Epcot Center

Wondering where the stuffed Figment came from? Why, Epcot Center of course!

In 1983 my parents and I, along with Uncle Rick and Aunt Mary, went to Disney World and Epcot Center. I remember Epcot being a gleaming beacon of the future.

Epcot at the time was an honest to goodness slice of the 70's image of what the future might be (even though it opened in 1982). Looking back at it from the perspective of 2008 it kind of seems very, well, kind of dated.

And who remembers Epcot having such a groovy vibe? (See the slide of the mosaic wall.)

Even the name is groovy. Did you know it's an acronymn for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow? I didn't.



Journey Into Imagination, where Figments are born.

More Jessica

Here's my mother with Jessica, all bundled up the cold weather of December 1983. Notice the ever-present Figment and the head of the stuffed drumming bear peeking up on the left.

This was taken in the basement living room. Like the paneling?

Below: two more of Jessica from the same day.

There's the edge of a lobster pot, which had a glass top to make a coffee table. The lobster pot is now living outside by the pool shed. Our big old console TV is in the background, where now a 50" plasma sits.

Cousins, 1983

The cousins pose for a photo. From left: Jeremy, Randi, Jessica, Brendan, Josh.

Brendan's not looking too happy about it all.

This slide was processed in December 1983, but I don't know if it's part of holiday festivities or not. Typically, from what I can remember, we had Christmas Day at my parent's house, so it may be from that but it could also just as easily be from some other get together. It's probably not from Thanksgiving, since we always did Thanksgiving at my grandparents' house.

Stuffed

There's Jessica with a stuffed, drumming bear. Below is Jeremy with the same bear and Figment. The third slide is me, with just Figment.

For some reason, the darker interior slides are coming out with a banding to the image. I'm not sure if this is some compensation that's happening on the scanner side or something in the original slides themselves.

The Family, 1983

Jumping now to December 1983 (and a particularly dorky photo of myself ... thank you, braces for correcting this), here's the family. Jessica at 9 months, Jeremy two months short of five, and I'm a month shy of 10.

The couch we're on is the old spindle bed that was converted into a couch with the addition of some pillows.