Was World of Motion more timeless than Spaceship Earth?

[celluloid]

It's surprising they never even experimented with putting guests somehow in the middle of the experience rather than just passively watching it explained to them.

What is weird about that is Test Track's redo almost seem to return to that issue. It has a thrill at the end, but the rest seems fairly passive. It also does the full tell rather than show don't tell.

You mentioned Imagination but I think Seas when it opened did that well because the conceit of you are in Sea Base Alpha exploring it and taking the Hydrolators etc.

Universe of Energy also took you back in time. It is somehwhat expected and passe' now, but at the time it was pretty creative to seem like you are in a theater and then going into the curtain back in time where the preshistoric world is all around you.

You are right though, by its nature EPCOT is what theme park industry creatives sometimes call the "Presentaitonal" park. Where it educates and inspires through mostly something presented. As mentioned, Wonders of Life seem to take that to making it more of a personal adventure and the change to Ellen's Energy Adventure seemed to bring that more to happening to you rather than just around you. Of course, that is going into more of the 90s and I see you meant orignal EPCOT. I wonder if it was the taste of the time mixed with the sponsorship.

Clearly Disney could do both as while not amazing, Adventure Thru Innerspace at Disneyland was certainly not a flop and was more of a happening to you, especially for its time while presenting info.

 

[Heppenheimer]

World of Motion had one classic Disney feature that all the other original Epcot attractions lacked, besides maybe Journey Into Imagination- good-natured humor. I can't remember any specifics, but it just had a more fun vibe than any of the other omnimovers (and boat rides) in the park at the time. And it was narrated by Mr. Deadpan himself, Gary Owens.

The perfect Epcot ride, in my opinion, would combine the goofiness of World of Motion (while maintaining its history of transportation theme) with the kinetic energy of Test Track.

 

[Robbiem]

World of Motion had a more characterized approach filled with ironic humor.. If one understood the narration dry humor with the dramatic irony of the visuals, one could argue that the attraction was more timeless. Especially if the future of motion portion and finale could have been updated to be more inspiring rather than literal with continued humor.

Does anyone know if WED purposefully designed the future world attractions this way to make the rides updatable?- a history segment which then moves through the current view of the future is the basic set up for SSE, WoM, Horizons and to a lesser extent UoE and the living seas.

Personally I liked WoM its humorous tone was to teenage me funny and a break from the more serious tones of spaceship earth and universe of energy. Its a shame that test track couldn’t have been built in addition as the two rides would have complemented each other INHO

 

[celluloid]

Another feature I have not seen anyone mention was the amazing kinetic energy. It was one of the first theme park rides I remember riding because of that reason. Going in and out of the building was fun to watch and neat to climb up.

Also, the omnicars on World of Motion were unique in that they stayed level even on an incline. A neat feature that you still don't see anymore now.

 

[Jason McBrien]

I only went as a kid, and have only vague memories of the ride itself. I remember being very interested in the displays in the walk-through at the end of concept cars and test equipment.

Watching Youtube videos of the original ride, I think it would have aged about as well as Spaceship Earth. It probably would have gone through a few revamps if kept original, I'm sure.

I don't mind it being replaced with Test Track. I kind of liked Test Track 1 more than Test Track 2, as it more accurately showed what testing is actually done. Test Track 2 is pretty cool looking, though.

The one thing I would have kept from World of Motion is the bird and robot show. I remember *really* liking it as a kid. It seems like a relatively easy thing to keep operating - an industrial robot arm rated for tens of thousands of hours of maintenance-free operation, and one of the animatronic birds from the Enchanted Tiki Room. I would have thought they would have, at least, thrown it in Innoventions or something.

 

[Clamman73]

Would love to see SSE at night now from it at the beginning part when it slowly spiraled up in the outside part.

 

[AdventureHasAName]

They were all timeless. They were literally "History of Topic X" museums. History of Travel. History of Communication. History of Agriculture. History of the Oceans. History of Energy. They were built as elaborate attractions that could never be outdated (history isn't going to change) with post-show exhibitions that would be very inexpensive to change to show the present and future of these topics. The problem was that nobody in the post-Wells era cared how the place was designed and nobody at Disney was willing to spend the miniscule amount necessary to keep the post-shows fresh.

