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Horizons
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The Empress Lilly
Well-Known Member
There is a lot of false nostalgia. A feeling that lost things were better than they actually were.
Horizons is not one of those.
It was every bit as good as people say it was. Horizons was the follow up to Pirates and Mansion, a massive Disney ride through fully realised 3d sets. But as long and as large as Pirates and mansion combined!
Horizons was also the precursor to Soarin'? Imagine Soarin', but now add being halfway up that Imax screen as in Soarin', but....in a suspended car, hanging like Peter Pan, and...not one Omnimax screen, but two!
But it is not the technological wonders of Horizons that did it. The real marvel was that the ride had heart and soul. It was about a family coming together, about progress as an exciting prospect. EPCOT was not boring and educational, but exciting and inspirational. The most daring, most exciting theme park ever build. Horizons was the jewel in the crown.
Horizons is not one of those.
It was every bit as good as people say it was. Horizons was the follow up to Pirates and Mansion, a massive Disney ride through fully realised 3d sets. But as long and as large as Pirates and mansion combined!
Horizons was also the precursor to Soarin'? Imagine Soarin', but now add being halfway up that Imax screen as in Soarin', but....in a suspended car, hanging like Peter Pan, and...not one Omnimax screen, but two!
But it is not the technological wonders of Horizons that did it. The real marvel was that the ride had heart and soul. It was about a family coming together, about progress as an exciting prospect. EPCOT was not boring and educational, but exciting and inspirational. The most daring, most exciting theme park ever build. Horizons was the jewel in the crown.
HouCuseChickie
Well-Known Member
I rode Horizons for the first time in 1985. I recall that we came back to ride it a 2nd time towards the end of the day, after Spaceship Earth (which we felt to be a let down on that first trip). It just had this vibe...from the music, the makeup, etc...that just felt like you expected Epcot and the future to feel. The choose your own ending was also unique to us- we'd never been able to control a ride outcome. And no matter what- the ride was optimisic, it made you want more than the current norm in technology and life...it was happy without being cheesy. It's funny, while you'd ride Imagination and grasp that Figment was the Epcot mascot...everything with Horizons was like the corresponding motto and frame of mind for the park. I probably rode it about 15x between this initial trip in '83 and '97. I was pretty sad when I learned it was demolished.
The Empress Lilly
Well-Known Member
Videos don't convey a 3d environment well, especially old, grainy videos.
Here's Horizons' ride system, to give an impression of what the ride actually felt like. Unlike normal omnimovers, you are not riding along a path on the bottom. You are supended in mid-air. You watch sets from above, from midway, from below. You go up and down. Constantly changing.
You are also going sideways, facing forward.
The effect feels a bit like the Ballroom scene in Mansion, where you are also facing sideways, situated midway and above the action.
Here's Horizons' ride system, to give an impression of what the ride actually felt like. Unlike normal omnimovers, you are not riding along a path on the bottom. You are supended in mid-air. You watch sets from above, from midway, from below. You go up and down. Constantly changing.
You are also going sideways, facing forward.
The effect feels a bit like the Ballroom scene in Mansion, where you are also facing sideways, situated midway and above the action.
flipadeeflop
Active Member
Thank you for all the info!!!! But now I want to ride it!!!!!!!!!
rct247
Well-Known Member
^Exactly what I would have said. It had many similarities to other Disney classics like Spaceship Earth and Carousel of Progress. One of my favorite aspects about it was the music. The score for the ride was so beautiful. I listen to it often on my iPod. Not only did it have some educational and historical aspect to it, it also made me really excited for the future, but put it into context of the average family. Plus, Carousel of Progress is one of my favorite attraction and Horizons was the sequel to that attraction.
It was a wonderful work of art that had the amazing ability to eat up guests with its high Hourly Guest Carry Target. In my opinion, it is a perfect example of the perfect Disney attraction in terms of story, education, technology, message, creativity, effects, score, location, and operational need/efficiency.
flynnibus
Premium Member
Yes, the balance of all those factors is what makes the attraction stand out as a model Disney attraction. Alas, the subject matter isn't timeless so it couldn't stand stagnant for decades like other attractions.
flynnibus
Premium Member
A Future World aspect many people forget... the entire show building is there to be seen and yet doesn't just look like a big warehouse!
Chrononymous
Well-Known Member
It's weird, but the first time I rode Horizons, I didn't really recall much. It kind of blended together in my mind with SSE and WOM.
To be fair, it was the first Disney park I ever went to, and everything was a bit overwhelming.
It wasn't until later, when I got to ride again that I appreciated the uniqueness and unparalleled Optimism of it.
To be fair, it was the first Disney park I ever went to, and everything was a bit overwhelming.
It wasn't until later, when I got to ride again that I appreciated the uniqueness and unparalleled Optimism of it.
