Redo of The Journey into Imagination

[fabfemmeboy]

What they should have done is instead of adding Ratatouille they should have redone Imagination into a trackless dark ride like Mystic Manor in Hong Kong. Where in MM the monkey unleashes a curse to cause havoc, in Imagination it could have been done by Figment unleashing his imagination.
Now that they will soon have Ratatouille I doubt they will add another trackless ride for a long time.

I don't know about that. While obviously they want to have variety in their attractions (unlike Universal where there are exactly 2 types: 3-d movie that spits on you and whirling car with 3-day glasses. Not that I'm complaining about either of them), there's no reason not to have more than one trackless ride. SR doesn't take away from TSM even though they're both interactive games where you try to win points by shooting at things accurately. For that matter, both RotR and MMRR are trackless, they're in the same park, they opened within a few months of each other, and both are very successful/popular. Tokyo has had the trackless Winnie the Pooh ride and is opening a trackless Beauty and the Beast ride. There's no reason they couldn't also have a Figment trackless ride - though I agree it won't be now because of money. But just because two rides are trackless doesn't mean they feel the same at all. I've been on both Ratatouille and Mystic Manor, and they don't feel alike at all even though they use the same type of ride vehicle. If that were true, there would be no room for Haunted Mansion and Little Mermaid in the same park!

 

[Lumpy1106]

Whatever happened to the original footprint of the ride? Was that taken over when Soarin' was expanded? I don't know if it needs to be trackless, but it does need to be longer if you are going to make any real changes to it.

There's a lot of potential for this ride - it is based on your unlimited imagination after all. And Inside-Out has a lot of ideas that could easily be adapted. I mean, I like Eric Idol too (and Dream Finder to an equal extent), but Bing Bong is a much better fit. Then there's the train of thought, the memory bank, you could do something interactive ala what the did with the end of Horizons (you pick the emotion to carry out some end task).

A little OT, but I really liked the idea of moving Muppets to the old Captain EO theater too.

 

[jknezek]

Whatever happened to the original footprint of the ride? Was that taken over when Soarin' was expanded? I don't know if it needs to be trackless, but it does need to be longer if you are going to make any real changes to it.

There's a lot of potential for this ride - it is based on your unlimited imagination after all. And Inside-Out has a lot of ideas that could easily be adapted. I mean, I like Eric Idol too (and Dream Finder to an equal extent), but Bing Bong is a much better fit. Then there's the train of thought, the memory bank, you could do something interactive ala what the did with the end of Horizons (you pick the emotion to carry out some end task).

A little OT, but I really liked the idea of moving Muppets to the old Captain EO theater too.

No. It was mostly taken up by a queue expansion, but that was done because the ride track was shortened when Kodak didn't want to put in the money and Disney refused to use their own money to make something worthwhile. Soarin is in The Land pavilion, not Imagination, and not really in the same area. The Imagination Pavilion is the same size it has been, it's just been gutted between the ride being ruined, ImageWorks being reduced to a small amount of non-functional junk on the first floor and renamed "What If Lab" or something like that, and the original upstairs ImageWorks being walled off when Kodak and Disney cheaped out in 1999. To add insult to injury, Disney then took part of the original ImageWorks and turned it into a DVC lounge.

 

[Krandor]

No. It was mostly taken up by a queue expansion, but that was done because the ride track was shortened when Kodak didn't want to put in the money and Disney refused to use their own money to make something worthwhile. Soarin is in The Land pavilion, not Imagination, and not really in the same area. The Imagination Pavilion is the same size it has been, it's just been gutted between the ride being ruined, ImageWorks being reduced to a small amount of non-functional junk on the first floor and renamed "What If Lab" or something like that, and the original upstairs ImageWorks being walled off when Kodak and Disney cheaped out in 1999. To add insult to injury, Disney then took part of the original ImageWorks and turned it into a DVC lounge.

So basically the entire pavillion needs to be redone.

 

[jknezek]

So basically the entire pavillion needs to be redone.

Top to bottom to make anything decent, yes. You could reuse some of the ride elements, but that pavilion is embarrassingly bad.

 

[Lumpy1106]

No. It was mostly taken up by a queue expansion, but that was done because the ride track was shortened when Kodak didn't want to put in the money and Disney refused to use their own money to make something worthwhile. Soarin is in The Land pavilion, not Imagination, and not really in the same area. The Imagination Pavilion is the same size it has been, it's just been gutted between the ride being ruined, ImageWorks being reduced to a small amount of non-functional junk on the first floor and renamed "What If Lab" or something like that, and the original upstairs ImageWorks being walled off when Kodak and Disney cheaped out in 1999. To add insult to injury, Disney then took part of the original ImageWorks and turned it into a DVC lounge.

WHAT?!?! Oh, that's terrible. It's been a LONG while, but I did ride the original and I'm trying to remember how you exited the ride. I vaguely remember going through that rainbow bridge thing that Michael Jackson was so fond of - that's upstairs, right? The ride could be in any building. I pretty much hate all of those sound toys at the ride exit now - was relieved they were all shut down due to Covid now. Now you don't even see the inside of that iconic structure unless you are a blue card DVC member. Yeah. that's not right.

