Journey into Your Imagination details

Imagination Institute will host new 'open house' at IMAGINATION!

Figment will be part of the refurbished pavilion's new attraction as guests explore their imagination.

By Steve Longlois, Eyes & Ears

IMAGINATION! presented by Kodak, formerly the journey into Imagination pavilion at Epcot, will debut on Oct.1 with the rest of the Walt DisneyWorld Millennium Celebration with a new look, new theme and new attraction. The "Honey I Shrunk the Audience" 3-D show will continue to be a main feature of the pavilion. in fact, the entire pavilion will appear to be transformed into the Imagination Institute, the fictional laboratory seen in the show. In the pavilion's new ride, Journey Into Your Imagination, guests will take a behind-the-scenes visit of the Institute. According to the storyline, "We're having an open house of the entire facility," said Joseph Reyes,Walt Disney Imagineering show producer. "Our guests will be test subjects for an experiment we've developed in which we'll scan their imaginations and digitally display [them]. Next, we'll run them through a series of experiments and then scan their imaginations again and display the results." Dr. Nigel Channing from "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience," will welcome guests on overhead screens in the queue, along with a new computer-generated version of Figment, the purple dragon from the previous ride. Ride vehicles will take guests into five different labs devoted to sound, illusion, color, dimension and gravity. For example, the color lab will be a guest-activated room where screams, claps and whistles will make intense colors appear on the walls. When guests' imaginations are scanned at the end of the experiments, they'll be in for a surprise. Guests will exit into an interactive area called the ImageWorks - The Kodak "What If"" Labs. Innovative imaging technology will produce one-of-a-kind photograph souvenirs for guests. Watch for Cast preview information.