ABANDONED EPISODE 7

HORIZONS

BRIGHT SUN GAMING

[INTRO]

Right so, Horizons has a massively rich history and that’s a big reason why I wanted to do this video also that many people don’t know the full story. So, I’m going to grind it down into a few minutes. Also I get that this isn’t really abandoned per say, however the building itself did sit abandoned for a few years, that along with the fact I really want to do this video is making me accept it as abandoned. Anyway lets get into it.

So around 1978 and 1979, concepts were pitched to Walt Disney Executives. The rides extremely early incarnations were to be the history of Thomas Edison and GE’s origins. This idea came straight from Regional Jones, the CEO of General Electric at the time. That didn’t last for long when Imaginers switched the idea of the ride to show the future other then the past. The ride was to be called CENTURY 3 as America entered its 3rd century. Models and sketches for the pavilion showed the pavilion to feature an Omnimax theater and an observation tower. The Design team then thought the name was too American as people from around the world would be visiting EPCOT so the name was changed the to FutureProb. This version of the ride would feature Mission Control narrating the ride. After much debate between GE and Disney, sometime between August and September of 1981, the name was once again changed to its permanent one, Horizons.

Development on the ride came a bit too late and Disney wasn’t able to make the deadline of opening day. The ride itself was shown in the concept art and models for the park in 1980 and 1981. Then on October 1st 1982, EPCOT Center opens to the public after going way over budget excessing between 800 million to a staggering 1.4 Billion dollars which in 2015 would be around 3.6 Billion Dollars.During the opening year, Horizons appeared on guests guide maps saying the emerging structure was to open later that year. The ride was being built in Future World East and in-between The Universe Of Energy (Now EEA) and The World Of Motion (Now Test Track). Then, exactly one year after the opening of EPCOT Center, Horizons opened to the Public on October 1st, 1983 under sponsorship of General Electric. The ride costed Disney 60 Million dollars in 1981 which equals now to about 155 Million dollars in 2015.

This was the only ride that incorporated all the major themes of Future World in EPCOT. Theomnimover ride brought guests through different looks on the same big future, bringing you through three different people doing different jobs in the future showcasing space housing, agriculture technology and undersea living. That along with additional scenes of the history and future.Props and projected screens were mainly used to tell the story. --- PLAY RIDETHROUGH VIDEO WITH “IF WE CAN DREAM IT, THEN WE CAN DO IT” MUSIC ---At the end, much like spaceship earth now, you were given 3 different endings to choose from. These were films made from models, and one of which holding the record for being the longest continues shot of a model.

Then things started to get bad for Horizons. On September 30th1993, General Electrics contract to sponsor the attraction expired and GE refused to renew it which left the attraction without a sponsor for the first time. Within a few months, all signs that mentioned GE were removed along with the voice spiel in the beginning and end of the attraction were altered to remove GEs name. At this point, Horizons was the only attraction in EPCOT to be without a sponsor. The attraction would remain sponsorless for the rest of its existence.

Then, in late 1994 the inevitable happened, Horizons closed to all guests. The attraction is then left abandoned for an entire year until to the surprise of many people in December of 1995, it reopened with no renovations and nothing changed. Why did it reopen? Well both the Transportation and Energy pavilions were closed for renovations, meaning only Wonders Of Life would be open in Future World East. So to relieve the crowds, Horizons opened back up to the public. During this time rumors circled of the attractions building being turned into Journey into space, which was an abandoned concept of a space pavilion in EPCOT but this concept was cancelled. This went on for roughly 4 more years as Horizons became a seasonal attraction.

It was widely expected by then that Horizons would close when Test Track was set to open in 1998. However Test Track had some serious delays in its testing phase, go figure, and it was eventually delayed up until January 9th of 1999 when the World of Motion re-opened as Test Track. By this time Future World East now had 3 different pavilions under full operation and now the inevitable happened. On January 9th 1999, Horizons closed permanently. The pavilion was left abandoned for around 8-9ish months until on September 23rd all signage for the ride was removed. Now apparently on October 1st 1999 some press groups rode the ride at night. I couldn’t find much reason as to why, maybe because it was its 15th year anniversary but who knows, the fact of the matter is, the ride was still intact after being abandoned for nearly 10 months. This was great news for fans of the ride, now proving the rides still here. However, on EPCOTS Millennium Celebration for the year 2000, to the surprise of many guests, Horizons didn’t reopen to guests to handle the crowds.

Still, the building was left abandoned until reports came in saying the building was being emptied out. On March 13th thiswas confirmed when people caught Disney transporting the ride vehicles off the property and permits for the demolition of the building were leaked to the public. Once the word was out it wasn’t too long until Disney finally announced that Horizons was to be replaced. The Disney announcement which occurred on April 20th andsaid the Horizons building was to be removed to make room for a larger space themed attraction by the name of Mission: Space. It wasn’t long after that the demolition of the Horizons building. Then finally in August of 2000, the ground was completely clear. Then in October 17th 2000, the foundation was poured and Mission: Space started construction until finally on August 14th 2003, Mission: Space officially opens to the public.

So, why did Horizons close? Well there’s many theory’s as to why it closed and Disney never gave us a real reason other then that the Mission Space Pavilion was larger then the Horizons one which is completely untrue. So allegedly they did a little bit of Disney lying as the real reason the building was to be torn down is something much more serious. It seems that sometime in the mid to late 90s, a sinkhole began to form under the Horizons building. Now apparently Disney already knew the building was under put under a lot of stress from the ride system, however later Disney discovered the building was in much worse condition then they previously thought and they had serious concerns for the safety of guests and cast members. After all the years Horizons had been opened, the building was collapsing in on itself and causing massive roof and structural problems and Disney had no other option but to tear it down.

During the construction of Mission: Space, metal gurders filled the alleged sinkhole. Horizons went from 1983 – 1999, it truly defined what EPCOT was about. Is Mission Space a worthy successor? Absolutely not, it always has short wait times for a 100 million dollar attraction also given that its injured and killed the most people in WDW. Sooooooo not the best ride to live up to Horizons and it would be amazing if they would bring it back in anyway. Horizons now will now only live in people memories and online. Thank you very much for watching everyone, have a great day, and thanks for watching.

[OUTRO]