Switzerland Pavilion

The Switzerland Pavilion was a proposed pavilion that bid for Epcot's World Showcase Pavilion themed after Switzerland and was supposed to be located by the Italy Pavilion and Germany Pavilion. It was going to be one of the built Pavilions alongside the Israel Pavilion and Equatorial Africa Pavilion, but the idea remained scrapped.
==History==
The Switzerland Pavilion was one of the proposed projects for Epcot's World Showcase alongside the Israel Pavilion and Equatorial Africa Pavilion. Disney released the description about the pavilion which would have opened in 1985:
"The Switzerland Pavilion at Epcot would have been realized between the Italy and Germany pavilions. Featuring Swiss-themed restaurants and shops, it also naturally would have brought Disneyland's Matterhorn Bobsleds ride - the world's first tubular steel roller coaster - so the Walt Disney World Resort. As an update to the attraction, the East Coast version would have a stunning finale featuring a spinning avalanche tunnel of ice, giving the illusion the sleds were riding upside-down."
The project went into development where numerous pieces of concept art were created, while attractions and shops were listed in later stages of developing. Disney was originally going to use this pavilion to construct the popular Disneyland attraction Matterhorn Bobsleds at Florida. However, despite its name, this version of Matterhorn Bobsleds would have shared little with the California counterpart, containing a completely different storyline, not even containing the recognizable Abominable Snowman from the attraction.
The bobsled-themed attraction for the Switzerland Pavilion was going to have two completely different storylines from the California version of Matterhorn Bobsleds. The first story involved guests entering a bobsled training facility until something went wrong, ending up on a difficult path than intended by travelling through ice caves as well as dangerous terrain. The second story was to have included dark, lightly themed caverns similar to Space Mountain rather than Matterhorn Bobsleds. Concept art also included that the finale in the bobsled ride would have included an avalanche sequence. This attraction would have been the first mountain roller coaster attraction outside of a Magic Kingdom-style park, alongside a scrapped Mount Fuji-themed rollercoaster for the Japan Pavilion.
Other facilities that were supposed to be included within this pavilion included shops that would have featured products from Switzerland - particularly a candy shop, a clock shop, a wood shop, and an apparel store as well as a tourism center showcasing information about Switzerland with sponsor from the Switzerland government in a plan to increase tourism like in the original intention of the World Showcase countries. However, the Swiss government and Disney did not go into agreement, resulting in plans to be delayed indefinitely.
==Legacy==
Disney would later construct a mountain roller coaster attraction featuring a yeti titled "Expedition Everest" in Animal Kingdom in 2007, inspired by the scrapped Switzerland Pavilion version of Matterhorn Bobsleds, which also contained a different storyline like in the former.
==External links==
*Info about the Switzerland Pavilion found here.
Category:Unbuilt World Showcase pavilions
Category:Cancelled projects
Category:Epcot