Horizens: The History of the Future

[ChrisFL]

The appropriate reply to help with my depression is, "Of course they will George! I'm sitting on awesome plans for Horizons II which was just greenlit. Let me tell you about the new Imagination that will feature the bit in the middle that was truly a feat of engineering if you were paying attention. Also, Radok blocks will be a turning again as a new high def film will be projected onto to those beloved shapes as a first step in giving a topic as important as energy the pavilion it deserves. WoL used as a storage shed? No more my friend. Don't even get me started on all the WS development, Rhine River Ride? Japanese bullet train experience? Those are just the tips of a gigantic, slippery iceberg that will smash your brain like a cruise liner as you experience the cultures of the world. And they realized that decades of the same night time show really wasn't Disneyesque. Nor is having food carts clog up a potential parade route. My friend, the changes are a coming and you will be wowed."

Sure, as soon as I make a few billion dollars and buy the park out from Disney myself, while keeping the Disney licensing

 

[The Empress Lilly]

It is getting harder for me to participate in the old EPCOT discussions because I find them too depressing. I suppose I should just be happy that I got to experience EPCOT a ton of times in the 80's and 90's. The big monkey in the room is simply this - Is there any chance than Disney will start to provide truly top notch theme park experiences in WDW again? Moving forward, I think past losses would be easier to stomach if we all felt this was the case.

Side note - Did you write the Empress Lilly article that you are linked to if you click on the "click to expand" in your signature? If so, very nice.

No, I didn't write it. I just link to it because many people no longer immediately associate my Avatar and name with a famous WDW landmark, but think it is some sort of lifestyle choice name. Hence I link to that site. Also, my name is meant after all to be a permanent accusation of the vandalization of WDW, so it helps to keep the memory live.



The Epcotalypse of the 90s would be easier to stomach of they had treated EPCOT like a World's Fair. Which are also meant to be temporary. I could've lived with replacing FW with another FW, another attempt. Even if that turned out inferior, at least you can accept the effort. And then remember FW1.0 with bittersweet memories.

Alas, that was not how it went. For want of any understanding how to market or operate EPCOT they replaced FW, the greatest theme park land ever build, with an ordinary theme park that can be visited anywhere. While the second half of EPCOT a decade later is turned into a Vegas style eat and booze fest.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

The appropriate reply to help with my depression is, "Of course they will George! I'm sitting on awesome plans for Horizons II which was just greenlit. Let me tell you about the new Imagination that will feature the bit in the middle that was truly a feat of engineering if you were paying attention. Also, Radok blocks will be a turning again as a new high def film will be projected onto to those beloved shapes as a first step in giving a topic as important as energy the pavilion it deserves. WoL used as a storage shed? No more my friend. Don't even get me started on all the WS development, Rhine River Ride? Japanese bullet train experience? Those are just the tips of a gigantic, slippery iceberg that will smash your brain like a cruise liner as you experience the cultures of the world. And they realized that decades of the same night time show really wasn't Disneyesque. Nor is having food carts clog up a potential parade route. My friend, the changes are a coming and you will be wowed."

Now that in turn left me depressed.

 

[morningstar]

Well, the hovering over and IMAX screen is being used elsewhere in EPCOT and that concept seems to have some popularity. :lookaroun

It's an interesting contrast. In Horizons it was just one part of a ride with many elements making up story arc. At Soarin' it's the whole thing. Most Epcot attractions have a story arc. The Land never really did. It's always had a few disconnected attractions. That's kind of appropriate for it, though. You are free to explore, rather than being led on a linear plot line.

 

[harlock2977]

Shameless plug since it feels right...

http://www.as kkymartinsvids.net/?p=35

No need to be humble Martin, your videos are a great resource. I always love watching them, especially as someone who grew up at WDW in the 70's and 80's...great stuff!!

 

[WDWoptmist]

I gotta say, before I found this board I had NO idea that anyone other than me remembered/missed Horizons.

When I found out Horizons was gone, my initial thought was "Well Horizons must have gone away because it was too hard to maintain." I mean our "vision" of what the future might look like changes every few years as new technologies come into being, right? The ride would, in theory, have to go under major refurb every few years to keep up. This got me thinking of an idea to bring Horizons back, but keep it timeless.

"Horizons: History of the Future" would celebrate the imaginative spirit and drive the keeps humanity dreaming about tomorrow, and how the vision of what that future would look like has changed. The ride scenes would focus on what we THOUGHT the future would look like starting say, from the "Jules Vern-ian" future, to the silver-spacesuits and moonbases of the 1950s, the "Jetsons-esque" future we dreamed about in the 70s, and so on. In the "80s", it could feature familiar scenes from the original attraction. The LAST scene can depict a "current" vision of the future, based on modern technology forecasts. If Disney could get a major Tech company to sponsor it, there could be a post-show highlighting the tech being worked on today to make that future a reality.

I'm thinking by organizing the ride in this way, and celebrating the evolution of how we DREAM about the future rather than trying to focus on predicting the future itself, the ride would stay relevant a lot longer.

Thoughts?

If you haven't before check out the WDW Radio show by Lou Mongello and in one of the earlier episodes I'd say btw 10-20 they do an hour plus piece on Horizons it really is awesome to listen to