Imagination Institute

**The Imagination Institute** is a fictional organization within the Disney Parks.

## History

The Imagination Institute is a science and tech company which focused on the science and ideals regarding imagination in regards to innovation. They were founded at some point c. 1880-1890 as a place for scientists and inventors to study and collaborate. It is more than likely that at some point in time the Institute had some affiliation to a jovial inventor known as the Dreamfinder who studied imagination and psionics at outposts which would also be used by the institute.

The institute would hold an annual, "Inventor of the Year Award" ceremony to celebrate different innovators of affiliation to them. Historic innovators who received this award included the likes of: Thomas Edison (likely for something he didn't actually invent but just patented), George Washington Carver and Walt Disney. The 89th annual inventor of the year was one Wayne Szalinski for the invention of the *Cam-O-Rama 360°* helmet. The 97th annual award was given to one Prof. Philip Brainard for his , "Flying Lab Assistant Robot", Weebo.

In the 1990s, the Institute was run by chairman Dr. Nigel Channing who was a stuffed up, patronizing and deeply unfunny prick of a man with some yet unidentified connection to the Dreamfinder. The Institute had outposts in EPCOT (the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow), Discoveryland and Tomorrowland with Channing having taken up base in Epcot's *Imagination! Pavilion*. By this point in time (if not far earlier), the Institute was affiliated with the Medfield College which employed Brainard along with other affiliates of the Institute such as the likes of dean Eugene Higgins and prodigy student Dexter Riley.

The 100th annual Inventor of the Year was once again Wayne Szalinski, this time awarded for the invention of his Shrinking Gun. The ceremony however turned to chaos when the gun went a-wire and shrunk both the audience and later the imagination institute's board. Around 1997, another Inventor of the Year award was given to Prof. Brainard, this time for his invention of the sentient substance Flubber.

In the pavilion, Channing researched ways to control the energy of Imagination. However, he was constantly terrorized by the creature Figment who was created years earlier by the Dreamfinder and who opposed Channing's oppressive views on imagination.

## Appearances

### Honey, I Shrunk the Audience

The Imagination Institute first appeared in this Tomorrowland/Epcot attraction set at a late 1980s-1990s *Inventor of the Year Award* ceremony. The award here is being awarded to Wayne Szalinski though it turns to chaos when his shrinking ray goes out of control.

### Journey into Imagination

The Imagination Institute has most prominently become affiliated with this line of attractions.

#### Journey Into Your Imagination

The Imagination Institute was the central theming for this hated attraction replacing the original Journey into Imagination. Here guests were taken through the *Imagination! Pavilion* by Dr. Nigel Channing where he harassed and demeaned guests for having no imagination until after lecturing them in sterile rooms for approximately six minutes he decreed them as having imaginations thanks to his lecturing skills.

#### Journey Into Your Imagination with Figment

In this replacement to *Journey Into Your Imagination*, Channing attempts to do his tour of the institute only to be tormented and terrorized by Figment. While in the original *Journey Into Imagination* Figment was portrayed as something of a wide-eyed innocent child, here he is a mischievous trickster who causes chaos for the institute and Channing. The queue for this attraction also contains allusions to different members of the Institute and their inventions.

#### *ImageWorks - The "What If" Labs*

This post-show area for *Journey Into Your Imagination with Figment*, guests explore the labs of the Imagination Institute and can experiment with their technology and sciences.

### In other media

#### Disney Kingdoms

Within the shared continuity Disney Kingdoms comics, the Imagination Institute is reimagined as the **Academy Scientifica-Lucida** (Latin: *Academy of Bright Sciences*) which Dreamfinder attended as a young man. Since Dreamfinder disappeared to the Realms of Imagination he became an idol for the academy who built a giant statue in their Floridian pavilion base to commemorate him. When Dreamfinder travelled to the Academy in modern times, he was asked to assist them in studying a giant geodescent orb overlooking their Florida base.

## Connections

### Discovery Bay

Figment was originally created for Discovery Bay for the proposed attraction, "Professor Marvel**'**s Gallery of Illusion" with Professor Marvel being an early form of the Dreamfinder. It should be noted that at this point in time, Figment was had yet to be named.

### Films

Many of the members and affiliates of the Institute come from science-fiction oriented comedy films made by Disney.

* **The Absent Minded Professor:**
* **The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes:**
* **Flubber:**
* **Honey, I Shrunk the Kids:**
* **The Misadventures of Merlin Jones**:
* **The Shaggy Dog:**

### Marvel Comics

Figment makes a cameo in the queue for *Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: BREAKOUT!*. Set within the Collector's Fortress of intergalactic artifacts, one of his containers hanging from the ceiling can be seen holding Figment within it. Furthermore it is worth noting that the Xandarian outpost of *Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind* is also set in a fictionalized depiction of EPCOT.

### Skipper Canteen

Figment is supposedly heard accompanying Dreamfinder on his visit to the Skipper Canteen where he is referred to as a, "small purple crocodile thing".

## Trivia

* In *Honey, I Shrunk the Audience*, Dr. Channing states that the commemoration of Szalinski's award takes place 100 years after the institute was founded. This provides a brief range of years possible as Honey, I Shrunk the Kids had a contemporary setting which likely placed it in 1989 and if the award occurred during the year the film transpired that would place the institute's founding around 1889-1890. Another possibility is that the events of the attraction could be contemporary to its opening, placing it in 1994 and the institute's founding in the year 1894. Regardless this provides a roughly five-year period between 1889 and 1894 in which the institute would have most likely been established.
* The queue for Journey Into Your Imagination with Figment states Dr. Channing to have founded the Imagination Institute despite how he himself states in Honey, I Shrunk the Audience that the institute was founded in the 19th century.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.undercovertourist.com/orlando/epcot/journey-into-imagination-with-figment/
2. ↑ http://www.fromscreentotheme.com/FunFindFriday.aspx
3. ↑ https://twitter.com/Livelyland/status/1371536866470555648