Today, despite a rather unceremonious closing, Horizons endures as the pure embodiment of what classic EPCOT Center stood for, a bonafide combination of all aspects of the park's subsequent pavilions to create one epic attraction designed to gives guests an optimistic look at the future like only Disney could offer. It carried out gracefully the overall goal of EPCOT Center in the way it purely entertained, educated, and inspired guests from all walks of life and from all age groups. Fans who fondly recall memories of this attraction and even fans such as myself who do not remember personally experiencing this attraction can agree that there has never been anything quite like Horizons in the history of Walt Disney Imagineering.
Photo courtesy of the Disney Parks Blog
Horizons wanted to give guests a vision for the future, a vision that seemed attainable and a vision that seemed hopeful. Its oft-quoted thesis statement plainly explained what kind of vision for the future Horizons wanted to present: "If we can dream it, we can do it." It was a simple declaration, but to this day, such a mantra reminds all of us that we have the ability to make a better future for ourselves today. In a world that so often looks at the future in a bleak manner, Horizons emphasized that, if we work together and dream big, we have a reason to look forward to tomorrow. Horizons unapologetically saw a future that was to be embraced, not dreaded, for today holds the challenge to make this world a better place to be. It implored guests to welcome these challenges with open arms because Horizons understood that everyone had the capacity to impact the future in a positive way as long as they dreamed boldly and acted determinedly.
To say Horizons was ahead of its time would be quite the understatement. For an attraction that debuted in 1983, its prediction of the future was, more or less, stunningly accurate. From robots doing mundane chores to the idea of communicating face-to-face with one another via technology, Horizons seemed to have its finger on the pulse of the future. Sure, some of its predictions remain audacious and lofty, but that was part of its appeal and its charm. Horizons dared us to dream big, to dream dreams that redefined the status quo and pushed society into a great, big, beautiful tomorrow. It balanced a presentation of a feasible future with a grandiose one, altogether showcasing a future that seemed to have already arrived and a future that is still yet to be grasped. Horizons both inspired optimism for the present while also inspiring optimism for the future. Yes, the future was here now, but Horizons asserted that we must continue to press on into the future, to keep longing to reach for tomorrow's new horizons.
Photo courtesy of the Disney Parks Blog
This optimistic view of the future is the main reason Horizons continues to resonate with so many fans across multiple generations, but additionally, the scope of the attraction itself also plays a factor in how zealously fans remember this great Imagineering achievement. The message of Horizons is obviously commendable, but if the ride had been boring or ordinary, the message would not have connected to fans in such a profound and lasting way. Luckily, Imagineering went above and beyond in making its greatest attraction to date from a story standpoint as well as a technical one. Situated in a park filled to the brim with distinctive attractions, Horizons nevertheless managed to stand out. It was a nearly fifteen-minute dark ride featuring infectious music, clever narration, Disney signatures, and a timeless message. Two massive and ground-breaking OMNIMAX screens played a key role in the attraction's story, while every scene was breathtaking in detail and awe-inspiring in breadth. Plus, the customizable ending with the option to take three different paths back to the FuturePort from either Brava Centauri, Mesa Verde, or Sea Castle was revolutionary, an unrivaled ending that was incredibly ahead of its time (do you sense that theme developing here?). In a culture that falls in love with saying something is unlike anything else they have ever seen, Horizons is still legitimately unlike anything else we have ever seen from Disney in the past or in the present.
While Disney continues to produce outstanding attractions today, Imagineering will probably never produce another attraction as ambitious and exceptional as Horizons. Modern attractions tend to be devoid of the originality so prominently on display in Horizons, instead relying heavily on Disney's wide library of intellectual properties to immerse guests in stories they are already familiar with prior to entering the park (a strategy I do not fault, by the way, considering how beloved Disney's IPs are nowadays). Furthermore, for the most part, the length of attractions today come nowhere close to the roughly fifteen-minute runtime of Horizons, and the modern attractions certainly fall short of reaching the structural heights of Horizons in terms of set design and audio-animatronic usage (the Shaman at the end of Animal Kingdom's Na'vi River Journey, for example, is an undeniably superb audio-animatronic, but old school Epcot laughs at the idea of only inserting one audio-animatronic into an attraction). From a creative standpoint, Horizons will always be in a class by itself.
Photo courtesy of the Disney Parks Blog
While I greatly admire EPCOT Center from the 1980s and early 1990s, I fully acknowledge that the park needed to evolve over time. I may consider myself to be somewhat of an Epcot purist, but I do not aimlessly wish for the park to return to its former glory. I understand that Horizons will never return and the park is now proceeding into the future with a different goal in mind, but I believe that is exactly why I love Horizons as much as I do. It represents the best of Imagineering from a bygone era. Whenever one looks back at the retro aspects of the Disney theme parks, it is impossible to not fall head over heels in love with Horizons. Even though I have only experienced ride-throughs of this attraction by watching YouTube videos such as this excellent one from the Lake Buena Vista Historical Society, it is evident to me that Horizons was an unparalleled Disney attraction that has no equal at any point in Imagineering's history. Its appeal for all of mankind to start dreaming and start doing is an immortal plea that will forevermore provoke us to progressive action.
When I consider the EPCOT Center of a generation ago, I am struck by how earnest its desire was to build a better tomorrow, and Horizons was the perfect capstone attraction that brought together all of that earnestness into one era-defining experience. There's a reason Epcot fans such as myself look back at Horizons with such amazement and reverence: Disney produced a singular experience that was truly and wholly unique. There was nothing like it before its debut and there has been nothing like it since its closure. Horizons was something extraordinary, a rare attraction that simultaneously encouraged and challenged us in the best ways imaginable. Undoubtedly, we could use its powerful message and eager viewpoint of the future in today's day and age. Horizons believed in humanity, and Horizons believed in individual men and women and their capabilities to make a brighter future for everyone. Horizons genuinely affirmed that if we can dream it, we really can do it.
That is precisely why Horizons is Imagineering's greatest achievement to date.
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