WDW Wednesday: My impression de France

Happy Bastille Day!  I’ve never been to France, but whenever I think of Bastille Day, I think of the France Pavilion at Epcot. More specifically, I always think of the movie at the France Pavilion called "Impressions de France" because there is a scene in the movie that showcases all the Bastille Day festivities. Of course, Sister, the Goog and I always, always, always make the comment that it is really nice to see France celebrating the 4th of July with all those red, white and blue balloons because we are those rude Americans that think we better than everyone else.


The France Pavilion also reminds me of the time back in 1996 when Sister, my parents and I were traveling the (EPCOT) world.  When we approached France, we saw a group of people surrounding a mime. Not just any mime though, a mime in a BUBBLE.  This mime went by the name Bubble Nicolas.  My mom was really fascinated by the mime and wanted to stay and watch him, but Sister, who has an extreme fear of all things clown-and-mime-like, was having none of it.

The red line represents Sister. As soon as she saw that mime in a bubble (represented in blue), she sprinted as fast as her legs would carry her all the way through the France pavilion. We are are talking 2 seconds flat.  As if the bubble mime was going to target her and use her as a human bowling pin. It's because mimes are pure evil and can smell fear. True story.

 Bubble Nicolas in 1996. Watch it, he's about to sneak attack Sister.

I wondered what happened to ol’ Bubble Nicolas, so I googled him last night.  To make a very long story short, this guy was born in the Republic of Georgia.  It is the classic story of his parents wanted him to be something respectable like a doctor, a diplomat, maybe a professional curler, but he wanted to be an artist.  So he went on “vacation” when he was 15 and never came back to Georgia.  Instead he auditioned and was accepted into the Marcel Marceau mime school in Paris.  Some time passed and then in 1996, Nicolas created Bubble Nicholas and, naturally, Walt Disney World bought the show and featured the show in the France Pavilion, where it brought joy to some, but terror to people with mime-phobias.

 

Rockin' a fancier outfit and top hat in 1997.

My favorite part of the whole story was the quote about for Nicolas about coming to Epcot.  I think the quote is hilarious, but I'm pretty sure the Goog will die a little inside with Nicolas' description of planet formation:  

 "I immediately loved America.  The first time I did Bubble Nicolas at the Epcot Center, I realized that American people had the dream, and that I could share that dream with them. I knew we shared the magic. That's what it takes to create a new planet - magic!"

(See, even Nicolas agrees America is better than everywhere else.)

How did you celebrating Bastille Day? Do you enjoy clowns and mimes? Do you think the only thing needed to create a new planet is magic?