into Imagination went down for a rehab. During this rehab, the Upstairs Image Works was closed and the building's white and blue painting exterior was replaced with different colors, Kodak colors being primary. The original glass sign was replaced by one made of wood and metal. The leap frog fountains were reduced in size to accommodate the new gift shop at the exit of the new Journey Into Imagination. Despite the fact that the pavilion already had a gift shop right next to the 3D film playing at the time, Disney felt this one would be more successful. To everyone's surprise, the glass pyramids stayed despite the fact that the Upstairs Image Works was closed. The new Downstairs Image Works took the upstairs one's place.
Former attractions[]
- Magic Journeys (1982-1986)
- The Image Works: Creative Playground of the Future (1982-1998)
- Journey Into Imagination (1983-1998)
- Captain EO (1986-1994)
Gallery[]
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