A Friday Visit with Jim Korkis: The Leapfrog Fountain at Epcot

By Dave Shute

Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.

THE LEAPFROG FOUNTAIN IN THE IMAGINATION PAVILION AT EPCOT

By Jim Korkis

Kodak, the original sponsor of the Imagination Pavilion at Epcot, intended the area outside the pavilion to be known as Imagination Gardens, and feature interactive items. The only thing ever built as part of that project was the laminar flow fountains, more commonly referred to as the Leapfrog Fountains.

They were the creation of Mark Fuller, who later went on to found the famous WET (Water Entertainment Technology) Design company with two other ex-Imagineers, Melanie Simon and Alan Robinson, and be responsible for world famous water experiences like the Fountains at Bellagio for the hotel and casino in Las Vegas.

Fuller’s first job after getting a master’s degree in mechanical engineering at Stanford in 1978 was to create something new and exciting for the upcoming opening of Epcot Center. For the Epcot project, Fuller worked with Bill Novey.

Fuller had spent six years trying to get an interview with Imagineering and eventually succeeded in being interviewed by the legendary Imagineer Wathel Rogers, who was impressed by Fuller’s portfolio of work.

“The one thing I think we recognized right away was that Mark was willing to take a chance,” recalls Marty Sklar, former president of Walt Disney Imagineering. “He wasn’t afraid of trying something nobody else had done before.”

In his studies at Stanford, Fuller had experimented with laminar flow technology, so he was already very skilled in making a perfect tube of water. Fuller had already built the world’s first permanent laminar fountain in Salt Lake City as part of his thesis and had won an award for it from the American Institute of Architects.

Unlike water flowing from a household faucet where molecules bounce haphazardly around in different directions, in laminar flow, the molecules are channeled in one direction under equal, steady pressure.  The stream of water that is produced by laminar flow can appear stationary or solid, like a clear tube, from a distance.

Fuller, working with other WDI staff including Tony Baxter, engineered a way to make the water jump and turn on and off, using laminar flow with added valves and programming so it looked like the water was randomly leaping from basin to basin.

The challenges included making the streams high enough and far enough apart for people to pass underneath them and to control the water splash when the stream landed.

Ironically for an attraction that has delighted guests of all ages for over three decades, Disney leadership was not initially impressed with the idea, but show producer Barry Braverman decided to take a chance since Kodak was adamant that they wanted the area to have a whimsical personality.

Fuller’s approach seemed to transform ordinary water into a living character much like in classic Disney animation.

Fuller also designed other water experiences at Epcot Center including the “upside down” waterfall near the pavilion and the “popjet” fountains that would unexpectedly spout up streams of water from the pavement.

After working for Imagineering for five years, Fuller left to establish his own company since he felt constrained on what he envisioned he might be able to accomplish with water.

In March 2010, Fuller was presented with the Themed Entertainment Association Lifetime Achievement Award, and while he has not been an Imagineer for decades, his work for Epcot still continues to enchant and amuse with the same sense of wonder as when it first opened.

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Thanks, Jim! And come back next Friday for more from Jim Korkis!

In the meantime, check out his books, including his latest, Call Me Walt, and his Secret Stories of Walt Disney World: Things You Never You Never Knew, which reprints much material first written for this site, all published by Theme Park Press.

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