An old ride that still manages to impress our young children

Have you ever seen that purple dragon that appears from time to time in Epcot, especially during the seasonal events like the International Flower & Garden Festival? Yeah, that same dragon that has a lot of merch that ranges from T-shirts to backpacks and plush toys. That dude has a name! It’s Figment, and he has lived in Epcot since 1983 in his very own dark ride called Journey Into Imagination with Figment.

Well, that’s partially true. This ride has gone through three major updates through the years until it finally received this name in 2002. So, what is this ride about and what the heck does Figment do there? Well, this is a dark ride which mixes CGI with live action, where a scientist (played with a real actor) invites guests to the Imagination Institute, where we can learn more about the five human senses: sound, sight, smell, touch, and taste. Figment joins the scientist for the ride, in all his 2D cartoon glory, causing a bit of mischief as we travel through the lab.

Each of the human senses is basically a different room with a set piece. In the first one - sound - we can see the scientist testing different ringing noises, coming from our left and right side, before Figment interrupts the experiment by answering a telephone. Figment also tells guests that the power of imagination can be even more powerful than just listening to things, and then he does what Disney characters do best: he starts singing out of nowhere. Hey, he has some pretty catchy tunes, which young children usually love.

The ride goes on like that for about five minutes as you explore new rooms. In the Smell room, our dear dragon becomes a skunk, and tries to instigate our senses with a foul odor. It's neat how Disney incorporates smell into the experience - like in Soarin', where you can actually smell the oranges as you soar over a plantation. Don't worry, in Journey Into Imagination, there's no skunk smell: Disney uses the scent of burnt coffee to surprise us instead.

So, is the ride fun? It’s… okay. It’s in the name of the rating, after all! The scenarios look very simple, at least at the start, as they try to simulate a laboratory. Figment also appears sometimes not only as a 2D character, but as an animatronic as well, and I don’t think he looks that good. I think the second part of the attraction is more fun, when Figment completely takes over the experiment and takes guests to his own house. It’s still a very enclosed space, but we travel across rooms where everything is upside down, which is a cool sight.

I do think that there are dark rides that are way better than this one. I mean, Figment isn’t a new one, so it’s expected that technology has advanced a lot in the past few decades. This is, however, a pretty good ride for young children and toddlers. The songs are catchy and the scenarios are fun for our younglings. There are a bunch of colors and Figment himself is already very expressive with his unusual color palette.

Will Kids enjoy it?

Toddlers and young children will probably love it. Figment is charismatic and his songs can become a big hit with your kids. I’d say that toddlers and kids up to six years old might really like this one. The second part is even better, with an upside down house and several Figments appearing to sing together in an expressive background full of colors.

There aren’t any sudden movements or anything like that, which means that this is a good, chill ride for the entire family. I do believe that kids over 8yo want a little more than this one, and would probably have more fun in rides like Frozen Ever After and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure.