France

Pavilion History and Layout

Original Designs and Changes

While the France pavilion was also going to be a part of World Showcase, the pavilion’s design and layout changed many times. When the pavilion opened in 1982, it featured the widescreen film, Impressions de France. Early deigns for the theater, show that at one time, the theater was going to be round. This means that Imagineers may have originally intended the film to be a CircleVision 360 film (although this in unconfirmed). According Richard Beard’s book, Walt Disney’s EPCOT: Creating the New World of Tomorrow, the pavilions layout changed drastically before the pavilion was built. Beard says:

“With the best will in the world, there was still not complete agreement among the EPCOT team during the planning of the France pavilion. One of the first concept sketches was of the Place du Tertre, the artists’ colony up near the cathedral of Sacré-Coeur. Then the Moulin Rouge and the Place Pigalle were considered, but the French advisers thought that was “tacky.” (It is; but tourists still love it.)

Sacré-Coeur itself, when they tried to build it to scale, looked rather Muscovite to a lot of people, with its onion-type domes. But the Eiffel Tower is unmistakable; it is one of a kind”

— Walt Disney’s EPCOT: Creating the New World of Tomorrow

At one time, plans for the pavilion called for the creation of an animated map. Guests would be able to push a button on the map to learn about what was happening in the countries various regions. Regions included would have been the coasts of Normandy and Brittany, the skiing areas, the Riviera, and the wine country. Also planned but never built, was an exposition hall based on Paris' Les Halles. Originally the hall would have held displays of the different provincial regions and serve as an information center.