A note from Jen Funderburk: I came across an old copy of ORLANDO-LAND magazine from 1980 in a pile of severely water damaged memorabilia that was in no condition to keep or sell. As I was tearing out pages from the moldy, wrinkled magazine to start a morning fire, I came across this almost 30 page article on the planning of EPCOT Center at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. I cannot believe it was almost burnt, especially after finding it was not available online. I have excitedly scanned all photos and text to share with you. This is part two of a multi part series. Part one can be found here.

Inside EPCOT

By Edward L. Prizer

Originally published in the June 1980 issue of ORLANDO-LAND Magazine

Image 36-1.png — Inside EPCOT

In the following article, an ORLANDO-LAND reporter describes a rare visit to the realm of the Imagineers and the marvels of ingenuity that are going on there. It is perhaps the most detailed account of the wonders of EPCOT Center ever published.

Ideas into substance

Blaine Gibson’s workshop was like an artist's garret, greatly enlarged. High windows let in a soft flow

of natural light. Scattered about in no particular kind of order were easels and stacks of sketches on matte board and chunks of plastic material and sculptures in various stages of completion. On banks of shelves along the walls were heads of every description. I recognized the features of several presidents from the Hall of Presidents and the rogues from Pirates of the Caribbean.

It is here that the Audio-Animatronics characters are created in three-dimensional form.

One of Blaine's assistants, at a bench nearby, was molding a dainty figure of a woman about four inches high. This was one of hundreds of miniatures that would come from this room for placement in the models.

Blaine is a slim, gray-haired artist, quiet in manner and speech.

Before we entered, Joel had told me: "He is the first in the world at what he does. He started sculpting as a youth after winning an Ivory soap carving contest.”

For years he worked as an animator for Disney, sculpting as a hobby. Walt Disney saw his work and, when Disneyland was being planned, assigned him to make the figures for the Jungle Cruise. He has been at it ever since.

Figures are initially developed in a claylike plastic material from artist's sketches.

Facial characteristics of Audio-Animatronics figures are developed in WED's sculpture studio. Above, Blaine Gibson creates a bug-eyed fellow who'll startle spectators in one of the shows under preparation. (Copyright Walt Disney Productions)

“Very rarely does the sketch idea have anything to do with the kind of character,” Blaine said. “We develop character in here. We're responsible for the final pose and attitude of characters.”

The miniatures go into the three-dimensional models of the various shows.

Later, a mid-sized mold is made of each head. This is called a maquette. Facial characteristics are worked out in detail. Blaine Gibson has a huge catalogue of heads from which he can draw, but each is individually designed to reflect a certain personality.

“We have to be sure the characters read instantly because the audience is constantly moving,” he said.

The next step is creation of full-size molds from the maquettes. These molds are used to cast fiberglas shells. Then hot-melt vinyl is poured over the shells and, when cooled, is pulled off in a form that resembles a rubbery pull-over face mask. In the last step, the vinyl is painted in flesh tones and mounted over the machinery that makes the lips and eyes move in response to computer signals.

Designers do their own programming of movements as they put the finishing touches on a show.

Blaine never knows what creatures he'll be called upon to humanize next. I left him there in his cluttered studio working on the facial characteristics of a stalk of broccoli for the Kitchen Kabaret show of the Land Pavilion.

*Kitchen Kabaret characters for the Land Pavilion take shape under the skillful hands of WED sculptors. (Copyright Walt Disney Productions)*

Back in the model shop, the big room where I started my tour, I found a young man named Eric Jacobsen putting together the elements of a musical group for the Kabaret. You never saw musicians like these. Mustard. Margerine. Chile. Kraft barbecue sauce. Parmesan cheese. Each held a tiny kitchen utensil.

This, said Eric, was to be the Kitchen Krackpots, one of several groups to appear in the Kitchen Kabaret, a variety show about nutrition in the Land Pavilion presented entirely by animated foodstuffs.

“This model has taken about a year to complete,” Eric said. “Most of the show has been decided on before the model is started. At this stage concepts and preliminary designs have been figured out so they'll work out. Sometimes better solutions may come up as I'm working. Right now I'm working on colors and props and details.”

The finished set will be taken apart so that draftsmen can take measurements and make blueprints. Then it will be sent to the shop to be built. It will come back in raw form and be finished off by the people in show production..

*Artists' sketches are turned into three-dimensional models in the Design Development section. (Copyright Walt Disney Productions)*

Meanwhile, the sculpture shop will have created the figures in full scale and sent them out to be cast for animation.

We found, in another corner of the big workroom, a giant eggplant about four feet tall in the process of being converted to a finished figure. Instead of hard fiberglas, they were using a soft sculpture material in the casting. Mr. Eggplant, Mr. Broccoli, Miss Swiss Cheese and all the other characters would be ready to plug in when it was time to put the whole set together.

Much as I regretted it, there was no time to peer into all the compartments and nooks and crannies where model makers were at work. I did take time to chat briefly with Susan McCauley, who was applying paint to a model of a building for the French Pavilion. Again I had to marvel at the fine details of the workmanship. It was an intricate reproduction of the rendering by Tom Gilleon that hung on the wall.

