Expedition Everest, Tree Of Life, Spaceship Earth Facts

[CPimagineer86]

I'm doing an presentation for my engineering class and I wanted to do it on either Expedition Everest, the Tree of Life or Spaceship Earth. Now each of these are enormous structures in the Disney parks. If anyone knows of any facts about any of these structures it would be incredibly helpful.

 

[onholiday]

The Tree of Life is built on top of, what is structurally either an oil rig, or very close to being an oil rig to accomodate the theater inside.
Something close/similar to that.
Also, on Spaceship Earth, the panels contract and expand with the heat,and there are gutters on the structure so the water doesn't just slide off of the edges, and it goes into the World Showcase Lagoon. (I think, don't quote me on any of this, it's memory).
If you want things about how it was built, watch the Walt Disney World episode of Modern Marvels on the History Channel! I learned so much! It has whole sections on the Tree of Life and Spaceship Earth, but Expedition Everest wasn't because it's still too new!
I hope some of my inconsistent babbling helps!

 

[MickeyMan101]

Lol, well EE is 199 feet tall not 200 because the it's Florida Law that anything 200 feet or taller has to have a blinking light. The Tree of life is made out of an Oil Rig or something to do with an oil rig(you would have to check me on that:zipit: ), and SSE not really sure but i beleive that the, shoot i forget what their called, anyway, the triangular pannels sourrounding it are self cleaning. That's all i know off the top of my head, but if i think or hear of more i'll let you know!!

MickeyMan101

 

[MickeyMan101]

The Tree of Life is built on top of, what is structurally either an oil rig, or very close to being an oil rig to accomodate the theater inside.
Something close/similar to that.
Also, on Spaceship Earth, the panels contract and expand with the heat,and there are gutters on the structure so the water doesn't just slide off of the edges, and it goes into the World Showcase Lagoon. (I think, don't quote me on any of this, it's memory).

^^^ Beat me to it!

MickeyMan101

 

[CaptainMichael]

Great information can be obtained through links at www.wdwmagic.com.

 

[yoda_5729]

also try www.disneyworldtrivia.com.....that's a very nice website that has information you might find advantageous. :wave:

 

[Epcot82Guy]

I second both the websites.

Also some other fun facts:

SSE is billed as the world's first geodesic sphere. Technically it is "not." It actually is ~3/4 dome built on a platform (which the legs attach to) with ~1/4 attached to that platform. The panels make the sphere itself. This was all done so that an attraction could be housed in an entierly open internal space.

The attraction inside SSE was the first generation II omnimover system (if I remember correctly). This allowed it to traverse such great heights.

The panels outside SSE actually repel staining. I can't remember the name of the substance, but it is silver. SSE by design was technically supposed to be gold.

Going along with the gutters, there are actually two spheres. An inner sphere that serves as the cover for the ride and the outer sphere that is silver. They are just over 2' apart from each other. The space is to house the gutter system for the attraction (which has been described).

SSE is the main reason that Epcot has a mini-Utilidoor, meaning it is actually risen up off sea level by just under one full story. Because SSE was fully central in its position, CMs access it from underneath like everything in the MK. It is the only major attraction serviced by this (the rest including parts of Communicore/Innoventions/etc.)

It is rumored that the ride system is designed to be integral to the structural support for the upper "dome" itself.

 

[mickey04]

I believe the word everyone is looking for is "alucabond."

That's the name of the material that makes up the triangular self-cleaning silver panels (I believe there's something like 11,324 of them) on SSE.

 

[CPimagineer86]

Thanks

All the info so far is great, keep it coming. Also does anyone have an opinion as to which one they think would make a better presentation. All three have a lot of information for them and I like them all a lot so I'm not sure as to which one I should choose

 

[SewIn2Disney]

I believe I read somewhere that there are actually three different structures that make up Expidetion Everest (the outside of the mountain, the inside, and the track) and none of them can touch each other at any point.

I would say do your report on SSE, it's very recognizable (people will know what it is) and it's almost 25 years old, so I'm sure you'll be able to find tons of information on it. There's a great book called Epcot Center, I believe it came out in 1985, and it has a lot of information, as well as great pictures of the construction of sse.