Monthly Archives: February 2013
Steampunk Dreams and Purple Dragons (Part 1)
Feb 27
The Imagination pavilion at Epcot has long been revered as a favorite amongst park guests, including children considering the park barely offers smaller guests a pavilion that reaches out to them. The key attraction at the Imagination pavilion is Journey Into Imagination (with Figment). The attraction has gone through several overhauls and has several long time guests pondering the decisions of Imagineers on this particular subject.
The storied history of Journey into Imagination doesn’t actually start with the opening of the pavilion, which was the last pavilion to open in Epcot’s original Future World. Tony Baxter took over the project after working on The Land pavilion and was slated to open with the rest of the park on October 1st, 1982 but the pavilion’s main attraction didn’t open until March 3rd the following year. Despite not opening on time, the lead characters of the attraction, The Dreamfinder and Figment, became meet and greet characters and are the only two characters to this day that were born out of an attraction and not a film that you could meet and get your picture taken with. These characters even made a cameo in the Epcot opening television special to give the pavilion some marketing before it opened. From that moment, I think the world was ready to see what the pavilion had.
The wonderful part of Tony Baxter being a part of the attraction is that he definitely had an imagination himself and had shelved several of his own ideas that didn’t work out including Disneyland’s lost Discovery Bay area. Discovery Bay, based on the stories of Jules Verne, was trashed but some of the elements of that land that never was made it into Journey into Imagination including the Dreamfinder and Figment. (The characters were based on a scientist who bred dragons.) Other elements like the blimp, which obviously has a Jules Verne/steampunk look, came directly from the Discovery Bay ideas. Another idea Tony Baxter brought to the table was to name the dragon Figment. After watching an episode of Magnum PI where Higgins explains that something uprooted his garden. After Magnum tells him it must be a figment of his imagination, Higgins exclaims, “Figments don’t eat grass.” Baxter saw beyond the joke and thought this would be a perfect name for his dragon. Nobody had ever seen a figment before, so this could work out perfectly and fit into the attraction without question.
Adding to the attraction is the song “One Little Spark” by the Sherman Brothers. The Sherman Brothers had been working at the studio for years and had developed several attraction soundtracks including songs for Epcot’s The Land as well, but “One Little Spark” plays throughout the entire original attraction, and to this day can still be heard on the ride through. Similar to their song for the Carousel of Progress, “One Little Spark” lends itself to the story of the attraction and inspires the guests riding. It’s an uplifting song about finding your own imagination.
As for the attraction itself, the original ride through omni-mover played out in several different rooms. In the first scene, guests ride along to see the silhouette of a blimp contraption followed by them actually riding along side of it. They meet the Dreamfinder as he explains the imagination and how powerful it can be. He also introduces us to his friend, Figment, a small purple dragon. The next room is considered the “Dreamport storage room” which consists of several gags and is basically a holding place for your mind’s ideas. Following this room, the attraction becomes a bit more organized in its ideas. We travel through rooms representing Art, Literature, Performing Arts, and Science. It’s interesting to note that the attraction takes a dark turn in the Literature room as tales of Edgar Allen Poe are written out and the music becomes much more frightening. However this is only the midpoint of the attraction so we don’t end on a scary note. In the last scene of the attraction, Dreamfinder takes your picture and asks guest to now use their imagination at the ImageWorks, the rides post show area. (Marketing working at it’s finest there.)
ImageWorks was definitely a playground of epic proportions and was dubbed the “The Creative Playground of the Future.” Made of of rainbow light tunnels, over-sized kaleidoscopes, voice activated spheres, and several other interactive areas, ImageWorks made the Imagination pavilion a place you could play for hours. This was also the place you could meet the Dreamfinder and Figment once the attraction opened in March 1983. With the original attraction being just short of 15 minutes long and the post show being a large area on the second floor filled with things to do, Imagination could take up a good chunk of your time at Epcot.
Another big part of the Imagination pavilion was the Magic Eye theater. It originally hosted a 3D film called Magic Journeys. It would eventually get changed into the overly popular George Lucas/Francis Ford Copalla/Michael Jackson film Captain EO. As the 1990s began, changes seemed imminent for the Imagination pavilion and they came after the Magic Eye theater changed for it’s third film deemed Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. Not only did the new film bring life to the theater, but it also inspired changes that would come to Journey Into Imagination and the ImageWorks playground.
