The Figment meet and greet has debuted for Destination D23 guests during “An Evening at EPCOT with D23” on Saturday. He will start meeting regular guests at the Imagination! Pavilion on Sunday, September 10.
Destination D23 Figment Meet and Greet
During the event, Figment met Destination D23 guests in World Showplace instead of in the Imagination! Pavilion. He was in front of a version of the teased backdrop featuring the Dream Mobile from the original version of Journey Into Imagination.
Figment wears his yellow sweatshirt with red stripes around the neck and on the sleeves.
He does not sign autographs, but autograph cards will be available “soon” — potentially for the meet and greet’s debut on Sunday or at a later time.
Figment made appearances in EPCOT many years ago, including as a puppet alongside Dreamfinder from the original attraction, but it has been a long time since guests were able to hug the famous purple dragon.
Watch our video below.
Figment’s History
Figment debuted alongside Dreamfinder in 1983 as part of Journey into Imagination, which opened a few months after EPCOT Center’s opening. The ride demonstrated the beauty, power, and wonder of imagination to guests and was well-received, allowing Figment and Dreamfinder to become pseudo-mascots of the park.
Given EPCOT Center’s original goal of being an education-oriented experience, traditional Disney characters generally recognizable to parkgoers were not initially used in meet and greets or as walk-around attractions. Original characters created for the park were instead used in this role, with Figment and Dreamfinder being two characters that guests could interact with.
Figment has evolved into a park icon over the past number of decades, developing a strong fanbase as he appears on merchandise, in inspired desserts, and even in video games. He may soon even shift to the big screen, as a Seth Rogen-produced Figment film is even in development.
Proof of the character’s popularity is perhaps most prevalent in an early 2022 frenzy in which EPCOT International Festival of the Arts popcorn buckets depicting Figment consistently sold out. While proper Figment meet and greets have been previously offered at EPCOT, his upcoming meet and greet will be guests’ first chance to interact with the beloved imagination dragon in quite some time.
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