Progress City, U.S.A.

Rick Heinrichs and Tim Burton with some of the characters from “Vincent” (Disney)

With Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland approaching theaters, it’s good to remember where it all started for Burton – right at the Disney Studios in the early 1980s, alongside a number of talented but underutilized young animators.

The above picture, which shows a 24-year-old (!) Burton alongside artist Rick Heinrichs, comes from a 1982 issue of Disney Newsreel, the cast newsletter for the Disney Studios. The accompanying article promotes Vincent, a short film that the two had made together. The stop-motion short, as you might be able to tell, had more than a tinge of autobiography to it.

“Vincent,” the Studio’s newest stop-motion animation short film, was released with “Tex” at the Westwood Bruin last week. The film was designed as an experiment to test new stop-motion techniques for their possible use in feature films. It was so accomplished that Production Vice-President, Tom Wilhite, decided it should be released theatrically.

“Vincent” is a six-minute story of a little boy who thinks he’s Vincent Price. Tim Burton wrote, directed, and designed the characters for the film, and Rick Heinrichs was Producer and Sculptor for the show. Vincent Price narrated the story.

“Vincent” was entered in the experimental short film category at the prestigious Chicago Film Festival and won first prize, and it will qualify for Academy Award consideration. It will show at the Westwood Bruin for the duration of “Tex’s” engagement.

The studio, of course, didn’t really know what to do with Burton, and he would soon depart along with other young animators like John Lasseter. Burton, who also did conceptual work for The Black Cauldron, would make another short for Disney in 1984; Frankenweenie can be seen on the DVD release of The Nightmare Before Christmas alongside Vincent. Burton is also remaking it as a feature film for his next Disney project.

You can see, though, in the picture from the article that the oh-so-young Burton was already working on several of the key design styles that would emerge in his later work. Rick Heinrichs would make good for himself too, filling various artistic roles on a number of Burton projects and emerging as an art director on major projects like the second and third Pirates of the Caribbean films, the current release The Wolfman, and the upcoming Captain America.

Subtitle: 1,001 Arabian Flushes…

So ever since the long quest for photographic proof of EPCOT’s lost Danish bathrooms concluded, the hunt was on for those other lone bathrooms of EPCOT’s early days – the restroom complex that would one day be part of the Morocco pavilion.

World Showcase, 1982

While the Morocco showcase would not open until 1984, you can tell from this 1982 photograph that work was already underway at that site well before the pavilion’s official “groundbreaking” in 1983.

Of course, there was already something completed on the site – the bathrooms. Here they are, in all their glory, as they were on opening day in 1982:

The Morocco bathrooms at EPCOT, 1982

Guests were no doubt grateful for these solitary and mysterious bathrooms – the only such facilities between the United Kingdom and the American Adventure. The complex stood alone – almost like a French Foreign Legion outpost in the middle of nowhere – until it was joined by the rest of the Morocco pavilion in 1984.

The Moroccan bathrooms, with pavilion attached (Photo found here)

Of course, the bathrooms of Morocco don’t have the cachet of mystery that the toilets of the lost Denmark pavilion have maintained. Sadly, we’ve all but exhausted the possibilities for porcelain archaeology in World Showcase – until that day where scientists hopefully unearth the plumbing fixtures for the mythical Equatorial Africa complex…

While any good Disney fan knows that EPCOT Center opened in October of 1982, it’s easy to forget just how busy that first month was. While the opening date of October 1st is well-known, the park itself wasn’t dedicated until the 24th. Throughout the rest of the month, on different days, each individual pavilion and showcase had its own grand opening ceremony. On October 18th, it was EPCOT Computer Central’s turn.

EPCOT Computer Central, sponsored by Sperry Univac, was an attraction that could only have existed at EPCOT in its prime. It was, essentially, the computerized nerve center of the entire park. Guests could look down upon the mainframes from above, while a brief show (using the same Pepper’s Ghost effect as the Haunted Mansion’s ballroom) explained how the operation worked. “Earlie the Pearlie,” played by Broadway actor Ken Jennings, was the Cockney song-and-dance man who hosted the show and performed the Sherman Brothers’ cult classic, The Computer Song.

The Astuter Computer Revue, though, was less than a hit. In fact, it was more like EPCOT’s version of California Adventure’s Superstar Limousine; its short life ended in January of 1984. In a weird twist that is hard to conceive of today, the show was retooled to make it less silly and more informative. It re-opened as Backstage Magic, which remained open until 1993.

I found this video on YouTube quite by accident, and was immediately mes-mo-rized. It is such pure early 80s futurism – jumpsuits, bland colors but the occasional use of sequins, and barely-contained man batch. And interpretive dance. I love those standard-bearers holding the Communicore logo; what’s really funny is that at the EPCOT 25th anniversary presentation they used pretty much the same idea. This is hard-core vintage 1980s at its finest:

The Sperry Univac executive continues in part two, but despite the fact that I doubt he or Card Walker ever set the Toastmasters on fire, I encourage you to watch because what happens after the speeches are finished is simply… indescribable. Oh wait, it’s totally describable – it’s sparkly.

