Hey, gang!
Jim Hill here. Nancy and I are just days away from wrapping up our latest trip to Southern California. And what a jam-packed jaunt it’s been. In 12 short days, we’ve traveled from Anaheim to San Diego to Hollywood to Emeryville to San Francisco to Fresno to Sequoia National Park — collecting all sorts of new stories for the site along the way. (Not to mention dealing with my darling daughter’s two missing front teeth. Which Alice accidentally knocked after she fell out of a tree she was climbing. But that’s a story for another time … Anyway …)
What with all the traveling and the dealing with dentists, I haven’t had much time to write any new columns and/or answer much e-mail. Which is why I’m so grateful for JHM readers like Anton, Brad H., Chuck J., Michael C., and Terry Tiger. Who saved me the trouble of having to write a brand new “Why For” this week by sending along these incredibly detailed responses to my previous questions.
You may recall — in last week’s “Why For” — I asked if any of your JHM readers had additional info about the Rhine River ride that the Imagineers had planned to open as part of the German pavilion at World Showcase. And several folks actually came forward with some interesting stories about this aborted Epcot Center attraction.
First, Michael C. confirmed that the show building for the Rhine River Ride had actually been built. Then he fills in a few holes about what was really done with this show space after the attraction was cancelled:
Hey Jim, Just so you know, the building for the cruise was built. There’s a huge show building behind the right arch in the back of the Germany pavilion. It was built and ready to go. Instead of a ride, though, it contains EPCOT’s wing of Central Shops (or at least it did as recently as the late nineties). They cranked out signage as needed within the park or any other of the million things those guys do. For the record, the ride building was also finished for Meet The World in the Japan Pavilion. It too was complete and ready to go inside the fortress at the rear of the pavilion. As far as I know, it’s only used for storage these days.
Hope this proves useful,
Michael C.
Next, Anton confirms that this German show space was used for something other than Epcot attractions as he describes his own somewhat illegal behind-the-scenes adventure:
Hello! Love the site. You asked in the last “Why For” about the show building for the Rhine River tour in Germany at Epcot. I’ve been in that building. When I was a bit younger I would often poke around where I wasn’t supposed to at WDW, simply because I was fascinated by how it all worked. One day a friend and I noticed that a set of double doors in the adjoining Italy pavilion was open, and we walked through to “backstage.”
Anyway, we went through a side door in the Germany pavilion and found ourselves in this large warehouse-like space. At the time (this would be around 1988 or so) it appeared to be used as a repair workshop, with sawhorses and workbenches and so on, but the place was mostly unused space. A staircase led up to a catwalk, and when I slipped past a curtain, I found myself above the diners in the Oktoberfest, on a themed walkway that from the diners’ point of view probably appeared to merge into the town scenery. I’m guessing it was used for entrances of costumed singers, but I don’t know since I’ve never eaten there.
This doesn’t answer the question of how one would get from the “show” part of the pavilion to the ride area, though. I can’t figure out where the entrance would be, either. All of this discussion makes me wonder whether Disney will ever be able to put attractions, or at least quality exhibits, in each of the countries at Epcot. It seems like they’ve given up on that, but I don’t know why. It seems it would be a lot easier to find someone to sponsor a ride that a group to sponsor an entire new country like Spain (or Denmark, which they announced years ago only to can–I’m sure there’s a story there). Hope this helps. Keep up the good work!
Then, Brad H. shares his own memories of this Epcot Center, including the time when the Rhine River show building was apparently used as a hangar for all of the “Skyladascope” vehicles.
Hey, Jim, love the site.
I worked at WDW from 1985 to 1995 and spent some of that time at EPCOT so I’ll tell you what I know from up to 1995.
There is indeed a huge empty shell of a show building not only behind Germany, but Japan as well. There was originally going to be attractions in both of these buildings but obviously we have yet to see them. If I remember correctly, there are indeed rehearsal rooms for entertainment that take up some of the space in the Germany show building. As far as I can remember, during the time I was there, both of the buildings were used by entertainment for storage and pre-staging EPCOT shows.