 

[celluloid]

The one thing I would have kept from World of Motion is the bird and robot show. I remember *really* liking it as a kid. It seems like a relatively easy thing to keep operating - an industrial robot arm rated for tens of thousands of hours of maintenance-free operation, and one of the animatronic birds from the Enchanted Tiki Room. I would have thought they would have, at least, thrown it in Innoventions or something.

You also had the water engine show which of course now would not be as impressive but it was original animated media and presented in an almost Cranium Command way. The robot and bird show was definitely ahead of its time and could do even more now with the robotic arm picking more things up and moving things.

 

[doctornick]

WoM was great. I would argue that the humor actually helped keep it somewhat distinct from the other FW rides. Outside of Imagination - which really was the one ride that was absolutely timeless of classic FW - it is the ride I miss the most. I've always felt that part of the reason it doesn't get lamented as much here for the loss is that Test Track is generally considered at least a decent attraction.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

What is weird about that is Test Track's redo almost seem to return to that issue. It has a thrill at the end, but the rest seems fairly passive. It also does the full tell rather than show don't tell.

Interesting point! While I don't mind the Test Track redo, I must be honest in saying that I don't know quite what the point is other than making it look better. The whole design your own car and test it sounds cool, but the execution isn't quite there.

You are right though, by its nature EPCOT is what theme park industry creatives sometimes call the "Presentaitonal" park. Where it educates and inspires through mostly something presented. As mentioned, Wonders of Life seem to take that to making it more of a personal adventure and the change to Ellen's Energy Adventure seemed to bring that more to happening to you rather than just around you. Of course, that is going into more of the 90s and I see you meant orignal EPCOT. I wonder if it was the taste of the time mixed with the sponsorship.

Clearly Disney could do both as while not amazing, Adventure Thru Innerspace at Disneyland was certainly not a flop and was more of a happening to you, especially for its time while presenting info.

Yes, they did try and address this issue with the post-Eisner pavilions. I was actually also thinking of Adventure Thru Innnerspace as an example of the kind of approach they had used before and could have experimented with some more at EPCOT. Like you, I'm not sure quite what the explanation is for them going exclusively with that presentational approach for the rides. Perhaps it had something to do with tastes at the time, but then attractions like Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain had been big successes for them in the years immediately leading up to the park's opening so it's surprising they didn't even try to marry education and thrill somewhere in the park.

 

[UNCgolf]

Yes, they did try and address this issue with the post-Eisner pavilions.

Do you mean Eisner era? All of those changes were during his time as CEO.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Do you mean Eisner era? All of those changes were during his time as CEO.

Sorry, yes, I mean post-Eisner becoming CEO!

 

[Animaniac93-98]

WoM was great. I would argue that the humor actually helped keep it somewhat distinct from the other FW rides. Outside of Imagination - which really was the one ride that was absolutely timeless of classic FW - it is the ride I miss the most. I've always felt that part of the reason it doesn't get lamented as much here for the loss is that Test Track is generally considered at least a decent attraction.

Compared to Journey into Your Imagination, Food Rocks, Mission: Space, etc Test Track is great, lol.

 

[ChrisFL]

While I love the Gary Owens narration and script, plus the song...WOM did suffer from being too much like the other slow-moving dark rides.

As others said, when I was a kid, I was into those attractions, BUT it's also easy to understand why people who aren't as involved might get to their 4th one and think "another slow moving dark ride teaching me something???"

 

[OG Runner]

I do not believed World of Motion was more or less timely than Spaceship Earth. Spaceship Earth is geared toward the evolution
of communication and World of Motion was geared toward the evolution of transportation. They easily could have coexisted, but
in the same way they were very similar rides, so I can see going in a different direction with Test Track.

 

[celluloid]

While I love the Gary Owens narration and script, plus the song...WOM did suffer from being too much like the other slow-moving dark rides.

As others said, when I was a kid, I was into those attractions, BUT it's also easy to understand why people who aren't as involved might get to their 4th one and think "another slow moving dark ride teaching me something???"

Now it is(probably) three kind-of thrilling rides in that corner teaching you very little! ;-p

 

[tl77]

World of Motion and Spaceship Earth were very similar rides, both were history lessons starting in prehistoric times going into the future... I could see how the average person might be bored or disappointed by both of them in the same park.

