Magic Journeys was a short film created by WED Enterprises and presented at four different Disney Parks during its eleven-year run. Other than that, it is hard to find words that accurately describe the show besides “weird.” It was based on the vague randomness of dreams.

“Magic Journeys” opened on October 1, 1982. It was an opening day attraction of the Journey into Imagination pavilion at Epcot Center. It was created and directed by a man named Murray Lerner. He is best known for his documentarian work like the award-winning film, From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China.

At Epcot, the signage outside the entrance featured everyone’s favourite purple dinosaur…Barney (just kidding, it was Figment of course)! The weirdest part about this was that Figment was never seen or even referenced in the show itself. The only potential nod to him might have been the purple 3-D glasses handed out to guests in the preshow waiting room. In the room where guests waited before entering the theatre the Sherman Brothers song “Makin’ Memories” through the speakers. This preshow room did little to prepare guests for what they were about to witness.

The film fades in from black to show a couple of children running around a field. They are seen admiring a couple of clouds. One of the kids finds a dandelion and blows on the pedals to make them float away. As the pedals fly away they gradually turn into stars and then into the image of the sun. Then the scene transforms and the children are flying a kite at the beach. Soon the kite turns into a bird, a couple of fish, then a flock of birds, then just the wings of a bird, and then it randomly becomes a pegasus. Then the pegasus turns into a regular horse before becoming a full-blown carousel full of horses.

The children ride the merry-go-round before noticing a gold ring spinning through the air in front of them. They try to catch the ring. Nobody is successful. The carousel is shown rotating around an image of the moon that bats start flying out of. Of course, then the moon starts changing shapes. It turns into a creepy mask, a witch, and a cat. One of the children reaches for the cat but it quickly turns into a sphinx.

Then the sphinx turns into a lion jumping through a hoop in a circus performance. There are a few scenes at the circus now featuring clowns, trapeze performers, and jugglers. After all of that, *plot twist* it is revealed the circus is a miniature when flying objects fly through the sky and turn into stars. The kids walk through a balloon room before finding a magician. Once he finishes his performance, the kids float back to where it all started: the meadow full of dandelions.