*Susan McCauley adds colors to a scale model of the France Pavilion. (Copyright Walt Disney Productions)*

Here again I was witnessing, as I had at the sculpture shop, that crucial transition from artist's conception to three-dimensional form. : “When you get into three dimensions, a lot of things have to change,” Susan said.

Color selection is treated with the greatest care. Each color must fit into its setting and harmonize properly. Before this model was finished, John Hench would have to pass on the colors Susan was applying. Beside her was a stack of color swatches matching those on the models. These would go to the construction site to be applied to the actual building-another example of the total control WED exercises over the final product.

After reposing in The Model-the big one in the center of the room for the necessary length of time, Susan's model would, like those created by Eric Jacobsen, be broken down and converted into working blueprints.

"We go at it just the opposite from the usual way,” Joel told me as we were leaving. “We make the models first - each one is a prototype - and then prepare the blueprints from them.”

*One of the models, that of the American Adventure pavilion, is painted by Marilyn Gage. (Copyright Walt Disney Productions)*

*Eric Jacobsen assembles a model of the Colander Combo, one of the performing groups of foodstuffs in the Land Pavilion. (Copyright Walt Disney Productions)*

From script to show

About as close as you can get to the real Future World at this point is a special room WED has set aside for models of the pavilions and renderings of various features that may become part of them. The display, I surmised, is used to explain the concept to corporate prospects.

It was here I met Randy Bright, a tall, articulate Imagineer whose collegiate appearance belied his status in the Disney organization. He is director of scripts and show development.

Randy had come down to tell me about the Exxon-sponsored Energy Pavilion, one of the projects for which he was directly responsible. (Later on I would meet him again for a preview of the American Adventure.)

Disney obtained this huge sound stage at 20th Century Fox for production of a mural almost a tenth of a mile long. Mural will serve as a backdrop for the primeval dinosaur set in the Energy Pavilion. Artists add colors (above) to sections of the mur… — Disney obtained this huge sound stage at 20th Century Fox for production of a mural almost a tenth of a mile long. Mural will serve as a backdrop for the primeval dinosaur set in the Energy Pavilion. Artists add colors (above) to sections of the mural nearing completion. (Copyright Walt Disney Productions)

At this point I should stress again that details of many of the projects I was being shown were still in the development stage. Changes would undoubtedly occur before they were translated into brick, mortar, steel and film. But the concepts were relatively firm.

Randy pointed to the roof of the pavilion.

“Those are banks of photovoltaic cells. They'll provide a portion of the power for the pavilion. Solar energy. The mirrored sides of the building will reflect the agitated water around it, giving the impression of energy in motion. The mirrors will also pick up the landscaping so that part of the building disappears.

“Inside, we're going to present a film experience that has never been seen before. Emil Radock has developed the techniques. Squares and triangles will be mounted on the wall so that they can rotate. Some are black and some reflective. You'll get a wavelike effect as you watch the film. It will be a general look at the principles of energy."

From this introductory show, guests will move into another theater in the center of the building and take seats on movable platforms. The theater is triangular, with mirrored walls. The seating area will rotate as the story of the creation of energy and fossil fuels is shown on a 160-foot screen.

At the conclusion, the platforms with the seated spectators will move out of the theater and into a misty swamp. Behind real vegetation will be that 500-foot mural I mentioned earlier. The ride will take guests past huge snorting dinosaurs and on through what Randy called “a great geological enfoldment. The earth will tremble with volcanic eruptions and flaming lava will flow toward the spectators.

One of the most massive projects in preparation for EPCOT is the creation of dinosaurs for the Energy Pavilion. Above, dinosaur bodies are assembled on frames that will contain complex machinery to make them thrash and roar. (Copyright Walt Disney P… — One of the most massive projects in preparation for EPCOT is the creation of dinosaurs for the Energy Pavilion. Above, dinosaur bodies are assembled on frames that will contain complex machinery to make them thrash and roar. (Copyright Walt Disney Productions)

Out of this chaos, the seats will be transported into another theater. Here a 13-minute film on a 220-foot screen will show energy options for the future. The platform will move back into the central theater for a booming finale as all types of energy finally burst forth around the audience.

"The climax is a real visual thrill with all the energy effects we can put in,” Randy said.

*Sculptor puts finishing touches on teeth of one fiery monster. (Copyright Walt Disney Productions)*

He invited us to his office on the other side of the building to see how the film for the show is being created. Resting against one wall was a stack of boards perhaps 8 feet long and 4 feet high. Color sketches were pinned on in sequential rows. These were the scenes of the show as they would appear. Under each was a bit of typewritten narration.

“We develop an initial script,” Randy explained. “Then the artist makes sketches.”

The narration script is broken up and mounted next to the appropriate scene. There were views of San Francisco harbor, a freeway, the search for oil in the arctic, nuclear power and scores of others.

