The gem-like structure that houses Horizons is dedicated to humanity’s future, with an accent on "human." It is a careful synthesis of all the wonders within EPCOT Center, and applies the various elements of communication, energy, transportation, creativity and technology to a better life for the family of the future. Visitors to Horizons first arrive in Futureport, a transportation terminal of the future. While waiting to board their vehicles, they can view three-dimensional scenes of a bustling futuristic city, a space colony, or a floating habitat in the Pacific. Soon, however, guests embark for the Horizons sound-and-light show, which begins with a series of scenes depicting ideas for the future from the past, including a Jules Verne spaceship, nineteenth-century French futurist Albert Robida's vision of the Paris of the 1950's, and living quarters of the future, as conceived by forward-looking thinkers of the 1930s and 1940s. After " Looking Back at Tomorrow, " guests are whisked into a series of present-day dreams come true by the "Omnisphere, " where they are surrounded by a thermal cityscape, a robot manufacturing plant, the architecture of a microchip, an exploration of undersea frontiers and others of today's technological wonders. Then it's on to the twenty-first century, with the accent on quality of life, Tomorrow's horizons include youthful old age, farms made fruitful in the desert, travel made energy-efficient through magnetic power, undersea resources harvested by robot power, and space colonies growing crystals for industry in the absence of gravity. For their return to the present, guests are given the option to choose one of three modes of transportation: a personal submarine, a desert hovercraft or a space flight. When their arrival back at Futureport is announced. Horizon's guests have a new view of tomorrow's tantalizing possibilities.
Horizons was developed under the working name Century 3. The name referred to the United States entering its third century of existence. A reference to the Century 3 name can still be found in the attraction written on the small yellow space shuttle in the beginning of the Brava Centauri section. The second working name was Futureprobe.
The Horizons pavilion covers three acres.
In the desert farm scene, a machine called a smellitzer fills the air with the scent of the fresh oranges.
177 miles of fiber optic strands were utilized in Horizons. That equals a total of 932,425 end points of light. 21,000 of those points are in the cloud wall at the beginning of the ride. Behind the sand-blasted acrylic clouds, the fiber optics were placed into hand-drilled holes. The majority of the fiber optics were in the transition walls before and after the OmniSphere Theater. Unfortunately, those haven't worked in years.
3,700 tons of steel went into the pavilion. That's MORE than the amount of steel in Spaceship Earth. The steel support columns are 78 feet high and 24 inches in diameter. The roof of the building is made of a 5-ply turncoated steel.
With biotechnology now a reality, Imagineers had the challenge of creating the plants which would be present in the future habitats. Alex Taylor was put in charge of dreaming up the new plants seen on the Mesa Verde balcony and in the desert farm. "Circuit Egg Ivy" grows in a kinked and twisted pattern resembling an electronic circuit. "Pepcumbers" are a cross between peppers and cucumbers. "Flavor Grapes" grow in clusters of different colors and flavors. "Pinanas" are a combination of pineapples and bananas and "loranges" are a lime/orange hybrid. In the desert farm scene, the theoretical fruits being grown are loranges, which smell like oranges and grow towards the outside of the trees to make it easier for the robots to harvest.
The highest point that the ride vehicles reach is in the Space sequence when they are about 65 feet off the ground.
Each ride vehicle weighs about 3,000 pounds.
Two examples of WDI-created futuristic technology are the "Aeolean Harp," which catches the wind to produce music, and the "Golden Glow," which uses bioluminescence like a firefly to produce a neon glow.
The scene with the rocket sticking into the side of the moon is based on a scene from French filmmaker Georges Méliès' "Le Voyage dans la lune" (1902).
OmniSphere Theater:
The projection systems for the OmniSphere presentation utilize large-format 70mm film. To further increase the quality of the images, the film is run horizontally to allow for an even larger frame size.
Theater walls are 3 feet thick.
First use of computer animation (DNA chain, space shuttle docking) in Omni format.
