Figment ride seems to be universally panned. Figment stuff seems to be hot. Why?

[aboveH20]

Although I can no longer remember the original Journey Into Imagination ride, we enjoyed it and over the years have collected our fair share of Figment stuff. I've grown tired of the garish colors used in the not-so-new ride. Lots of people agree, which is why I can't figure out why Figment stuff (I HATE the word merch) is so popular. Have all of the people who bought the popcorn buckets actually been on the ride?

Just curious why Figment stuff is so wildly popular when the ride isn't.

Thoughts?

 

[fla4fun]

Although I can no longer remember the original Journey Into Imagination ride, we enjoyed it and over the years have collected our fair share of Figment stuff. I've grown tired of the garish colors used in the not-so-new ride. Lots of people agree, which is why I can't figure out why Figment stuff (I HATE the word merch) is so popular. Have all of the people who bought the popcorn buckets actually been on the ride?

Just curious why Figment stuff is so wildly popular when the ride isn't.

Thoughts?

Nostalgia plays a big part. I adore the original Figment, the one who was curious and displayed a childlike wonder at the world around him. I am not happy about what they did to the ride, although it’s a little better now than it was after the first remodel. That was so awful!

Plus he’s just cute and a dragon!

 

[Smugpugmug]

Cheaper to produce and sell a bunch of merch than to actually build a good ride for Figment lol

Nostalgia for the original version is a huge part of his popularity IMO.

 

[GBBTomorrow]

I agree that it is nostalgia. I remember "back in the day" that my family would spend hours in the Imagination pavilion, after the ride staying to play in the two-story area that is now just a shadow of its former self, and then going to Honey, I Shrunk the Audience (or the Michael Jackson movie, even). The loss of that dynamic play area is just as sad to me as the loss of the classic ride. We had so much creative fun in there! I'll never understand why they gutted it.

So, yes, I think Figment calls us back to that original vision of Epcot as a place to LEARN, in the way learning should be done: with curiosity, fun, and active engagement. The fact that Disney knows they can so easily sell that nostalgic vision makes me wonder why that doesn't wake them up and make them return to it for real. For some reason education has become a dirty word, and I'll never understand it.

 

[We’reAllMadHere]

My kid loves Figgy despite thinking the ride is only ok. I’m just glad that he’s beloved and hopefully will continue in the parks. So many things have been reimagined with movie IP.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Nostalgia + those who have the nostalgia have the income to buy the “stuff”.

The dragon is cute by itself. But, yes, the ride sucks and needs updating by approximately 3 decades…

 

[aboveH20]

The whole nostalgia thing didn't occur to me, but I certainly agree about his cuteness. I have a baby Figment applique for my embroidery machine that I haven't figured out a reason to use yet.

As I've been planning an upcoming Epcot day I realized that I always do Figment (well, Journey into Imagination with Figment) because I've always done it, not because I necessarily enjoy it. And a few years back I read all the popcorn bucket hysteria prompting my curiosity.

Nostalgia + those who have the nostalgia have the income to buy the “stuff”.

The dragon is cute by itself. But, yes, the ride sucks and needs updating by approximately 3 decades…

Agreed, and thank you for using stuff

 

[We’reAllMadHere]

. And a few years back I read all the popcorn bucket hysteria prompting my curiosity.

I think popcorn bucket popularity is driven by perceived rarity and influencers.

That said, I did really want both vampire Stitch and scary Teddy buckets at Halloween, so I guess I’m the sucker these things are aimed at.

 

[loves to dive]

Mostly nostalgia for us but also my grand daughter loves that ride. My son loved it when he was her age (3) but that was the original with Dreamfinder. He would sing that song all the time. I suppose he may have just transferred the love to his daughter but since has been going since she was 8 months old, I doubt it. For her, I think it is the colors OP dislikes. The more colors and lights and music and she is a happy camper. She has a huge Figment body pillow type stuffy she sleeps with/on and you wouldn't dare try to take it away. She tried to take her Daddy's big ole stuffy at first but he was not into sharing his Figment. The man will give his life for the kid but don't touch his Figment.

 

[OKW Lover]

For me it's a combination of nostalgia and cute. I remember the original attraction and loved the whole Figment/Dreamfinder opening scene. Thought the remainder of the attraction was just OK. Unfortunately in a bid to improve the attraction they took out the good part and expanded on the just OK part.

 

[goofyernmost]

In my mind, it definately is nostalgia completely. Anyone that went as an adult (me) or when as a kid when the original Imagination ride was in existance have wonderful memories of the ride and the Dream Finder and Figment. The current Figment ride sucks so bad that it is the reason for the vacuum in space.

In my opinion most of the demand for Figment is from the boomers and Gen X. After that it will not be nearly as popular. Most of Gen X is either nearly 50 and above and most of the boomers will be dead or have bigger problems than an obsession about a singing, curious dragon.

