The power’s been cut, and another EPCOT Center classic has seen its last days.
Our Lost Legends series was developed for just such occasions, and for years now we’ve been adding unabridged entries to this growing library, chronicling the in-depth histories of forgotten fan favorites. We’ve toured the streets of London on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, narrowly escaped the bite of JAWS, explored how Disney’s cancelled Beastly Kingdom became Universal Orlando’s Lost Continent, gotten a taste of EPCOT Center’s “dinner” show Kitchen Kabaret, dissected the history of Disneyland Paris’ one-of-a-kind Space Mountain: De la Terre à la Lune, and so many more. (Keep your eyes out for links to Future World’s other Lost Legends throughout this feature.)
Today, we sadly induct another classic into our Lost Legends series: perhaps the most epic dark ride Disney ever designed: Universe of Energy. Oversized, educational, and an astounding 45-minutes, this gargantuan journey into the past was a star of Future World and an icon of EPCOT Center’s early years. Today, we’ll dive into the history of the concept and watch its evolution over three and a half decades, then take a cautious look at what’s to come when Epcot changes forever… Ready?
Prehistory
Dateline: 1964.
Flushing Meadows Park in Queens, New York comes alive! Covering 646 acres, the New York World’s Fair is a “universal and international” exposition, dedicated to “Man’s Achievement on a Shrinking Globe in an Expanding Universe.”
Born of the same optimism, wonder, futurism, and architecture that would create Disneyland’s New Tomorrowland three years later, the 1964 New York World’s Fair is an icon of mid-century Americana. Built around a 140-foot tall Unisphere are over 140 pavilions, each designed and constructed by 80 nations, 24 US states, and 45 international corporations eager to share the wonders of their culture, history, and innovations.
Image: PLCjr, Flickr (license)
The nascent Space Age and its vista of promise; the pre-Vietnam optimism of a Baby Boomer generation; an iconic showcase of American products in transportation, consumer electronics, and daily living… The World’s Fair was a headlining moment in modern American pop culture.
Especially for Disney fans, this international expo holds tremendous importance… it’s there that Walt Disney and his Imagineers were contracted to construct showcase attractions. For General Electric, they created Progressland; for Pepsi-Cola, “it’s a small world”; the State of Illinois sponsored an Audio-Animatronic presentation by their famous resident, Abraham Lincoln…
Image: Getty Images / Smithsonian Institute
…And for Ford Motors, Disney and company designed a pavilion where guests would sit in motorless Ford Mustang convertibles that would glide along elevated highways. They’d drive around the pavilion’s exterior…
Image: Disney
… and then through prehistoric dioramas of dinosaurs come alive.
The first three were transported directly to Disneyland at the close of the Fair as Carousel of Progress, “it’s a small world,” and Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. (Ford’s contribution was two-fold… the technology behind the Skyway powered Disney’s Lost Legend: The Peoplemover and the dinosaurs themselves were relocated to a new Primeval World diorama along the Disneyland Railroad.) But the real contribution of the New York World’s Fair is the inspiration it planted for what would happen nearly two decades later.
The grand idea
Image: Disney
After Walt’s passing, remaining executives and designers tried to gather up what was left of their morale to push ahead on the Walt Disney World being built in Florida. The Magic Kingdom park planned there was – in Walt’s mind – merely a means to an end. What really excited him about “the Florida Project” was E.P.C.O.T., a prototype city of the future that Walt sincerely thought would change American urban design forever.
Executives (perhaps correctly) shied away from EPCOT, though, suspecting that without Walt at the helm, building and operating a metropolitan city was beyond their scope.
Image: Disney
However, when the idea of adding a second theme park to Walt Disney World arose in the late ‘70s, executives toyed with how Walt’s EPCOT could inform them, at least in concept. Futurism, urban design, a living showcase of innovation and industry… you know where this headed: EPCOT Center was born. Literally devised as a “permanent World’s Fair,” Disney’s idea was that EPCOT Center would indeed return to the optimism, wonder, and corporate power showcased in World’s Fairs decades ago… a living playground of industry and culture showcasing innovations and cultures from around the world in two realms: Future World and World Showcase.
Image: Disney
And, even better, Disney would follow the World’s Fair model where it mattered most: sponsorship. Like at the New York World’s Fair, each of EPCOT Center’s pavilions would be bankrolled by corporations and international governments who would shell out big bucks for a piece of property in this permanent showcase.
General Motors, for example, would happily sign on to sponsor a pavilion based on the transportation industry (lest their competitors do it first), carefully planting their brand and messaging into the pavilion. And then, General Motors would be compelled to keep the pavilion up to date, stocked with their latest innovations! All Disney needed to do was sit back and get paid to design and update the pavilion’s contents when needed. If you’re thinking that sounds like a win-win for Disney, you’d be right…
Interconnected
Image: Disney
Brilliantly, Disney was able to master plan this “permanent World’s Fair,” ensuring that its pavilions not only complimented one another, but felt like puzzle pieces of the same overarching message:
To all who come to this place of joy, hope and friendship, welcome.
EPCOT Center is inspired by Walt Disney’s creative genius. Here, human achievements are celebrated through imagination, the wonders of enterprise, and concepts of a future that promises new and exciting benefits for all.
May EPCOT Center entertain, inform and inspire. And, above all, may it instill a new sense of belief and pride in man’s ability to shape a world that offers hope to people everywhere.
It’s as if designers took the idea of “a world that offers hope to people everywhere” and asked aloud, “How do we get there? What leads to a better world? Where can the wonders of enterprise create that exciting, promising future?”
The answer?
Communication. Innovation. Oceans. Land. Imagination. Transportation. Health and Medicine. And Energy.
Image: Disney, via @GoAwayGreen on Twitter
And from there, the pavilions were born, each holding a key to one piece of that future for all; each a showcase of one area of enterprise offering hope; each a piece of the puzzle. And fittingly, each of Future World’s pavilions was united by something else: lengthy, informative, clever, reverent dark rides through the history of each industry and into its future. The past, present, and future of transportation aboard a Lost Legend: World of Motion; the past, present, and future of communication on Spaceship Earth; the past, present, and future of ocean research in The Living Seas… And the ride that put all these pieces together to show us our likely outcome if we heed the call of progress, another Lost Legend: Horizons.
But of all of EPCOT Center’s epic, lengthy, informative dark rides, one reigned supreme… an unimaginable 45-minute journey farther into the past than any other. That’s because, if you asked Exxon, the past, present, and future of energy originated tens of millions of years ago.
A cornerstone of EPCOT Center and an icon of the era, Universe of Energy was a stunning dark ride that shaped our Future World… and the ride that opened may not be the one we’re saying goodbye to today.
Shaping the future
Early on in the concept design for EPCOT Center, “Energy” was chosen as a natural pavilion topic. Even back then, designers conceived of a pavilion focused on alternative energy sources, pointing us toward the future. In particular, solar energy. According to the original plans, the Energy pavilion would’ve featured a massive, real solar collector at its center, with a complex trackless ride weaving around it.
Image: Disney
The massive solar collector might’ve been impressive, but it would also have been mostly decorative. In the early 1980s, solar power was a sincere avenue of exploratioin for the future, but it wasn’t quite advanced enough to generate the significant power needed for a pavilion, or the significant concept needed to fuel an attraction.
That was all well and good anyway, because Disney found a sponsor early on: Exxon.
The international oil and natural resources company was happy to foot the bill for a presence in EPCOT Center and for their input on a ride based on energy… and as you might imagine from an oil giant, they had a very specific idea of what kind of energy resources the pavilion should advertise…
Exxon encouraged Disney to develop an attraction with a broader point of view on energy, but a narrow focus on one particular resource: fossil fuels.
Image: Disney
An attraction was developed that would take guests back in time to the age of the dinosaurs to understand the origin of the fossil fuels used today to power the world around us. Better yet, this attraction could take inspiration from the attraction Disney had developed for Ford at the real World’s Fair in 1964.
Construction began in late 1979 on the massive Universe of Energy pavilion, which would feature 105,000 square feet of space, all dedicated to a single attraction of the same name.
Image: Disney
2,156 solar panels were placed on the roof. (Interestingly, in anticipation of the solar panels, Universe of Energy was the only pavilion whose location remained the same throughout all of EPCOT’s design.) Together and during peak sunshine conditions, those photovoltaic cells generate a combined 77 kilowatts of electricity (enough energy to light about 15 homes) that’s run directly into a substation beneath the pavilion. Converted to AC power, it’s then routed into a utility power grid and used to energize charging plates within the ride, powering up the attraction’s ride vehicles.
Universe of Energy was ready for the opening of EPCOT Center on October 1, 1982. Inside, guests would find an unusual attraction, and one of the most robust offerings in the park…
The Universe of Energy
Image: Disney
The unusual thing about Universe of Energy is just how involved the attraction is, with guests entering multiple theaters, dioramas, and stages en route.
Consider what guests encountered on the ride in 1982.
Image: Disney
Just inside the pavilion’s black tiled exterior, they’d gather in a standing theater to view a sort of pre-show to explain the origins of energy. However, this unique presentation was known as the “Kinetic Mosaic,” projected on a series of 100 prism-shaped screens that could rotate under the control of a computer.
Arranged in a 4 x 25 grid, these panels featured two white screen sides and a third matte black, allowing them to rotate into view and “disappear.” The unusual, undulating movement of these tiled screens (synchronized with the footage projected) gave an unusual, three-dimensional quality to the film.
Image: Disney
Moving onward, guests would be seated in a 600-person theater to view an animated film recalling the origins of life on Earth, the extinction of the dinosaurs, and the creation of fossil fuel – compacted organic matter pressurized for millions of years.
