Imagine you’re one of EPCOT Center’s earliest visitors, stepping into the gleaming, expansive park for the first time. While the park may look cutting-edge (given that its 1980s design is distinctively “now”), the feelings it inspires are equally of the future and of the past.
That’s because Future World is indeed a celebration of innovation, with an electric wonder and promise that within its pavilions, you’ll see truly unimaginable technologies at work! But it also harkens to a time of idealism and optimism – the hope of the Space Age, the power of capitalism, and the naïveté of Americana from decades before. Future World is equal parts yesterday’s vision of tomorrow and tomorrow’s view of yesterday.
One of the most exciting offerings here is the World of Motion pavilion sponsored by General Motors. It’s a perfectly circular, stainless steel pavilion on the edge of Future World. As you approach, you’ll notice a wedge-shaped opening in the front of the building, with an elevated track spiraling around a mirrored pillar. As a continuous chain of vehicles chugs up and around this incline, lines embedded in the track trace their speed and path into the cavernous interior of the building.
Like many rides using this Omnimover ride system, World of Motion loads continuously and quickly, absorbing large crowds with ease! So as we enter and step aboard, we’re officially “on the road.”
Gary Owens, fabled DJ and radio personality (known to many as the voice of Space Ghost) will be our narrator: “Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the wonderful World of Motion! General Motors now invites you to travel the open road; to discover that, when it comes to transportation, it’s always fun to be free!”
Already, the vehicle advances out of the building and we find ourselves on the spiraling ramp we saw moments ago. As if intentionally positioned for the best view, this look at Future World includes a stunning straight shot toward Spaceship Earth. “Throughout the ages, we’ve searched for the freedom to move from one place to another. In the beginning, of course, there was foot power!” Re-entering the building, we pass by the ride’s first vignette, and one to set the tone: two prehistoric cave men fanning their feet to relieve the burning of an all-day walking spree.
“But with our first wandering steps, we quickly discovered the need to improve our basic transportation. After years of stumbling around, we launch a new idea… our first safe highway: water!” Ahead, boats from rafts to Viking ships are projected in the darkness.
“On land, our animal friends give us new freedom… and we test drive many new models!” A line-up of animals awaits access to a city’s gate… some more cooperative than others. For example, an ornately covered elephant seems adept at carrying a wealthy woman, a camel waits patiently with a rider atop, and a donkey is carrying many times its own weight with ease. But a tuckered-out zebra, a stubborn bull, and a peckish ostrich indicate that the future may not be riding on these animals.
The flying carpet, meanwhile, seems a bit impractical.
The Wheel and the Wings
But around the corner stands a group of inventors trying to impress a King with their spinning inventions: a square wheel, hexagon wheel, and triangular wheel. A stern advisor points them away while a fourth inventor demonstrates the ease of a circular wheel to the King’s delight. “A revolutionary turn of events! The wheel! Now things really get rolling. It’s fun to be free!”
As the vehicle moves into a “speed room,” projected with the spinning of wheels, the ride’s theme song comes into full view: “Fun to be Free” was written by X Atencio, the lyricist behind “Yo Ho (A Pirate’s Life for Me)” and “Grim-Grinning Ghosts.”
“With our new-found freedom, empires expand, cultures flourish, and commerce grows!” On all sides, scenes of Egyptian chariots, Chinese carts, and Grecian tournaments come to life on vases and shadow screens.
“With proud new ships, we sail forth in search of new works, undaunted by age old myths and silly superstitions!” On a screen ahead, two giant faces blow billowing wind across the ocean and away from the Old World, as a ship blows right off the edge of the Earth! The humps of a sea serpant appear before the screen, its head rising to meet the end of Columbus’ telescope.
“Ah, the age of the Renaissance! Great minds are turning from works of art to flights of fancy!” We glide past Leonardo da Vinci’s workshop with Mona Lisa posed impatiently before her half-finished portrait. Da Vinci seems more interested in his Flying Machine, taking careful notes as its hoisted high and tested by men hanging from the ceiling. From the windowsill, two pigeons look on in knowing laughter.
Then, we pass a man riding in the basket of a hot hair balloon as it travels over the rooftops of London.
Onward
“From hot air to the power of steam! Now nothing stands in the way of progress on the open road!” Easier said than done, given that a train ahead is stopped and lifted right off the rails thanks to a fuming bull bucking against an oncoming train carriage. “And great boilers of steam change our sails to paddle wheels!” The shadowed silhouettes of passengers dance in a Mississippi paddle boat, dimly lit at a dock. Another battle of man versus animal: a donkey refuses to load the ship. Still, a boy sits on a crate at the dock, watching in wonder as steam ships move down the river.
