Spaceship Earth

Spaceship Earth is a pavilion located in Epcot

Pavilion History

Construction

Spaceship Earth was designed as the icon of all of EPCOT Center. The building was the first geodesic dome ever construct. Buckminster Fuller, who developed the mathematical structure of the pavilion named it Spaceship Earth. Although the pavilion looks like a seamless sphere, Space Earth is in fact made up of two parts. The top half of the dome sits on a steel, square ring which sits atop the "legs" of the pavilion. The second half of the dome is attached below the ring, giving the allusion that Spaceship Earth is a monolithic structure. The legs which support Spaceship Earth were driven 160 feet into the ground. Disney Imagineers also decided to make Spaceship Earth from two separate spheres, and outer and an inner sphere. The inside sphere is made of steel, pyramid shaped pipes. The outside was then covered with Alucobond pyramids, a polyester plastic, covered in two sheets of aluminum. This was done, so that the inner sphere (which holds the attraction) would be protect from the environmental, and also to solve the problem of runoff water. Disney Imagineers did not want water pouring off the sides of the 25 story building. To solve this problem gaps were left between the Alucobond triangles, so that water could run through them and into a gutter system. This system eventually deposited the water into the World Showcase Lagoon.

It took Construction took 26 months and almost 40,800 labor hours to build Spaceship Earth. When it was built, the pavilion was seen as a structural marvel. Disney did worry however, that a wind tunnel would form beneath the pavilion, knocking over guests. Since their was almost no data on geodesic domes, Disney brought in researchers from MIT who determined that the pavilion would not create a wind tunnel.

Attraction History

The attraction built inside Spaceship Earth was designed to be guests "welcome to Future World". On the dark ride attraction, guests travel back in time and witness human advancements in communication. The attraction was themed as a time machine, taking guests back to the dawn of civilization all the way to the near future. In it's history, the attraction has been changed three times. First in 1986, then in 1994, and finally in 2007. Although the scenes stayed the same after each refurbishment, a new narrator was added each time.

Original Version: Vic Perrin (1982-1986)

After entering the pavilion, guests would walk up a short ramp. On the walls aside the ramp, guests could see two posters and a large mural. The posters both showed Spaceship Earth at night, with stars shining behind it. They also read, "Ride the Time Machine from the Dawn of Civilization to the Beginning of Our Tomorrow. SPACESHIP EARTH.". This gave guests an idea of what the ride inside, would be like. The mural located in the queue, showed astronaut working on a satellite, with Earth in the background. The mural was framed with small pictures depicting cavemen, Romans, Egyptians, the printing press and finally modern humans. After passing through the queue, guests would board small blue ride vehicles. The vehicles operated on an Omnimover ride system, which never stopped.

After guests boarded the vehicles, they would enter a dark tunnel. Inside the vehichles would begin to ascend as guests could see a purple cloud with stars all around it. A flash of lightning would periodically strike from the cloud. Vic Perrin then began his narration saying:

Where have we come from, where are we going? In the dust from which we were formed, answers recorded on the walls of time. So let us journey into that past, to seek those walls, to know ourselves and to probe the destiny of our Spaceship Earth.

When the vehicles reached the top of the tunnel, guests could see images of cavemen fighting Wolly Mammoths. The narrator informed guests that they were entering the ancient caves, where humans first interacted. A scene showing an ancient medicine man talking to other humans could be seen. Cave paintings could be seen on the wall behind the medicine man, showing humans first writing down their thoughts. The narrator then acknowledge the Wolly Mammoth scene, informing guests that humans used communication in order to survive.

As the ride vehicles moved forward, guests could see an Egyptian making papyrus (sometime between 1567 - 1085 B.C.). Across the way, an elaborate Egyptian building could be seen. Hieroglyphs decorate the archways of the building. Further down the way, a Pharaoh could be seen dictating to a scribe. His wife sat next to him as servants fanned the royal couple. The narrator then spoke, saying:

Ages pass and more walls rise in the valley of the Nile. Man-made walls of hieroglyphics. Then with new symbols, we unlock our thoughts from chiseled walls and send them forth on papyrus scrolls

The scene then shifted, to a sea port in the ninth century B.C. Here, two sailors could be seen trading goods. Behind them, another sailor connected the two boats together. On guests right, guests could seen the ocean, with stars shining on the horizon. The narrator then told guests that the Phoenician ships simplified the alphabet and traded the scrolls at various ports. The ride vehicles then moved forward in time, to Greece in 428 B.C. A scene depicting a Greek theater could be seen, with two men acting out Oedipus. The narrator then spoke once again, telling guests that this was the dawn of the theater.

As guests once again advanced through time, they came upon a Roman riding a chariot. Behind him an army of Romans can be seen. The man is exchanging information with another man who is wearing a toga. In the background, a painted wall depicts Rome, as another chariot passes by. The narrator then said:

North, South, East, and West, all roads lead from Rome, a mighty network reaching across the land, welding far-flung garrisons into a growing empire.

