Progress City, U.S.A.

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…

When the announcement was made that Merlin Entertainments had purchased Florida’s fabled yet troubled Cypress Gardens to convert it into LEGOland Florida – exciting news for those of us who share a love of LEGO and an interest in preserving as much of ol’ Cypress Gardens as possible – my mind immediately went elsewhere. A trip down memory lane through the last several decades reveals a long, mostly unconsummated, flirtation between Disney and LEGO.

Like two stars orbiting each other in a gravitational embrace, the two companies have been intertwined for ages. But instead of drawing closer, it appears that at last they’ve catapulted each other into interstellar space.

Allow me to explain my tortured metaphor.

One of the most vigorous and undying Disney rumors in the early days of the internet was that the fifth gate at Walt Disney World would be a LEGO park. I’ve no idea how realistic these rumors actually were, but there were several legitimate attempts to bring LEGO into the existing Disney parks. Most prominently, these involved efforts to bring a Denmark pavilion to EPCOT Center. The Denmark pavilion has popped up here in the past; it’s one of those rare unrealized ideas, much like the Spain pavilion, that have been hinted at publicly at certain intervals since well before EPCOT’s opening in 1982 to almost the modern day. While many of those iterations probably didn’t involve LEGO, some did. Let’s take a look back, starting in 1983…

John Sullivan, the president of Lego’s American subsidiary, said in an interview here that shipments were up in 1982 but not as much as the company had expected. Overall, the toy industry was hurt by the economic downturn, and Lego fared reasonably well compared to other companies, Sullivan said. But, particularly in the United States, video games are a major new long-term factor in an industry already crowded with products. In only a few years, electronic toys have garnered 32 percent of the market, and their attraction is increasing as prices go down, he said.

…

Lego is an unusual international company because it is so closely held by the founding family and because it operates from this remote corner of Scandinavia. It was once written of Billund that it was a “god-forsaken railway stopping point where nothing could thrive.” The railway is gone, the surrounding flatlands still offer an uninviting vista, but Billund appears to be flourishing as the home of one of Denmark’s leading companies and largest exporters. Although no sales figures are published, one informal estimate puts total turnover at about $250 million annually.

The local airport is among the country’s busiest, although the population remains only a few thousand. Many of the travelers are among the 900,000 people who each year visit Legoland, the amusement park where almost everything is built of Lego pieces. It has become Denmark’s second most popular tourist attraction after Tivoli, the famous gardens in Copenhagen, according to company officials.

Lego is negotiating for a niche at the new Disneyworld Epcot Center in Florida, where it would feature more of the amazing giant-size Lego creations, Sullivan said.

- “Lego’s Market ‘Clutch Power’; Electronic Games Pose New Challenge”, The Washington Post, March 31st, 1983

Obviously, that didn’t happen. The Denmark pavilion begat the Scandinavia pavilion which begat today’s Norway pavilion. So, take two…

LOOKING FOR a good Danish? If you’re not too hungry to wait, try Walt Disney World, where the next country represented in Epcot’s World Showcase is likely to be Denmark. Disney is close to signing a contract with the northern European kingdom, says Walt Disney Attractions President Judson Green. Now, with Norway already in place, Epcot need collect only Sweden to have the complete Scandinavian set.

- The Orlando Sentinel, December 20, 1993

Disney chairman Michael Eisner announced that Denmark would build the 12th foreign pavilion at Florida’s Epcot Center.

- “Disney meet upbeat”, Daily Variety, February 23rd, 1994

That’s from the annual shareholders’ meeting! You can’t get much more definitive an announcement than that. And yet…

Finally, despite CEO Michael Eisner’s announcement at February’s annual meeting, Expansion Plans with Copenhagen Only Tentative.

Eisner told shareholders that the deal to add Denmark to World Showcase was all but signed, but talks continue six months later.

”Both parties are re-evaluating,” Warren said. ”It still may happen, but it also may not.”

- “EPCOT: Expect Park Changes Over Time”, The Orlando Sentinel, August 15th, 1994

Uh oh…

Q. Whatever happened to Walt Disney World’s plans to add a Denmark pavilion to World Showcase at Epcot ‘95?

A. The addition seems a lot less likely than it did a year ago, when Disney officials were saying they were close to signing a contract with Denmark on the project.

Pam Brandon, a spokeswoman for Epcot , said the idea hasn’t been dropped altogether, but there is no timetable for moving ahead with it.

“Denmark is definitely on hold,” Brandon said. “The thought at Epcot right now is that we’re doing more media in entertainment rather than building big buildings.

“Right now, especially in World Showcase, we’re looking more at entertainment that’s outside and giving it more a sense of place.”

Word of Walt Disney World’s interest in bringing Denmark to its World Showcase got out in late 1993. It would have been the 12th country to be featured at the park.

- The Orlando Sentinel, February 3rd, 1995

Swing and a miss.

So, let’s fast-forward then, to early 2001 – before that year’s recession, attendance downturn, and terrorism-induced attendance collapse:

Contrary to Internet speculation, Lego probably won’t open a new theme park at Walt Disney World.

But the Danish construction-toy maker might have a presence on World Showcase Lagoon.

Lego officials said last year the company was talking to Disney, Universal and SeaWorld officials about possible sites for a proposed 125-acre theme park. The privately owned company already operates parks in Billund, Denmark; Windsor, England; and Carlsbad, Calif.

Instead, the toy maker has talked to Disney officials about opening a new Lego-themed attraction and store in Epcot, said a source familiar with the project.

The attraction would display various landmarks, such as the Pyramids, made out of Legos.

