Dragon Boats of EPCOT Center’s Skyleidoscope
Do you remember Skyleidoscope at EPCOT Center? Or the dragon boats?
From the back of the publicity photo:
BIRTHDAY EDITION — Dragon boats and rainbow”-making flying machines combine with red-white~and-blue daylight fireworks to fill the World Showcase Lagoon and the skies above it with happy sounds and colors in the Walt Disney World 15th Birthday edition of Epcot Center’s Skyleidoscope. Copyright: The Walt Disney Co., 1986.
There isn’t much information online about the daytime spectacular. Looking at the limited photos and watching a video or tow reveal so little about the show. And why did Disney design such terrifying dragon creatures? It seems oddly out of place for the family entertainment company. Was this Disney wrestling with the odd themes of early EPCOT Center?
…more than 70 whirling and sailing craft, plus a flying armada of ultra-lights, repel the dragon invasion and proceed to create magical rainbows. —Walt Disney World NEWS October 11-25, 1985.
From what I can gather, the Dreamfinder is in charge of the World Showcase Air Force and wants to use his blimp to create rainbows for guests to wish upon. But the dastardly dragons want to stop Dreamfinder. The bottom of this article shares more information about the show from AllEars.
Apparently, the names of the dragons were “Ma and Pa.” Weird.
A Nightmare Skyleidoscope!
Zoom in a bit closer and you get a better view of the dragon boat. The two operators look like they are straight out of a Mad Max movie
The other dragon boat offers a look at both of the pilots. I think that’s Skeletor.
Skyleidoscope Video
The RetroWDW gang acquired some of the only footage I’ve seen of Skyleidoscope in action.
In the image, you get a better view of the dragon boat, including the green color of the body and the trailing plume of green smoke. There was another boat with red colorations and red smoke.
Skyleidoscop’s Dragon Boats in Action!
RetroWDW also has several photos in their gallery that show the dragon boats from Skyleidoscope in the Boneyard on the Disney Studios Backstage Tram Tour.
From AllEars
Jim Korkis: To tell the story, it was decided that Dreamfinder was going to fly in a huge blimp, painting the sky in an array of colorful rainbows. Paben wanted a Jules Verne-styled blimp with paddles and gears on it. (The blimp had to be cut from the show because the Florida winds made it difficult to launch and maintain the craft. In fact, some days because of the wind factor, the entire show would go down.) As the story progressed, Dreamfinder would be interrupted in his cheerful pursuit by the evil dragons known as “Ma and Pa” and their 10 purplish “Dragonettes,” who stirred up the lagoon to disrupt the show. (According to the narration the dragons were from the “black lagoon.”) The two sides did battle on the surface of the lagoon with sailboats, powerboats and hovercraft fitted into various colorful creatures until Dreamfinder triumphed over evil, accompanied by music, fireworks and a V-formation of brightly colored ultralight aircraft (“World Showcase Airforce”) trailing streams of different colored smoke to create the effect of a rainbow. —AllEars