(In Part 2, I’ll discuss the changes to the attraction in 1998 and the 3rd incarnation that we currently have.)
What are your thoughts on the original Journey Into Imagination and the Imagination pavilion? Do you have any fond memories? Do you wish the original attraction would return? Leave your thoughts, like this post, and be sure to always use your imagination. The Dreamfinder said so!
Josh Taylor
https://ModernMouseRadio.com
Modern Mouse Radio #14: Armchair Imagineers w/ Jeff Heimbuch
Feb 24
Jeff Heimbuch returns as a guest to the show for an edition of Armchair Imagineers. We ask him about his podcast as well as his recent trip to Disneyland with Imagineering legends Rolly Crump and Bob Gurr. In this episode we imagine a better Pleasure Island as opposed to the wasteland that now sits in the middle of Downtown Disney at Walt Disney World. Hear out our ideas and give your thoughts.
You can hear Jeff Heimbuch as the co-host of Communicore Weekly at http://www.CommunicoreWeekly.com or see his articles over at http://www.MiceChat.com
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Beast’s Real Name Isn’t Adam
Feb 23
Keith is back with another Disney Trivia….sort of. Keith addresses rumors and falsities with the Beast from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. It’s been long told that Beast’s name is actually Adam, despite the film never mentioning his real name. Keith explains why this is false and what Beast’s real name is according to the animators in charge of making Beauty and the Beast.
Keith Lapinig
http://www.KeithLapinig.com
Top 5: Dwarfs That Weren’t Used for Snow White
Feb 22
(This post is based off of research done in my Snow White article. Read that HERE. Or read my other top 5 featuring Snow White HERE.)
When Walt Disney decided to make Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs his first feature film, he chose the story because of the possible comic relief that the Dwarfs could potentially conjure. In the original Grimm tale of Snow White the Dwarfs don’t have names, but Walt wanted his dwarfs to have names that fit their personalities. The animation staff came up with tons of dwarf names that could potentially be in the film. Of the dozens of names and personality traits they had only 7 dwarfs could be chosen, but there were several great dwarfs that could have been, so here are my picks for the top 5 Dwarfs that were never used for Snow White.
5-Dirty. When I think of Dirty, I automatically think of Pigpen from the Peanuts comic strip. He can’t help but be lovable and genuine amidst his cloud of dust and dirt. That’s what I see in Dirty. Despite his lack in hygiene (He does work in a mine.) he is a very helpful and pleasant dwarf. I could see Sneezy and Dirty being two dwarfs that play off of each other because Dirty causes Sneezy to be….well, sneezy. I could also see him taking the place of Bashful as he is a dwarf that might be shy and hide in his embarrassment of being Dirty, but he can’t help that.
4-Jumpy. Afraid of every little thing, Jumpy could be the not-so-brave dwarf. Even though he is afraid, he still muscles up the courage to join the rest of the dwarfs to defeat the evil Queen. I think he would shine the most in the scenes where they are mining or when they come home to find Snow in their home. I think this would have been a great dwarf to play off of all of the other dwarfs. Jumpy could be one of the best ideas lost in the shuffle, but I think there are still better once.
3-Wheezy. Instead of the constantly sniffling Sneezy, Wheezy would have been a dwarf to take his place. A dwarf always out of breath, constantly wheezing and possibly in confrontations with Dirty about his bad hygiene, Wheezy is a supporting character that would have stood out from the rest of the pack. His constant huffing and puffing could wear thin on audiences watching though which makes the character unusable. I would like to see the scenes of them being quiet in the dwarf cabin while investigating. His constant wheezing while everyone else is quiet would have been very humorous.
2-Gabby- I think if there were to be one leader other than Doc, it would be Gabby. A leader only because of his constant talking. He feels the need to explain, narrate, and talk about everything. Why? The real question is why not? All of the other dwarfs, except Dopey (who is a mute and can’t talk back) would tell him to be quiet. He would be a dwarf some members of the audience would love to hate, but others would simply adore him. I could also see this character being great on merchandise. We all know someone who is overly talkative. It would be great to buy them a sweater for their birthday right?