Such as, when I worked on an EPCOT daytime show in the late 80’s called Skylydascope (can’t remember the correct spelling). This was an odd show with Dreamfinder battling hovercraft dragons on the showcase lagoon from his dream machine (which was a blimp) and calling upon colored planes and gliders to “paint the sky with rainbows” which was actually colored smoke and daytime fireworks…Anyway, I digress…during the period that EPCOT had that show, the buildings were where they stored, maintained, and even inflated the blimps used in the show. At that time, the buildings were basically like big airplane hangers. Don’t know what they are like now.
Brad H.
Next, Chuck J. confirms that this empty show building was indeed used as rehearsal space for high school bands as well as WDW cast members. Chuck writes in to say:
Reading your site.. it’s great! The large space behind Germany is in fact rehearsal and storage space. I have rehearsed there in the past (yes, I’m a CM). The space behind Japan (Meet the World- never built) is a !!!HUGE!!!! space used currently as a warehouse.
Chuck J
And — finally — TerryTiger comes forward with a detailed response to another one of last week’s “Why For.” As in: What’s the deal with the Astro Orbiter at Disneyland? TT says:
First off, I have to ask where you came up with the name “Star Jets”? I have never heard that name before. Is that what they are called in Orlando? In Anaheim, the first version of that attraction opened in 1956 as the “Astro-Jets”. When the 2nd generation opened with the “new” Tomorrowland of 1967 and was placed high in the air above the PeopleMover, they were called the “Rocket Jets” (probably because of the NASA-type elevators that took you up to the rocket platform). In 1998, we got the “Astro-Orbiter” and “Observatron”. The only thing in Tomorrowland with “Star” in it’s name is the Star Trader shop.
Anyway… here’s the story I have been told as to why the spinner ride was moved to the entrance of Tomorrowland. And knowing about all the cutbacks and budget issues associated with the Tomorrowland redesign, I feel this story is probably a lot closer to the truth than the far-fetched “Imagineer with a fear of heights” tale.
The newly constructed Astro-Orbiter turned out to be much heavier than its 30-year-old predecessor. When they did the structural analysis to see if the weight difference would be a problem, they found the mid-1960’s vintage deck above “Rocket Rods” could not support this new ride . The Rocket Rods retrofit of the PeopleMover platform was already well under way and it was not possible (or financially feasible) to rebuild the entire structure. Consequently, they had to find another location for the Astro-Orbiter. Well, where better to move this Tomorrowland icon than right to the entrance of Tomorrowland. “What a great “weenie” it would make there!” or so the thinking went. AND as a bonus, moving it to the ground also simplified the loading/unloading and solved many of the difficulties associated with the elevators.
Since the demolition/removal of the old spinner was part of the Astro-Orbiter project and the change of location required a complete new site prep, theming, queue, etc., with an ever-increasing budget all available funds for the removal of the old ride were cut and it actually turned out to be cheaper to just leave the old spinner up there and redress it as a kinetic sculpture. After all, everyone was used to seeing motion up there. The Rocket Jets ride WAS the icon of Tomorrowland. Without the Astro-Orbiter or something up there, the Rocket Rods structure would look somehow incomplete and flat. People would notice something was missing. Hence the “Observatron” was born. And quite cheaply, I might add. Doesn’t it show? 😉
TerryTiger
See what happens when you ask for help with your questions? Nice people come forward with all sorts of exciting new info that you never knew about.
Anywho … that’s it for this week’s abbreviated version of “Why For.” Thanks again to Anton, Brad H., Chuck J., Michael C., and Terry Tiger for doing all the heavy lifting for me. I promise — once I get to New Hampshire next week — the steady flow on new JHM articles and columns will resume.
But — for now — it’s Bedtime for Bonzo. So I guess I’ll say my good-byes and talk to you again soon, okay?
‘Til then, you folks have a great weekend,
jrh