EPCOT 30TH ANNIVERSARY - a special celebration - HORIZONS tribute - photos , artwork and video

Here is a grand tribute to Horizons one of the most beloved of Epcot extinct attractions! And this one is going to be a really big tribute to this amazing attraction, one of my favorite. Lot of pictures, for the first time in big size, plenty of artwork, and great video of the whole ride at the end of the article, with the links to the previous Epcot original attractions artwork articles.



Horizons, designed by imagineer George Mc Ginnis and Collin Campbell opened on October 1, 1983 and was about the future!...and more specifically, Horizons was dedicated to "humanity's future" with this principle "If we can dream it, we can do it!".
Not only the building was huge, but the 14.45 minutes ride was one of the longest one ever created by Walt Disney Imagineering. Lot of audio-animatronics - 54, exactly , and 770 props all along the ride, not to mention the 12 film projectors, the two Omnisphere screenshow, and a huge capacity of 2784 guests per hour.Everything was great: the story line, the theming, the music, everything!



During 10 years - from 1983 to 1993 - the attraction sponsor was General Electric, as we can see on this picture of the entrance.



Right after the entrance, the Futureport announced the "destinations"



It's time to board in one of the Horizons vehicles



First, we had a look back to some of the great visionaries like Jules Verne, then to how the future was dreamed in the 30's.
Here is a picture of the model of that scene.



And here are pictures of the real thing.






The next scene was a vision of the future from the 50's.




After these opening scenes the Horizons vehicle moved to the Omnimax film sequence with images of the DNA chain, or the space shuttle lift off. The next scene was the 21st century Habitat sequence , also called the Nova City living room.



A huge backdrop painting was done for that scene, here is three close shots of this artwork.





The next scene brings the guests at Mesa Verde, a desert farm of the future...




And then to a submarine habitat...




But also inside a space colony and the "crystal lab"...







The Holographic "happy bithday" party line was the next scene, and the special effects were at that time really impressive.




The guests had then the possibility to "choose their tomorrow" with a choice of three destinations: Space , Desert, and Undersea. A screen came in front of the vehicle and a short movie was played. A good idea, but the image definition was not as good as it would be today.

Before we arrive to the videos below, i have more rare pictures for you. First, a model of the building.



Then some artwork for the "Main Shuttle port"






Here is a fantastic painting showing a city of the future.



But one of the biggest backdrop painting was the "Looking back at tomorrow". Here are some very rare photos showing the painter at work - Robert McCall, a famous artist who worked mostly for NASA - and details of the painting.







And now it's time for you to board inside a Horizon vehicle and enjoy this fantastic ride, thanks to this two part youtube video from black562 i thank a lot, and congratulate for the high quality of the filming.

Just like everybody who did the ride at Epcot, you will love Horizons instantly, it was Imagineering at its best! And don't forget: If we can dream it, we can do it!






You can know more about Horizons, read the original script and listen the great music theme on the excellent Horizons web site HERE

I remember you that you can find the previous articles about Epcot's original attractions artwork: for Spaceship Earth HERE, for The Living Seas HERE, for Communicore HERE
, for The Land HERE, and for Journey into Imagination HERE. More coming next week about Universe of Energy!


Thanks to leave a comment or discuss this article on D&M english forum on Mice Chat


Photos and artwork: copyright Disney Enterprises Inc

Youtube videos: many thanks to black562 !

Epcot Opening Celebration, Oct 1982 : The Original CBS Show

Today Epcot is celebrating its 30th Anniversary and Disney and more wishes a great anniversary to Epcot! Thirty years ago, on October 1st Epcot was opening its gates and had a tremendous Grand Opening Celebration. CBS did at that time a fantastic television special hosted by legendary actor-singer-comic Danny Kaye. Epcot dedication was done by Disney CEO Card Walker ( picture above ) and lot of special guests appear in the show, including legendary NASA Astronaut Alan Shepard!
As most of us were not there on Epcot opening day and probably some of you not even born, i've found back for you on Youtube the video, and this great show is also a unique chance to see some rare shots of WDI Imagineers at work on the making of Epcot as well as clips of Epcot's original attractions, some of them now unfortunately extinct! Don't miss it, and again, happy 30th celebration to Epcot!



Video: copyright CBS - Disney

Disney and more Time machine - Back in time to October 27, 1966 : The Epcot that never was

Tomorrow Epcot will have its 30th birthday but the Epcot project, it's the least we can say had many changes since Walt's original vision, so today we will remember this "Epcot that never was".

 On October 27, 1966, two months before his death, Walt Disney recorded his last TV presentation. To the american audience he was introducing his vision of Epcot, the "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow".
So, today, let's go back in time with pictures, concept arts and the video of the original TV show to have a look at this Epcot who, as we know, finally never was.

Here is Walt recording his last show, his obvious excitement about his new project is "pure Walt".



Walt began by showing the audience a Florida map...



And then came the famous shot on the Disney World project map...



Here is a concept art of Epcot as Walt's envisioned it, with a cosmopolitan hotel in its center. Click on each picture to see them in bigger size.



And here are two others, including one of Epcot's city at night.




Located beneath the hotel, the transportation lobby was fantastic. Different kind of transportation would have been possible, with a choice between the monorail or the famous WEDway people mover.




Inside the indoor international shopping area guests would have found food experience, shows and items from many countries - the World Showcase, on a certain point of view is coming from this original concept.



The Industrial complex was a place where Disney staff would have work with individual corporations to create a showcase of industry.



Here is a last view of the center of Walt's vision of Epcot.
If you want to know much more about this fantastic project , i strongly suggest you to discover the great Waltopia web site where some of these renderings and pictures are coming from.
It's one of the best site i've seen about Walt's original vision of Epcot, and it is full of documents about it.





And now it's time to watch the 1966 video where Walt himself will explain to you his vision of this "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow". It's in three parts and it last 26 minutes. The movie begin by some shots of Disneyland, but don't worry, it is the right one and Walt will appear soon.







Photos, artwork and videos: copyright Disney

Thanks to Waltopia for the photos and artwork and to freedogshampoo for the youtube links.