We pass by western settlers camp with stagecoaches, as Native Americans ride on horseback in the background. “Beyond the Mississippi, passengers enjoy the scenic west with the freedom and adventure of the open road.” One enterprising settler lifts his arrow-pierced hat up, balanced on a stick to distract the Native’s aim.
“Another kind of horse arrives: a steam-powered iron horse brings fast, dependable, safe travel to the new frontier.” Bandits have stopped a train demanding valuables from passengers as the Sheriff looks on from a high rock bluff in the distance.
The journey continues. “Ah, the peaceful countryside! What more romantic way to enjoy it than with that infallible combination of man and machine: the bicycle! And now, the call of the open road brings us a new wonder: a carriage without a horse! Yes, with the horseless carriage, we thunder full speed into the twentieth century.”
A mechanic in a small garage is working on repairing a turn-of-the-century engine as a horse smiles in approval. A projection beyond shows a busy street bustling with motorized cars, horse-drawn carriages, and trolleys all cohabitating.
Now, the vehicles move us forward into what may be the ride’s most well-known scene: the world’s first traffic jam!
On a busy street corner, a carriage and an automobile had collided, spilling the fruits, vegetables, and chickens that the cart was carrying! A police officer is seen writing a ticket while a little boy and girl overlook the chaos from their wagon and bicycle. Shouting wives, double-decker buses, an ice truck, and more all populate the scene, with unlimited detail.
“Our newest tradition: the Sunday drive. Now we quickly get away from it all to the beautiful, carefree countryside.” A couple enjoys a hilltop picnic while a bi-plane soars overhead. The vehicles move past a billboard advertising the upcoming Air Show at the County Fairgrounds (admission is twenty-five cents). A police officer is positioned on his motorcycle behind the billboard, ready to pounce.
“Dashing heroes of the wild blue yonder! Now, the sky’s the limit!”
A car is stopped at the side of the road as the driver watches a plane pass overhead through binoculars. Another car parked ahead of him holds a whole family who watch an air show of stunts while a pilot and his admirer pose for a photo before he takes off in his Barnstormer.
Finale
“Mobility is the byword of modern transportation… A way to move from here to there, for every need and every care! Now it’s really fun to be free!”
The vehicles pass by cars representing styles from the ‘30s, ‘40s, and ‘50s, each driving before magazine covers and video clips through their respective time periods. Seaplanes, criss-crossing highways, convertibles, station wagons, and a family on their way to vacation with the dog’s head out the passenger window and luggage stacked on the roof!
Now, the vehicle passes through three projected tunnels, representing movement of today and tomorrow. In the first room, guests may feel as if they’re floating down a river, skiing down a mountainside, piloting through a coral reef, or flying over a mountain. In the next, swirling lights and clouds. In the third room, we’re inside of a computer as we watch the evolution of space vehicles exploring the stars. “Yes, our world has indeed become a World of Motion. We have engineered marvels that take us swiftly over land and sea, through the air, and into space itself! And still bolder and better ideas are yet to come…”
The grand finale is a momentous one. Called Center Core, the scene literally takes place in the massive core of the circular building. Guests would now look out over a gleaming, glowing futuristic city as kinetic lights and motion signal giant airships, Peoplemovers, and monorails darting along highways. “…Ideas that will fulfill our age old dream to be free. Free in mind, free in spirit, free to follow the distant star of our ancestors for a brighter tomorrow!”
Leaving the city behind, the vehicle presses on into a darkened tunnel where blocks of light rush past. Ahead, the vehicle aligns with a mirrored wall, where we see ourselves riding in the vehicles of tomorrow – an effect similar in appearance and in style to the finale of the Haunted Mansion. “Ladies and gentlemen, General Motors now invites you to share the challenge of the future. We need you to help us shape tomorrow’s mobility. Just ahead is General Motors’ exciting Transcenter. Join us behind the scenes where we’re working to ensure that tomorrow’s world will continue to be a World of Motion!
And indeed, that post-show experience was a behind-the-scenes at the future of General Motors cars and transportation technologies. An attraction in its own right, the Transcenter offered returning guests the exciting opportunity to see what’s coming tomorrow, today.
As always, we’ll try to end our in-depth ride-through with a point-of-view video to give you a sense of what World of Motion was really like. Due to its closure in the mid-1990s, photography wasn’t at its peak. But this video should give you a wonderful idea of what the ride looked, sounded, and felt like:
World of Motion had all the fun and detail of Journey into Imagination with the spirit and splendor of Horizons embedded within. It was a thoughtful and creative dark ride tailor-made for a park dedicated to industry, and it seemed poised to last. But like so many of Epcot’s most celebrated originals, it didn’t. What happened to put an end to World of Motion? We’ve got the rest of the story on the last page. Read on…
With the recent news about Test Track 3, will we be getting a History in Motion part 3? Looking forward to it!