Personally I loved World of Motion for it's humor, back when it opened the Disney Company didn't talk much about the people who built the rides, but if you were a fan of Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion you could tell that "the same people who did those rides must have done World of Motion too". There was a similar sensibility between all three that I equated with Disney's Parks, World of Motion felt more "Disney" to me than Spaceship Earth.

Both are/were great, but Spaceship Earth gets changed every time it gets a new sponsor, which kind of implies it's not so timeless... While there was only ever one version of World of Motion. The Speed Tunnels at the end always seemed like "place holders" where future scenes "could have" been added, which made it the only Future World attraction that left room for "future expansion"... and in terms of "entertainment value" if you think Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion are "still funny" I don't see why you wouldn't get the jokes in World of Motion

I miss World of Motion, but I think the current version of Test Track is a worthy addition and probably more fitting the theme of Future World... the only problem is they don't call it Future World anymore so they can fill Epcot with stupid movie tie-ins that don't seem relevant or timeless or "Disney" to me

 

[FiestaFunKid]

Spaceship Earth is a good ride, but also protected by the fact it's inside the park icon. I went every year in the 80s and always enjoyed WoM a bit better b/c of the humor and music/'it's fun to be free' - but I can see opinions vary there. I also liked sitting in the new and concept cars in the post show.

Epcot badly needed Test Track, which has to be considered a successful addition given the enduring popularity. However, it's a shame WoM could not have been kept as well. As many have stated, it could have been a classic like Pirates, Spaceship Earth, Carousel, given some updates to the final scenes. With the ease of screens the days, it seems doubtful Disney will ever build rides with such a large number of animatronics and intricately detailed sets - which would have made it even more of a classic.

 

[ppete1975]

My comment had nothing to do with thrills. But everything to do with content, form, and delivery. WoM was grand in scale as a sum - but lacked the awe or real memorable feats - especially compared to it's contemporaries like SSE and Horizons. Between Horizons, SSE, and Imagination which all are on the same level as far as 'thrills' goes and are all fundamentally slow wandering AA heavy dark rides... WoM was still the least favorable of those FW attractions.

WoM was a poster child of common techniques WED used of the era... lots of projection for setups/transitions... focused field of view to physical sets with limited movement AAs on loops that you passively observe. It's stand out was the SIZE of the whole thing.. it was long.. it had large complex sets and had a ton of show scenes. But it also was largely was the same experience you found everywhere else in FW... but not as enjoyable. Communicore had better interactive exhibits... Imagination had better songs and heart... SSE and WoM basically had the same format just comms vs transportation... SSE and Horizons had basically the same kinds of sets but also had other gimmicks in the show experience.

WoM was a bunch of 'its the same, but not as much fun'. I think it's the epitome of the complaints about the dull edutainment of the original EPCOT.

Now fans fawn over the lost time of huge sets with large numbers of AA... but while it used those admired techniques, it just wasn't all that compelling itself.

I think alot of that is based on your personal opinion (no disrespect, we all have our favs or least favs). For me the two rides I couldnt get enough of was wom and imagination (1983). Followed by spaceship earth the land and the dinosaur scene and how your seat became transportation in the energy building. I am sure I am not the only one that loved WOM and think with updates it would be fine today.. and we would have been better off with a cars land in the studios.

The basic build up to current times is still funny, cute and well imagined. They could easily have changed the end to reflect what the current goals might be. However, it was the sponsor, General Motors, that wanted it changed completely so it is gone no matter how good it might have been.

but as @Goofyernmost eloquently put it, the sponsor wanted it to change, luckily it ended better for us than when kodak pulled that move.

 

[THEMEPARKPIONEER]

I think Journey Into Imagination was the most timeless attraction at EPCOT. World of Motion was great but it's depiction of certain cultures wouldn't fly with the very sensitive white twitter crowd.

Some TLC and upgrades, they screwed up. They could have kept the original ride easily on the new shortened track even tho the finally would be horribly compromised. I looked at it, they could literally have modified the old ride to fit the new system especially since the ride stops some scenes wouldn’t need to be as large or lengthy. The beginning with dream finder easily could have been just one stage left behind for the first stop which is now all screen. The one part that would suffer the most would be the ending. Or they could have simply done what they do best and eliminate or change some scenes so the ride fit the track.