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 pavilionAs 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!
One of the funniest Disney blog posts I’ve read in a while!
The other piece that is extremely interesting in those photographs are the figures themselves. The bathroom gets refurbished into Norway and the figures from America on Parade get refurbished for early EPCOT Center. I love it!
HA thanks… Yeah, the nice spinoff of this is that I had never seen these two specific costumes before. It’s funny, because months ago I was looking online for pictures of one of these bigheads for an article, but could barely find anything good. These are perfect.
[…] This post was Twitted by chrisreid1983 […]
Fantastic find, Michael! This might win the FoxxFur Award for “most awesome post about something obscure that only we could love!”
Haha… I thought of Foxx when I posted it. What’s sad is I really, really was super excited when I saw the picture with the old bathroom in back.
Good thing I like big women! That and I I really like seeing these obscurities, especially when someone else has done all the work… thanks once again.
If you like WDW bathroom photos, go over to Flickr some time and enter the term TOTVKOTW in the search engine that is an acronym for “Thrones of the Vacation Kingdom of the World” at present it will turn up a little over 200 photos of WDW bathrooms, once I get this tears batch labeled it might be over 400 though.
Trust me, nothing is perfect.
GOOD PIC I LIKE
[…] across World Showcase containing – if you look to the right of the frame – those famous Danish bathrooms of yore. Check out how pristine World Showcase is. Not only is the landscaping immaculate, but the […]
Guess there were never any bathrooms installed for the Equatorial Africa Pavillion to date, only a few rocks.
[…] Crawford at Progress City, USA first brought the Lost Potties of Denmark to our attention back in December 2009. Disney nerds all over the world sighed a collective gasp […]
[…] http://progresscityusa.com/2009/12/03/retro-neverworlds-the-lost-potties-of-denmark/ […]
[…] Michael at Progress City USA has an astounding post about the bathrooms in the Denmark Pavilion at EPCOT Center. […]
Those are my pics! Holy poo poo is this funny!
Uh, yeah — I’m the little blonde girl. Our parents took us to Disney that year specifically because I was having serious vision problems, and they wanted me to see everything/have those memories in case I lost my sight.
Thankfully all turned out well in regards to my vision and we went back many, many times. MJ 2345 and I have been there with our parents, spouses and kids.
I am, however, wondering what else my brother posted of me! 🙂
HA!! Thanks for commenting! Who knew you’d find internet fame years later? Or that hanging around Epcot bathrooms would be historically valuable?
Incidentally, I’m glad everything worked out for your vision – that would be a tough thing to deal with as a kid I’m sure. And now you can witness your online fame haha.
Thanks again for commenting (and to MJ 2345 for posting the pics!)