Soarin' as it appears from World Showcase -- Behind Canada You may be aware that they're building a copy of "Soarin' Over California" here in WDW/Epcot. It's being installed as part of FutureWorld, and is physically straight west behind the Kodak Imagination Pavilion. The entrance for the attraction is being built to be accessed from the Nestle's Land Pavilion. So what does this all have to do with World Showcase? It turns out that the Soarin' building is HUGE, and has to be to accommodate the huge spherical Soarin' screens. In California the building is dug down and built partially below grade to keep the highest roofline from going too high. Here in Florida you can't dig down as far simply because of the water table. So the building remains quite tall. It turns out that "behind the Imagination Pavilion" is also "behind Canada." So you end up having Canada's formerly pristine skyline interrupted by a big building. Thus, the controversy. (1) OK -- Here's the beauty shot of Canada in World Showcase. Facing west, the picture is taken early in the morning from about in front of Mexico. The Merchandise pavilion near the World Showcase Plaza is to the right. To the left of Canada, the skyline is already interrupted by the light blue rooftop of the Millenium Village building peeking up over the trees. The Millenium Village building is a large, "temporary," fabric-covered curved-roof structure that continues to live in World Showcase as a special events space. Disneyana had some events there. Remember Disneyana? If you look closely on the left you can also see the highest levels of the Beach Club Villas peeking up over the Millenium Village roofline.   (2) Travelling around to the southeast shore of the lagoon, the Soarin' building swings into sight behind Canada. The Millenium Village roofline is still to the left. On the right you can see the Imagination Pavilion, and right behind it, The Land. This is the view that people are upset about. They're wishing that something could be done to the Soarin' building facade to make a more natural background for Canada. Up to a couple of weeks ago the building had been painted a flat "Disney green" color -- the kind of shade that Disney paints buildings so that they can't be seen so well through a row of trees. That made it less visible from the Beach Club Villas to the west. But the green-colored building behind Canada was much more stark against the sky. It didn't blend well into the row of trees to the left and right Now they've painted the building's eastern-facing facade the flat "Disney light blue" color that you see here -- to more closely match the Florida blue sky. It matches the color of the Millenium Village roof as well. Trust me, this is an improvement.   (3) Zooming in some now, closer on Canada. The Illuminations fire barge is visible in the center, in the middle of Showcase Lagoon.   (4) Zooming in on Canada some more, from in front of Italy. This is about about as visible as the Soarin' building gets in World Showcase. Personally, I don't think it's all that bad. It almost helps highlight Canada's skyline by providing a backdrop and something of a frame. I think it's most upsetting to people who will remember what the skyline was like before Soarin'. Anyone who sees it for the first time may not mind it as much. Alternatively, some have suggested that the shape and size of the Soarin' building could almost be used to suggest a mountain range in the distance behind Canada, if it were painted right. Perhaps. For all we know Disney may not be done with the outside of the building. It doesn't open until mid-2005. But for the present, the controversy continues.