As EPCOT Center goes, this educational, scientific “travelogue” will feel familiar. But then, something quite unfamiliar happens… Unbeknownst to guests, the “theater” they’re sitting in isn’t really a theater at all. The massive arrangement of guests is actually on wheels, positioned atop a gargantuan turntable… and as the film plays, these vehicles-in-disguise are being charged via contact plates, powered by the energy produced by the pavilion’s solar cells.
Image: Disney
Amazingly, at the conclusion of this film, the enormous turntable would rotate and the “theater” would actually advance forward, separating into six ultra-wide passenger vehicles (holding 97 riders each!). The “trackless” vehicles would advanced off of the turntable (following a wire embedded in the ground) with their batteries charged enough to propel them into and through an enormous prehistoric diorama to view the age when our fossil fuels were formed.
Image: Disney
Afterward, the vehicles would advance into a third massive theater to view the ride’s longest portion: a live-action film about current and future energy sources. Then, the vehicles would return to the first theater, reassembling into an audience for an uplifting and distinctly ‘80s finale. A computer-animated film of laser-like images were projected around the room, reflecting from mirrors revealed from behind curtains. This uplifting finale brought the 45-minute experience to a close, creating an amazing opening-day dark ride and showcase of ’80s style perfectly at home with fellow Lost Legends: World of Motion, Journey into Imagination, and Horizons.
But it didn’t last long.
‘90s
In the 1990s, everything was changing at Walt Disney World.
Image: Disney
Under the leadership of new CEO Michael Eisner, Disney Parks were destined to become cool, hip places where guests could “ride the movies!” Eisner must’ve been particularly embarrassed by the pop culture pun that EPCOT Center had become – the park kids dreaded spending a day at.
Meanwhile, the decade-long sponsorship agreements signed by many of EPCOT Center’s original financing corporations were coming up for renewal. It was in the early – mid 1990s that Disney counted on these corporations to fulfill their obligations and pay big bucks to overhaul and update Future World’s pavilions. Instead, many were on the fence, and others were leaving.
Image: Disney
A series of refreshes and rebranding would soon get underway, and Universe of Energy was one of the first in need of it. Perhaps more than any other pavilion’s topic, “energy” was an area of great interest to the scientific community, and a lot had changed in the decade since the ride’s opening. Not to mention, the pavilion’s tone was a step more self-serious than any of the park’s other pavilions – a quality guests seemed to dislike. (Other park classics like World of Motion, Wonders of Life, Journey into Imagination, and a fellow Lost Legend: Kitchen Kabaret tended to get the point across without being preachy or self-important.)
Exxon was on board to extend its sponsorship, but the company wanted assurances that the ride would be updated and refreshed to continue to draw in more guests.
Crisis
Imagineers pitched a new concept to Exxon.
Image: Disney / ABC
Disney was in the process of buying the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) television network… all a part of Michael Eisner’s master plan to transform Walt Disney Productions into the Walt Disney Company – the international media conglomerate we know today. As part of Disney’s acquisition of ABC, they’d gain access to a whole new group of television shows and stars to use in the parks, and one of those new connections was to comedian Ellen Degeneres, star of ABC’s hit primetime sitcom Ellen.
With Ellen on board, Disney hoped to lighten the pavilion’s tone, reusing its infrastructure to craft a more friendly way to learn about energy resources. Universe of Energy closed on January 20, 1996. Ellen’s Energy Crisis was meant to be ready after a simple 5-month closure of the pavilion, but problems with the new filming and editing of the attraction forced Disney’s hand and they announced that the new ride would not be ready for summer 1996 as planned.
That created a serious problem on the west side of the park.
Image: Disney
World of Motion was already closed to begin its multi-year transformation into the fast-paced Lost Legend: TEST TRACK, and the king of all of EPCOT’s Lost Legends: Horizons was shuttered en route to its final closure and replacement by Mission: SPACE. With Universe of Energy down, too, only the Wonders of Life pavilion (and its Lost Legend: Body Wars) would be open on the west side of Future World.
Thinking quickly, Disney decided to re-open Universe of Energy mid-redesign, offering a hybrid of the old and new attraction. The Kinetic Motion screens from the preshow were gone, but the new Ellen-featured film wasn’t ready, meaning the old preshow was projected onto the new screen. Audio was edited in the ride theaters to avoid mentioning the projections no longer featured, and in the finale, the projections lost their luster without the mirrors that amplified them.
Most hilariously, a new Audio Animatronics figure of Ellen Degeneres was hidden when Imagineers simply placed temporary rockwork in front of it, with a dinosaur lunging toward the rock.
As soon as the summer season was over, Disney shut the pavilion again and continued work in earnest. When Universe of Energy re-opened on September 15, 1996, Ellen’s Energy Adventure was ready for primetime. This is where many readers will begin to recognize the ride we’ve lost… Read on…
Ellen’s Energy Adventure
Image: Disney
If you visited Disney World a decade ago, you’ll remember EPCOT Center and its educational, thought-provoking pavilions. But even here in 1996, it’s almost laughable to consider the technologies, viewpoints, and ideals showcased as “cutting edge” back then. While the gleaming utopia present in each of the park’s epic dark rides might still look unattainable, the park’s infrastructure, architecture, even typefaces look distinctly of the ’80s… Things are changing fast, and even the quality of a video projection can betray a decade’s age.
