In 1978==Pavilion History== What would one day become the Norway pavilion, began in 1978 as the Denmark pavilion. Denmark was one of the original countries developed concept for World Showcase, with the world showcase was Denmark. Denmark idea that it would be the park's Scandinavian representative. Between in 1978 and 1982 however, the pavilion went through a lot of changes. Before Epcot's opening the pavilion was dropped and , reinstated , and movednext to China. It was eventually decided that Denmark would open with phase two of Epcot, scheduled to take place shortly after the park opened. Since World Showcase needed to provide more restrooms, bathrooms some were built in a the planned location of Denmark style, with the idea that the other buildings would be added at a later dateconstructed around them. By 1983 however , plans for the pavilion changed. It was decided that Norway , Sweden , and Denmark would open in the "Scandinavian Showcase" pavilion which was set to open in scheduled for 1987. The Scanadivan pavilion was designed by WED and "Norman International" , one of Oslo's largest construction companies. "Scanshow A/S was setup by this company to develop and finace the project. Due to the fact that most of the funds for the pavilion were mainly coming from Norweigan SourcesNorwegian sources, plans for the pavilion changed once again. In June of 1985 the pavilion , it was announced as that the pavilion would be named "Norway, Gateway To to Scandinavia".Funds for the The pavilion came from 10 Norweigan comapine.s. was designed with 58, 000 sq ft of the interior space . This area was then divided into stores, an exhibition, a resturant restaurant and the parks Epcot's first thrill ride. The ride attraction was titled "Sea Venture" , and it's initial concept called for a log flume attraction on which guests would encounter trolls an gnomes as they searched for a rainbow bridge to Valhalla. The storyline however, was deemed too short. The idea was going then expanded to carry passangers in 12 boats along include a 964fthistory trip that took guests from the folklore of Norway all the way to modern times. FlumeThe thrill part of the attraction was planned to come from a new flume ride system where the boat direction could be reversed during the ride. Construction began on the Norway pavilion began on May 27th 27, 1986. Ovet Over the next two years , the pavilion began to take shape, around the 1982 restroom building. Pavilion consists When complete, the pavilion consisted of exhibition space in a structure based on Stave Church (which holds various exhbits), a stave church. The bakery of named Kringla Bakeri OG Kafe. A and a series of interlinkied interlinked stores including the Puffins Roost and the Fjording. A resturantThe Norway pavilion is also home to a restaurant, Akershus. Attraction , and the pavilions attraction which was renamed Maelstrom just "The Malestorm" shortly before opening. Also includes the short movied, the Spirit of The Norway. Norway was dedicatd pavilion opened opened to guests on May 6, 1988and it was officially dedicated in June of that year. At On hand for the dedicationwas Crown Prince Harald, Norwwigan band played as hundreds of red and white baloons were releasedwell as traditional Norwegian dancers. A viking ship playground which was located outside Since the pavilion opened, Norway has seen very few changes. The exhibits inside the Stave Church have been updated over the years and the live band, Spelmanns Gledje, no longer plays in the pavilion. The most recent change came in 2008, when the outdoor playground shaped like the viking Oseberg ship was removed . ===Sponsorship of the Pavilion=== When countries were originally added to World Showcase, Disney required 30 million dollars in 2008funding before it would add a country.The following companies contributed to the pavilion's creation