Clever Name
Well-Known Member
I think most people felt that way about Horizons. It was SSE, WoM and CoP all rolled into one boring show. Guests got tired of it very quickly.
A few points....Oh boy did you pick a thread topic that will create a lot of conversation. Be nice everyone! LOL!
I am one of those people who absolutely loved Horizons but I don't want it back necessarily. I think doing away with it was a bad decision and that it should've been refurbished to be brought a little more current. It was a gigantic attraction with not only a ton of AAs but a unique feature where guests could chose their own ending. When Disney announced it'd be closing and that the building was going to be demolished, it sparked a lot of debate. See, Disney said the reason they had to tear down the building itself was because the new attraction they had planned was so huge it needed more space. Most folks who remember the Horizons pavilion however know that something wasn't adding up there because the building took up way more land than MS does today and was at least 3 times as tall. Rumor has it the building was sinking because of a problem with the land (former swampy marsh) and that was the real reason it had to go.
When it first opened it was an incredible journey through the future following a single family. The concept was "if we can dream it, we can do it," something many fans know as Walt's sort of "motto." It focused on ways to best use technology to create a more sustainable world as well as new living environments like space and the oceans. It had it's own sort of Omnimover system that was pretty unique using a track above as well as two huge Imax theaters that the vehicles would travel through.
The answer to "what made it so special" is kind of a tough one. Everyone who knew and loved the attraction has a wide range of reasons they loved it. For me, there was just something about it that I can't quite put my finger on. For many folks the passion is really more a result of the "odd" reasons it closed completely to begin with and in some cases, the fact that it's replacement didn't quite live up to the hipe it was given at the time. I personally really enjoyed MS the first and second time I did it but since then have no interest in getting on it again. For me, this differs a lot from how I felt about Horizons in the fact that I vividly remember begging my families to do it over and over again.
I have a little write up and a whole bunch of photos of it on my site here if you want to see a little more.
1: I have it on good authority that the building was not sinking (Martin). There might have been a few issues here and there but sinking was not one of them.
2: When it comes to size I have seen many people do an overlay of the current M:S building and the old Horizons and point out that Horizons was around the same size or bigger.
What people tend to forget is that the Horizons building had a 18' long cantilever around the entire perimeter. The actual square footage of flat floor in Horizons was a good deal less than the current M:S building.
3: I think part of the reason that the building got the wrecking ball was due to all of the problems that they had with TT. Sometimes it is just better to start with a blank canvas.
jmorri26
Well-Known Member
I'm almost 28 and remember Horizons vividly.
For me, if you asked what made it special (especially for a kid at the time) it was:
a) it smelled like oranges. Not kind of faint like Soarin does. It was so strong and fresh and amazing smelling and everyone who rode it before would anticipate moving over the orange grove farm and smelling it.
b) choosing your own special scene. For someone who never rode it, it didn't seem like a big deal but at the time (heck, still nowadays) to get all of a sudden a chance to make a choice in a ride was unique and exciting. You only had a few seconds to click what you wanted too so it was a "Quick, pick one!" thing and whoever was in the car with you all got to hurriedly debate it.
The ride system, building, etc was all kind of forgettable to me. It was the same basic animatronics and attention to detail from scene to scene like, as others said, POTC or SE, etc. Nothing special, but it had powerful music (those creepy kids singing "If you can dream it, then we can do it, yes we can yes we caaaan!" and, at the time, this cool look into what our lives could be like. It felt like scenes showing stuff that could really happen in our lifetime. Video phones was the biggie I recall. It was unique. And unfortunately it seemed to me it closed the same reason World of Motion and The Living Seas and the original Journey into Imagination closed (and that I'm amazed UoE is still open): EPCOT is showing its age. I love EPCOT. Always have, but most kids who went in the 90's were bored by it. It wasn't the rides and excitement of MK. These rides were replaced in favor of the Mission Spaces and Test Tracks of today. Thrills sell. When I first went with my now husband he rolled his eyes at EPCOT saying he hated the park cause its so boring. I couldn't understand that, but its a sentiment that was and is felt by many unfortunately.
For me, if you asked what made it special (especially for a kid at the time) it was:
a) it smelled like oranges. Not kind of faint like Soarin does. It was so strong and fresh and amazing smelling and everyone who rode it before would anticipate moving over the orange grove farm and smelling it.
b) choosing your own special scene. For someone who never rode it, it didn't seem like a big deal but at the time (heck, still nowadays) to get all of a sudden a chance to make a choice in a ride was unique and exciting. You only had a few seconds to click what you wanted too so it was a "Quick, pick one!" thing and whoever was in the car with you all got to hurriedly debate it.