While the grand sign erected before the park’s geometric pavilion still reads UNIVERSE OF ENERGY presented by (the newly merged and minted) ExxonMobil, the attraction inside the pavilion has changed. The only indication of that, though, would be the white thatched garden wall erected nearby. Now forget the ’80s… if the bright colors, bolt patterns, and typefaces here don’t assure you that Ellen’s Energy Adventure is straight outta 1996, the presence of Ellen Degeneres (star of ABC’s Ellen) and Bill Nye (from PBS’ Bill Nye the Science Guy) will. (Although the sign doesn’t mention it, we may also bump into Jamie Lee Curtis, Alex Trebek, and Johnny Gilbert.)
Image: Disney
A digital countdown clock on the exterior ticks away the minutes until the next show. Ellen’s Energy Adventure has a capacity of nearly 600 people, so if there’s a wait, it’s probably just until the next show starts. Cast members and signs will also remind you of a piece of information too important to miss: from entrance to exit, you should count on spending 45 minutes inside. There are no restrooms along the way, and unlike a traditional show, there’s not even a chance to exit with squirmy children. Are you in or out?
Alright, then let’s step inside the pavilion. Just inside, the wide preshow theater (once home to those flipping, synchronized Kinetic Mosaic projection tiles) is now decorated with a more traditional projection surface made of five screens. But what’s showing on it is quite unlike anything else at Epcot.
Ellen Degeneres appears, snapping between the five screens. After a traditionally-Ellen opening comedy monologue, the omnipresent Ellen snaps us to her apartment, where she’s settling in to watch her favorite show.
Image: Loren Javier, Flickr (license)
“This is Jeopardy!” The television host announces. As Jeopardy!‘s unmistakable musical theme kicks on, there’s a knock at the door – it’s Ellen’s next door neighbor, Bill Nye the Science Guy. Bill settles in on the couch next to Ellen, who notices that one of the contestants on tonight’s Jeopardy is her old college roommate, Judy Peterson – a doctor of energy! “She was such a smarty-pants know-it-all. I had the best nickname for her, though.”
“What was that?” Bill asks.
“Stupid Judy. Who cares about Stupid Judy and her stupid energy?”
Bill scoffs. “Ellen, energy is the most important thing in the universe! I’m not taking her side, it’s just that… without energy, nothing would go! Nothing would happen! There’d be… nothing!”
“Well, then we’d really be in jeopardy then, wouldn’t we?” On TV, Judy responds correctly to a question about Israel. “Right again, Judy,” Ellen taunts. “Stupid Judy, stupid energy! Maybe the universe needs energy, but I don’t. I’ll take a nap for $100.” Of course, as Ellen reminds us, when a person falls asleep watching TV, they’re destined to have a dream sequeunce. In this case, Ellen has found herself as a contestant on Jeopardy!, facing off against Stupid Judy and Albert Einstein… and wouldn’t you know it, every category is about energy.
Image: Loren Javier, Flickr (license)
Alex Trebek offers the first question in the Fossil Fuels category. “The answer is: this was formed from microscopic plants and animals trapped in ocean floor sediments millions of years ago.” Ellen, of course, is clueless. One-two-skip-a-few and we find Judy reining supreme with over $17,000, Einstein with $0, and Ellen with a commanding –$100.
You see where we’d headed. Ellen freezes her dream and steps off Jeopardy!’s set, running into Bill Nye. He explains that he can help Ellen out by taking her back to the origins of energy on Earth… way back. We’re invited along, too, and as the doors beneath the screens open, we move forward into the ride itself.
Ellen’s dream
Once seated in the massive theater, small doors on the edge of each row curiously slide shut, closing you into the row… that seems an odd thing for a theater, but ah well.
In the darkness ahead, Ellen and Bill appear, walking through nothingless… at least, that’s how it looks. In reality, all of the energy that ever would be was already there, simply contained into an infinitely dense, infinitely hot point of matter. And all at once, that dense point of matter expanded, and fast. “Now what you’re about to witness took place over billions of years,” Bill explains… then, the tiny, distant speck of light erupts as our viewpoint goes racing through endless galaxies, zooming into a tiny distant point: our Sun. Not too far from it is a rocky orb covered in volanoes spewing lava and ash, rocky plains upheaved by tectonic action, basins carved by and filled with liquid water. Returning now to land, the barren, smoldering scene has changed… it’s covered in dense, thick, living plants.
Image: Loren Javier, Flickr (license)
It’s there that Ellen and Bill emerge. “Here we are!” Bill announces, checking his watch. “220 million years in the Earth’s past.”
Ellen looks around the dense prehistoric jungle, with the distant sounds of unknowable creatures chirping and hooting all around. “Where’s the energy?”
