Looking Back to Look Forward: Wonders of Life

The last pavilion to receive one of the iconic logos was the Wonders of Life pavilion.

Wonders of Life

Opening in 1989, this pavilion was the last pavilion to open that would not be replacing an existing pavilion.  Its main focuses were life, health, and the human body.

Theme Park Tourist

Looking Back

The gold dome that sits empty for most of the year between Universe of Energy and Mission: SPACE once housed several attractions that informed and entertained guests about the human body.  Body Wars was a motion simulator in which guests joined Dr. Cynthia Lair in her exploration of the human body via a body probe ship called Bravo 229.  Guests followed Dr. Lair as she observed how the body reacted to a splinter.  Body Wars was also the first attraction at Epcot to have a height requirement.

Yesterland

Cranium Command was a show which featured Cranium Commando recruit Buzzy, voiced by Corey Burton.  The show was hosted in a tiered theater and was made to look like the inside of a mechanical brain as Buzzy tried to navigate a 12-year-old boy through a typical day.  According to Lost Epcot, many of the voice actors for the show were cast members of Saturday Night Live: Jon Lovitz as the right brain, Charles Grodin as the left brain, Dana Carvey as the heart's right ventricle, Kevin Nealson as the heart's left ventricle, George Wendt as the stomach, and Bobcat Goldthwait as the adrenal gland.

Yesterland

The Fitness Fairgrounds section of the Wonders of Life pavilion featured several different attractions in tent-style theatres.  There was Goofy About Health, in which various Goofy shorts were played featuring Goofy eating healthy and exercising.  The Making of Me was a film about conception and childbirth that was hosted by Martin Short.  Other attractions included AnaComical Players, Wondercycles, Coach’s Corner, Met Lifestyle Review, Frontiers in Medicine, and the Sensory Funhouse.

Yesterland

The Wonders of Life pavilion also featured it’s own gift shop and quick service restaurant. Well & Goods, Limited sold Disney-themed sports memorabilia as well as sports hats and shirts.  Pure & Simple featured a low-fat menu.

Matthew Cooper Photography

Looking Forward

Wonders of Life was closed in 2004 and over the next three years, the entire place was gutted and any evidence of the original pavilion was gone.  Now, Wonders of Life serves as a gift shop and food stand for both the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival and the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival.

I would like to see some major TLC come to the Wonders of Life pavilion.  Having worked in the building during the 2013 Food and Wine Festival, I saw it’s unused potential and saw what it could be again.  It would be a perfect place for a new attraction or theater that could bring back the original ideas and themes of EPCOT Center.  I can only hope they don’t tear this pavilion down.

Oh My Disney

It's time to bring life back to the Wonders of Life pavilion.

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.

Looking Back to Look Forward: World of Motion

Next door to Horizons stood the World of Motion pavilion.  “General Motors now invites you to travel the open road - to discover that when it comes to transportation. It's always fun to be free!"

Disney Parks Blog

World of Motion

The World of Motion pavilion was a humorous and educational road trip through the history of transportation.  It was sponsored by GM from its opening in a move to compete with Ford who had sponsored Disney's Magic Skyway attraction at the 1964/65 World's Fair in New York.

Disney Parks Blog

Looking Back

After entering the wheel-shaped pavilion, guests would board omnimover vehicles to begin their road trip, which featured 30 scenes and 188 audio-animatronics.  First, the vehicles would head outside and spiral up the column before reentering the building and heading to the first scene.  

Disney Parks Blog

Starting at the beginning of transportation history, guest entered the Ancient Times.  Here, cavemen were seen cooling off their feet after walking on them all day since it was the only form of transportation they had.  From the cavemen, guests headed next to the first safe highway - water.  Boats are seen projected onto a black screen, and an Egyptian boy is seen floating on a reed raft.  Then, ancient people are seen trying to ride various animals such as zebras, camels, and elephants.  The next major invention in transportation was the wheel, and guest saw different types of wheels projected onto the screen.