1-Weepy-My favorite dwarf that never was is Weepy. The concept alone is hilarious. We all know someone overly emotional and will cry at a moments notice. Weepy represents that trait. His home got broken into, he cries. The dwarfs start fighting, he cries. Snow White dies, the evil Queen is too scary, Prince Charming kisses Snow…..you get the picture. By himself, this dwarf is a riot. He doesn’t need the others, but they are his friends so he sticks with them. They tolerate his crying and more or less just ignore it, but who doesn’t love an emotional guy who only wants to help. Like Gabby, I see plenty of merchandising opportunities with Weepy. He stands out and could become a favorite amongst moviegoers.
What are your thoughts on these dwarfs? Would you replace some of the dwarfs in Snow White with these or do you prefer the original seven? Leave your thoughts and comments.
Josh Taylor
https://ModernMouseRadio.com
Disney Film History: Fantasia
Feb 20
In 1937, Walt Disney and company were a locomotive full steam ahead on the production or Snow White. The majority of the crew at the studio were working non-stop on the film, however other things were also on the mind of Walt Disney. Mickey Mouse had been Disney’s golden ticket initially but by the late 1930s, the character’s popularity was waning. Disney decided he needed a short production to boost the character back into superstar status. Disney had the notion that using the short poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and the Paul Dukas musical score inspired by the poem would be a great start to a production with Mickey. The mouse would star in a short called The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.
Leopold Stokowski, then leader of the Philadelphia Orchestra, happened to bump into Disney and a local Hollywood restaurant. Disney, recognizing the famous conductor, decided to pitch the idea of combining the classic Apprentice piece with an animated short in a much more serious fashion than his previous Silly Symphony cartoons. Stokowski loved the concept and agreed to conduct the recording of an orchestra for free on the production. By December of 1937 and with Stokowski on board, an 85 piece orchestra was hired, a stage at a large studio was rented, the best of the animators were on duty, and the budget became four times the usual Disney short. With Roy Disney being the financier of the Studio, he told Walt to keep costs down and to not go over budget as a short like this, as experimental and costly as it was, may not find a way to make it’s return from the box office. Of course, Walt saw this problematic budget as a reason to not just make a short, but to test the waters with a full fledged animated film concert. Instead of keeping the budget low on a short which was guranteed to not return on it’s cost, Disney felt that a larger production and a general release in theaters would surely make money for the studio.
Walt Disney and Leopold Stokowski decided to bring together a team of talented people including music critic Deems Taylor, staff story writers, and several heads of departments throughout the Disney company. Meetings were then held to select several musical pieces for which the music would be recorded and the film would be animated. 8 pieces in total made the final cut on what was then discussed as The Concert Feature. A piano concert was held at the studio with Walt talking over the music, telling the story of how the film would look and feel. A contest was also thrown out to the staff to come up with a name for the new feature. Over 1,000 different names came up, but the one everyone always came back to was an early working title for the film: Fantasia.
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, which had been greenlit initially, went into production in January of 1938, just one month after the debut of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Stokowski conducted a Hollywood orchestra he himself handpicked and the recordings were soon sent to animators. Fred Moore redesigned Mickey Mouse, giving him pupils and larger eyes, giving us the Mickey Mouse we now know today instead of the pie-eyed Mickey of the early 1930s. Each staff member at the studio was given a synopsis of the poem that inspired the short. While work went steadily for the Mickey Mouse segment, there were other productions being made at the studio. Pinocchio was well underway, while Dumbo and Bambi were also stories being bounced around. The film wouldn’t be put back into production again until the following January in 1939.
Stokowski returned as the conductor for the Philadelphia Orchestra whom finished the recordings for the rest of the songs in January. Stokowski finished the recording of the musical portion of the film in July. At that time, the recordings were given to the animation team. While production was on break, ideas were also bounced around about what the animated segments would look and feel like. When production continued, Walt got everyone together and decided on various color palettes, animation styles, and how the music would tell the story. He believed so much in the music, that he wanted several of the pieces to not even tell a story. In the case of the Toccata and Fugue segment of the film, abstract art was key. Various shapes and colors were used to play off of the music without telling a distinct narrative. Other segments were given short stories, such as Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony, which depicts a mythological Greek setting. On severeal pieces, Stokowski disagreed with the narratives chosen as he felt those weren’t the stories to be told by the music, but Walt, as well as Deems Taylor, stood up for the ideas and ultimately got their wish.