“Oh, it’s all around you! See, these plants and animals are soaking up energy from the sun. When they die, they get buried. Time, pressure, and heat will cook them into the fossil fuels we rely on today, like coal, natural gas, and oil.”
“Wait, you’re telling me that we’re filling our gas tanks with dinosaur soup?”
“Well, not exactly. But dinosaurs did live when fossil fuels were developing in the Earth. And… dinosaurs are just cool! Let’s check them out! Ellen, it’s a chance of a lifetime!”
As distant roaring grows, the physical theater begins to move… Hundreds of guests all at once! That’s because the theater is atop a giant turntable, and it’s rotating counterclockwise… What awaits there is one of the best staged reveals in all of Disney Parks… In the distance, barely visible against a glowing purple dawn… something is looming. The theater breaks apart into six ultra-wide ride vehicles that slowly advance out of the theater in a single file line and toward the distant giants… the closer they come, the clearer they are… we’ve indeed traveled back in time into the primeval world.
Image: Marada, Flickr (license)
It’s simply one of the most subtle, brilliant, and perfectly-staged set pieces in Disney history. As we grow nearer, the sunrise begins, illuminating these gentle giants as they chew on plant matter, dangling it right over the vehicles. As we pass, distant lightning strikes illuminate a much more harrowing scene.
Image: Disney
On a rocky outcropping overhead, a stegasaurus and an allosaurs battle against a precarious dropoff, lit by molten magma. Gliding slowly through the seven-minute diorama – the ride’s highlight – guests encounter a family of Ornithomimus drinking from a swamp, pteranodons perched against an erupting volcano, trachodons bathing beneath a waterfall, and more.
In one particularly memorable scene…
Image: Disney
… Ellen seems to fight off an Elasmosaurus with a tree branch! Entering into a rocky cavern, flashing lights signal a change. “C’mon, Ellen, let’s get a move on!”
Grand finale
The vehicle pulls into a darkened chamber with a projection of a stylized radio tower transmitting a signal. It’s KNRG radio. After a brief prehistoric broadcast (allowing the six vehicles time to reassemble into their original “theater” arrangement). Three massive wraparound screens are revealed, upon which Ellen and Bill Nye reappear. In a twelve-minute montage (the attraction’s most lengthy segment), the two explore current (and future!) energy resources from across the country – wind, solar, hydroelectric, and more. The takeaway? Ellen’s got it: “Seems like there are pros and cons to every one of these. What gives?”
“Well Ellen, there are no easy answers. Sun, water, geothermal steam, even wood all contribute. Right now, these renewables provide about 10% to the world’s energy, but we can expect they’ll be playing an even bigger role in the decades ahead!”
Image: Disney
It’s on to natural gas (“At the rate we’re going, we’re set for about sixty more years. But don’t worry… we’re always finding new natural gas all the time”) and oil (“it’s our main source of energy, and we’ve found enough to last at least 50 years! We’re far from running on empty!”) and fusion power!
“So I guess there’s never going to be just one answer,” Ellen realizes.
“But if we keep using our brain power,” Bill offers, “we’ll have lots of choices for the future!”
Ellen tunes back in to Jeopardy! just in time to catch up to Judy, putting them neck-and-neck for the Final Jeopardy round. Alex Trebek looks across them. “You will recall that our Final Jeopardy category on today’s program is the future of energy. So here’s the Final Jeopardy answer for you: this is the one source of energy that will never run out. Good luck.”
As the iconic Final Jeopardy theme begins, walls beneath the screen slide open, and the theater begins to advance forward. It returns to the original theater where the ride began.
It glides to a stop in the large theater as, far to the left, a new screen lights up – a humungous tube television screen. Resting atop the turntable, the theater begins to slowly rotate toward the television.
We’re now a theater of viewers watching the most unusual Jeopardy! episode yet. And it’s time for Judy and Ellen to reveal their Final Jeopardy questions.
Judy’s response? “Nothing. Because there is no answer.”
“Well actually, you’re wrong,” Alex shrugs. “Let’s go to Ellen and see what she came up with.”
“Uh, what is brain power, Alex?” Ding!
“You are correct!” Ellen walks away Jeopardy champion.
Image: Disney
“So, that’s how I became an energy expert. Again, expert may not be the exact word, more expert-ish. Anyway, I’ve gotta go… LOOK OUT FOR THE DINOSAUR! Kidding, just kidding.” As the lights dim, a dinosaur’s roar is heard in the distance. With the house lights restored, we’re finally free to exit back into the sunlight as leave the Universe of Energy behind, our seats perfectly positioned to welcome the next group, unaware of the unusual experience that awaits.
As frequent readers know, our Lost Legends entries always include the best point-of-view video we can find, to bring the ride back to life for a new generation and provide a little more insight and detail than our written ride-through alone can offer! Sit back, relax, and enjoy the full Ellen’s Energy Adventure experience below… But remember, the story’s not over. On the next page, we’ll explore the factors that played against Universe of Energy, and see how Epcot is poised to evolve now that its controversial replacement is officially on the way.