Walt Dated World

With new forms of transportation came the ability to explore new parts of the world.  A large projected map showed different ships sailing to different parts of the world.  It’s here when guests entered the Renaissance.  Leonardo da Vinci is seen working on a flying machine while the model for his Mona Lisa painting waits on him.  A man in also seen in a hot air balloon.

Walt Dated World

The next invention comes when steam power is used to get people from place to place in various forms of transportation.  As the narrator said, “great boilers of steam change our sails to paddle wheels.”  Heading west on the Mississippi River, the steam engine chugs along as settlers on wagons and Indians on horseback are see fighting.

Disney Parks Blog

Traveling to a peaceful countryside, guests saw people riding bikes as well as projections of different bicycles.   "The call of the open road brings us a new wonder - a carriage without a horse. Yes, with the horseless carriage we thunder full speed into the twentieth century,” the narrator proudly proclaimed.  Along with the new horseless carriage came a new kind of problem: traffic jams.  

Walt Dated World

But there were, of course, some great things to come from the new forms of transportation.  Sunday drives became a new tradition for families.  Airplanes are also introduced and projected onto the black screen.  As the history of transportation moves forward, guests saw freeways, racecars, and the short “Freeway Fobia” featuring Goofy.

Disney Parks Blog

The final section of the attraction was the speed-tunnel, which used a wraparound screen to project scenes onto to make you feel like you were in the scene.  Guest got the feel of flying down a country road, being in a bobsled, and on a surfboard while hidden fans created a wind effect to enhance the experience.  After the speed-tunnel, guests were transported to the CenterCore, the 60-foot high core of the pavilion.  Lighted roads and highways of the future were projected in CenterCore along with futuristic vehicles.  As guests descended back down to the lower level of the pavilion, they saw themselves in futuristic bubble cars.  

Disney Parks Blog

Upon exiting the attraction, guests were encouraged to visit Transcenter.  Transcenter was designed by GM and featured several different interactive areas.  There was Aerotest, where guests could use a computer to design their own car and use a virtual wind tunnel to see how well the aerodynamics were on the car.  The Bird and the Robot section of Transcenter was an audio-animatronic vaudeville show that featured a robotic car manufacturing arm and his manager.  Another guest interaction area was the Water Engine Theater where an animated film titled “The Water Engine” was showed to discuss the different types of engines.  Finally, the Dreamers Workshop was a place for futuristic sketches and models of cars.  Located at the exit of the pavilion was Concept to Reality, where GM featured its current line of cars and trucks for guests to see.

RetroWDW

Looking Forward

In 1996, World of Motion closed to make way for Test Track, and it would take nearly three years for the attraction to open.  Test Track originally took guests up to a test facility for cars in which they would get to experience what it was like to be a ‘test dummy.’  Personally, I like the original version of Test Track better than the updated build-your-own-car-so-you-can-wait-in-line-longer-and-hopefully-not-notice version.

Some people may throw tomatoes at me for what I’m about to say, but I think a Cars themed overlay for Test Track would be better than what it is now.  With the newest installment in the Cars franchise focusing on the new cars and how they are prepared for race day, it would be cool to get to see what it’s like to be a car from Cars getting ready to race for the Piston Cup.  Just an idea...don’t start hating me yet, readers.  

RetroWDW

I'm nostalgic for EPCOT Center these days.  I want that back, that fun mixed with education mixed with excitement of the future.  Until then, though, I'll sit here and sing "It's Fun to Be Free" all day long, as per the usual.

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.

Looking Back to Look Forward: Horizons

Next door to the Universe of Energy pavilion once stood the Horizons pavilion. Horizon 1 is now departing.

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.

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.”  

Disney Parks Blog

Along the queue were boarding signs for FuturePort, a futuristic airport where guests boarded the attraction.  

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.

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.

