Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORDDU: Greetings to all you Yuletide ducklings in the midst of eating your figgy puddings! Yesterday my sisters and I had the pleasure of spending our entire day with a gorgeous hunk who works in the Entertainment Department at Walt Disney World. He used to perform in Tapestry of Nations/Dreams as a puppeteer. ORWEN: We can't tell you his name but he played several different roles throughout the history of both Tapestries. ORDDU: If you'll remember, we created a topic thread--several months back--about how we'd heard that the Management Types within Entertainment were planning to bring back Tapestry as Epcot's next parade. ORWEN: But, according to our friend who will be involved with whatever the next parade is to be, OSHA won't allow Disney Entertainment to bring back Tapestry after all. ORDDU: The reason? Too many injuries to cast members who were performing in the parades occurred in the past. As much as a 35% injury rate for cast members, as a matter of fact. ORWEN: We never realized it, before, but sometimes performers were injured whenever strong winds would come up, which created stressful moves in order to keep control of the various puppets, which were vulernable to being buffeted about. ORDDU: Just imagine what it must have been like for performers to try and handle those wind-blown puppets, what with all the twisting and turning involved in controlling them. With bulky harnesses to contend with, it could be more of a challenge than most guests would know. ORWEN: But at least it all means Epcot should get a whole new parade that kicks off in Oct. 2007--as of now, anyway. That could change. ORDDU: It's sort of funny, if you ask us, how Disney Entertainment thought they could save so much money by recycling an old parade, only to have OSHA tell them "No, if you want a parade at Epcot it can't be the Tapestry of Nations or Dreams." For once they'll have to spend a little bit of money for an entirely new parade--unless they decide to have none at all.
Originally Posted By ssWEDguy >> sometimes performers were injured whenever strong winds would come up << I'm not surprised. Because of the engineering involved in the puppets, they had to be tall and very made of lightweight materials, stretched on a lighweight frame. The whole thing would act like a big sail when the wind came up. Since it was all controlled by a harness attached to the puppeteer's back and arms, that put them in control of a sail with their body alone. What a shame. I loved the effect very much. Because it was controlled directly by a human the huge puppet could be made to move in very human and complex ways.
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORDDU: It's also interesting to note that--depending on who was in charge of sending the parade out on the different days it performed--it might be allowed to go out on very windy days, which would be in violation of the original standards set. ORWEN: At other times--depending on who was in charge--Tapestry wasn't allowed to perform on days when there didn't seem to be any winds what-so-ever! It was very hard to judge which days the parade would perform and which days it wasn't. Every manager in charge seemed to have a slightly different judgement call for this thing.
Originally Posted By Boo Thank you so much, Witches! (where's the third one - the crabby one? She got laryngitis? Wish her well for me!) I adored Tapestry of Nations, thought it was one of the most incredible things I've ever experienced. The music - the original version - still inspires me. I especially loved the percussion units and would have loved to give up my career, move to Florida, learn to drum and try out for a job on one of those big wheels!
Originally Posted By RoadTrip I loved the Tapestry parades, but at the same time I'm not sure Disney should bring another parade to Epcot. Tapestry brought the Showcase to a virtual standstill during its busiest hours. If they try another Epcot parade I hope they run it in the afternoon when the Showcase isn't as busy.
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORWEN: Thank you for what you had to say, Boo, duckling! But be careful what you 'witch' for. I mean, the certain nasty old biddy you were asking about is closer than you might think--much TOO close, actually. Just don't get in the way of one of her whammy's and you'll be fine.
Originally Posted By MPierce Thanks for the update Witches. I preferred Tapestry of Nations, but I believe when they went to Dreams they cut it back to the more open half of World Showcase. That at least gave you the option of staying away from the crowd. I just look at Epcot as more of a night time park, more so than the other parks. I just think Epcot needs a night time parade, only my opinion. I do hope they decide on having one, as long as it is equal to Tapestry of Nations.