Universe of Energy – and its sole attraction, Ellen’s Energy Adventure – represented a step in Epcot’s evolution… one of the first pieces of a gradual shift between the storied, grand, stoic dark rides of old and the more modern, character-infused park we’re meeting today.
Image: Disney
In some ways, you could list Ellen’s Energy Adventure as one of the first times Epcot played host to “modern,” “current,” recognizable characters… even if those characters were well-known actors playing themselves. It was the first break in the shell of timelessness that had protected the park since opening.
But that also meant that, via the school of hard knocks, Disney was destined to find out some tough truths about Ellen’s Energy Adventure, and Universe of Energy as a whole… Here are just a few chips away that might’ve helped lead to the attraction’s upcoming eventual demise.
Lesson 1: Characters limit life
At least for our purposes, consider the elements of an attraction that tether it to a certain era. That doesn’t have to be a bad thing! Fantasyland dark rides that betray their 1955 opening are all the sweeter for it; remnants of Tomorrowland’s ‘70s stylized architecture are fan favorites; STAR TOURS was distinctly of the ‘80s, but beloved because of it.
But especially when you involve real, identifiable figures in an attraction, you indivisibly tie it to an era and a personality. Disney’s first real foray into this (Michael Eisner’s Lost Legend: Captain EO) is a great example. The attraction proudly banked on and revolved around one figure: Michael Jackson, and Jackson’s rough public life in the ‘90s doomed it even before its outdated ’80s style could.
Image: Disney
Luckily, neither Ellen Degeneres nor Bill Nye (nor certainly Alex Trebek!) faced a significant scandal in their decades-long careers, but by being physically present and represented in the ride, their presence tied Universe of Energy to the mid-‘90s.
In other words, the Ellen we meet in the pre-show is, very identifiably, not the Ellen we see on her hit talk show today. She looks, sounds, acts, and dresses like Ellen who starred in her eponymous sitcom two decades ago. Similarly, Bill Nye is his Disney-helmed Bill Nye the Science Guy self, not the 60-year old Bill who’s reemerged as a prominent pro-science figure today via the more adult-oriented Bill Nye Saves the World on Netflix.
Again, while it’s miraculous and spectacular that both are still relevant and identifiable to audiences more than two decades after the ride’s premier, their real life counterparts betray just how old Ellen’s Energy Adventure was… So let’s see… if this ride is twenty years old… and yet, Epcot is ostensibly meant to showcase the future… How could Ellen’s Energy Adventure be giving us the best (or at the very least, the most current and scientific) understanding of energy?
Lesson 2: As times change, audiences change
The most damning and regrettable lesson Universe of Energy taught us is one we’re embarrassed to even have to bring up… It was long. Really, really long.
In EPCOT Center’s early days, Universe of Energy was simply the most spectacular of an entire lineup of epic, oversized, massively scaled dark rides through industry. But for audiences of the 21st century, Universe of Energy was an outlier for its length. Today’s guests can’t stay off their cell phones during a 20-minute theme park revue show… much less a 45-minute dark ride. Stunning as it may be and as brilliantly as it might’ve adhered to the principles of Disney’s best dark rides, Ellen’s Energy Adventure was just a commitment.
Especially in an era of FastPass+, dining reservations, and transportation scheduling, a 45-minute attraction might’ve just been too long for audiences and attention spans. Repeated, continuous warnings about the ride’s length in the queue are evidence of just how serious this problem was.
And, like it or not, as the ride’s content and stars aged, that commitment became… well… increasingly less worthwhile for many repeat visitors.
Lesson 3: Sponsorship matters
Another growing stain on Universe of Energy? Its sponsorship.
Sure, sponsorship was meant to be the lifeblood of EPCOT Center and its industrious, reality-based attractions… It was the win-win Disney needed, ensuring the attractions would be financed and continuously refreshed, all in exchanged for letting the sponsors put their message and “spin” into the ride.
But something was stirring deep in the American psyche.
Image: ManoaChild, Wikimedia Commons (license)
To audiences of mid-century America, there was a true thrill to visiting World’s Fairs and marveling at the wonders of industry; the innovations and new concepts developed by American corporations – the height of capitalism and commercialism, and a glowing example of Americana!
But now, with the New Millennium nearing, American’s attitudes toward corporations began to shift… Wealthy CEOs, golden parachutes, Wall Street executives, lobbying… Blame it on the Internet putting the wealth of human knowledge into our pockets, but gradually and unconsciously, perception shifted.
Image: Disney / ABC News
Exxon, for its part, was still reeling from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill (considered the worst in history) and its slow response and cleanup efforts. All the while, Exxon was earning hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue as gas prices skyrocketed. In turn, it became clear that Exxon was financing to lobby Congress to support climate change denial, and against the scientific consensus that global warming is caused by the burning of fossil fuels… Not exactly EPCOT Center attitude.