*Randy Bright goes over story boards for an energy movie that will be filmed in many parts of the world. (Copyright Walt Disney Productions)*

"We will have a scouting crew go out and get the shots,” Randy said. No small undertaking with locales all over the world. The crew will carry along those complex rigs John Hench spoke about.

“I'll be turning this over to a production crew and just monitoring from there on,” Randy said. It was, I gathered, the way each of the show developers functioned.

*Spectacular energy storms, possibly resembling the one envisioned by an artist at center right, will burst out around guests riding through the pavilion. (Copyright Walt Disney Productions)*

Under all is the land

One thing that impressed me was the excitement | that each show designer manifested for his project.

Each one seemed to be totally engrossed in the theme of his pavilion, ready to talk on endlessly about all the elements going into it. . Rolly Crump was waiting by the Land Pavilion when we returned to the model room. He was another veteran Imagineer, one who had worked on the Small World show at the New York World's Fair before Walt Disney World was built.

"You'll come in at the upper level," he began. “Below you is a farmer's market. Fast food will be served here. We're doing menus with Kraft (the sponsor). Salads may be made from produce we grow. In the center will be a turntable restaurant where you can view the whole show from 14 feet up.

“Next is the Harvest Theater, where we'll show a film called ‘Symbiosis.' We're sending crews around the world to film how man works with the land. Windbrakes. Controlling water. That sort of thing.

“Then there's the Kitchen Kabaret with performing foodstuffs. It will be like the bear band at Walt Disney World.

“We have a boat ride with a capacity of 3,000 an hour. On the trip you'll see projected illusions of seeds sprouting, plants flowering and fruits ripening in sequential manner.

Background sounds will let you listen to the sounds of the land. The boat narrator will explain the different sections of the world before man. The rainforests. The deserts of Africa. We'll show how the desert can be cultivated with sand culture. You'll see a flight of locusts over the American prairie. This will demonstrate the need for pest control. And then you'll ride through a full-size, turn-of-the-century American farm. This will be the gateway to a theater showing a film 'Century of Farming.'

Finally, at the back of the pavilion will be three separate buildings where actual growing takes place. One will show tropical fruits and vegetables under cultivation. Another is an aquacell where mariculture, including shrimp farming, is carried on. The third is a gigantic greenhouse where continual agricultural experimentation will take place.

After the shows, guests may go back for more detailed, technical information and guided tours.

I took time to look at the sister pavilion of The Land, one they call The Sea, which was just a few steps away. Kim Murphy, who spent 10 years with Sea World, explained the concepts they were developing. Since this pavilion will not be included on opening day (it doesn't yet have a sponsor), it is too early to go into the concept in detail. Suffice it to say they're proposing a full-scale sea base to which guests can descend and see the submarine world around them. It will open in June 1983.

Senior designer Rolly Crump shows a couple of Imagineers three separate growing areas that guests will see on the trip through the Land Pavilion. Plans now call for individual buildings to house each one. (Copyright Walt Disney Productions)

Journey into imagination

The afternoon was passing quickly. In the course of one fascinating revelation after another, I had lost all track of time. We moved quickly to another part of the building, to a cramped cubicle where the Eastman Kodak Pavilion, Imagination, was evolving.

Tony Baxter had a projector set up and ready for us. He was the man who had designed the Big Thunder Railroad now nearing completion at Walt Disney World. A vibrant young fellow, the youngest of the Imagineers I had talked with.

“Eastman approached us last summer,” he said. “We had nothing at that time which they felt fitted their image. So we tried to come up with something. They had been developing a show of their own called Journey into Imagination.' We used that as a starting point. You might think of this as the Fantasyland of EPCOT.

To me it seemed as he began to unfold the story line that this was the most typically Disney of all the shows, something in the tradition of "Pinocchio,” “Sleeping Beauty” and “Fantasia.”

The pavilion will have three parts. You start in a theater where a film introduces you to the world of imagination and its limitless potential. Then a ride takes you into that illusory world. At the end there's a 15-minute wrapup show in the Magic Eye Theater. 1. The show begins with a series of creations of the imagination floating across a screen-Mickey Mouse, the first airplane, the Eiffel Tower.

"We say, 'Let's take a journey into imagination,'” Tony explained.

Two characters accompany you on the journey.

“Dream Finder is a professor. He represents the spirit of imagination. His assistant, Figment, comes from the Land of Imagination and represents childlike spontaneity. These are the extremes of imagination.

"You meet the professor in an aircraft on the way back to the Imaginarium with wonders he's collected on his trip. Then Figment enters. He'll be the guide.

“At this point you break free of the theater and embark on a trip. You pass through the Dreamport, where raw material of dreams is arriving. Figment produces a jar of rainbows and they spill across the track. You enter a book and words and phrases spill out. In the cinema part, great scenes pass through a ribbon of film.

“Next comes a technology sector. You see a nutty clock. You're taken into the mysteries of chemistry. You get a look at aspects of power.

“The ride moves on to the Observatory. The theme here is that materials of imagination come through observation. In the Dream Incubator, ideas float in on a conveyor belt.

"The final thing is participatory. The Image Works. Here guests are programmed into a science fiction film.”