Along with the film, Roy and Walt felt that the standard sound systems at theaters were not good enough for what the studio was striving for. Walt wanted the audience to get the impression they were hearing an actual orchestra. The brothers contacted RCA to develop the system,whom in turn reluctantly agreed, so long as the studio would front the $200,000 cost to build the equipment. The new Fantasound system created what most of us would now see as a surround sound system, giving the impression the some sounds are coming from the left, some from the center, and some from the right. With this new system, Walt talked RKO Distributors, who refused to release a near two and a half hour film into general theaters, into releasing the film as a limited engagement in the form of a traveling show. This way, Walt could set up his Fantasound system in theaters of his choosing and sell theater seats as if it were a real concert.
Fantasia debuted on November 13th, 1940 at the Broadway Theater in New York. (Pinocchio released as a general theater run in February making Fantasia the 3rd full length feature release.) The Disney company leased the theater for a year, running the show for 57 straight weeks. Demand for tickets was so high that eight full-time telephone operators were hired to take the calls. The second stop on the tour was the Carthay Circle Theater in Los Angeles which ran for 39 weeks. (The theater at which Snow White premiered.) Fantasia ran a show in 11 other U.S. cities throughout the rest of 1941 until it’s general release in January 1942.
Previous to the general release, the film, which had been a critical success saw very little in return monetarily. The budget of $2.28 million was far from being reached, making the film less of a success than Pinocchio which also failed to earn it’s money back in it’s initial run. RKO asked Walt to cut down the long movie and edit out some of the scenes to make it shorter. Walt refused but allowed RKO to cut what they wanted, only for the purposes of hopefully making his money back on the investment. RKO editors cut nearly 1/4 of the film out, mainly Deems Taylor’s talking parts and the abstract Toccata and Fugue portions of the film. The film would make a return to the theaters several times after the 1942 release, including 1946, 1956, and 1963, but it wasn’t until a release in 1969 that the company finally made back all of the money originally put into the production of Fantasia.
Several factors played into the lackluster box office draw of the film. World War II lost a larger demographic in European audiences when the film wasn’t distributed internationally. The roadshow idea of tearing down and installing the Fantasound system was quite costly. The strange idea of seeing an animated concert of classical music wasn’t a huge appeal to the wider U.S. population who, at that time, were much more into Jazz and Blues music. Of course, we also have to credit the film for it’s brilliance, much like several critics did when first seeing the film in New York. Without Fantasia, we may never have seen the creation of the THX sound system we now see in theaters, or even our own surround sound systems at home. The techniques used to record the soundtrack for the film are still used today, being updated from the mono sounds of early 1930s. Plus we would have never seen Mickey in that awesome sorcerer’s hat.
What are my thoughts on the film? Well, as a child I absolutely hated this film. It didn’t make sense, it was too long, and it wasn’t funny. (Keep in mind that Disney released the film later at it’s original length.) As an adult, I find it charming and brilliant, but out of the films of the era, it seems to get lost in the shuffle for me. The animation is beautiful throughout the film but I don’t care much for the abstract art used. I love the narrative storytelling in many of the symphonic pieces though. I also love that this film gave Warner Bros. the idea to use classical music in their short cartoons as well. As a dying musical style, it really gained popularity again with the animation medium and gave many generations the knowledge that this music was out there. Without it, I’m not sure I would be interested in classical music at all. I tend to see this film as more of an experience than a film I’d plop down on the couch and watch. I’d love to see it released again for a roadshow type of run, maybe projected onto a screen while a real orchestra plays the music at a local concert hall. It’s still a film people know of and credit. What better way to pay tribute to it than breathing life back into it with that live experience Walt was always trying to duplicate.
Josh Taylor
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Previous Film: Pinocchio
Next Film: The Reluctant Dragon
DLR History: Space Mountain
Feb 18
Space Mountain is one of my favorite rides at Disneyland Resort. Whipping about the starry heavens with sudden turns and drops around every dark corner.