 

[Dutch Inn '76]

The Imagination pavilion is a train wreck. Whatever they do, they need to redo the whole thing - and pronto! To me, it's priority #1 at Epcot. I have no idea why they're spending money elsewhere while this place rots. Figment, Inside Out, Phineas & Ferb - WHATEVER! Just do something!

 

[kbelle8995]

The inside out cast meets Figment. Too much???

 

[Grumpy by Birth]

it Does. I’m kinda surprised Disney hasn’t tried a figment and dream catcher movie to be honest. Or a figment series on Disney+.

They published a Figment comic book mini-series a few years back (featuring a younger, steam-punkier Dreamfinder).

 

[BrianL]

They published a Figment comic book mini-series a few years back (featuring a younger, steam-punkier Dreamfinder).

View attachment 521623

I read that. It was pretty good and had references to other aspects of Epcot as well as Medfield College. There is also a second volume. I wish these had sold better and they could have done more Disney Parks comics. This line also had Tiki Room, Big Thunder, Haunted Mansion, and the Museum of the Weird which was the original, never made attraction that eventually morphed into HM. They were all pretty good really.

 

[Krandor]

They published a Figment comic book mini-series a few years back (featuring a younger, steam-punkier Dreamfinder).

View attachment 521623

I rememberr that one and some of the other similar comics they did. Pretty good.

I do think a figment and dreamfider show on Disney+ would be prertty cool if done well. There were plans for a show "Dreamfinderss" on Disney channel many years ago that never got made.

 

[Letsoflyakite]

Figment or eating the dehydrated crabs from Mitsukoshi.....its a toss up.

 

[Moliphino]

Figment or eating the dehydrated crabs from Mitsukoshi.....its a toss up.

My sister and I ate those on a dare by some guys who were drinking around the world once at the Rose and Crown. We got a free drink out of it, but it was SO NOT WORTH IT. Those crabs are the worst thing I've ever put in my mouth.

 

[Epcot82Guy]

The inside out cast meets Figment. Too much???

I would say yes. It would muddle things. That's not too say Inside Out couldn't join Figment in the Theater next door. But I think combining them would be a bad idea and would alienate the current Figment fans. It would be a bad move.

 

[pahoben]

Huuuuge Figment fan here. It is terrible how the little guy has been mistreated by Disney.

 

[iheartglaciers]

What they should have done is instead of adding Ratatouille they should have redone Imagination into a trackless dark ride like Mystic Manor in Hong Kong. Where in MM the monkey unleashes a curse to cause havoc, in Imagination it could have been done by Figment unleashing his imagination.
Now that they will soon have Ratatouille I doubt they will add another trackless ride for a long time.

Totally agree. Obviously there are rides, like the classics, that are in several parks, but I like different parks have/had unique rides. But for cost reasons, I feel like they're moving towards designing a ride and putting it in more than one park (e.g., Galaxy's Edge, Runaway Railway, Ratatouille).

 

[jknezek]

Totally agree. Obviously there are rides, like the classics, that are in several parks, but I like different parks have/had unique rides. But for cost reasons, I feel like they're moving towards designing a ride and putting it in more than one park (e.g., Galaxy's Edge, Runaway Railway, Ratatouille).

Park rides have always been something of a mix between clones and originals, going back to the opening of WDW. I don't mind so long as it stays a mix. There is a precious small subset of visitors that can afford to visit every Disney park worldwide. So I can better understand when someone belongs to that subset, but really it's not a big deal to almost anyone else.

 

[mcjaco]

Figment has 2 problems. 1 Epcot is transforming away from a park of imagination and education. 2 Figment is only beloved by Disney Fanatics like ourselves. Not saying the are going to scrap the ride, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did.

Yeah, not true.

Figment as a character is quite loved/valuable. That’s why he is on much of the merchandise. Figment merch always sells well too.

Exactly. I was told by an Imagineer, that Figment merch is one of the best selling merch, hands down. And not just by "fanatics."

 

[maverik85]

What they should have done is instead of adding Ratatouille they should have redone Imagination into a trackless dark ride like Mystic Manor in Hong Kong. Where in MM the monkey unleashes a curse to cause havoc, in Imagination it could have been done by Figment unleashing his imagination.
Now that they will soon have Ratatouille I doubt they will add another trackless ride for a long time.

I love this idea for a new ride for that pavilion. I think if they made a great ride Figment would becoming even more popular in general too like Albert from MM.
I'd say its definitely still possible to add. As fabfemmeboy stated there is multiple of the same type in other parks. Magic Kingdom has both Dumbo and Aladdin's carpets. Hollywood Studios has RotR, MMRR, and TSM all of which are trackless dark rides, and Smuggler's Run and Star Tours are both Star Wars based simulators. Heck you could say the same for all of the classic dark rides (especially at Disneyland they've got 5 dark rides, 4 the same system, all in one land) So especially if they are different enough, and the fact that they are on opposite sides of the park, I think it would be ok.
Hopefully they eventually do something like this for the pavilion as it really needs a major overhaul.

 

[Grumpy by Birth]

A Mystic Manor "clone" would in the U.S. would be awesome! Just like building Ratatouille (from Paris) at EPCOT, even though there's still cost to build it, all of the R&D has already been completed. They just have to take a copy of the blueprints and build another one. That's considerably less investment than starting from scratch.

If a Figment ride was as good as Mystic Manor, it could probably even get my wife to like Figment!