People had to begin to wonder… do we really want ExxonMobil preaching to us about energy? Is the connection between energy and dinosaurs substantial enough to warrant a full dark ride on the subject? What of emerging energy sources, like solar and wind and hydroelectric… Do we even trust that ExxonMobil would give us the full story?
Of course, if you think that’s bad, you should see what happens to Epcot classics when they lose their sponsorship.
Image: Disney
In 2004, ExxonMobil dropped its 22-year-long sponsorship of the attraction. For many Epcot dark rides, that’s the end of the story. Look into another Lost Legend: Body Wars to see how a dropped sponsor often means Disney simply drops investment entirely and lets rides wither.
Luckily, Disney must’ve seen fit to continue financing the pavilion on its own, and Universe of Energy closed in 2008 for an extensive refurbishment. It re-opened on March 28, 2009 with upgraded audio systems, refreshed paint both in and on (red, orange, and yellow, harkening back to 1982) the pavilion, and updated ride operating systems. However, the show remained unchanged.
A relief… and yet, a disappointment given that the then-13-year-old overlay was already overdue for a rewrite.
Lesson 4: In staying true, sometimes you become the outlier
As years and years passed, perhaps even ardent fans could agree that Universe of Energy and Ellen’s Energy Adventure simply couldn’t last forever. That’s not a criticism! If EPCOT Center was determined to present actual content about actual areas of science and industry, it would need to change. And it was…
EPCOT Center was renamed simply Epcot, and roundabout the mid-90s, its storied and revered educational dark rides were indeed falling away… Some became character-infused family rides; some were replaced with “brainless” thrill rides only tenuously connected to the massive scientific concepts they feigned to represent; others closed entirely.
Image: FutureProbe1982, DeviantArt
Even the circular logos used to represent the pavilions were done away with, given that now many differed in style and substance… they didn’t feel related anymore, so the unifying icons were dropped.
Universe of Energy was a holdout… one remaining “classic” in a ‘90s redress that – by sticking to its guns as an educational epic dark ride – actually became the exception in a park changing around it!
On the next page, we’ll analyze the end of Universe of Energy… and the future of Epcot, forever changed by what’s coming next… You may not believe the consequences. Read on…
Omen
Image: Disney
Fast-forward to 2016 and across the country to Disney California Adventure – the beleagured younger sister of Disneyland (and the subject of its own Disaster File: Disney’s California Adventure feature). Fresh off of a 5-year, $1.2 billion redesign effort that had “turned back the clock” on the park’s once-modern-themed lands, California Adventure had “re-opened” in 2012, reborn as a true compliment to Disneyland with storied, reverent, historic, and distinctly-Californian settings and stories!
But a very unusual rumor began to circulate among Disney Parks fans… Far-fetched as it may have sounded, insiders were adamant that a big change was coming to the newly redesigned California Adventure.
Image: Disney
According to rumor, the park’s Twilight Zone Tower of Terror – a still-new E-Ticket thrill ride seemingly perfect for the reborn park’s Hollywood Land – would close. As if that weren’t nonsensical enough, these insiders suggested that the 1920s art deco Hollywood Tower Hotel would be transformed into a sci-fi superhero ride based on Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy.
So impossible did this rumor sound that many fans suggested it was a prank, invented just to see how far such a ridiculous and impossible rumor would travel among gullible message boards…
Image: Disney
Then, it happened. In one of our favorite features ever, we chronicled the unbelievable story of how Disney designed, dropped-in, then destroyed California Adventure’s Lost Legend: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. The 200-foot pueblo deco hotel lording over California Adventure was transformed into a sci-fi “warehouse prison power plant” based on “the beauty of an oil rig,” and Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! opened in 2017. Seemingly playing against the billion dollars Disney just spent getting rid of modern music, irreverence, and inconsistency, the well-received ride nonetheless repositions the park’s future path.
And apparently, the much more revered original Tower of Terror in Florida was due for the same change… Until rumors shifted to another park entirely…
Guardians of the Universe
Image: Disney / Marvel
On July 15, 2017 at the semi-annual D23 conference, it became official: Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy would move into the former Universe of Energy pavilion at Epcot. Little detail was provided, and fans still aren’t even sure what kind of ride this will be. Though a roller coaster was long rumored, the brief concept art and few words said about the attraction make a roller coaster seem a little unlikely… but a redressing of the 45-minute dark ride seems even more unlikely.
Disney did mention that (in-universe) Peter Quill – the fictional hero Star Lord, portrayed in the films by Parks & Rec’s Chris Pratt – has a history with the park, having visited in the 1980s. (Which aligns with his childhood, given that he was abducted by the alien Ravagers in 1988 to kick off the first movie.)
Image: Disney / Marvel
While the brief aside was actually derided by followers as a piece of unnecessary fan service meant to soften the unsoftenable blow of yet another classic dark ride being replaced with a trendy property, we suspect it may actually have a purpose for being; that Imagineers do intend for this ride to be more than a sci-fi superhero action ride, and may actually try to tie it into the park’s Future World.