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.

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.  

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Looking Back to Look Forward: Universe of Energy

Back across CommuniCore on the eastern side of Epcot, we arrive at the Universe of Energy.

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Universe of Energy

The angular building that houses the Universe of Energy pavilion is covered with 2,200 solar energy panels that helped power the ride vehicles inside the pavilion since opening day in 1982.  The pavilion was originally sponsored by Exxon and later by ExxonMobil from 1982-2004.

Wikipedia

Looking Back

Since opening on October 1, 1982, the Universe of Energy has been home to two versions of the same attraction.  Both versions of Universe of Energy featured a preshow, theaters, and a Primeval World section.  Guests were transported from one area of the attraction to the other in a theater car.

Mouse Planet

The original preshow featured a large screen that creator Emile Radok described as a “kinetic mosaic.” According to Lost Epcot, “the screen was made up of 100 turning sections that almost resembled cubes. They were not technically cubes though because they had three sides: one black and two white for projection. The five projectors and the turning cubes were synced together to create a kaleidoscope-like show.”

Kungaloosh Radio

During the preshow, various forms of energy were displayed including nuclear, electrical, light, wind, water, and fossil fuels.  It was during this preshow that the song "Energy (You Make the World Go 'Round)" was played.

Dinosaur Toy Forum

At the conclusion of the preshow, guests were loaded into the theater cars before seeing a film on a 155-foot wide screen about the formation of fossil fuels.  This film served as the segway into the Primeval World section of the attraction.  The Primeval World was filled with audio-animatronic dinosaurs that took guests through the history of fossil fuels.

Disney Tourist Blog

After exiting the Primeval World, guests were taken to another theater where a film on present day energy sources was displayed on the large screen.  At the film's conclusion, guests were transported back to the first theater where mirrored walls created a wrap around effect for the final film, which was mostly computer generated.  The song “Universe of Energy” was played during this part of the attraction.

In September of 1996, the Universe of Energy received a redesign, although most of the original attraction was still incorporated into the new version.  The newly updated version was called Ellen’s Energy Adventure and starred Ellen DeGeneres, Bill Nye the Science Guy, Alex Trebek, and Jamie Lee Curtis.  Instead of the more educational approach of the original version, this version specialized in comedic relief.  

Oh My Disney

In this preshow, Ellen has a dream she is a contestant on Jeopardy along with her former college roommate, Dr. Judy Peterson, and Albert Einstein.  Unfortunately for Ellen, all the categories are about energy, of which she knows nothing about.  To the rescue during a commercial break is her neighbor, Bill Nye the Science Guy, who takes her on a whirlwind journey to learn all about the different forms of energy.

Parkelogy

The game show is projected onto the large theater screens as guests load the theater cars.  The Primeval World section of the ride received minor updates for the new version, including the addition of an Ellen audio-animatronics.

Bleeding Cool

After leaving the Primeval World and heading to the second theater room, guests heard a prehistoric radio broadcast which featured the voices of Willard Scott and Chris Berman.  Following the broadcast was a twelve minute live-action film on three wrap around screens where Bill Nye gives Ellen on an in-depth look at energy resources.

Easy WDW

At the end of the attraction, back in the first theater, guests get to see Ellen use all her newly learned knowledge to defeat Judy and ultimately win by answering the final Jeopardy question correctly.

WDW Magic

Looking Forward

At the D23 Expo in July, it was announced that the Universe of Energy would be closing its doors to make way for a Guardians of the Galaxy themed attraction.  The Universe of Energy permanently closed on August 13, 2017.  Although I don’t exactly know how to feel about a possible roller coaster going into the Universe of Energy pavilion, I’m hoping that it as fun and as educational as its predecessors.

Theme Park University

Oh, and that Baby Groot is in it.

WDW Theme Parks

From the sea to the skies, there’s a force beyond our eyes at work at the Universe of Energy pavilion

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. .