Journey Into Imagination is finally getting the overhaul EPCOT fans have begged for since 1998, and Dreamfinder is coming back. Disney saved the announcement for the last moments of Saturday’s Horizons: A Carousel of Progress showcase at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, where host Neil Patrick Harris appeared as Dreamfinder himself, puppet Figment in tow.
Figment And Dreamfinder, Together Again
The new version of Journey Into Imagination will reunite Figment with Dreamfinder, the whimsical bearded inventor who created him in the original 1983 attraction. Disney Experiences Chairman Thomas Mazloum delivered it to a roaring Honda Center, telling the crowd “We’ve heard you” as he made the announcement. Disney’s own posts wrapped the news in a line fans will recognize as a promise: a dream can be a dream come true.
Dreamfinder anchored the attraction for 15 years, from 1983 until 1998, and was cut when that version closed. The replacement, Journey Into Your Imagination, dropped both characters for a tour of the fictional Imagination Institute led by Eric Idle’s Dr. Nigel Channing, and it was panned so thoroughly it lasted under three years before the current Journey Into Imagination With Figment opened on June 2, 2002. That version brought the purple dragon back but left Dreamfinder behind, which is why fans have spent more than two decades campaigning for exactly this. No concept art, details or timeline were shared, and the project is in early development at Walt Disney Imagineering. Confetti filled the arena anyway.
Disney firmed up the scope in follow up materials released after the showcase, saying the attraction “will receive a complete reimagining” featuring Figment and the return of Dreamfinder. That language settles the biggest open question from the announcement itself: this is a full transformation of the pavilion’s ride, not an overlay or a refresh of the 2002 version.
Spaceship Earth Enters The Internet Age
The Imagination pavilion was not the only EPCOT icon in the presentation. Disney also announced a reimagining of Spaceship Earth, the park’s landmark attraction, which last received a major update nearly 20 years ago. After a segment in which Mark Rober walked the audience through the engineering of the geodesic sphere and its ride system, Imagineer Ali Rubinstein said the new story will widen the ride’s focus from human communication to human connection, carrying the narrative into the internet age and beyond while remaining, in Disney’s framing, classically EPCOT. A previously announced Spaceship Earth refresh was quietly shelved several years ago, making this the second attempt at modernizing the ride inside the sphere.
Two Icons, One Night
Taken together, the two projects touch the ride that opens EPCOT and the pavilion that defines its original creative spirit, the biggest commitment to the park’s legacy attractions in years. Neither project has an announced timeline, and Disney has not said when either current version closes, so guests should expect both to keep running for now. Spaceship Earth itself has been getting visible exterior attention all summer, most recently when water returned to the Spaceship Earth fountain after a dry stretch. We will be watching for concept art, closure dates and any word on who ends up wearing Dreamfinder’s top hat inside the ride itself.
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