Throwback Thursday - Tapestry of Nations/Tapestry of Dreams

The Tapestry of Nations was a parade at the Epcot theme park that ran around the World Showcase Lagoon. It opened on October 1, 1999 and closed on September 2, 2001, after which it was rethemed as Tapestry of Dreams.

The parade had a unity and world peace theme and featured a variety of large puppets and massive rotating drum units. The puppets were designed by Michael Curry who also designed the puppets for The Lion King on Broadway and a variety of Disney theme park shows. The leader of the parade was the Sage of Time, who was represented as a stilt walker in an elaborate costume featuring alchemy symbols, gold trim on a white robe, a staff, and a headpiece resembling a sun with a face.

The Puppets included:

• Reverse Marionette, a large multicolored puppet with a little marionette being held in its arms.
• Disc Man, a large character with discs within the body and dreadlocks. This was the heaviest and tallest of all the puppets.
• Hammer Man, a humanoid character made of pieces of sheet metal.
• The Sprite, a winged character with a three tiered tail.
• Angel Girl, a feminine figure with a massive wingspan and human face.
• Wiggle Girl, similar to Angel Girl, but had a smaller wingspan and lacked a face, also had movement in the hips.
• Bird Man, with a large wingspan and a crane-like face. This puppet was the hardest to control.
• Aztec Man, with an Aztec-style head, small wingspan and several flaps at its end, similar to kite tails.

A variant of this parade was also the theme for the halftime show at Super Bowl XXXIV in 2000. Both the parade and the halftime show were directed by Gary Paben.

In 2001, the parade became Tapestry of Dreams. Wishes from children around the world were heard throughout the parade's soundtrack. The middle of the parade had a tribute to Walt Disney, "...the greatest and most wonderful dreamer of all!". In this version, the Sage of Time was replaced with the Dreamseekers, a trio of elf like characters that would open and close the parade and collect Dreamtale coins that children would receive at the Epcot Kidcot stations. These three included:

• Leonardo Columbus, who represented discovery, invention and genius.
• Elfin, who represented nature, magic and emotions.
• Cosmo, who represented space and the unknown.

It ran nightly, although in a reduced fashion compared to Tapestry of Nations and was canceled in March 2003 as a result of safety issues and injuries sustained by puppeteers over the course of the show's lifespan.

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