Abandoned - Journey Into Imagination

what's up guys my name is Jake welcome to abandoned episode 17 this is the show where we talk about some of the coolest abandoned places in the world there's always been one infamous ride in Epcot that has been beloved by hundreds of thousands of people one of the only rides in Epcot to grow such a caring and strong fanbase only to eventually be abandoned and that's the imagination pavilion now as of right now the building is still operational however it has the entire second floor still abandoned if you don't know what the pavilion is basically it's themed after obviously the human imagination the pavilion has its distinct - glass pyramid design and houses a theater and one ride geographically the pavilion itself is located in Epcot obviously and futureworld West next to land pavilion so way back in the 80s when Epcot was in its construction phase the imagination pavilion was to be a day one attraction however with the mess that was the construction and budget of Epcot Center the opening date was slightly delayed classic Epcot took a focus on technology in showcasing so the imagination pavilion was a little outside of where they were shooting for legendary Imagineer Tony Baxter was assigned to create a pavilion for the Kodak Company journey into imagination was one of the ideas they came up with and it was an odd mix of what was already a unique and technology heavy future world allegedly the contract Kodak signed with Disney forced them to update the attraction to keep up to date with current technology every 10 years this would make it fit inside future world as for the design of the building well it actually didn't change too much from its original design it didn't change much to what we actually got to be honest though I definitely think the earlier renderings of the pavilion look actually a lot better than what it does now the rock work and the theming of the crystals coming out of the ground it actually looked pretty cool however when the pavilion was constructed it actually looked really inspiring in March of 1983 the pavilion officially opened to public when the ride opened it was actually one of the most in technically impressive rides to date it also brought something Epcot didn't have and that's the character Figment so the pavilion opened with its main attraction journey into imagination which was an 11-minute attraction that took you on an adventure with a dream finder and Fignon above the main floor attraction inside the glass pyramid sat Imageworks this was praised for its use of technology and imagination the area hosted different small attractions and activities guests would enjoy with creative illusions and the use of current technology at the time this was also the place where the infamous rainbow tunnel were Michael Jackson stood and really the inside of the glass pyramids the view inside is truly inspiring so with the late 90s approaching the ride was up for renovation by this time you have to remember that Epcot was in its prime and the ride had built up a huge fan base and was infamous for its characters however with the ride 15 years old it needed an update kodak as a sponsor wanted to change some things about the ride some being aesthetics others being design the biggest problem for kodak with the ride at its current state was its maintenance costs so on october 10 1998 the right clothes to go under a renovation then after a rather short innovation it opened again on october 1st 1998 as journey into your imagination and the response wasn't all that good actually that's an understatement because people hated this ride due to budgetary issues the ride track was actually shortened severely to make it five minutes rather than its previous eleven minutes ride time see the thing was kodak was laying off thousands of employees and they really just couldn't put up the money for a full revamp of the ride the ride also made Figment less a part of the ride as he only appeared limited times in a few scenes another thing they removed completely was the presence of the dream finder to everyone this was a big blow to what was guests favorite attraction and many would say that this ride completely ruined the pavilion after the bomb that was this renovation Disney quickly took notice on how bad the public took this ride and closed the ride just two years after its opening with the budget cuts of 1998 the second floor of the structure all of Imageworks was completely closed off to guests nothing was removed on the second floor leaving all the past exhibits completely abandoned so like I said with Disney aware of the disaster that was journey into your imagination the ride closed on October 2nd 2001 if you notice the timing to this was when Disney was making serious budget cuts by closing rides the new renovation took just a little under a year the new and current version of the ride opened on June 2nd 2002 as journey into imagination with figment they really wanted the hammer and figment for this ride anyway this ride was better than its previous iteration but nowhere near the 80s version later on in 2010 Kodak a sponsor for the pavilion for 27 years finally let go personally I've been on this ride a few times mostly because I had time to kill in the park and honestly it's really not that good of a right journey into imagination with figment is rated one of the worst rides in Disney by the way the entire second floor still remained abandoned throughout all of this as of 2016 the pavilion isn't looking so good as for the second floor well actually recently for the first time