Bring Back "Tapestry of Nations"!

So I was listening to the music for the Tapestry of Nations for the gazillion'th time on the drive home today, and again, for the gazillion'th time, I miss this parade very much. It is one of those parades where you are just in awe of what you were seeing, and then the music also became very memorable that it just won't leave you. In fact, I still believe that this is the best damn music for a Disney event at its theme parks that I know of. Period!

Tapestry of Nations had imaginative "puppetry" that probably was similar to Julie Taymore's stage production of The Lion King. So it had that same jaw-dropping and spectacular elements to it. It was at the "other side" of World Showcase Lagoon. If I recall correctly, it started at Morocco and goes all the way to Italy. It was the only parade at Epcot at that time.

So why did it go away? As far as I can tell, cast members were getting injured after the parade. The heavy puppetry that they had attached to them were causing severe neck and back injury, especially those that can easily get caught in the wind. I'm guessing there could be other reasons, but this is one of the reasons that I've heard being passed around.

So if this is the reason, then they certainly know a way to solve this. This is because the parade at Animal Kingdom, Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade, has managed to find a clever way to eliminate the injuries to the cast members. Most of the large puppets are now built on wheels that a cast member can either ride, or simply push along, rather than resting on their bodies. Now granted, this eliminates some of the more incredible acts that can be done during the original Tapestry of Nations parade, but still, I think they should bring back a newer version of Tapestry of Nations using this new technique. I think it would be nice to have a parade back at Epcot, especially if they could incorporate various elements from the different countries represented there.

And please, don't do Tapestry of Dreams. This was the parade after Tapestry of Dreams, using basically the same music, but chopped up and with added children's voices. While there were a lot of identical elements between the two, I found that the children's voices in the music to Tapestry of Dreams were quite annoying. In fact, if you buy the Illuminations CD being sold now, you will only get the Tapestry of Dreams version of it (even when Tapestry of Dreams is also listed on the CD). You can't buy, as of now, the original Tapestry of Nations music. This is why I hold so dearly my original Tapestry of Nations CD.

My one regret was that I didn't take many pictures of this parade. Back then, I wasn't quite the shutter bug that I am now, and it was also my first digital camera. All I had was just this 3, not-so-good pictures of the parade.





So Disney, and Jim McPhee in particular, please, please, bring back Tapestry of Nations parade!

Zz.