Love it. I especially love all the people in suits watching intently. Oh, 1982.

Despite the obvious camp value and the rather stodgy speeches, there’s a nugget of brilliance here. Those speeches do invoke what EPCOT is meant to embody, and which has unfortunately been forgotten. While they’re not delivered with much zing, they do get across what EPCOT was trying to celebrate – the latest and greatest innovations in technology, and the excitement about the potential they held for improving our lives. Almost thirty years later, it’s still forward looking; I’ll also remind you that all this pomp and circumstance was celebrating the opening of what was essentially a giant bank of computers. No ride, or interactivity, or “thrill” – the cool tech was the draw. While EPCOT Computer Central was never an E-ticket, obviously, it was unique and something that could only be seen at EPCOT. That’s a goal as worthy today as it was then.

I’ll pass on the glittery yellow derby hat, though.

One last thing – out there, somewhere, is a better quality video of this ceremony. There’s also lots of other video from those early days of EPCOT. I want to see that video. You hear me world??

How do you tell a Disney nerd? This is how.

So, at the Theme Park Review site, they have this swell thread about early EPCOT Center. Of course, its swellness is enhanced by the fact that it says nice things about Progress City, but I digress. The point is, this thread contains thrilling and exciting pictures of something that I’ve been diligently seeking for literally years. And I’m not joking. I nearly jumped out of my seat when I saw this – take a look at this picture from their discussion of the creepy giant characters that used to inhabit World Showcase:

That’s racist.

Cute, right? But do you see it? Do you see it?! Let’s take another look:

A Scandinavian giantess in World Showcase, 1982. Don’t make eye contact!

Here’s another of the big-heads, but this one seems to be of some vague Nordic origin. I guess it makes sense for her to be standing in front of Germany pavilion. Or, wait… is that Italy? Or the U.K.? Wait, where is this picture taken? Without all the trees and plants grown in – this is 1982, after all – it’s hard to tell where these pictures take place. Do you recognize it? Oh I’ll bet you do!

EPCOT’s Norway pavilion, present day. Look to the left of the picture, and prepare to have your world rocked.

Boom. It’s the Norway pavilion. Look at the picture of the little girl, and then look at the picture above. The Norway pavilion. But wait, you’re saying – the Norway pavilion opened in 1988! Willard Scott was there! And you’d be right. The building in the pictures from 1982 isn’t all of the Norway pavilion – just the bathrooms. While Norway, Gateway to Scandinavia opened in 1988, its troll-friendly bathrooms have been accommodating guests since 1982. Don’t believe me?

World Showcase in 1983. Between Mexico and China lie the lonely bathrooms that would eventually bloom into the Norway pavilion

As you can see on the above map, when EPCOT Center opened in 1982 there was a free-standing guest restroom between the Mexico and China showcases. This was a vestigial remnant of earlier plans, which called for an actual pavilion to be built on this spot. With the rush to finish EPCOT and the trouble lining up sponsors, these plans were delayed. In preparation for the park’s second phase, though, Disney had installed the necessary plumbing infrastructure and were able to open the restroom facilities before their pavilion could even be designed. I’ve known this for years, but never been able to find a picture. Until now!

Looking towards Mexico, 1982. Note the little lonely bathroom cottage next door.

What’s really strange is that these bathrooms were not born Norwegian. They were originally intended to be part of a still-unbuilt Denmark pavilion. As late as 1983, Disney was in talks with LEGO to help fund the pavilion. During the development of EPCOT Center, at least two different sites were designated for the Denmark pavilion – one between the current France and United Kingdom pavilions, and another where the bathrooms were eventually built. In this 1979 rendering, you can see Denmark depicted where China stands today.

Oh Norway bathrooms, why do you taunt me with your elusive multi-national origins?

The path these bathrooms took from their Danish origins to their current Norwegian residence is long and winding. When negotiations for a single Denmark pavilion fell through, Disney pursued a deal for a Scandinavian pavilion that would cover the cultures of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Somewhere along the way we lost Denmark and Sweden, but Norway stuck around and opened their pavilion in 1988. Finally, the nomadic bathrooms of eastern World Showcase had a home.

Disney would flirt with a Denmark pavilion again in the early 1990s, but we didn’t even get a port-a-potty out of that one.

So, I win. Thanks, Theme Park Review! And let this be a lesson to the rest of you – remember to take you family vacation snapshots in front of random bathrooms. It might be important one day!

Note: The pictures of the Norway pavilion in the article come from a random internet search. If one of them belongs to you, let me know and I’ll provide appropriate credit. Thanks!

Eleven years later, and twenty-seven years ago today in Orlando:

Hey, at least this time the song was actually about the park!

How much would I love to see the Disney company show this much enthusiasm about EPCOT and its mission today? Not a character or franchise in sight – just big, big ideas and lots of ambition.

Happy birthday, EPCOT, and also to Horizons, which turns twenty-six today. We miss you.