Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney. And today, I'm introducing a new segment called Meet & Greet. Meet & Greet refers to the character experiences that kids (and adults i.e. me) get to meet their favorite Disney characters at the parks. And while we all love characters from Disney's film and classic shorts, there is a group of characters that seem to be overlooked, when it comes to discussions of people's favorite Disney characters, Disney Parks Characters and that is why today, I am introducing a new segment called Meet & Greet, where I will be taking a look at various theme park characters. And today, we are starting with two of my favorite Disney characters of all time, Figment and Dreamfinder. The categories will include Actors, both Original & Current, Ride, looking at the ride that they came from, Personalities, just because these are theme park characters that doesn't mean that they weren't given personalities, Song, some of these characters have some memorable songs and these two are no exception. Appearances Outside The Park, sometimes these characters make appearances in other media beyond the park and we will be taking a look at those and finally, Are Figment & Dreamfinder Good Characters? With that out of the way, let's begin. Just make sure you have your Fastpass ready to go.
Actors
Dreamfinder
We actually have to look at both Dreamfinder's voice actor and his walk around actor.
Ron Schneider
Now sadly, I was too young to get to experience Dreamfinder, when we was at the parks but I became such a huge fan of Dreamfinder and Figment that I read Mr. Schenider's autobiography, From Dreamer to Dreamfinder years ago, when it was first published and if you are interested in learning more about this man, it is something that I highly suggest.
In it, he shares many wonderful anecdotes from the various theme parks that he worked at but two that stick out to me are on the opening day of Journey Into Imagination, the ride that this wonderful Disney duo comes from, the ride broke down at one point and Mr. Schneider as Dreamfinder stood up and finished singing the now iconic and beloved One Little Spark song for all of the guests. And the other is that he use to walk around with a Figment puppet and hand out purple jelly beans to kids and say that they came from Figment.
Now, let's move onto to Dreamfinder's voice actor, Chuck McCann
Chuck McCann was the voice that people would hear on the ride singing One Little Spark and explaining to his little purple dragon friend all about imagination and while I'm only familiar with him via the song, it was clear that Mr. McCann put a lot of joy and spirit into voicing the Dreamfinder. He gave Dreamfinder a rather Santa Claus like presence to his voice that made him fun to be around, I would imagine and whenever I see anything with Dreamfinder, I imagine Mr. McCann's voice coming out of him.
Now, let's move onto Figment's voice actors.
Billy Barty
The way that Mr. Barty portrayed Figment, he gave him so much youth and wonderment. He made Figment seemed excited about the idea of learning about any and everything. With the way that Mr. Barty played Figment, he was so endearing and lovable. Now let's move onto the voice actor that succeeded Mr. Barty after his death and is now the current voice of Figment.
Dave Golez
Dave Golez, who is perhaps best known as the Muppeteer for Gonzo The Great is the current voice actor for Figment and his voice was the one that I heard when I went on Journey Into Imagination With Figment. While I cannot completely compare Mr. Barty and Mr. Golez, I will say that from what I remember of the ride, when I went on it, Mr. Golez's take on Figment came across as an excited 5 year old amped up on sugar and couldn't be toned down. Not bad but not as endearing as Mr. Barty's take on Figment was to me.
Ride
Journey Into Imagination
The Dreamfinder and Figment made their debut on Journey Into Imagination on March, 3 1983 at EPCOT.. You would go through various rooms such as the Literature room and Science rooms and learn about imagination and many things. The original version featuring the Dreamfinder was closed in 1998 and replaced with Journey Into Your Imagination, which from what I understand was one of the most reviled incarnations of this ride as it didn't feature Figment at all. So many fans complained about that, Figment was finally put back on the ride. Now by the time that I went on the ride, Dreamfinder was sadly no longer a part of the ride and was instead replaced with Dr. Nigel Channing and I went over him during my Disney World event. And I made it rather clear that while I don't hate Dr. Channing, I prefer Dreamfinder and that comes down to the treatment of Figment between the two. Dreamfinder treats him with respect and as equal, who is willing to teach the little purple whereas this other scientist seemed to treat Figment with disdain.
