February 1, 2010

Parade of Parades: Tapestry of Nations/Dreams

The Tapestry of Nations was a parade at the Epcot theme park in Walt Disney World that ran around the World Showcase Lagoon from 1999 to 2001. The parade had a unity and world peace theme and featured a variety of large puppets and massive rotating drum units. The leader of the parade was the Sage of Time, who was represented as a stilt walker in an elaborate costume featuring alchemy symbols, gold trim on a white robe, a staff, and a headpiece resembling a sun with a face.

The parade was actually 3 identical processionals, which occur concurrently in the World Showcase. Parade A can be seen between Mexico and Germany, Parade B between Germany and Morocco and Parade C between Morocco and Canada.

The Puppets included:

  • Reverse Marionette, a large multicolored puppet with a little marionette being held in its arms.
  • Disc Man, a large character with discs within the body and dreadlocks. This was the heaviest and tallest of all the puppets.
  • Hammer Man, a humanoid character made of pieces of sheet metal.
  • The Sprite, a winged character with a three tiered tail.
  • Angel Girl, a feminine figure with a massive wingspan and human face.
  • Wiggle Girl, similar to Angel Girl, but had a smaller wingspan and lacked a face, also had movement in the hips.
  • Bird Man, with a large wingspan and a crane-like face. This puppet was the hardest to control.
  • Aztec Man, with an Aztec-style head, small wingspan and several flaps at its end, similar to kite tails

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In 2001, the parade became Tapestry of Dreams. Wishes from children around the world were heard throughout the parade's soundtrack. The middle of the parade had a tribute to Walt Disney, "...the greatest and most wonderful dreamer of all!". In this version, the Sage of Time was replaced with the Dreamseekers, a trio of elf like characters that would open and close the parade and collect Dreamtale coins that children would receive at the Epcot Kidcot stations. These three included:

  • Leonardo Columbus, who represented discovery, invention and genius
  • Elfin, who represented nature, magic and emotion
  • Cosmo, who represented space and the unknown

It ran nightly, although in a reduced fashion compared to Tapestry of Nations and was canceled in March 2003 as a result of its waning popularity.

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Pictures and Information from PinPics, AllEarsNet, WDWmagic, and Wikipedia

1 comment:

  1. I miss this parade! The music was absolutely fantastic and even though I was only nine at the time it has continued to stick with me to this day. :] I personally think Epcot could use a parade. It simply adds to the excitement leading up to Illuminations. Whenever my parents and I return to the park, we always feel that something is lacking. Oh how I wish they would bring it back or at least recreate it using the same music. It made Epcot so much more livelier at night!

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