Upstairs of Imagination

[clj2]

I guess this may not be able to be called "lost" since it's still there, but I found these when I was checking to see if anyone has posted new videos of the upstairs....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww5TN0gs6sE&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOpazVur4Aw&feature=channel_video_title

That has to be the most intriguing thing in EPCOT....it's so odd that they have just let that sit there and never took the stuff out of there or anything. It's like they closed it for the night and never opened back up. I wouldn't be surprised if it looks like this 10 years from now....

[20K]

20,000 Leagues was abandoned in the same way. The attraction was powered down after its last use, the lights switched off and (some) of the doors locked. The set decoration and props that were destroyed in 2004 inside the building had not moved one inch since guests last sailed past them in 1994, save for the diving team that removed the shark wheels from the Graveyard. For over a year the attraction sat "ready to go" at the flick of a few switches and a re-fueling of the subs.

I find this kind of "abandon-in-place" stuff very creepy, but endless fascinating at the same time.

[HauntedGabe]

How sad is that? I brought my kids to Disney since they were infants, memories. It was an excellent place for kids to play, interact, cool off and have a little space after having to sit still and be quieter while on other attractions.

I don't understand. If it is up there, why not use it? I don't care for the idea of lost sponsor so haha guests you can't play anymore. Guests still pay admission. I do understand it is one of many areas they set up for
Corporate functions and that brings in dollars.

[clj2]

The person who filmed the video made a comment that they were doing work up there (the lights were actually on!). That was around the time Kodak bailed on Imagination. Interesting. I wonder if there was Kodak signage up there they had to get rid of? Those people that got to go up there were lucky!

The closure of the upstairs didn't have anything to do with losing a sponsor, really. When Kodak signed back on in the late 90s, I think part of it called for those "Kodak What If" labs (the current ImageWorks) downstairs in addition to that horrid "Journey Into Your Imagination" catastrophe. I think the excuse about not using the upstairs was something about wheelchair accesibility....that could have been fixed. I don't buy that. Maybe with Kodak gone, and JII needing some work, we'll finally see something done. This, IMO, is all Kodak's fault.

What's even stranger is that there are what appear to be living plants up there.

[N.J.boy@N.C.St.]

I have seen these videos before...very interesting, but sad to see this perfectly good space go to waste

[HauntedGabe]

Ada is a crock. There is an elevator It has always been there Plants are deco for the corporates that use the space. Cheap decorations

[clj2]

Ada is a crock. There is an elevator It has always been there Plants are deco for the corporates that use the space. Cheap decorations

I agree about ADA. I think that was a cheap excuse. How is it any less accessible than The Land? Look at the elevator in there. What it comes down to is Kodak....they went along with their wishes in order to keep the sponsorship. Part of their wishes included those "What If" labs downstairs and the changes at JII....

Another thought, if the upstairs needed to be more handicapped friendly like Disney says, wouldn't it have been cheaper to have made it more accessible to get upstairs than to build something totally new?

[NC_WDW_Daddy]

It certainly has potential, shame to go to waste.

[firemedic]

It is weird to see all that stuff still up there. There's really no reason why that could not be opened up again to the guests.

[clj2]

I wonder why they never dismantled the attractions and sold them? I wonder if the rainbow tunnel still works....

The view of EPCOT from up there is amazing. Disney should just open that big area up under the pyramids as an observatory, if nothing else. Maybe I'm an optimist, but I just can't help but think when Imagination gets its next refurb, which it needs, that something will be done up there, especially since Kodak is gone. Whatever is done now is totally Disney's call.

[wallfan329]

I wonder why they never dismantled the attractions and sold them? I wonder if the rainbow tunnel still works....

The view of EPCOT from up there is amazing. Disney should just open that big area up under the pyramids as an observatory, if nothing else. Maybe I'm an optimist, but I just can't help but think when Imagination gets its next refurb, which it needs, that something will be done up there, especially since Kodak is gone. Whatever is done now is totally Disney's call.

I am the same why... I am hoping that Disney would reopen it due the Kodak gone. I would freak out if that happened. I want to see what the original Imageworks was like.

[HauntedGabe]

I am the same why... I am hoping that Disney would reopen it due the Kodak gone. I would freak out if that happened. I want to see what the original Imageworks was like.

I have rolls and rolls of film photo's of my kids playing up there. My DD with a pacifier in her mouth, 1 1/2 years old, going from square to square making the sounds go off. The upstairs was priceless.

[MartianCrab]

The closure of the upstairs didn't have anything to do with losing a sponsor, really. When Kodak signed back on in the late 90s, I think part of it called for those "Kodak What If" labs (the current ImageWorks) downstairs in addition to that horrid "Journey Into Your Imagination" catastrophe. I think the excuse about not using the upstairs was something about wheelchair accesibility....that could have been fixed. I don't buy that.

I think the energies of all of Disney's imagineers are now focused into the arena of excuse-making instead of actually creating something. You must admit, they've really done some groundbreaking work in doubletalk, alibis and rationalizations.

[clj2]

I think the energies of all of Disney's imagineers are now focused into the arena of excuse-making instead of actually creating something. You must admit, they've really done some groundbreaking work in doubletalk, alibis and rationalizations.

Yup.

That excuse is so pathetic about the accessibility of Img. upstairs....why didn't The Land close upstairs then? Worse excuse than the ones for Wonders of Life. When it comes to excuse making, EPCOT seems to be their favorite place to use it.

It wouldn't be hard to put the upstairs back in to operation if they decided to update it and open it back up. Not only is that horrible ImageWorks downstairs....well, horrible, it also took up space from the JII ride and made it shorter.

[JNota0005DakMC]

Yup.

That excuse is so pathetic about the accessibility of Img. upstairs....why didn't The Land close upstairs then? Worse excuse than the ones for Wonders of Life. When it comes to excuse making, EPCOT seems to be their favorite place to use it.

It wouldn't be hard to put the upstairs back in to operation if they decided to update it and open it back up. Not only is that horrible ImageWorks downstairs....well, horrible, it also took up space from the JII ride and made it shorter.

it seems to me that when Disney does not want to run something anymore the wheelchair accessibility is always the reason why.. think of 20k for one... Disney likes that as an excuse rather than fixing the problem... btw ther has to be a way to make that accessible... i definitely dont buy that either...