First use of computer animation of Earth (Landsat) in Omni format.
First Imax micro-photography of crystals and computer chips.
The film was created by Eddie Garrick.
First time two Omni screens were connected together. This combined screen is 240 feet wide and 80 feet high.
Music by George Wilkins
Synthesizer played by Michael Boddicker
Pipe Organ played by Richard Bolks
The man who plays the "beachboy" on the video screen and provides the voice for the Audio-Animatronic "beachboy" is Tom Fitzgerald, one of Imagineers on the Horizons design team (and now VP of Theme Park Productions). The character's name is, appropriately enough, Tom II.
Original plans called for announcements like "Will the owner of a blue and white Hovercraft, License number 204413, please return to your vehicle. You are in a no hover area." to play in the background along with the "New Horizons" song in the FuturePort. Also, the narration at the beginning of the ride originally was going to be from Mission Control and then the ride would meet up with the family.
The model built for the rotating Space Colony film (the one where the Wife says "Now there's the new frontier.") was constructed as an 8 foot sphere. 8,000 miniature lights were built into the model. A 19mm Kowa lens was used to film the interior of the model.
The "Choose Your Tomorrow Finale":
The model used in the filming of the desert finale scene was 32 feet wide and 82 feet long. 5,000 miniature trees were produced and placed on this model. It was the longest continuous sequence ever filmed with miniatures. The film was produced in an empty hangar at the Burbank airport.
The scale of the models for the three finales varied from 1 inch to 1 foot (1/12th scale) down to 1/100th scale.
Each film is 40 to 45 seconds long. The 35mm film was transferred to videodisc for rear projection on the GE Talaria PJ-5055 video projectors.
Each individual screen that moves along with each vehicle is 6 feet wide and 5 feet high. These move along in front of the real screen which is in an arc with a 34.5 foot radius. It is mostly composed of Lexan - a polycarbonate of clear plastic.
The underwater sequence was show "dry for wet." This means that smoke filled the set and created the illusion of moving through water.
The space sequence was filmed on Stage 3 at The Walt Disney Studios.
GE technology was used throughout the pavilion.
GE's Talaria® light-valve TV projectors are utilized for the finale movie sequence.
The ride vehicles are made of Lexan® polycarbonate.
The vehicles are powered by GE motors and drive systems.
GE control devices are located throughout the building.
There's GE lighting inside and out of the pavilion.
GE's Gemlink® video transmitter system, GE mobile radio applications, and new uses for GE silicones are also used.
Eyes & Ears Articles on Horizons
October 31, 1980
General Electric, a Walt Disney participant for over 15 years, will sponsor our Future Probe Pavilion at EPCOT Center.
This new attraction, located in a "Space Mountain-like structure," will include a 20-minute ride where passengers will encounter exciting story-telling effects, highlighted by three-dimensional scenes and nine-story high film projections.
As a finale, guests will be able to contribute their own dreams and hopes for the future via audience polling devices within the ride vehicles.
November 4, 1982
Once inside, guests will board futuristically designed ride vehicles that glide them through the adventure of tomorrow. Beginning in "Looking Back at Tomorrow," they'll experience a show saluting past endeavors that have attempted to uncover the future. Derived from vintage science-fiction media and various World's fair exhibitions, this section showcases proposed communities, transportation systems and lifestyles.
Next it's on to "Omni-Sphere," where guests visit the actual frontiers of tomorrow. Projected on three hemispherical screens measuring 80 feet in diameter, the show encompasses the spectacular worlds of outer space and inner space and how they shape the future.
"Tomorrow's Windows" greets guests next with an overview of envisioned communities with an emphasis on the various types of systems that make these communities work. Moving through the megastructure of a modern penthouse apartment, the lifestyles developed within a futuristic urban habitat unfold. A desert farm, where mankind has tamed the untameable land and made it productive, is quickly viewed before entering the unusual splendor of a desert habitat. From burning sands to ocean waves takes no more than a moment's passing, and suddenly a floating city appears. Here a teacher instructs young students on the wonders so far undiscovered, below their feet in the underseas world. Next, inner space leads to the limitless challenges of outer space and beyond.
