Archives

Contribute to Our Research

Follow Figment to the Image Works

The great and mighty Martin Smith has struck again, this time with a new documentary about the Image Works – the creative playground of the future! This electronic wonderland occupied the upper level of Journey Into Imagination’s glass pyramids from its opening in 1982 until the notorious pavilion overhauls of 1998-99. The attraction featured a […]

New Horizons For… Those Guys

Today’s flashback comes from 1982, when the first show scene had been completed and approved for EPCOT’s Horizons attraction. The first set to be completed was Scene #14, “Urban Habitat.” You remember the one:

To celebrate the first finalized scene for the attraction, what better for a group of talented Imagineers to do than […]

Stitch Crashes & Burns

Tomorrowland – A vista into a world of wondrous ideas, signifying man’s achievements… a step into the future, with predictions of constructive things to come. Tomorrow offers new frontiers in science, adventure, and ideals: the atomic age… the challenge of space… and the hope for a peaceful and unified world.

Things have been a little […]

Patent Pending – Disneyland’s Flying Saucers, 1966

When I was but a young Disney nerd in the pre-internet era, I was always hungry for details about the mysterious lost attractions from Disneyland’s past. Chief amongst these was the legendary Flying Saucers ride, which operated in Tomorrowland from 1961-66 and is still spoken about with wistfulness by those who were there at […]

Semper Absurda, 1971-1998

Hey now, be fair. Everyone wants Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. – Jason Lee, Mallrats (1995)

Ten years ago yesterday, on a drizzly and humid Orlando morning, Disney fans gathered in Florida’s Magic Kingdom to bid farewell to one of the park’s original and most beloved attractions. Scores of fans and protesters, many with matching […]