Monday
May312010
Daredevil Circus Spectaculars at Epcot Are Just Not What They Used To Be
Monday, May 31, 2010 at 11:54AM Posted by Admin When you think of Epcot, the first things that come to mind are high-flying acrobatic stunts, motorcycles on wires, and circus elephants... obviously. This was no ordinary circus.
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Listen to this...
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How do you seamlessly fit a circus into futuristic setting of Future World? You do it with this explanation:
“The four-times-daily, eight ring spectacle transforms CommuniCore into a ‘spacearena’ for an interstellar cast of spine-tingling acts -- some of the world’s most famous acrobats and thrill performers plus troupe of elephant-like Martian Mastodons performing on Future World’s fountain stage."
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“With Mickey Mouse as a guest ringmaster, the 25-minute cosmic thrill show features high-riders balancing their Space Cycles on thin wires zooming up to the 100-foot-high midpoint of Spaceship Earth, a fet-speed trapeze act, an ‘astrobat’ atop a swaying space needle, and an equally brave ‘interplanetary mechanic’ who ‘repairs’ a wildly orbiting space station by fearlessly climbing about it as it hurtles through the atmosphere.”
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If you didn't catch their performances in communist Russia, hopefully you saw them at EPCOT Center.
“...stars include the Wynn Family Troupe, led by Space Cyclist Hans, son Jay, and Carl, the intrepid space-station repairman; the Flying Rodriquez Family whose double-trapeze performance is one of the few free-world acts ever featured in the Moscow State Circus; daring swaypole performer Gary Sladick, and the Cristiani Elephants, four amazing pachyderms which have performed their ‘bullheaded’ and ‘light footed’ balancing act in world-class circuses.”
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The Spectacular was part of the Walt Disney World 15th Anniversary in 1986-1987.
One thing is certain. The views of the park from up there must have been striking. Hooray for 1980s EPCOT Center and futuristic circuses!
tagged Epcot
Epcot
Reader Comments (6)
This is great. I had those glasses the muscle man is wearing in the third photo and probably wore them to Epcot Center in the 80s.
"elephant-like Martian Mastodons" hahaha. I don't remember this but It's great to see they pulled off something like this. Could it have been part of their attempt to shake off the "too boring" and "too educational" reputation? I loved epcot center regardless of their attempts to educate me some.
My understanding of Disney lore was that this was one of the first attempts that Disney execs made to counteract the "EPCOT is boring!" reputation that the theme park was earning and to boost (supposedly sagging) attendance.
I always thought Epcot was fun. Water something down too much and it insults one's intelligence.
The only person who thought EPCOT Center was "boring" was Michael Eisner (then again, he thought all theme parks were only meant for the lower classes). He hated the park from the very beginning and would have loved nothing better than to sell the place off.
The Circus was yanked from one of the promotional events held at Disneyland during prior decade. It was the only one that would not only fit the "boring" Future World area, but Eisner's preconception of what the public wanted from amusmenet parks (which would be played out in the following decades as efforts to shove Ferries Wheels and Coney Island boardwalk games into each and every Disney project).
The only classic story from the circus pertains to the fountain. Today's fountain show was initially built into Communicore in 1982, but it's completion quickly fell into a "Phase Two" mode. However the stage for the elephant show destroyed (rumors were that it collapsed) everything that was built and it would take years and years to regain the budget to repair and fix the show.
they also tried to tie that whole year in to the Bicentennial of the Constitution (I think).....see how the characters in front of spaceship Earth are dressed in their patriotic costumes? When EPCOT Center hosted the press party one of the nights of the first week of 15 Years I was working on the Plaza Carts......my memory is that everyone was drunk, the parade went on for what seemed like HOURS and they had those big head costumes similar to the America on Parade costumes in the parade. And that I saw Dolly Parton perform that evening on top of the Fountain of Nations stage. Love your posts!