And beyond in the future. In "Choose Your Tomorrow" audience-polling devices located within the ride-vehicles will allow guests to select one of four possible endings to the show. Each ending involves a different 25-second high speed simulation based on transportation systems viewed earlier in the show.
Horizons is designed to create an optimistic, dynamic vision of the 21st century and as the ride-vehicles glide toward the unload concourse the guests are left with the challenges of shaping tomorrow today.
September 29, 1983
Horizons, Epcot Center's latest look into the achievable future, takes Walt Disney World guests on an exciting exploration of new options for living and working in the 21st century.
Through the use of three-dimensional sets, "Audio-Animatronics" figures and a galaxy of pioneering visual effects, guests see future cityscapes, space colonies, floating cities and desert farms.
Presented by General Electric, Horizons provides a mind-boggling 15-minute journey aboard a continuously-moving train of suspended vehicles.
"Holographic telephone," magnetic levitation trains, and robotic harvesters are among its technological sights.
The new adventure, located in Future World, is housed in a 136,000-square foot structure, whose roof line resembles an emerald-cut diamond.
The journey begins in FuturePort, where travel posters hearld prospective destinations -- the floating city of Sea Castle, the desert farm of Mesa Verde, and the outer space resort, Brava Centauri.
Aboard a train of four-passenger vehicles, guests are carried into the first scene, "Looking Back at Tomorrow." That whimsical salute to the visionaries of yesteryear recalls the sometimes accurate, often hilarious view yesterday's future.
Here is Jules Verne, recreated by "Audio-Animatronics," with his bullet rocket. Nearby is a re-creation of "a rush hour of the future," painted by the French artist Robida more than 100 years ago.
The domestic robots, hairbrain contraptions, and classic science fiction films of the 1930's and '40s seen here are archaic by today's standards, yet these early visions renew hope for the next century's inventive progress.
Horizons' "Omnisphere" is a remarkable experience in sight and sound, containing one of the world's largest motion picture projection systems. Peering into a concave hemispheric surface 80 feet high an 240 feet acress, guests are bombarded by brilliant, colorful images, giant crystals, a skyscrapered city, a micro-computer chip, a space shuttle blast-off, a startlingly close view of the sun. The lyrics of Horizons' theme song remind guests that, "If we can dream it, we can do it!"
From the "Omnisphere," guests travel to "Tomorrow's Windows," where envisioned communities of the future are depicted. The first destination is Nova Cite, full of light and action, a fantastic metropolis seen from an urban apartment. Magnetic levitation trains connect its major buildings. The residents of this dwelling are speaking with their daughter, who lives on a desert farm, via "holographic telephone," one way of staying in touch in the future.
Then it's on to Mesa Verde, for a look at a blooming agricultural complex in a once-arid desert. The daughter of the previous scene is managing the farm from a central control room, directing voice-controlled robotic harvesters and genetically engineered crops. The subtle smell of citrus emanating from the farm adds to the realism of the scene.
The journey continues past a jet-powered hovercraft idling beside the desert home, a fish farm, and an "electronic pantry," where the farmer and his son are busy preparing a cake for a festive occasion. In another room, the teenage daughter converses with her boyfriend, who is seen working on his own min-sub in an underwater colony.
Arriving at Sea Castle, guests see a vast floating city in the Pacific. Here industry and recreation blend in a unique, movable "island" community. Below the surface, guests see an oceanographic schoolroom, underwater restaurant, kelp farm, and ocean floor mining operations.
Liquid space becomes outer space, as guests pass by astronauts constructing a series of free-floating space colonies, one of which is Brava Centauri. Docking at the center of the rotating colony, visitors pass a variety of zero-gravity areas, including a health/recreation center and a crystal manufacturing lab. Before heading back to Earth, guests drop in on a birthday celebration -- a reunion of family members seen throughout the attraction -- made possible by long-distance, holographic party-line.
