The Early Epcot Costumes (aka The Rainbow Brite Costumes)

Man, the early years of Epcot must have been rough on Mickey and the gang.  Join me as I take a look back at some of the silliest costumes to ever appear in Disney World.  Believe it or not, the original idea for Epcot was to not have any characters appear in the park at all.  The guests  didn't care for that and so the characters were finally added to the park but in these costumes.   Disney, really? 

I gotta say though I love how Mickey, Donald and Pluto just stand there valiantly as if they are a superhero team.  Though if you want to see a good picture of Mickey as superhero.  Take a peek at this.

This isn't bad but those costumes are just hilarious.  To be fair, it was the '80s and Disney at the time didn't know how to promote Epcot but this.

   

Also what is that on Pluto's head?  I mean seriously, is that supposed to be a beanie cap or something?   If you need take another look and zoom in on Pluto.

Goofy looks like he belongs in Michael Jackson music video with that way he is dressed and all.  I think Pluto has it the worst though.  I wonder if he gets any good channels with that though?  Probably not because of the weather.  That seriously has to be the dumbest thing I have eve seen Pluto wear. What were the people who designed these costumes thinking?   

Really, Disney you couldn't just have the characters appear in their regular garb.  That wouldn't look so embarrassing.   I mean with Mickey and the gang in these costumes, I half expect Zordon to show up to tell them about Megazords.

Go Go Mighty Disney Rangers

These costumes are just so easy to laugh at.  They have been dubbed the Rainbow Brite costumes by the Disney fan community.  I guess I can see that  but I still think it is more of a superhero look. My main thinking is that  Disney did this to try and tie the characters to Future World in Epcot.

Luckily, Disney learned from this and found more subtle way of tying the character costumes to the park by having each character appear in part of World Showcase and give a costume that fits the style of each pavillion for example.

By the way, Mexico Pavilion Donald was the very first Disney World character that I got my picture taken with. To promote these costume changes and Epcot, there was a line of Happy Meal toys based around World Showcase that featured the characters in their World Showcase outfits.

By the way, I have America Pavilion Mickey and Mexico Pavilion Donald up in my room.  These World Showcase costumes are quite an improvement over the superhero look.  Though fans of Epcot look back at these costumes fondly and they even appear in Epcot merchandise celebrating the anniversary of the park.


Sure, it's easy to laugh at them now as I did today but every once in a while, it's just fun to have a look at Disney's past and laugh at it. I'm sure someone  probably thinks the World Showcase costumes are bad and prefer the superhero costumes.  Which you like? Tell me in the comments, peace!