[mousepod]

Drince88 - you are ABSOLUTELY CORRECT!

Here are the details:

In March '83, five months after the opening of EPCOT, the attraction "Journey Into Imagination" debuted in EPCOT's Futureworld. The ride featured the song "One Little Spark" written by the Sherman Brothers and featured the characters Dreamfinder and FIGMENT (Figment of Imagination, get it?). It was a silly and fun Omnimover ride that was initially very popular, and Figment became the mascot for EPCOT. Figment was dreamed up by Tony Baxter, and drawn by Steve Kirk and X. Atencio.

His voice was provided by veteran actor Billy Barty, whose career stretched back to 1928, when he was four years old. People from my generation probably know Billy best from his appearances in Sid and Marty Krofft shows like 'Pufnstuf' and 'Sigmund and the Sea Monsters'. In 1985, Billy played "Screwball" in the Ridley Scott fantasy classic "Legend", which also starred a young Tom Cruise (sorry - I forgot all about "Interview with a Vampire" - didn't mean to create a red herring there).

In October 1998, Journey Into Imagination, which while still a fan favorite had become a walk-on attraction, was closed.

A year later, in October 1999, a new version of the attraction opened, called "Journey Into Your Imagination". It was a completely new ride, which was totally rethemed to work with the "Honey I Shrunk the Audience" movie that now occupied the theater in the Imagination Pavilion. While crowds flocked to the 3D movie, they hated the new ride, and hard core Disney fans bemoaned the loss of the Dreamfinder (a little), and Figment (a lot). There's even a story that Eisner himself thought that the attraction sucked. This version of the attraction was closed in October 2001.

Imagineer David Mumford was charged with creating a new version of the attraction that would include the Imagination Institute from v2 of the attraction but would bring back Figment. Less than year later, in June 2002, a brand-new version of the ride was opened, and Figment was back! The new attraction was called "Journey Into Imagination with Figment" just to make sure everybody knew. Unfortunately, Billy Barty has passed away, so they had to find a new actor to voice Figment. They chose David Goelz, who was a Muppeteer since the 1970's and is possibly most famous for being the voice of The Great Gonzo.

...and that's the story.