On the return trip to Earth, a new choose-it-yourself technology enables each gondola of guests to select an ending to the journey -- by personal spacecraft, desert hovercraft, or mini-submarine. Touch-screens with a tiny, lighted image of each environment inform guests of their possible choices.
In each car, the majority rules (the computer decides in case of a tie), and guests experience a simulated, high-speed race through environments portrayed in "Tomorrow's Windows."
As guests leave Horizons, they pass a spectacular 20 x 65-foot mural created by Bob McCall, the celebrated space artist. His newest painting, "Horizons -- The Prologue and the Promise," presents a sweeping view of man's progress toward a brighter future.
The design process for Horizons occurred over a three-year period. Under construction since January 1982, the pavilion will accomodate 2,500 guests per hour.
October 25, 1984
There is only one pavilion where guests travel to cities beneath the seas, to colonies among the stars, ride a hovercraft, watch deserts bloom and witness the mining of ocean floors. The pavilion is Horizons, sponsored by General Electric, and it is one year old this month. "For General Electric," said Bob Pulver, General Manager of GE Operations, Walt Disney World, "Horizons is a state of mind, not just a pavilion." Leonard Vickers, Vice President Corporate Marketing, adds "GE's Horizons presentation is a celebration of man's genius to stretch frontiers, to turn dreams into reality. The message implicit in Horizons is: With the science and technologies already at hand, today's dreams can become tomorrow's reality . . . "If we can dream it, we can do it."
Bob, a General Electric employee for 28 years, states, "GE shares their theme with all their customers because, frankly, we want to make sure our technology supports their dreams." Bob explains that there are two types of GE customers visiting Horizons, "almost every Epcot Center guest is a customer for GE consumer products like televisions, radios, appliances and lighting." Horizons has been visited by 7.3 million potential GE consumers sinces its October 1, 1983, opening. The second classification of visiting GE customers are business customers. General Electric uses all of the resources at Walt Disney World to share their ideas to those customers. GE's Customer Center, located at Horizons, has hosted 12,000 business clients and sponsored 84 meetings and seminars during the past year.
The working relationship between General Electric and the Walt Disney organization spans almost a quarter of a century and can be traced from New York to California to Florida. Three years before the New York World's Fair opened in 1964, GE planned to be there as an exhibitor. Wanting to have one of the best exhibits, GE turned to Walt Disney. It was the first project Disney ever developed for an outside corporation and, launching into this new area of business, Disney himself created and designed the Carousel of Progress.
During the two years of the World's Fair, the Carousel of Progress enjoyed more than 45 million visitors. It was so successful, that it was transported to Disneyland in 1967 and then transferred to Walt Disney World in January 1975.
"For 20 years, General Electric has had the opportunity to work behind the scenes to help Disney people 'dream it and do it,'" said Bob. You can find GE's well-known monogram inside the power plant, under the hood of the monorail trains and in almost every attraction. Horizons' drive systems, lighting, electrical distribution equipment, two-way radios, video projectors, microwave transmitters, silicones, and a robot are all GE products.
The robot, not to be mistaken for a General Electric employee, is a mechnical arm which holds a video camera. This system operated by either a 17-minute computer program or by GE hand controls, pans the entire Epcot Center area and projects the view on a five-by-seven foot screen. The sole purpose of the system is to serve as GE Customer Center's window, thus it's been titled, the Electronic Window. The system is just another sign of GE's dedication of building tomorrow, today.
There are three General Electric employees on staff, Bob, Wren Aber, Manager of Marketing Promotions, and Dave Fink, a GE Corporate Research and Development Center Representative. The rest of Horizon's staff of nine are cast members. "Beyond thses special people," says Bob, "every cast member has supported us in one way or another, and we thank you all."