Remember: World of Motion

[crowdcontroltap]

Hey ya'll!
Well this time I've chosen to turn back the clock to when the World of Motion was an attraction that was state of the art.

I loved this attraction when I was a kid. I remember walking through the doors of this massive building and hearing the music inside, "It's Fun To Be Free" and also hearing the sound effects of various forms of transportation (dad and I would pretend to be these vehicles and have fun). You would get in a blue cab for the ride and go up an incline that went a little be outside the building so you could see part of EPCOT (Spaceship Earth; Horizons; the Universe of Energy; and Communicore).

The first scene you see is footprints going from side to side and over you and then you see a caveman blowing on his foot that is red hot from all that walking! You also see the mans wife and child. From the foot power that we still use today, the next scene feature animal forms of transportation where you see a dessert and a gate and many people trying to pass through this gate but first they have to pay a toll. In line is a people riding various animals including: an elephant; a camel; an ostrich (who is trying to get some food from a basket its rider is carrying); to a zebra who does not want to get up (his rider is really putting his back into getting him up); and an overladen donkey who's owner is paying the toll gate guard. But what's that object hovering above them? Its a different form of "transportation"...a flying carpet!

The next scene shows a pharoh giggling and watching as a man demonstrates a wooden wheel that he has invented! Thus the wheel is born!

I will have the next several scenes over the next few days, just hang on! And remember, keep you arms and hands inside the car at all time . Take care.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

It was indeed,a great attrction.

I miss it.

*aaaahhhhhh*EPCOT Center was fun.

 

[tdonald]

Never got to see it. It closed in '96, and my first trip was in '97.

 

[crowdcontroltap]

From the the invention of the wheel, you would next see an ancient sailing ship on the high seas with a sailor in the crows nest looking eye to eye with a sea monster! (this was a very funny scene) From sailing the high seas on ships the next scene would be of an impatient "Mona Lisa" she is taping her foot waiting on Leonardo Da Vinci to finish painting her but he is more interested in a contraption he had draw and made that's supposed to fly (there is an animatronic demonstrating how the wings would flap by flapping your arms that the craft is attached to and another animatronic is holding on to a rope that is keeping the man up in the air).

From the high seas and first ideas of flight we go on to the days of hot air balloons where you will see a man in a balloon and another man grabbing hold of the basket. Apparently this man is trying to escape his wife who is looking out of the window madly.

The next scene shows one of the largest displays (I think) to be indoors....a huge steam train is shown with the train engineers being held up by a gang of robbers in the Old West! One robber sits on top of a rock with guy pointed at the engineers and riders while another man has a conductor at gun point telling him to lower the safe slowly. I always enjoyed this scene since Im a fan of the Wild West.

More to come.

 

[Disneybird]

World of Motion was one of my favorite WDW attractions. I was shocked when it closed after such a short life. I still miss it. Liked it much better than TT.

Thanks for the memories.

 

[crowdcontroltap]

Thanks Disneybird and your welcome.

Well to continue the ride...from steam powered trains the next scene (if I'm correct showed some covered wagons and stagecoach that were being attacked by Indians!! The women were loading guns and shooting them while one guy was hit and on the ground another one was inside the coach looking out when an arrow pins his hat to the stagecoach!

The next scene is a a riverboat scene...with a couple of guys playing a banjo and harmonica with a dog howling along...another guy is on the dock trying to pull a lazy mule up off its rear! This was a large set too...you could look up at the riverboats steam stacks. There were shadows of people on the riverboat dancing and having a good time while a boy fishes from the dock with a cat swinging its tail near by.

Moving from steam powered on the river we go to steam power on the roads with a steam powered carriage but it seems all is not happy with this new mode of transportation esp. not the bull that has his horns in the back of it pushing it! The bulls nose would turn red and steam would come out while inside the carriage a father and son would look out in amazement and the driver on top tries to scare the bull away with a trumpet of sorts and he is blowing!

More to come...this was a great ride!

 

[marni1971]

During the steam train hold up the conductor with the gun held at him was being told to `hold it steady`, not to lower the safe. The bandit was trying to shoot the lock off (and kept missing in a great little burst of flash animation)

And don`t forget the bull holding back the steam powered carriage had escaped from the nearby field atop the hill, crashing through the fence on the way.

I remember this - and the other classics - like the back of my hand. Sigh. Sadly the WOM was the first of the original main attractions to close (not counting SSE Perrin)

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

Thank goodness for your tribute Martin.:wave:

I LOVED WoM.

 

[crowdcontroltap]

O.k. so from steam carriages we move towards the automobile and another huge set...this one was of a city back when Model T's were being driven. You would see a man working on his Model T and trying to get it to crank while a man and horse look on from a nearby stable with shock and surprise on their face at the new automobile. Then you go down main street of the town and boy has there been a big accident with produce all over the place! There are vehicles all over and going no where just blowing their horns. A double-decker bus is right across from you; while to the left there is another Model T with a woman who is yelling because she wants the traffic cleared (her driver is covering his ears); in the middle is a farmer who is trying to get control of his horse since he was spooked by a vehicle (he was carrying the wagon that turned over all that produce) also in the middle is a man coming up out of a man hole with lettuce on his head and a look of shock; to the right is a police officer with his hands over his face in disbelief while an ice truck sits waiting while two young boys are chipping away at the ice to cool down. If anybody else remembers something else about this scene that I may have forgot then please do let me know...it has been a while since I have rode this ride ya know.

Going from the traffic jam in the city we now head to the countryside where we find a man kind of up in a tree, he was riding his bicycle when a dog came up chasing him; there is also another man who has drove his bike into a pig sty and has mud all over him and he is not very happy with the pigs either (a woman stands on top of the hill on her bike, laughing).

From bicycles we continue along and see a couple in a meadow with the man entertaining the woman but they dont know that there are two squirrels stealing and eating their food from a picnic basket!!

Before moving into the next scene/set you pass a billboard and behind it with his engine reved up is a motorcycle cop just waiting to catch a speeder!

The end of this ride is coming up next so stay tuned!

 

[crowdcontroltap]

Ok, now the finale.

From two wheeled and four wheel power we move on to flight! Is this scene you see a barnstormer that has landed his plane in a field of crops and he is having his picture taken with a female admirer in front of the plane while parked to the right of the plane is a car with a family in it that has come out to see this event while one of the little boys has a toy plane with the wind spinning the propeller.

The next scene shows various cars from the 1950's in a showroom type setting except there are animatronics in them of a newly married couple; a family going on a trip to Disney World; and a college fraternity going to a game.

Before going into the last scene you see your ride car in the mirror and it changes into a futuristic car and you can see yourself in this car of the future!

The last scene was one of my favorite scenes of any ride because I like the possibilities of the future and this scene showed a future city...it was awesome! The scene was set at night and all the tall towers would light up blue and you could see cars flying around in the air or hovering around. I wished Disney World would have moved this city scene when they had closed this ride to somewhere like Innoventions.

At the end of the ride there were various displays of cars, trains, and planes of the future along with the "Bird and Robot Show" that was very funny. GM had cars on display that you could look at and sit in to see if you would like to own one of their vehicles.

Well thats all from the memories of the World of Motion. Hope you enjoyed it and if I left anything out I am sorry...its just been a while since it was still open. Take care all!