in 18 years have seen things actually change in early of 2016 it was announced that a portion of the second floor mainly the area inside the glass pyramid would be turned into a Disney Vacation Club lounge not the most exciting use for the space but at least something will be made of it the entire Pavilion itself seems very temporary in a way on the right and under the glass pyramids we have the imagination ride and exhibits to the left of that still connected to the structure we have the theater in 1989 it hosts the famous Captain EO starring Michael Jackson this closed in 1994 to make way for a new show called Honey I Shrunk the audience this show was cancelled in 2010 and replaced by the original Captain EO in honor of Michael Jackson's death this show lasted up until December 6 2015 when it was replaced by Disney and Pixar short film festival yeah I don't get it either so with a lackluster in low populated show and an arguably bad dark ride what could Disney do to the pavilion with the second floor ah well just basically allowed honestly that's all it is it's exclusive to Disney vacation club members and it really is just something to fill in the space however it does have one redeeming quality and that's the Coke machine I'm a hundred percent Ceres have you seen those things before they've like 165 flavors you kidding me Vacation Club is now worth of for me anyway when they built this or remodeled this I should say people assume that the space had now been used and that all the abandoned exhibits would be gone well actually that's not the case in fact none of the existing abandoned exhibit space was used what I mean is the corridor that leads into the actual exhibit area was sealed off so even though there isn't confirmation that this is true it's assumed that all the remaining exhibits are still there completely abandoned lately though the whole pavilion has been looking pretty dated a lot of the structural architecture on the bottom definitely shows its age and it's not getting better as days goes on I think in future rolled aesthetically the living sees is probably a little more dated looking however overall I think the imagination pavilion is just in worse shape real nice not the jet surfer messed up so what does the future hold to the imagination pavilion well I'm actually not sure apparently Disney can't find the answer to that either in 2008 Disney allegedly filed for the pavilions demolition for some reason this didn't go through however budget cuts may have played a part in it personally I think the space has reached its lifespan it's just I think it's ready for something completely new the thing is though since Disney did make the addition of this lounge it kinda is showing that the pavilion is going to stay the same for a little longer which honestly is a shame the honest truth is Epcot is not in the best condition right now I mean look at interventions right now what even is interventions anymore overall into some of the sup Epcot needs a lot of work and the imagination pavilion is a great example of how a dated future world really is so at the end of the day if Epcot is the sixth most visited theme park in the world it should probably be treated better personally what I think should happen is the pavilion should be torn down make whatever in its place move up forward to take the space in between the land and the new pavilion and work with the larger space the reason why I would move this up is because this would allow the Canadian pavilion to expand with a log flume ride this was actually planned way back and never built and this would actually give World Showcase a real thrill ride so if you make this new pavilion up forward you get a new ride in World Showcase plus you're getting a brand new pavilion that has the potential for multiple rides inside all of this would be stupidly easy to market to people and people would absolutely just come for the log flume ride in World Showcase this sounds good right the abandoned second floor of the imagination pavilion actually became somewhat of an infamous place for urban explorers and Disney one of whom being Leonard Kinsey the author of the dark side of Disney it's a book all about him documenting his experiences Disney probably doesn't want you to know about and it's worth mentioning that you can listen to this book on audible.com if you're like me and have literally no time to sit down and read a book you can just listen to it and even if you're not interested in that specific book audible has over 250,000 book titles which is kind of incredible so guys if you want to check it out and get a 30 a free trial all you need to do is go to audible.com slash BSF or by just clicking the link in the description so guys when you're supporting them you're in return supporting us and more content like this anyway guys my name is Jake follow us on Instagram Twitter and snapchat and as always thank you very much for

Channel: Bright Sun Films

Views: 1,152,911

Rating: 4.8586082 out of 5

Keywords: ABANDONED 17, Journey Into Imagination, Journey Into Your Imagination, Journey Into Imagination With Figmint, Epcot, Epcot Center, Walt Disney World, Disney, Disney World, Florida, Abandoned, Abandoned Florida, Urban, Urban Exploring, Abandoned Disney, Future World, Abandoned Disney World, River Country, Creepy, Exploring, Epcot Pavilion, disney parks, theme parks, abandoned theme park, amusment park, disney parks abandoned, epcot abandoned, abandoned attraction, sneaking

Id: VFFP2BMO-KE

Length: 11min 1sec (661 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 24 2016