This popular attraction was designed by Imagineer Bill Watkins and first built for Walt Disney World (WDW). The ride did so well that two years later they built the ride in Disneyland Resort, where the Flying Saucers use to be. There are many things about this ride that make it a Disney classic ride, the most prominent is the system it runs on. Imagineers realized that having a roller coaster running in the dark and unseen by Cast Members they would have to develop a new safety system. To accomplish this they developed a two computer safety system to monitor where the cars were on the track based on weight. This made Space Mountain the first roller coaster run by computers. These two computer systems are rumored be named Nova and Hal.
In 1997 Space Mountain received it’s first refurbishment with the addition of a Synchronized On-Board Audio Track (SOBAT). This addition was put together by Aarin Richard and Eddie Sotto. The music for the first half of your space adventure is based on the Le Canival Des De Animaux Aquarium song. The rest of the track you hear is all surf riffs performed by the ‘King of the Surf Guitar’ Dick Dale.
1998 its white dome painted Green, Gold, Copper and Bronze to match other Tomorrow and attractions. In 2003 the dome was painted white and the speed ramp replaced with a walk way. The ride also received a new track, new rockets adorned with a hidden Mickey and a souvenir photos are taken at the end of the ride. The ride was closed for two years and opened again in 2005 for Disneyland’s 50th Anniversary. Neil Armstrong gave a great speech at the grand reopening of the attraction and was awarded with a special plaque for his courage and adventurous spirit. He was not the first “spaceman” to be welcomed to Space Mountain though. Six out of seven of the Mercury 9 astronauts attended the grand opening of Space Mountain 1977.
In 2006 Space Mountain received another update known as “Rock-It” Mountain. This addition brought a new energy to the ride at night with projections on the white dome, a new narration, and high powered music. Though it was only tested during Gad Night it never made it to the main stream. The last update was the 2009 addition of Ghost Galaxy. This Halloween time addition to the ride adds spooky projections and sounds on the dome as well as on the ride. Though this addition is only available during the Halloween season.
If you are a thrill seeker then Space Mountain is the ride for you. Looking back from the first opening in 1977 it has gone farther out of this word than, I believe, Disney ever first imagined it never would.
Don’t forget to check out the DLR Talks live show!
Ryan Brown
https://ModernMouseRadio.com
Top 5: Celebrities Who Need Jiminy Cricket As A Guide
Feb 15
Last week I sat and rewatched one of the Disney classics I hadn’t seen in quite a long time. Pinocchio was actually a very pleasing film to watch again and it got me thinking about who else could use a conscience. Of course my brain works in maddening ways that is too difficult to explain in a single article, but it led me to thinking about celebrities of the modern era and show could use a Jiminy Cricket push. So without much more of an intro, here are my top 5 celebrities who need Jiminy Cricket as their guide.
5-Gary Busey. I saw a commercial for the All-Star edition of Celebrity Apprentice the other day and came to wonder how and when Gary Busey lost his way. The answer is copious amounts of drugs and a long time ago. Seriously, I can’t remember the last time I heard the name Gary Busey and thought anything positive was going to come from it. Busey is a former Academy Award nominee for best actor when he played the role of Buddy Holly in the Buddy Holly Story and has also been in several classic films like Lethal Weapon, Point Break, and The Firm. I mean, this was a serious movie actor with some great qualities. Then he was involved in a motorcycle accident where he wasn’t wearing a helmet. He could have definitely used Jiminy at that point, but none-the-less he survived and continued on down a road filled only with B-movies and punchlines that end with his name. It’s a sad state of affairs as he has been arrested multiple times for drug possession, domestic violence, and countless other crimes. His latest role has been the insane former actor on Donald Trump’s show, and despite his antics, NBC is making money off of his tom foolery so they continue to bring him back so he can make himself look even worse. Seriously, get this man a talking cricket immediately. Better yet, let’s travel back to the mid-1980s in our DeLorean and find him a cricket there when Busey still had a promising career.
