Looking Back to Look Forward: Spaceship Earth

Walt Disney’s dream of an Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow came to life in October 1982 with the opening of the second Florida theme park for The Walt Disney Company.  Throughout the years, Epcot has experienced changes from the name of the park to its attractions.  Over the next few weeks, I’ll be discussing each of the original pavilions at EPCOT Center.  We will take a look at the history of the pavilion as well as a look into its current state and beyond.

Disney Avenue

As Walt Disney once said, “(EPCOT) will be a community of tomorrow that will never be completed but will always be introducing and testing, and demonstrating new materials and new systems. And EPCOT will always be a showcase to the world of the ingenuity and imagination of American free enterprise."

Walt Disney World

Spaceship Earth

Spaceship Earth is the iconic geodesic sphere that serves as the symbol of Epcot.  The structure was designed with the help of Ray Bradbury, a science fiction writer who also helped write the original story line for the attraction.  The attraction is a 15-minute dark ride through the history of human communication via an omnimover system.  Since it’s opening, Spaceship Earth has had four narrators: Lawrence Dobkin, Walter Cronkite, Jeremy Irons, and Judi Dench.

Malloryland

Looking Back

Just four years after its opening, Spaceship Earth experienced its first renovation where its sponsor became AT&T and the iconic ‘Tomorrow’s Child’ song became the finale music to the attraction.  In 1994, the attraction closed again for major renovations to update the several scenes and introduce a new score by Edo Guidotti as well as a new narrator, Jeremy Irons.

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For the Millennium Celebration, The Walt Disney Company added a Mickey Mouse arm holding a wand saying ‘2000’ over Spaceship Earth.  In 2001, the ‘2000’ was replaced with ‘Epcot’ and remained perched on the side of Spaceship Earth until 2007 when it was finally removed.

While the wand was being removed, the attraction also went under another renovation to include new scenes, a new musical score by Bruce Broughton, new narration by Judi Dench, and a new sponsorship from Siemens.  This update also introduced the a new interactive ending to the attraction where riders can choose their own version of the future to live in.

Walt Disney World

Looking Forward

It has been nearly ten years since Spaceship Earth has undergone a major renovation, but with the new updates coming to Epcot, it’s safe to assume that they have something up their sleeve for Spaceship Earth as well.  After all, the history of communication part of the attraction ends with the invention of the personal computer.  Look at how far we have come since then!  There are so many possibilities for an updated Spaceship Earth, and I am anxious to see what the future will hold.

Following every renovation in the past, there has also been the introduction of a new musical score and new narrator, so it’s safe to assume that a new narrator and score could be on the horizon.  Personally, I would love for "Tomorrow’s Child" to be incorporated back into the attraction in some way.  As for narrators, I just hope they stay away from some flash-in-the-pan artist and go with a Disney Legend or Tom Hanks.

Robyn Fleenor

Like a grand and miraculous spaceship, Spaceship Earth has been educating and entertaining guests of all ages for almost thirty-five years.  We may not know what will happen next to our beloved attraction, but if history repeats itself, the next renovation will still tell the story of our ancestors as well as what our future could be like. 

Robyn Fleenor is a contributing writer for The Mouse Knows Best Podcast. She is an avid Disney fanatic and would rather be at Walt Disney World eating glazed almonds than anything else.  When she isn't working to pay for her next Disney vacation, she likes to binge watch TV shows and fall in love with fictional characters. She can be found tweeting at @rahrah6263.