Happy late 40th to EPCOT!
1996: Plans are made to revamp the dated Horizons into a space themed pavilion. The new pavilion would be known as Space: A Journey Into Imagined Realities.
Space: A Journey Into Imagined Realities would transform the front facade of the Horizons building into a pyramid with a giant armillary sphere in an entrance courtyard.
Within the reconfigured pavilion there were two attractions, a dark ride and what appears to be a flying theater presentation called “The Speculator”. The overall theme of the two attractions would be based on our curiosity for the unknown reaches of space and how we try to explore the cosmos through imagination and science.
The dark ride, reusing some of the Horizons infrastructure, would be divided into four acts:
Climbing aboard a 150 person vertical platform that tilts and sends guests in mid-air over a giant curved motion picture screen, the Speculator takes us on a six minute journey through inner-space, outer space, the possible future of space colonization, the possibilities of what life we might actually find in the universe, the possibility of bridging vast gaps in time and space through wormholes and exploring black holes, and in the final exploration, zoom out to try and see the whole canvas of the vastness of space. The stars begin to come together forming a great cosmic eye before we begin this 2001: A Space Odyssey-esque journey back through a rush of all this space imagery, imagining our connection to the cosmos and ultimately finding that the only thing more infinite then the universe is the human mind.
The plans are finalized and work is made to complete the project by a projected Summer 1999 opening.
1996: Plans are made to revamp the dated Horizons into a space themed pavilion. The new pavilion would be known as Space: A Journey Into Imagined Realities.
Space: A Journey Into Imagined Realities would transform the front facade of the Horizons building into a pyramid with a giant armillary sphere in an entrance courtyard.
Within the reconfigured pavilion there were two attractions, a dark ride and what appears to be a flying theater presentation called “The Speculator”. The overall theme of the two attractions would be based on our curiosity for the unknown reaches of space and how we try to explore the cosmos through imagination and science.
The dark ride, reusing some of the Horizons infrastructure, would be divided into four acts:
- “We Imagined” - Exploring the age of myth and how we imagined the cosmos, featuring sun-eating dragons, world turtles, the stories of the constellations, and Greek gods.
- “We Saw” - With the invention of the telescope, we begin getting a clearer picture of space, which in turn inspires us to imagine ways of getting there. Features the imagined space and technological adventures of Jules Verne, Albert Robida (both of who were in Horizons),HG Wells, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Fritz Lang, etc
- “We Went” - With the creation of the rocket we begin to explore space, going to the Moon and in turn, imagine visitors coming to us. Cue the age of alien invasion movies of the 1950s and 60s with storyboards showing The Day the Earth Stood Still, War of the Worlds, Fantastic Planet, and It Conquered the World.
- “We Reached” - The dark ride concludes on exploring the journey of Voyager and our new ways of exploring the cosmos through the cameras of the Hubble Space Telescope. It seems we’ve reached the peak of what our technology can do, but of course, that’s where imagination comes back into play with the pavilion’s second attraction, the Speculator.
Climbing aboard a 150 person vertical platform that tilts and sends guests in mid-air over a giant curved motion picture screen, the Speculator takes us on a six minute journey through inner-space, outer space, the possible future of space colonization, the possibilities of what life we might actually find in the universe, the possibility of bridging vast gaps in time and space through wormholes and exploring black holes, and in the final exploration, zoom out to try and see the whole canvas of the vastness of space. The stars begin to come together forming a great cosmic eye before we begin this 2001: A Space Odyssey-esque journey back through a rush of all this space imagery, imagining our connection to the cosmos and ultimately finding that the only thing more infinite then the universe is the human mind.
The plans are finalized and work is made to complete the project by a projected Summer 1999 opening.