4-Lindsay Lohan. A former Disney star gone bad, Lindsay Lohan has been the epitome of bad choices. What was once a promising career for a young actress trying to mature out of her Disney phase became an out of control nightmare. Lohan has been in and out of court more times than anyone can count. She has lied in court about her film schedule and drug use, as well as continues to miss court dates that she is scheduled for. The Blue Fairy would be very disappointed and with as many lies as she has told, her nose would be the size of a redwood if you cut it down. (Don’t cut down the redwoods though.) On top of that, she has found herself in and out of rehab just as often as she is in and out of court. She should have stayed with her old Disney pal Jiminy and this would have never happened. Of course, I can partially blame some of her madness on her parents, but as someone who is 26 years old, I think it’s about time to stop blaming her parents and start blaming her own personal problems.
3-Rihanna. A surprising pick, but I think for good reason. At age 24, Rihanna has an extremely good future ahead of her, but only if she goes down the right path. Like Pinocchio meeting Honest John, Rihanna tends to find herself hanging out with the wrong crowd, aka Chris Brown, and falling completely in love. Now, I have to say, like most people, felt sorry for Rihanna when she was first attacked by Brown a few years back. The two split and she seemed better off for doing so in the long run. She had success on her own and should have listened to her personal Jiminy Cricket about continuing along that path. Unfortunately love, or whatever feelilng I try to often tell myself doesn’t exist, gets in the way sometimes and brings people back. For Rihanna, that meant hooking up with former domestic violence case Chris Brown. I also am not one to say that people don’t deserve second chances, but in this case I think Rihanna was better off. Only time will tell if this is her downfall or not, but it does seem to me that this has potential to ruin her career, and at such a young age. Rihanna, find your cricket and listen to him!
2-The Vast Majority of U.S. Politicians. Seriously, can we turn on the nightly news and not see a political scandal for once. At a time when politicians need to focus on what’s a stake for a changing American society, what we end up with is a mix of prostitution, drug use, and racism I only thought existed in the film Beloved. Can we not elect government officials that are straight laced anymore, or do those even exist. The sad note here is that if these people had a conscience, Americans could be better off and decisions could be made at a quicker pace. When scandals happen in Washington D.C., they impact us all in the sense that the real issues get pushed to the side and are not resolved. I won’t push this topic any further, as I’m not one to talk politics on my own Disney site but you get the message.
1-Charlie Sheen. Has there ever been someone so misguided in life. As an actor, Charlie Sheen has played some major roles. As a personality, Charlie Sheen is off his rocker. Growing up in a family of actors is a strange ordeal, so I understand how Sheen could be a bit off kilter, but off kilter doesn’t describe him at all. (Epcot reference for those of you who caught it.) Name it and Sheen has been there and done it. Domestic Violence..check. Drug use…check. Alcoholism…check. Serious meltdown…check. So where did he go wrong? I don’t think anyone can pinpoint that exact moment, but starting in the early 1990s, it seemed like this trainwreck was doomed. Despite himself, he continues to land big roles and make money, but eventually all of his partying habits will catch up to him. Pleasure Island’s fun can only last so long. Jiminy needs to get to him to change his ways before he ends up dead in a gutter somewhere.
What other celebrities need a conscience like Jiminy Cricket? Leave your thoughts and comments down below. As always, thank you guys and I will see you soon.
Josh Taylor
https://ModernMouseRadio.com
Farming Is Fun!!!
Feb 13
Photo Courtesy of Hector A. Parayuelos
Living With The Land is an integral part of Epcot’s Future World. For a park that opened in 1982 as a place for innovations in technology and cultures of the world, it seems like somewhat of a stretch to have an attraction about agriculture and horticulture, but in fact it’s one of the longest lasting attractions and most vital attractions at the park. The Land pavilion was to be a part of the park from the get go and Living With The Land is the pavilion’s key attraction. Some find it fascinating, some find it boring, but the truth of the matter is that it’s an actual pavilion with an attraction that’s helping change society and guests can get a first hand look at how science is changing how we eat.
Food. It’s one of our most basic needs as a society. Seems like there is a documentary coming out on food, how we should eat, where it’s coming from, and what to do about it every year. As a global society, we are starting to treat food with much more care and using science to grow our foods in other ways. Smaller local horicultural crops are being produced more frequently than ever before, and the term “organic” seems to be popping up at every supermarket across the globe. But all of this is a much more recent trend than the actual Land pavilion itself. How could Disney have known this trend was coming?
