Imagination Institute

“We don't know anything... that can't be imagined.”

―Slogan

Imagination Institute
Background Information
Attractions	Honey, I Shrunk the Audience ImageWorks - The "What If" Labs Journey Into Imagination With Figment
Group Information
Founded	19th century
Occupation	Scientific/inventing institute
Leaders	Dr. Nigel Channing
Members	Dean Finder Dean Higgins Dexter Riley Kristie Smithers Merlin Jones Philip Brainard Wayne Szalinski Professor Quigley Wilby Daniels
Affiliations	Figment Medfield College Wreck-It Ralph Vanellope Von Schweetz
Headquarters	Imagination! Pavilion, EPCOT, Florida

The Imagination Institute is the central fictional organization behind the Imagination! Pavilion at EPCOT.

Description

The Imagination Institute is an old scientific organization based in the Imagination! Pavilion of EPCOT, though seemed to also have a presence in Tomorrowland and Discoveryland. They are composed of many inventors, with a particular focus on imagination and psionic experiments. The group is also known to host the annual, "Inventor of the Year" ceremony, where inventors (presumably of the institute's ranks) are awarded the rank of Inventor of the Year. The Institute has also often been identified as being affiliated with Medfield College in Medfield, Massachusetts.

Members

• Dean Finder: Dean Finder was one of the deans working at the institute. He may have been related to, or pseudonymous with the imagination obsessed inventor, "The Dreamfinder" who was known to have worked in the pavilion.
• Dean Higgins: The stuffy dean of Medfield College who also worked at the institute.
• Dexter Riley: A young scientist from Medfield College who created various high-concept inventions.
• Dr. Nigel Channing: The stuffy chairman of the Imagination Institute around the 1990s.
  • Figment: The small purple dragon-like, "Figment of Imagination" companion of the Dreamfinder, who often tormented Channing.
• Kristie Smithers: An assistant at the institute during the late 1980s.
• Merlin Jones: A young genius inventor.
  • Stanley: Merlin's pet lab-chimpanzee and, "Nephew" who caused chaos for institute workers.
• Professor Philip Brainard: The inventor of Flubber and Weebo who had an office in the institute.
  • Flubber: A living, "Flying Rubber" which Brainard created and which lived in the pavilion.
• Professor Quigley:
• Professor Wayne Szalinski: The inventor of the Shrinking Gun who had an office in the institute.
• Wilby Daniels:

Several recipricantt of the the Inventor of the Year award

Inventors of the Year

• Alexander Graham Bell: An inventor most famous for his creation of the telephone in 1876.
• Thomas Edison: A famous American businessman and scientist who is attributed with creating many inventions such as the lightbulb. It should be noted that Edison did not actually invent many of the items which he is glorified for creating, and just put patents on them after taking the designs from employees and rivals (typically in ways that would be considered amoral and illegal by present day standards).
• George Washington Carver: A historic black agricultural scientist.
• Henry Ford: Henry Ford is a historic business-tycoon and bigoted right-wing political activist who is often misattributed as having invented the car, when in actuality he only redesigned car assembly lines.
• Walt Disney: Founder of the Walt Disney Company who was likely included under the company's, "Dreamers" category.
• Dr. Nigel Channing: The chairman of the Institute whose invention is not known though seemed to be affiliated with Figment.
• Professor Philip Brainard: For his creation of Flubber.
• Professor Wayne Szalinski: For his creation of the Shrinking Gun.

History

Background

Origins

The Imagination Institute was presumably founded at some point during the 19th century. They awarded many historic, "Inventor fo the Year" awards over the ages.

Epcot

By around the 1980s/1990s, they had an outpost in EPCOT called the Imagination! Pavilion. This pavilion was previously the Dream-Port of the inventor, "The Dreamfinder" who created a flying dream machine, and ways to access the Realms of Imagination. Dreamfinder's connection to the institute is unknown, though his creation Figment would frequent the pavilion seemingly under the care of chairman Dr. Nigel Channing, while causing chaos for him.

The Imagination! Pavilion was an extremely chaotic base for the institute, thanks to the shenanigans of Figment, Flubber, Stanley the Chimpanzee, Dexter Reilly's tennis shoes, and Wayne Szalinski's inventions. When Szalinski was given the Inventor of the Year award for his shrinking gun, he accidentally shrunk the audience and upon restoring them grew his dog Quark up to immense size. On one incident, Figment hijacked a tour Channing gave to teach the controlling of imagination so that Figment could teach them all that imagination should run wild; a lesson he chose to teach by farting on guests, assaulting their ears, and repeatedly singing the same song on a loop.

The, "What If? Labs" would also be overtaken by Figment. Nearby, a more high-tech version of the Dream Port was sometimes active for Figment to travel through.

Breaking the Internet

Around the 2010s, the Imagination Institute held a tech demo which showed off their high-tech innovations. One of these was the, "Enter-Net Device", a gateway allowing for people to enter the digital code world of the internet, and for digital beings to enter our corporeal world through a tunnel called, "The Link". The most notable visitors were video-game characters Wreck-It Ralph and Vanellope Von Schweetz. Only Institute personnel were allowed to travel through the link.

Appearances

Honey, I Shrunk the Audience

This attraction revolved around the Inventor of the Year award ceremony for Dr. Wayne Szalinski's shrinking gun.

Journey Into Imagination

Journey into Imagination with Figment

This attraction revolves around Dr. Nigel Channing giving guests a tour of the Imagination Institute's labs so that they can control their imagination, which is interrupted and hijacked by Figment.

Trivia

• A poster into Journey Into Imagination's queue refers to Channing as the Imagination Institute's founder, despite the institute being referenced as having been founded around the 1800s (Channing said in the pre-show of Honey, I Shrunk the Audience that they were open for over one hundred years).
  • One possibly explanation is that he is simply founder of their EPCOT chapter.
• Many Institute members come from live-action Disney comedy films. The institute additionally has a connection to Wreck it Ralph.
• The Institute logo appeared on the signature hand-outs for Figment's meet 'n' greet.
• The Imagination Institute and MET from Body Wars are both EPCOT characters with access to shrinking technology.