Changes

By 1983 plans for the Denmark pavilion had been cancelled. Instead, it was decided that Norway, Sweden, and Denmark would open in the "Scandinavian Showcase" which was scheduled for 1987. The pavilion was designed by WED and "Norman International"- one of Oslo's largest construction companies. Due to the fact that most of the funds were coming from Norwegian sources however, plans for the pavilion changed once again, and in June of 1985 it was announced that the pavilion would be named "Norway, Gateway to Scandinavia".

The original Norway pavilion was designed with 58,000 sq. ft. of interior space. This area was then divided up into stores, an exhibition, a restaurant, and EPCOT Center’s first thrill ride- SeaVenture. The plans for SeaVenture called for an interior boat ride attraction, on which guests would encounter trolls and gnomes as they searched for a rainbow bridge to Valhalla (an earlier idea would have had guests traveling through a day in the life of a Viking). This storyline was deemed too short however, and the concept was expanded so that it now included a history trip that took guests from the folklore of Norway, all the way through modern times. The thrill part of the attraction was planned to come from a new ride system where the boat’s direction could be reversed during the ride.