Well, just look at our land. For decades we have known that the soil we use to grow crops has become less and less fertile. We are harvesting crops faster than we actually have land to grow it on. That could lead to a serious epidemic! Disney executives must have seen this and thought they could be a part of the solution. When Walt Disney passed away, the city plans for Epcot were shelved and when the idea came up again for the Disney World resort, Epcot really turned into a park filled with world culture and technological innovations. What better way to bring those two things together than show how we can use technology to better the cultures of the world.The Land was a pavilion in development from the get go. Kraft Foods became the sponsor, putting up a majority of the money to build the pavilion. . The Land opened with the park and had three attractions. Kitchen Kabaret was an audio-animatronic show about nutrition and health, Symbiosis was a film that focused on the relationships between species in the world and the food chain that exists between all of us, but the key attraction to The Land was originally named Listen to the Land, now called Living With The Land.
To give you a feel for how important The Land was to Imagineer’s developing the pavilion, almost 254,000 sq. feet were given to the pavilion. That roughs out to be around six acres making it the largest pavilion at Epcot and about the same size as Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom. Living With The Land and it’s connected research lab take up 43,000 sq. feet of The Land’s space. The attraction is a boat tour through the greenhouse areas of The Land, showcasing agriculture in America, different agricultural regions, innovative new ways to grow, pest management, and more. The attraction originally had a live tour guide to tell you about what you were seeing and to answer questions, but the guides were replaced by an overhead audio guide in each boat. (I long for the days of a live guide but that’s just my opinion.)
Living With The Land is actually split into two separate sections. One that focuses more on the seperate lands of the world and the other that focuses on how Epcot’s research is helping grow crops within the greenhouses attached to The Land. The first part of the ride is actually made up of several animatronic figures originally set for Magic Kingdom’s Western River Expedition attraction that was cancelled. (Read about Western River Expedition HERE!) The boat takes you through wind, rain, and desert atmospheres, telling you that separate areas of the world have grown and sustained food.
The second and longer part of the attraction is a tour of the greenhouses. You’ll see foods grown in water, tropical climates, dry climates, and not even in soil. This section of the attraction also gives you a behind the scenes look at how research is changing how we grow food. Using hydroponics and growing in sand, perlite, and rockwool. The plants in these greenhouses have won world records for being extremely productive and growing some of the biggest foods in the world. You can even eat some of these foods in the various restaurants in The Land pavilion and the Coral Reef restaurant that is part of The Seas with Nemo and Friends.
Living With The Land has changed a bit since it’s opening in 1982, but the main concept and ideals of the attraction are still the same. So what is the future of this attraction? We may not know, but the need for it is still there. It’s still popular enough to run boats every few minutes. It’s even popular enough to have it’s own backstage tour add on. If the 15 minute long boat ride isn’t enough, you can book the Behind the Seeds tour to get a hands on look at how Epcot is growing food. I can only hope that Living With The Land is an attraction that lives on and continues to keep the spirit of what Walt’s original Epcot was about, and that the attraction continues to develop and better the world through it’s research into agriculture and horticulture.
What are your thoughts on Living With The Land and The Land pavilion in general? Do you love it or hate it? Have you been on the Behind The Seeds tour? Leave your thoughts and comments and as always, I’ll see you soon.
Josh Taylor
https://ModernMouseRadio.com
DLR Talks #3
Feb 11
DLR Talks is back. We did a trivia game. Take your shot at these questions while we answer them. Ryan plays host while the other panelists try to win a sweet Club 33 pin. Also, answer our Weird Disney Question in the comments to have your answer read in next weeks show.
Weird Disney Questions: If a zombie outbreak happened, where would you hide at Disneyland?
Ryan Brown
Modern Mouse Radio #13: Howard Ashman
Feb 10
Another history episode of Modern Mouse Radio. This time taking you into the world of music with Howard Ashman. Ashman was a pivotal part of Disney’s Renaissance period with his contributions in music to Oliver and Company, Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin. He also contributed in changing the course of the company and future films even after his untimely death in 1991. Check out this look back at his legacy.
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