The ride system, building, etc was all kind of forgettable to me. It was the same basic animatronics and attention to detail from scene to scene like, as others said, POTC or SE, etc. Nothing special, but it had powerful music (those creepy kids singing "If you can dream it, then we can do it, yes we can yes we caaaan!" and, at the time, this cool look into what our lives could be like. It felt like scenes showing stuff that could really happen in our lifetime. Video phones was the biggie I recall. It was unique. And unfortunately it seemed to me it closed the same reason World of Motion and The Living Seas and the original Journey into Imagination closed (and that I'm amazed UoE is still open): EPCOT is showing its age. I love EPCOT. Always have, but most kids who went in the 90's were bored by it. It wasn't the rides and excitement of MK. These rides were replaced in favor of the Mission Spaces and Test Tracks of today. Thrills sell. When I first went with my now husband he rolled his eyes at EPCOT saying he hated the park cause its so boring. I couldn't understand that, but its a sentiment that was and is felt by many unfortunately.
ChrisFL
Premium Member
I am one of the BIGGEST Horizons fans ever. I still tear up sometimes when listening to the music and remembering its demise. I can only take solace in the fact that we have lots of memories, excellent videos like Martin's tribute and a new 3D Horizons Resurrected Project.
Now let me just state why I think it was Epcot's (and possibly all of WDW's) best attraction.
Epcot opened with the vision of showcasing the future, but if you took each attraction individually...Universe of Energy was mostly the past, Spaceship Earth was mostly the past, present and some future, World of Motion had one future scene, but it was very abstract, Journey into Imagination really was its own world, The Land showed future farming, but not much else, The Living Seas had a few cool tricks, but still wasn't quite there.
Horizons, therefore, WAS the future. Not only that, unlike what we think of Disney these days, with their retro-future "tomorrowland" and Innoventions (communicore also) only showing near future stuff, Horizons was a BOLD attraction.
From the moment you walked in, it hit you with the keynote phrase of the attraction (and a paraphrasing of an actual Walt Disney quote) "If we can dream it, we can do it".
The rest of the attraction, you can see in the videos posted here, did take a look at the past, but it was showing the future, through the lens of the past...and not all of it was that far off. The real futuristic scenery was important because, above all else, it was REALISTIC.
When Epcot's opening TV special was taking place, Danny Kaye had interviewed Eric Sevareid, a well-known journalist said "I think Walt knew that fantasy and reality were merging together".
I was born in 1978, I was 5 years old when Horizons opened. People of the generation before me, the ones who went on to become space shuttle astronauts and inventors of things like the flip cell phone were inspired by science-fiction like Star Trek. If they grew up before that, they might recall a few made for TV films which represented what a journey to the moon might look like. This helped to convince Americans that John F. Kennedy's plan to send a man to the moon was the right one.
Consider also, how much new technology was pioneered by Walt Disney....during his time, his works WERE the future...the monorail, the peoplemover, the audio-animatronic, etc. He dreamed big and his imagineers helped to achieve those big dreams for the world.
Horizons was not by itself a revolutionary ride system, but its more about what it represented. It was probably the LAST attraction to come out of WDI that DID dream big. It took itself seriously, it presented the future as an achievable vision. Horizons epitomized that idea that fantasy and reality were merging together.
Since then, Disney has bunted when they should have swung for the next galaxy.
Now let me just state why I think it was Epcot's (and possibly all of WDW's) best attraction.
Epcot opened with the vision of showcasing the future, but if you took each attraction individually...Universe of Energy was mostly the past, Spaceship Earth was mostly the past, present and some future, World of Motion had one future scene, but it was very abstract, Journey into Imagination really was its own world, The Land showed future farming, but not much else, The Living Seas had a few cool tricks, but still wasn't quite there.
Horizons, therefore, WAS the future. Not only that, unlike what we think of Disney these days, with their retro-future "tomorrowland" and Innoventions (communicore also) only showing near future stuff, Horizons was a BOLD attraction.
From the moment you walked in, it hit you with the keynote phrase of the attraction (and a paraphrasing of an actual Walt Disney quote) "If we can dream it, we can do it".
The rest of the attraction, you can see in the videos posted here, did take a look at the past, but it was showing the future, through the lens of the past...and not all of it was that far off. The real futuristic scenery was important because, above all else, it was REALISTIC.
When Epcot's opening TV special was taking place, Danny Kaye had interviewed Eric Sevareid, a well-known journalist said "I think Walt knew that fantasy and reality were merging together".
I was born in 1978, I was 5 years old when Horizons opened. People of the generation before me, the ones who went on to become space shuttle astronauts and inventors of things like the flip cell phone were inspired by science-fiction like Star Trek. If they grew up before that, they might recall a few made for TV films which represented what a journey to the moon might look like. This helped to convince Americans that John F. Kennedy's plan to send a man to the moon was the right one.
Consider also, how much new technology was pioneered by Walt Disney....during his time, his works WERE the future...the monorail, the peoplemover, the audio-animatronic, etc. He dreamed big and his imagineers helped to achieve those big dreams for the world.