The two companies already have strong ties. Lego operates a store in Downtown Disney in Orlando and just opened a similar store in Anaheim as part of the new California Adventure theme park. Lego also produces a line of toys for Disney.

Disney would not comment on the project. A Lego spokesman said the company has no immediate plans for an attraction at Epcot, but wouldn’t rule out the possibility.

- “EPCOT, LEGO ARE IN TALKS”, The Orlando Sentinel, February 19th, 2001

Strike three?

So now LEGO is coming to Cypress Gardens, after thirty years of flirting with central Florida. EPCOT, of course, hasn’t seen a new World Showcase pavilion in twenty-one years. But hey, you can’t say they didn’t try.

You might notice the sad lack of images in this story, and as with most stories on the internet This Story Is Useless Without Pictures. But there has been a surprising lack of artwork from this project released or leaked over the years. Of course, if anyone wants to drop me a line with some info…

In today’s entry in the “How’d that work out for ya?” file, we have this headline from the April, 1979 edition of the Disney Times.

An African Pavilion for EPCOT Center’s World Showcase came a step closer to reality with the recent receipt of a letter of intent from Kenya. Two other African nations, Senegal and Ivory Coast, are expected to send similar letters soon.

Definitive agreements with these nations are still being negotiated by representatives from Disney and the respective governments.

The African Pavilion will promote tourism in the participating nations and will feature authentic food and merchandise of each country. There is a strong possibility that other nations may also participate as co-sponsors of the pavilion, according to Jack Lindquist, Corporate Vice President who’s heading the EPCOT team in seeking out participants for both Future World and World Showcase.

“Map of Africa shows possible participants in the new African Pavilion” (Disney)

Kenya, with 14,340,000 population, is slightly smaller than Texas. Under British control since the 19th Century, it became independent in 1960. Acting President is Daniel Arap Moi. Tourism is the main industry, with coffee, tea and cotton the chief crops. The capital is Nairobi (pop: 736,000).

Ivory Coast is the most prosperous of the tropical African nations. A bit larger than New Mexico, with a population of 5,150,000, Ivory Coast became independent in 1960 after being a French protectorate since 1842. Coffee, cocoa and bananas are chief exports. The president is Felix Houphout-Boigny. Abidjan (pop: 800,000) is the capital.

Senegal, about the size of South Dakota, has a population of slightly more than five million. It, too, became independent in 1960. Peanuts, millet and corn are its chief crops. President is Leopold Senghor and the prime minister is Abdou Diouf. The capital is Dakar (pop: 600,000).

Now, didn’t you just learn so much? Imagine how much you’d have learned had the pavilion actually been built!

Of course, political instability and economic woes kept these nations from sponsoring a pavilion. Kenya’s president Daniel arap Moi became something of a dictator, surviving a coup attempt in 1982. The nation’s page on Wikipedia includes the following phrase: “In rural areas like Kisii District the cases of people being burnt as witches is on the rise.” Well, ok then.

Côte d’Ivoire has had similar issues; President Houphouët-Boigny was another long-serving benign dictator, and following a decade of economic woes in the 1980s and the death of Houphouët-Boigny in 1993 there has been a military coup and a civil war. All of which would make for a very awkward World Showcase experience, and one wonders what missions Kim Possible would assign you in that pavilion. Senegal has fared better by comparison, despite a militant separatist movement, but it remains overall a very poor nation.

A later rendering by Herb Ryman of the proposed Equatorial Africa pavilion

All of this makes these nations’ intended participation in World Showcase that much more ambitious, and I would love to know the details of those negotiations. These nations’ woes are, of course, mostly unfortunate from a humanitarian perspective, but the collapse of these plans are also a shame because this would have been an interesting and unusual pavilion. Its design details remain intriguing today.

Mostly, though, the pavilion’s potential was in introducing a western audience to the cultures of countries that most people couldn’t find on a map. Perhaps it’s an idea worth revisiting.

So we step out of the TARDIS and it’s 1983. And it’s EPCOT, so let’s ride something.

It shouldn’t be a problem, of course. After all, as we all know, EPCOT was super unpopular because it was so boring and dull, with no thrills and it made children cry and no one ever, ever came. So it should be an easy walk-on to El Rio Del Tiempo at the the Mexico Pavilion – after all, it’s a slow dull dark ride with no thrills whatsoever and there aren’t even any characters. No characters?! Why even bother? Oh well, might as well. Let’s just stroll over and…

The Mexico Pavilion at EPCOT Center, 1983

OH DEAR LORD!

So… uh… boring… and, uh… unpopular…

Of note: Wow, that’s a big show building. And some short trees. And look how much space there is between the building and the promenade!

Anyway, it’s nice and all but can you imagine how excited these people would be if it were a roller coaster?

So, then there’s this. It might not quite be the holy grail, but it’s plenty close enough to make me happy. A series of videos from 1983 have appeared on YouTube depicting a freshly-minted EPCOT Center. And they’re amazing. It’s rare to see video at all from this era, and even more rare to see such wonderful documentation like these videos. It’s obviously someone who cared about the landscaping, design and architecture, and they really take their time to let you soak it all in.

And there are Danish bathrooms!!

I’ve been hoping for a long, long time that the internet would render up unto us something like this. Hoping that someone, somewhere in the early 1980s had the cash for a video camera and the temperament and disposition to take tons of detailed video of EPCOT Center. Just the slow videos of the planters with that main entrance music playing in the background gives me chills.

Seriously, close the blinds and take the phone off the hook. Grab several sodas from the fridge so you won’t have to get up. Because this is going to blow your mind.

Part one is below; you can find the rest on YouTube.

Thanks to Martin Smith and Cousin Orville for bringing this to my attention…