Fascinating Fountains
Vol 1. No. 14 Date: 9/14/82
FASCINATING FOUNTAINS AT EPCOT CENTER
Included in Epcot Center are several one-of-a-kind electronic fountains... on a huge scale.
The most elaborate of them is located in CommuniCore in the center of Future World. An oval measuring 180 by 120 feet, the fountain is controlled by a computer which sends 29,000 gallons of water, (the equivalent of a couple of swimming pools), cascading down tiered walls. Meanwhile individual jets of water shoot 30 feet into the air.
When the second phase of Epcot Center is completed, 328 individual nozzles will create water sculptures in ever-changing designs. A laser beam will be projected from beneath the fountain, and with the aid of other lasers located around CommuniCore, will create a dazzling light show in the sky each night. Explosions of water each hour will even tell what time it is.
Another fountain, the favorite of Mark Fuller, WED Imagineer and the fountains' designer, is what he describes as the "leap frog fountain" located in a picture garden outside Future World's Journey Into Imagination. Hidden in the shrubbery of five planters are 17 circular nozzles. Streams of water shoot out of them as clearly and as perfectly formed as a glass rod three-fourths of an inch in diameter. "You can put your fingers around it without getting them wet," Fuller points out.
The water begins at one end of the planters and jumps in succession from nozzle to nozzle, planter to planter, leap-frog style... even passing over the heads of guests who walk between the planters.
Also in the picture garden is a waterfall that appears to flow uphill, a fountain that creates jellyfish-like globs of water 12 feet in the air and three feet in diameter, and still a third that shoots up balls of water in a liquid juggling act.
17 DAYS OUT
© 1982 Walt Disney Productions
COMMENTARY
It has been said by many that, among its many accomplishments, EPCOT Center birthed the entire Themed Entertainment Industry and even more interestingly this was completely by accident!
The enormity of EPCOT Center’s creation, as has been reiterated many times on this site but one of the things that is probably least apparent is the evolution of Imagineering. From a small group of 600 to well over 2000 at its height WED Enterprises (now WDI) eventually had to downsize at the completion of “The Newest Wonder of the World”.
Several independent companies were created in the wake of Epcot’s opening from Steve Alcorn’s Alcorn McBride specializing in continuous video playback and show control systems to Garner Holt animatronics and many others.
In this case, Mark Fuller went on to establish WET Design a truly remarkable company specializing in the creation of water effects and spectaculars like the famous Bellagio fountains and the Rain Vortex for Jewel Changi Airport.
Perhaps most interesting in this NewsBrief is the discussion of the Fountain of Nations shows which would not be realized until over a decade later in 1993 with the creation of Innoventions Plaza.
