Next door to the Universe of Energy pavilion once stood the Horizons pavilion. Horizon 1 is now departing.
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| Disney Parks Blog |
Horizons
Horizons was a pavilion that was centered around the family and combined all the pavilions of Epcot into one. It explored energy, transportation, communication, imagination, land, and sea as they related to the future of families. It opened exactly one year after the rest of Epcot on October 1, 1983. It was sponsored by General Electric from 1983 to 1993.
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| Disney Parks Blog |
Looking Back
Upon entering the angular building on the east side of Future World, guests were first introduced to arguably the most misattributed quote ever. It was in the queue for the attraction that guests heard the song “New Horizons,” in which we get the line, “If we can dream it, then we can do it.”
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| Disney Parks Blog |
Along the queue were boarding signs for FuturePort, a futuristic airport where guests boarded the attraction.
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| Extinct Disney |
The omnimover vehicles were suspended from a track above and could hold three to four guests. It was narrated by a futuristic family.
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| Disney Parks Blog |
First up was the “Looking Back at Tomorrow” section of the attraction. During this section, we see how people of the past - such as Jules Verne and Albert Robida - thought the future would look like in their time. It was here where the song “It’s A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” would play, leaving some to believe that Horizons was a sequel to Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress. While Carousel of Progress showed you the past, Horizons showed you the future of progress, and since Tom Fitzgerald visited the 1964 World’s Fair where Carousel of Progress debuted and was an integral part of the story of Horizons, it’s not as far fetched an idea as it may originally seem.
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| Disney Parks Blog |
After the Looking Back at Tomorrow section came the OmniSphere section. The attraction vehicles would move past two round Omni-Max screens that measured eight stories high and wide. Back in the early 1980s, this was amazing technology as the screen seemed to go on forever. As guests passed by the screens, it would seem like they were literally in the screen with the images. It’s like Soarin’ Version 1.
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| Disney Parks Blog |
Next up was Nova Cite, where we got to see the inside of a futuristic home of the Mother and Father narrator. The scene showed the parents talking to their daughter via hologram as well as plants being grown using hydroponics.
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| Disney Parks Blog |
After exiting Nova Cite, guest came to the desert Mesa Verde where oranges are growing. Similar to Soarin’, the smell of oranges filled the air. We see the narrator’s family and her daughter talking to her boyfriend on the TV.
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| Disney Parks Blog |
After leaving the dessert, we’ve arrived at the Sea Castle Resort, a floating city. It’s here we find the boyfriend standing beside his personal submarine. Guest dive into the sea to see the underwater part of the floating city. After reaching the ocean bottom, guests headed up to space.
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| Disney Parks Blog |
From the sea to the sky, we’ve now arrived in space. Here we see astronauts working on satellites and a space station known as Brava Centauri. A zero-gravity exercise center and a crystal harvesting room are just some of the many futuristic ideas of living in space from Horizons.
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| Disney Parks Blog |
Similar to the current travel back to Earth of Spaceship Earth, at the end of Horizons, guests got to choose their own path back to the FuturePort. They could chose between land, sea, or sky. There were lighted buttons in each vehicle in which guests would make their selection. Once selected, a screen appeared, making the vehicle look and feel more like a simulator. Each selection was thirty seconds long. Upon exiting the attraction, guests got to hear the classic “New Horizons” once more.
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| Disney Parks Blog |
In 1993, Horizons lost its sponsor, General Electric, and spent the next six years in operational limbo. It closed in December of 1994 but reopened in December 1995 due to the fact that Universe of Energy and World of Motion were both closed for refurbishment. Horizons officially met its fate in January 1999 when it was closed and demolished to make way for a new pavilion. Mission: SPACE opened in October 2003.
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| Theme Park University |
Looking Forward
As this pavilion has met its untimely demise, I don’t guess there is really anything to look forward from the pavilion itself. However, as I've said before in this series, I would love for the original ideas and themes from this attraction to make their way back into the park. Maybe we can incorporate them (and the song) into an updated version of Spaceship Earth. Horizons truly represented Epcot.
As Walt Disney never said, if we can dream it, we can do it. May that be the motto of everyone forevermore thanks to Horizons.
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.
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