Leave a Legacy

We had the good fortune to be one of the first guests to "leave a legacy" at Epcot on September 30, 1999, a day before the Millennium Celebration and Leave a Legacy officially opened. Our report of the Leave a Legacy program is to the right, along with basics below:

Description: Leave a Legacy is a “photo time capsule” upon which guests can leave their images on metallic tiles for a fee. The tiles are then mounted on Leave a Legacy sculptures, which are granite monoliths arrayed under Spaceship Earth just inside the gates.
Location: Epcot. The Leave a Legacy Sculpture Garden is just inside the gates, the information kiosk is behind it under Spaceship Earth, and the registration and photographing booths are to the right of the sculptures.
Wait: There is no wait to wander among the Leave a Legacy Sculptures, which are accessible to all and you can't help but walk through them on your way into Epcot. The wait to purchase a tile depends on when you arrive. An overhang shelters guests from the sun and rain while standing in line for tiles. We recommend stopping at Leave a Legacy when you first arrive or later in the day ( but not at closing).
Cost: Tiles are $33 for one face on the tile and $38 for two faces on the tile. 10% discounts are available for Magic Kingdom Club card holders or Annual Passholders.
Notes:
- Tiles may contain only one or two faces. If you are a family or three or larger, you will need to purchase more than one tile to include your whole family on a Leave a Legacy Sculpture (and there's no guarantee your images will be close together).
- Upon purchase of a tile, you are given a locator card (one for one image, two for two images). Don't lose this card, as it is your "ticket" to get a photo taken in the booths, your card to find your tile once it is installed on a sculpture, and your password to access your image on the Web. Note that if you get two cards, the second card is only a souvenir—it won't work for photographing your faces, locating your tile, nor for looking up your image later on the Web site.
- About four hours after your photograph is taken, the tiles are put on temporary display on the side of the Leave a Legacy kiosk under Spaceship Earth. Look for a time and date stamp at least four hours after the time you had your photograph taken (and it may be longer).
- Tiles are scheduled to be installed on the sculptures four days later. So if you get your tile made early in your trip, you may be able to see it on a sculpture before you leave.

On Thursday, September 30, 1999, we had the opportunity to be one the of the first guests to “leave a legacy” at Epcot. Leave a Legacy is a “photo time capsule” upon which guests can leave their images on metallic tiles for a fee. The tiles are then mounted on Leave a Legacy sculptures, which are granite monoliths arrayed under Spaceship Earth just inside Epcot's gates.

To our eyes, the sculptures seemed elegant and modern, and they seemed to fit right in at Epcot. We did notice that the tall ones would be too high for anyone to see images placed near the top, but we suspect Disney will not place tiles that high either. One of the sculptures already had a few image panels attached, which we assume would be images of cast members or perhaps the press as this is a media preview day.

Walking beyond the sculptures and under Spaceship Earth, we notice the Leave a Legacy booth. A sound system is broadcasting the specifics of Leave a Legacy, and the booth is displaying image panels which were finished the day before and earlier that week. We expected to see the “counter” for Leave a Legacy at the booth, and were puzzled when we couldn't find a way to actually “leave our legacy.” A quick question to a Cast Member pointed us in the right direction, towards the right side of the sculpture area (as you would see it when you're walking towards Spaceship Earth). How did we miss it before? We were so absorbed in checking out the sculptures that we'd walked past it (and we think the sculptures themselves hide it a bit).

We were happy to find that the Leave a Legacy “counter” was open already. We decided to go ahead and purchase a tile now, since we knew tomorrow (October 1) would be much busier. The cost is $35 for one face on the tile, and $38 for two. We asked about discounts for Magic Kingdom Club and Annual Passholders, and were told there there were none (though we now learn you can get 10% discounts with one or the other). A cast member asked us to read and sign the “Leave a Legacy Application Agreement.” It requires that you give your name, address, and e-mail address for any guests in the tile image. The text of the agreements covers the front and page side of one sheet of paper, and like any agreement you sign, we recommend you read it first. Notable items include:

• Granting permission for your image to be displayed on a Web site accessible to the public
• Stating that the neither the guests' names nor any other identifying information will be included with the images on the sculptures
• Refusing to photograph guests who do not remove or obscure from view any “jewelry, apparel or other replication of any name, logo, image or symbol which might be visible in the photograph.” In other words, take off your Universal Studios baseball caps.
• Agreeing that the image and/or sculpture may be replaced or relocated within Walt Disney World at any time, and that the image may be permanently removed on or after the twentieth anniversary of its installation.
• Authorizing the agreement for any minors present. Thus, it would appear that all minors must be accompanied by an adult to participate.

After signing the agreement and handing it back, we got in line to pay for our image. The cast member took our information and money, and handed us back two plastic locator cards with the Leave a Legacy logo imprinted on them. These locator cards will give us the location of our tile on the sculptures once they are installed—we just swipe them at a Leave a Legacy terminal. One of these two cards was also our “ticket” to have our photograph taken.

We waited in a short line for our photographer, who directed us to his photographing booth within a few minutes. The booths aren't private, but there are curtains to either side of the camera (probably for light reflection more than anything else). We didn't notice a mirror either (so we could check our appearance), but frankly the images aren't going to show details anyway. Our photographer took our picture and showed us what it would look like—it looked like us (only very small, just under 1” x 1”). Overall, the entire process took about 15 minutes, but it would be much longer if there were any sort of lines. We noticed some families were in the photographing booths for much longer, presumably trying to get a good photograph.

Later that day around 3:30 pm, we checked back to see if our images were put up for temporary display on the Leave a Legacy booth under Spaceship Earth. No luck. They are supposed to put them up on temporary display about 4 hours later, and it had barely been four hours when we checked. We did get lucky the following day, however, and found our image without too much hunting. The image was clearly recognizable as us.

On October 15, less than three weeks later, we received our Leave a Legacy folder in the mail. The silver folder opens to reveal a quote by Walt Disney (“To the youngsters of today, I say believe in the future...”) and our image is tucked inside a pocket. The image is shown actual size and looks much as it did in the tile we saw on temporary display. Our names are below it. The image is printed on a transparency, which is protected by a paper cover. You can pull out transparency to see the actual size of the image (.975” x .975”) and the fun blueprint markings along the right side. Note that the location of your tile is noted at the bottom of the transparency. In our case, we're at West 6-A-3-10-8. That would mean the west side of the sculpture “garden,” sixth sculpture, tile plate column A, third tile plate, ten images up, and 8 images across (or something to that effect—we need to verify this). We haven't seen it yet, but we expect to when we return on October 18.

To see our image, go to http://www.disney.com/LivingLegacy and type in Dave Marx or Jennifer Watson (in Ann Arbor, MI). Note: This site doesn't appeared to be completed yet, as we're not able to find our image with a simple search, but we can find it by logging in.

To edit the information associated with your image on the Leave a Legacy Web site, you will need a user name (your last name) and a password (the UPC code on the back of the first locater card they gave you). Note: Currently we're unable to edit anything besides the message that appears with our image, but it appears more editing should be available in the future.