Personalities
Dreamfinder
The main inspiration for the Dreamfinder was that of The Wizard from L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz and that really shows through. It also helps that he is a jovial and kindred spirit that again gives him a Santa Claus like personality that makes him rather endearing to children. And you can't help but love Dreamfinder as he just has this warm spirit to him.
Figment
Figment's personality is best described as that of being childlike and inquisitive. Figment wants to learn about everything that he can about any and everything. Sure, if done wrong, it can come across as annoying but I don't see it that way with Figment because of the way, the voice actors play him, he is just so endearing. And that is what makes him my favorite Disney Parks character.
Song
One Little Spark
This was where I fell in love with these two. A few years ago on one of my birthdays, I was given The Sherman Brothers Songbook, a 2 Disc CD collection covering songs that The Sherman Brothers wrote and I had never heard this one before that day and I couldn't stop listening to it as I fell in love with the jovial nature of the song and just how fun, it was.
Appearances Outside The Park
Figment and Dreamfinder have made a few appearances outside the park that they come from. One of the earliest attempts at broadening their horizon were 3 episodes of a now lost Dreamfinder TV show that aired on Disney Channel. Along with a now lost film titled Magic Journeys. Jim Hill Media has some more information on both of these. Let's start with the latter.
Apparently there was some concern that "Magic Journeys" would not be ready in time for the opening of the Imagination Pavilion so WED prepared a back-up film with Dreamfinder directed by Mike Jittlov! Yes, the Wizard of Speed and Time apparently put together a film that was to include his own stop motion special effects. I know for a fact that Mr. Jittlov reads this site so perhaps he might be so gracious as to share some of the information behind that "lost" film that was NEVER shown because "Magic Journeys" was indeed ready on time.
And now onto the TV show.
Shortly after Epcot opened, the Disney Channel was born and despite the backlog of Disney cartoons and shows and films, the Channel wanted to provide original programming. So that first year, they aired three episodes of a Dreamfinder show, with actor Jack Kruschen performing the character. The episodes only ran once and were never rerun and they are not even listed in Bill Cotter's comprehensive book on Disney television.
Now beyond these lost films, Figment also appeared in some educational films with other Disney characters such as Peter Pan or Alice.
This is the only clip of those educational short films that I've been able to scrounge up. Yeah, finding outside appearances for theme park characters if they haven't appeared in movies is a bit tricky. However in 2014, Figment and Dreamfinder made a glorious return, thanks to Marvel's Disney Kingdom line, which publishes comics on Disney attractions and they put out a mini-series simply titled Figment, which was an origin story for how Figment and Dreamfinder met.
And the author of this comic truly captured the tone and spirit of Figment and Dreamfinder perfectly. The writer truly understood how these work off one another and made for an enjoyable journey with these two great characters. And just this year, Disney Kingdom has put out the first two issues to a follow up mini series featuring these two simply titled Figment 2.
Now, I've only read the first issue and plan to read the rest, when the trade paperback comes out. And this past summer, Figment made a cameo appearance in Inside Out.
Though, I'll be completely honest and say that the first time I saw Inside Out, I missed the Figment cameo. Ah well, I'll just have to watch the movie again to see if I can pick up on it, this time.
Are Dreamfinder & Figment Good Characters?
I adore these two. Beyond being two of my Disney Parks characters, they're two of my favorite Disney characters bar none and easily, my favorite Disney Duo. The companionship that these two share is so real and believable. I may have missed them, when they debuted at EPCOT but that doesn't stop them from being two of my all time favorite Disney characters because you feel how much these two work off one another. Figment learns from the wisdom of Dreamfinder and Dreamfinder gets joy from Figment's childlike nature. Let me know if you like this new segment because I already have plans for a follow up focusing on Captain EO. But first, this new segment is actually going to kick off something that I've been meaning to do for a while now. Join me next week as I finally delve into the first Figment mini series as I review...
Figment # 1
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