 

[lovethattink]

I will never forget the original Journey Into Imagination. I went with my college roommate and some friends. Everyone was some kind of engineer student except me. They were amazed at all the moving parts. One piece of set going one way, another going a different way and still more moving at the same time. They helped me appreciate more than just the scenery.

I have one of the Figment popcorn buckets. We got it because my son was getting paid by views on social media at the time and it was the beginning of the festival.

My family loves Figment. Just not too thrilled about the character m&g because we prefer the asthetics of the old costume. (Where the Dream Finder carried the puppet.) And Figment looked like Figment in the attraction. We enjoy the ride too.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I will never forget the original Journey Into Imagination. I went with my college roommate and some friends. Everyone was some kind of engineer student except me. They were amazed at all the moving parts. One piece of set going one way, another going a different way and still more moving at the same time. They helped me appreciate more than just the scenery.

I have one of the Figment popcorn buckets. We got it because my son was getting paid by views on social media at the time and it was the beginning of the festival.

My family loves Figment. Just not too thrilled about the character m&g because we prefer the asthetics of the old costume. (Where the Dream Finder carried the puppet.) And Figment looked like Figment in the attraction. We enjoy the ride too.

Remember the table of pins, where you put your hands under and pushed up to make the pins rise and show the outline of your hand? DS spent what seemed like hours there. Fifteen years later he, too, was a college engineering student-maybe I should have known!

 

[PetePanMan]

I never experienced the original but the current version of attraction is …bad. Be gentle with me. I still think Figment is cute.

 

[Miffy]

Figment: cute + extra points for being purple
Song: adorable
Original ride: fun
Current ride: heinous--and they really had to go out of their way to find something that Eric Idle could ruin

But no matter how bad the ride is, they cannot stop Figment from being cute + purple, so I think he will always be popular.

 

[Sparrow'sLady]

We do it once each trip, just because....but we do not care for the attraction or merchandise (or the character even, to be honest). He is cute, but my kids never had a clue who he was. The only reason we went in that area was to go up into the DVC lounge.

 

[kylenne]

In my opinion most of the demand for Figment is from the boomers and Gen X. After that it will not be nearly as popular. Most of Gen X is either nearly 50 and above and most of the boomers will be dead or have bigger problems than an obsession about a singing, curious dragon.

Nah, nostalgia-driven spending for a character from the 80s/90s is squarely down to Millennials. The oldest of us are 80s kids the same age as Epcot and we were at the prime age for the og Journey Into Imagination to really resonate with us. You may see older folks in on it esp Gen Xers but imo the core Figment demo is us, and a lot of us have kids who it got passed down to despite the current sad state of affairs at the Imagination pavilion. Also hard as it is to believe for oldheads there are people who genuinely enjoy the current ride (no, I don’t get it either, but younger people genuinely don’t know what was lost).

 

[js]

I've been going to Disney for almost 50 years and I can't answer your question but my very unpopular opinion is I don't like Figment and I could care less if they replaced the ride and character with anything else LOL

No nostalgia for me LOL

There I said it. It feels good to get that out LOL

 

[goofyernmost]

Nah, nostalgia-driven spending for a character from the 80s/90s is squarely down to Millennials. The oldest of us are 80s kids the same age as Epcot and we were at the prime age for the og Journey Into Imagination to really resonate with us. You may see older folks in on it esp Gen Xers but imo the core Figment demo is us, and a lot of us have kids who it got passed down to despite the current sad state of affairs at the Imagination pavilion. Also hard as it is to believe for oldheads there are people who genuinely enjoy the current ride (no, I don’t get it either, but younger people genuinely don’t know what was lost).

You were right it extends through the early Millennials. Any that would have been old enough to see the original show. I forgot the dates of that generation. My daughter (Gen X) told me that Gen X is now thought of as the Nothing Generation. So how much nostalgia they have is probable overridden by apathy. And since a whole pile of the Boomer Gen. is dying off at what I see as an alarming rate and Gen. X lacking in any form of nostalgia then it must be the Millennials that are carrying it at this point.

 

[fla4fun]

I never experienced the original but the current version of attraction is …bad. Be gentle with me. I still think Figment is cute.

There are a few other characters that are popular who don’t even have an attraction or current movie to back them up. The first one that comes to mind is Orange Bird. He was popular when WDW first opened, even though he was nothing but a marketing symbol, and then disappeared for decades. Then, boom, he’s popular again and basically the mascot for the F&G festival with nothing in particular driving the popularity. I wouldn’t even say it’s nostalgia in his case. I don’t think it takes a great attraction or film to make a character popular if the character itself is appealing enough. I think the same could be said of Figment. I feel most of us would agree that he is popular in spite of the current attraction and would probably continue to be so if the attraction went away (although I hope for an improvement of the attraction, not a destruction of it).