As the ride vehicles carried on, guests could see ruins of a building smoldering. The narrator informs guests that the excess of Rome has led to it's destruction. Fortunately, he also tells guests that Islamic preserved the ancient knowledge and they were eventually able to link East and West. A scene, showing the Islamic wise men, sitting in a circle discussing books was then shown. To their left, is a library with unfilled shelves was shown. Two men inside, one reading and one seated, could be seen reading. On guests right, an astronomer could be seen standing on a balcony and investigating the stars. Further down the path, two Benedictine Monks were shown copying text by hand. The monk on the right had apparently fallen asleep on the job. The narrator once again spoke saying:

In Western abbeys, Monks toil endlessly transcribing ancient wisdom into hand-penned books of revelation.(After a pause) At last! A new dawn emerges. The dawn of the Renaissance ... and a wondrous machine performs as a thousand scribes. Now for all: the printed word.

As guests enter the Renaissance scene, Johann Gutenberg and his associate could be seen working on the printing press. Guests then moved forward to Italy in the 16th century. To the right, a man was shown reading a book to two others. Just beyond them, two musicians played music. In the background a small Italian town could be seen. On their left, guests could see various artists at work. One was mixing paint, one painting fruit, and one sculpting. Further ahead on the left, guests could see Michelangelo laying on a scaffolding, painting the Sistine Chapel. Below him, stain glass windows were illuminated by black light. A conveyance system brought buckets of paint up to Michelangelo as he painted. The narration for the Renaissance continued:

 : Our books fuel the fires of the Renaissance. It is a time to discover anew the worlds of poetry and philosophy, science and music. As our minds soar, our hands find new expression in the flourishing world of art. Behold, the majesty of the Sistine ceiling.

The time then shifted to the 18th and 19th century. The first thing that guests would see was a steam powered printing press which was invented by William Bullock in 1863. A man inspected the newspaper that came out of the press. Futher on, a young boy stood on a street corner with a stack of New York Dailys, trying to sell them. As the vehicles continued on, guests could see a man dictating a telegram to another man who sends it. Behind them, a train passed by on a railroad. On their left, guests could then see telephone wires stretching all across the scene. Various conversations could be heard coming from the telephones.

On guests left, a scene depicting a women in a cinema ticket booth was shown. Three screens on her left showed old black and white movies. The first screen showed a movie about a runaway trolley, the second showed two people dancing, and the final screen showed 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Across the way, guests could see a scene depicting the WDP (Walt Disney Productions) radio station. Inside a sound booth, a man and a women could be seen acting out a radio show. Outside the booth, an engineer monitored the sound level. To the right of the scene, a radio tower was shown, with waves emanating from it. Another radio tower could be seen in the background.

As guests continued forward, they passed a scene depicting a mother, father and daughter watching TV in their living room. Four other televisions hung on the wall behind the family. They would change channels, showing various different television shows. Shows that could be seen here included:

• Ozzie and Harriet

• 1964 NFL Colts vs. Browns Championship Game

• Ed Sullivan with the Harlem Globetrotters

• Walter Cronkite

• Walt Disney introducing an episode of The Wonderful World of Color.

Following the television scene, the narrator once again spoke.

"With each day come more paths, more ideas, more dreams, and we build new machines: computer machines that think, that store, sift, sort, and count, and help us chart our course through an age of boundless information."

At this point, on guests left, a 70s bedroom could be seen. Inside, a boy is working on a desktop computer. Behind him a few books and a model airplane rested on a metal shelf. The following seen, showed a mid 1980s room, with a women working on a laptop. Guests then could see The Network Operations Center, where network lines and satellites were monitored.Here, guests could see a map of Florida, The United States, and even a view of the entire globe (from the North Pole). A man sat in front of these maps, monitoring the maps, with a women who was sitting to his right. As guests witnessed this seen, the narrator would say:

With these machines comes a wondrous new network of communications, a vibrant maze of billions of electronic pathways stretching to the very edge of space.

The ride vehicles then entered a tunnel, in which lights flew by. Here the narrator said:

"Verged on the threshold of infinity, we see our world as it truly is: small, silent, fragile, alive, a drifting island in the midnight sky. It is our spaceship, our Spaceship Earth."

This narrator marked the point where guests were at the top of the sphere. From here, they could see Earth in the distance, surrounded by stars. As the ride vehicles began to descend, guests could see more clouds of dust (similar to the one at the beginning of the attraction) in their right. Further down, flat screens showed various scenes. Scenes shown on this monitors included:

• Children from around the world holding hands.

• A human using a telescope.

• DNA chains

All of the monitors were connected by fiber optic strands, showing how everything was connected now. Guests could also hear people around the world, talking to each other and exchanging information. Before unloading, guests could also see a series of dots which resembled circuit. Vic Perrin then gave one final narration:

Now our Future World draws near, and we face the challenge of tomorrow. We must return and take command of our Spaceship Earth. To become captains of our own destiny. To reach out and fulfill our dreams.

Our journey has been long. From primal caves we have ventured forth traveling the endless corridors of time seeking answers to our tomorrow. With growing knowledge and growing communication, we have changed our lives, changed our worlds.

From the reaches of space to the depths of the sea, we have spun a vast electronic network linking ourselves as fellow passengers together, on Spaceship Earth.

Today our search for understanding is unbounded by space and time. Vast stores of information, knowledge from everywhere, standing ready at our beck and call to reach us in an instant. With our great network, we harness our knowledge, give it shape and form to serve us, to help create and communicate a better awareness of ourselves, and our world.

Ours is the age of knowledge, the age of choice and opportunity. Tomorrow’s world approaches, so let us listen and learn, let us explore and question and understand, let us go forth and discover the wisdom to guide great Spaceship Earth through the uncharted seas of the future. Let us dare to fulfill our destiny.<p>

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