Horizons was not by itself a revolutionary ride system, but its more about what it represented. It was probably the LAST attraction to come out of WDI that DID dream big. It took itself seriously, it presented the future as an achievable vision. Horizons epitomized that idea that fantasy and reality were merging together.
Since then, Disney has bunted when they should have swung for the next galaxy.
montyz81
Well-Known Member
Can someone check that fact. That building was pretty massive. 18' doesn't seem like all that much even if all the way around. That said, the actually ride and show real estate was far greater in Horizons then in M:S, so the footprint comparison in your picture is probably pretty accurate.
ExtinctJenn
Well-Known Member
Hey Richard... thanks for the post. I actually have read an obscene amount about each side of the coin as to whether or not it was sinking and seen that overlay a few times. I even link to Martin's video on my page. I think the key for me was a photo I saw (that of course I can't find for the life of me now) after the building was torn down and they were laying the foundation for MS. In a corner of the shot you could see very well that there was a section of the land they had dug out and were putting huge pieces of steel into. The assumption of course was that it was to support the new building where the support had failed before. The way I word it on my site is that the sinking was a rumored reason and I do that because let's be honest, unless one of the folks responsible for teh decision to tear it down posts here, we will never really know either way. Personally, I tend to hang onto that rumor because it's the only thing that settles my mind as to why the attraction had to go. 
I think the key for me was a photo I saw (that of course I can't find for the life of me now) after the building was torn down and they were laying the foundation for MS. In a corner of the shot you could see very well that there was a section of the land they had dug out and were putting huge pieces of steel into. The assumption of course was that it was to support the new building where the support had failed before. The way I word it on my site is that the sinking was a rumored reason and I do that because let's be honest, unless one of the folks responsible for teh decision to tear it down posts here, we will never really know either way. Personally, I tend to hang onto that rumor because it's the only thing that settles my mind as to why the attraction had to go. 
sgtmgd
Well-Known Member
Oh boy did you pick a thread topic that will create a lot of conversation. Be nice everyone! LOL!
I am one of those people who absolutely loved Horizons but I don't want it back necessarily. I think doing away with it was a bad decision and that it should've been refurbished to be brought a little more current. It was a gigantic attraction with not only a ton of AAs but a unique feature where guests could chose their own ending. When Disney announced it'd be closing and that the building was going to be demolished, it sparked a lot of debate. See, Disney said the reason they had to tear down the building itself was because the new attraction they had planned was so huge it needed more space. Most folks who remember the Horizons pavilion however know that something wasn't adding up there because the building took up way more land than MS does today and was at least 3 times as tall. Rumor has it the building was sinking because of a problem with the land (former swampy marsh) and that was the real reason it had to go.
When it first opened it was an incredible journey through the future following a single family. The concept was "if we can dream it, we can do it," something many fans know as Walt's sort of "motto." It focused on ways to best use technology to create a more sustainable world as well as new living environments like space and the oceans. It had it's own sort of Omnimover system that was pretty unique using a track above as well as two huge Imax theaters that the vehicles would travel through.
The answer to "what made it so special" is kind of a tough one. Everyone who knew and loved the attraction has a wide range of reasons they loved it. For me, there was just something about it that I can't quite put my finger on. For many folks the passion is really more a result of the "odd" reasons it closed completely to begin with and in some cases, the fact that it's replacement didn't quite live up to the hipe it was given at the time. I personally really enjoyed MS the first and second time I did it but since then have no interest in getting on it again. For me, this differs a lot from how I felt about Horizons in the fact that I vividly remember begging my families to do it over and over again.
I have a little write up and a whole bunch of photos of it on my site here if you want to see a little more.
Thats a great depiction..well done
Quite true. There is not question that the Horizons building was incredibly beautiful from an architectural standpoint. It would look a bit dated today, but that is true for pretty much any "out there" structure. However, all it takes is one support in the wrong place, or one ceiling at the wrong height to make a cool building a liability when you are installing a new attraction inside of it. The square footage might actually be similar between the two buildings but if how that square footage did not lay out in a manner that would fit what they have planned, the wrecking ball might have been the only choice. It is also my understanding that some of the problems that were had with TT were due to trying to shoehorn it into an existing structure. If that is correct, it is easy to see how they would elect to demolish Horizons the instant something would not quite fit.Hey Richard... thanks for the post. I actually have read an obscene amount about each side of the coin as to whether or not it was sinking and seen that overlay a few times. I even link to Martin's video on my page.
ExtinctJenn
Well-Known Member
Absolutely! Right there with you. I think one of the biggest reasons it's such a big mystery to me at least is the fact that tearing that gigantic thing down had to cost a pretty penny. I have seen so many of the demo photos and I always sit here thinking it was an intense undertaking to "knock it down."