Gunnar Jerman, the president of NorShow, a consortium of 11 companies that represented Norwegian interests at the pavilion in the 1980s, was interviewed for the Sentinel’s article about the pavilion’s opening. Later, employees from the pavilion even would march through the streets of Winter Park, celebrating Norwegian Independence Day and sharing with the rest of Central Florida a little bit of pride in their homeland and, perhaps, increased knowledge about their heritage. The Norwegian Royal Guard would attend, as well. Norway’s Crown Prince Harald and Crown Princess Sonja would visit the pavilion for its opening. The pavilion, like it was designed to be, introduced Walt Disney World guests to the splendors of Norway and its cultural heritage. More than 130 Norwegians were hired to work at the pavilion on one-year contracts. The ride’s technical problems didn’t keep Norway’s national and cultural pride from showing, though, as the site featured the now-familiar traditional Norwegian streetscape, a wooden church with artifacts from the Viking era, and shops filled with Norwegian clothing and souvenirs. The ride, like many new theme-park rides are in the beginning, was plagued by glitches that prevented it from opening the same day as the pavilion. Then, on June 2, 1988, the Norway pavilion finally opened at Epcot - but without the Maelstrom in operation. “We’re going to be much more selective about what we put in there,” Mervine said at the time.Īs construction on the Norway pavilion continued, even India approached Disney about its own site, yet it was to no avail, as well. After the Turkish ambassador to the United States, at the invitation of the Martin Marietta Electronics and Missiles Group, toured Epcot, Disney spokesman Bob Mervine told the Sentinel that Disney had to rebuff the nation’s interest in sponsoring a pavilion. Meanwhile in 1988, while construction on the Norway pavilion was ongoing, Disney was telling other nations that it wasn’t open to creating additional national and cultural pavilions at Epcot’s World Showcase. was, at the time, developing South Bay and Bentley Park, luxury home communities on Lake Tibet-Butler in south Orange County and oceanfront condominiums on Florida’s east coast, according to Sentinel archives. Other Norwegian companies participating were Norcem, a manufacturer of cement and other building supplies Norsk Data, a computer company Det Norske Veritas, a ship inspection and certification company Den Norske Creditbank, the then-largest bank in Norway Vesta, an insurance company Frionor, a frozen-fish producer Norway Foods Ltd., a food distributor and Kosmos, a shipping company. and the largest construction company in Norway, and Kloster, a large shipping company. Later that month, a business-section story in the Sentinel announced Disney officials traveling to Oslo to sign a contract for the attraction.Ĭonstruction was forecast for 1986, and Norway business interests joined up to take part.Īccording to Sentinel archives, the main partners in the project were Selmer-Sande, parent of Selmer Corp. A special attraction, the article noted, would be a ride on a scale-model Viking ship, which would travel through displays detailing the country’s history, culture, tourism and industry. The Sentinel’s article described how the pavilion would present Norway as an advanced technological country and would be used to help sell Norway’s export products. subsidiary of one of the project’s partners, was quoted as saying, “It’s going to be a very exciting project.” Norway’s parliament, the story stated, recently had appropriated $10 million for the project, and the president of Selmer Corp., the Orlando-based U.S. It would be the 11th pavilion in Epcot’s showcase collection of nations. A front-page Orlando Sentinel story in June 1985 stated that Epcot was “almost certain” to get a $35 million Norway-themed attraction as the park’s second pavilion to open after the Morocco pavilion had been added to the World Showcase the previous October.
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