After all, the Guardians characters are infamously self-aware and self-depricating (On California Adventure’s retrofitted Tower ride, the elevator doors open to views across the resort and Rocket yells “Is that Disneyland?! But that’s thematically inconsistant!” Ha. Ha.) so it wouldn’t be out of this world to imagine the characters outright acknowledging that they’ve set up camp in an Epcot pavilion.
Whether such an “educational” component will exist at all or not is still unknown, much less if the takeaway message could be related to energy.
Image: Disney / Marvel
At the end of the day, we just hope Epcot’s Guardians ride is formatted into a way that even kind of fits into Future World – a step above the treatment in California right out the gate.
That said, the movie’s writer and director – James Gunn – has said on his Twitter (in response to fan backlash) that the ride he’s working on will stay true to “Walt’s vision.”
I know what’s in store and I think it’s absolutely in line with Walt’s vision & couldn’t be more so.
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) July 16, 2017
We suspect he means EPCOT Center’s vision, unless he intends to turn the Energy pavilion into contemporary housing units connected via high-efficiency public transportation. In any case, that signifies that he is at least aware of the thin ice he treads in making his sci-fi heroes fit into Epcot’s unique environment… A balancing act Imagineers clearly fumbled on with California Adventure’s ride.
Click and expand for larger. Image: Disney
The new Guardians of the Galaxy attraction, by the way, will be just one piece of a multi-phase plan to reinvent Epcot entirely. While E-Tickets will be on the way to both Future World and World Showcase, it’s the former that’ll also get the stylistic upgrade (which is still undecided – the artwork above is just a placeholder). An evolution of a long-delayed plan to redesign Future World entirely (as chronicled in its own entry, Possibilityland: Project – GEMINI), the hope is that a redesigned Future World will minimize the cold, sterile, open, concrete ‘80s future in favor of greenery, organic pathways, water, and a more naturalistic and adaptable view of tomorrow.
Last straw
The Universe of Energy pavilion and Ellen’s Energy Adventure closed forever on August 13, 2017 – the same day as another Lost Legend: The Great Movie Ride.
It’s not just that Epcot is losing yet another “classic” dark ride, or that Universe of Energy contains the last, fading remnants of the park’s original DNA. It’s certainly not that Universe of Energy (or Ellen’s Energy Adventure) was sacrosanct – too revered and essential to change. Quite the opposite, any hope for Universe of Energy practically required a rewrite and a reinvention.
What is the issue is that, at least to Disney Parks historians and fans of EPCOT Center, the loss of Universe of Energy signals the pulling of the plug; the final pillar of EPCOT Center’s brave, industrious, new way of looking at themed entertainment.
Maybe you could argue that EPCOT Center failed long ago, and that the closure of Universe of Energy is overdue. But to our way of thinking, the problems EPCOT Center faced in transitioning to the 21st century were Disney’s own doing. Each pavilion in turn faced one of two fundamental issues:
- The pavilion didn’t change until it was too late. Some attractions fell into such conceptual disrepair after so many years without the incremental upgrades necessary, any reasonable path forward required a complete rewrite. Some attractions were simply too outdated for a “quick fix.”
- The pavilion did change, but diverged away from the rest. Some (like Horizons and World of Motion) sacrificed their “brains” for “brawn,” becoming 21st century thrill rides that lost their wide scope. (Who, after all, would say that TEST TRACK is a better look into the concept of “transportation” than World of Motion?) Others (Journey into Imagination and The Living Seas) simply got character infusions to cover their dated styles. Others (Innoventions and Wonders of Life) were literally just abandoned. This painful diversion not only cheapened each pavilion’s integrity, but defeated the whole point… the interconnectedness; the unity even in difference. Horizons and The Land were connected; Journey into Imagination and World of Motion were teaching the same thing; Universe of Energy and The Land were sisters. Now, the pavilions are scattered… and maybe that’s why the park is.
Image: Disney
At least from here, it seems that the change to Universe of Energy exemplifies both. That’s why – come what may when Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy join Disney World’s attraction lineup – EPCOT Center is dead. And sure, it’s been dying for a while. But that interconnectedness; the World’s Fair concept; the brains and bravery behind a new way of making Disney Parks… they’re a thing of yesterday. Perhaps the great, big, beautiful tomorrow Imagineers are developing for Future World will reunite the pavilions once again… but this time around, expect the common thread to be Disney, Marvel, and Pixar intellectual properties…
The complete stories of closed classics don’t end here. Make the jump to our In-Depth Collections Library to set course for your next Lost Legend.
Now we want to hear from you… was this inevitable when it came to Universe of Energy – the most epic of EPCOT Center’s epic dark rides? Could a 45-minute “educational” (and admittedly outdated) dark ride truly continue much farther into the future for the sake of nostalgia? Could it have been updated? Or is the connection between dinosaurs and energy simply too tangential and one-sided to represent the much larger concept of “Energy” anyway? Are you excited for Epcot’s new path with Marvel at the helm?
