Tapestry of Nations

Tapestry of Nations
The Sage of Time
Epcot
Area	World Showcase
Status	Closed
Opening date	October 1, 1999
Closing date	September 9, 2001
General statistics
Attraction type	Parade
Theme	Unity and World Peace
Music	Gavin Greenaway
Vehicles	Rolling Percussion Units
Duration	30 Minutes

The Tapestry of Nations was a parade at the Epcot theme park in Walt Disney World, Florida, United States, that ran around the World Showcase Lagoon from 1999 to 2001, after which it was rethemed as Tapestry of Dreams.^[1] The parade had a unity and world peace theme and featured a variety of large puppets and massive rotating drum units with drummers dressed like kings. 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 (better known as the fabled Father Time), who was represented as a stilt walker in an elaborate costume featuring alchemy symbols, gold trim on a white robe (featuring the Roman numerals MM for 2000 at the bottom), 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.

The parade (or a variant of this) 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. Footage of the parade could still be seen on the Earth Globe in IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth through that show's closure in 2019.

Tapestry of Dreams[]

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!" with Bill Rogers (the voice behind most of the announcements at Walt Disney World Resort) narrating. In this version, the Sage of Time was replaced with the Dreamseekers, a trio of elf-like humanoid 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 (voiced by Corey Burton), who represented discovery, invention and genius.
• Elfin (voiced by Tress MacNeille), who represented nature, magic and emotions.
• Cosmo (voiced by Rob Paulsen), 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 degrading show elements over the course of the show's lifespan.

Variations[]

Besides the Tapestry of Dreams version, there were three variations of Tapestry of Nations, each having differences in audio. The original version, with only the ticking and chiming of clocks and Tom Kane voicing a much more serious sounding Sage of Time, ran from the parade's debut in October 1999 to the middle of December 1999.

The introduction was changed and the legend of the Sage of Time narrated by Jeff Bennett was added and the Sage was voiced by Corey Burton as to give him a more gentle tone in his voice, this version running to the Millennium Celebration's conclusion in the spring of 2001.

After this, changes to the script brought in the theme of human dreams, which would carry on to the Tapestry of Dreams version, though still retaining the opening narration by Jeff Bennett and the character of the Sage of Time and the voice of the Sage of Time by Corey Burton. This version ran to the middle of the summer of 2001 when the Tapestry of Dreams version finally debuted.

Outside of Epcot, Tapestry of Nations served as the theme of the Super Bowl XXXIV halftime show and featured a massive sized Sage of Time as a backdrop in addition to an appearance by the parade's walkaround version.^[2][3]

Soundtrack[]

The music for the parade was written by Gavin Greenaway, who was suggested to Disney by Hans Zimmer.^[4] Regarding the lyrics, Greenaway said:

The words are made up to sound like a language, as I didn’t want to have some people understanding and others not. So, this way, nobody understands the words! But I chose the sounds and syllables to sound like some sort of proto-language. Very simple vowels and limited consonants. Each listener can attach their own meaning.^[4]

The Millennium Heartbeat section, which was released on the Walt Disney World Millennium Celebration CD track, was not featured in the parade, as it lasted about a minute and a half, and was substituted by a different transition section which lasted about 50 seconds and still heavily featured drums, but added a slower version of the theme including lines from the chorus.

For Epcot's twenty-fifth anniversary celebration on October 1, 2007, a special fireworks finale to Illuminations was set to the Tapestry of Nations and the Tapestry of Dreams soundtrack.

Tapestry of Nations

• Walt Disney World Millennium Celebration (1999)

Tapestry of Dreams

• Illuminations: Reflections of Earth / Tapestry of Dreams (2001)

Tapestry of Dreams "Suite of Dreams: Discovery"

• Magic in the Streets: Parade Memories (2001)

Trivia[]

The music from the "Hymn to the North" segment from the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games opening ceremony, composed and produced by David Atkins was based on the Opening section from the Tapestry of Nations soundtrack.

See also[]

• Epcot attraction and entertainment history

References[]

External links[]

• Official Website
• Script for Tapestry of Nations
• Super Bowl Halftime Show YouTube
• Tapestry of Nations YouTube
• Media related to Tapestry of Dreams/Nations at Wikimedia Commons