Horizons takes guests on a fascinating journey through the
world of the 21st century. First, take a look back at what past visionaries
dreamed the future would be like from Jules Verne to sci-fi 1920s and
30s comic books to a futuristic 1950s. Then, two giant OmniSphere
screens show what scientists and explorers are discovering now, which
will be the basis for the future. Next, guests enter the 21st century
and view a typical city apartment, a desert farm complete
with the scent of fresh oranges, an underwater city,
and a space colony. In order to return home to 20th
century earth, guests chose the method of travel: on land, undersea,
or through space. Upon arriving, guests are left with a final thought,
"If we can dream it, we really can do it. And that's the most exciting
part."
General Electric's sponsorship of the pavilion expired on
September 30, 1993. Even though GE decided not to continue sponsorship
of Horizons, Disney continued to operate the attraction until it was
closed in late 1994. Horizons reopened in December of 1995 because both
Universe of Energy and World of Motion were about to close for renovations
the following month. That would have left only Wonders of Life open
on that side of the park. With Test Track finally open, Horizons
closed forever on January 9, 1999. On September 23, 1999, both
the large and small Horizons signs were removed. In April 2000, Disney
and Compaq announced that Horizons would be demolished and in its place
Mission: SPACE would be built. The new attraction is scheduled to open
in 2003. In the meantime, destruction of the Horizons building could
be seen throughout the summer of 2000. A black wall was put up in front
of the pavilion and read "Watch this SPACE for a future announcement."
Trees were added behind the wall to cover some of the destruction of
the building. By October 2000, the land was all cleared and the foundation
work for Mission: SPACE had been started.
Horizons Facts
Pavilion: 136,835 ft2
Surface Area: approx. 37,000 ft2
Audio-Animatronics: 54
Props: 770
Sets: 24
Video Monitors: 4
Video Projectors: 9
Video Playbacks: 13
Film Projectors: 12
Special Effects: 50
Capacity: 2,784/Hour
Show Time: 14:45 Minutes
Cycle Time: 15:00 Minutes
Maximum Number of Vehicles: 174
Spare Vehicles: 10
Seats per Vehicle: 4
Ride Length: 1,346 feet (410.3 m)
Ride Speed: 1.5 Feet/Second (0.457 m/s)
Dispatch Interval: 4.8 Seconds
Type Load/Unload: Moving belt
Queue Capacity: 696
Ride System: Overhead Omnimover
Tom Fitzgerald with Tom II in the sub repair bay scene
Imagineers who worked on the project included:
George
McGinnis (project show designer - pictured right)
Marty Sklar
Gil Keppler (ride vehicle design, kitchen design)
John Hench
Marty Kindel (engineer 'Choose your tomorrow')
Ned Landon (GE rep, on creative team)
Claude Coates (show designer)
Bob Kurzweil (industrial designer)
Bill Norton (architect)
Collin Campbell (developed early scenes)
Chase Young (architect, construction drawings)
Tom Fitzgerald (story designer)
Tom Sherman (undersea set)
John Berman (set designer)
Ernie Soos (robots for “Looking Back at the Future”
scene)
George Trimmer
Greg Wilzbach (Family arriving in space scene).
Shim Yokoyama (painted Floating City and Space Habitat scenics)
Omnimax film: Eddy Garrick
Omnimax projectors: 70mm 15perf Omnimax projectors from Imax, Canada
'Choose your tomorrow' projectors: GE Talaria Light Valve projectors
Exit mural artist: Bob McCall
Building architect: George Rester
Closed: 9th January 1999
An incredible journey through lifestyles for the 21st
century. After "blasting off" from the Futureport, you'll
examine the marvels imagined by visionaries of the past ... Jules
Verne's cannonball flight to the moon, for example. Through the wonders
of micro- and macro-photography, never-before-seen images of today's
world unfold on the world's largest motion-picture screen. Then it's
off to explore four future habitats... the urban environment of tomorrow,
a robotics-staffed desert farm, a working ocean colony, and a "space
city" where asteroid mining and zero-gravity crystal manufacture
are facts of everyday life. The rest of the adventure is up to you!
You and your fellow passengers control which future environment to
explore as you choose your own "new horizon" for the finale.
Are we any closer to realising visions from Horizons?
A lot of things have changed over the years
since Horizons was conceived.
The daughter in the reclaimed desert scene
used voice recognition to command the crop harvesters,
and so did the boy in the kitchen scene. A huge majority of this very
website was dictated to the computer by voice recognition. Some cars
even have it today.
On occasion I was interrupted by people calling
me on Skype where I can see them and talk to them wherever they are
in the world. Videoconferencing is now an accepted
part of everyday business and is even becoming integrated into UK
schools.
Fridges can now automatically
re-order items of food that you are running out of using the Internet
- maybe not incorporating voice recognition to open drawers, but less
amusing because of it.
Genetically modified fruit and vegetables
are common, although many people prefer organic non-GM products. Scientists
in China germinate seeds in space which spawn huge aubergines, tomatoes,
etc. back on earth.
Pre-orders for holidays in outer space
are being taken (allbeit from multi-millionnaires).
Hong Kong Disneyland reclaimed some sea, but
not desert!
This underwater hotel in
the Bahamas opens in 2006:
From The Funday Times / Sunday Times, November 2005.
So although the physical locations aren't the
same as in Horizons, some of the technology is similar, if not ahead
of Horizons.
George
McGinnis (project show designer - pictured right)
