Spaceship Earth (Epcot)

Spaceship Earth is the iconic and symbolic structure of Epcot, a theme park that is part of the Walt Disney World Resort. One of the most recognizable structures at the Walt Disney World Resort, it is not only the centerpiece and main focal point of Epcot, but also the name of the attraction housed within the 18-story geodesic sphere that takes guests on a time machine themed experience using the Omnimover system. The 13-minute dark ride shows guests how advancements in human communication have helped to create the future one step at a time. The attraction involves a timeline from the origins of prehistoric man to the dawn of the 21st century, where guests can then create a future for themselves.

Background

The structure was designed with the help of science fiction writer Ray Bradbury, who also helped write the original storyline for the attraction.

The term 'Spaceship Earth' was coined by Buckminster Fuller,who also developed the structural mathematics of the geodesic dome.


Ride scenes

Audio-animatronic cavemen in the first scene of the ride. The scene has since been updated with new figures and an animated background.The ride begins with the Omnimover vehicles ascending into a dark tunnel with twinkling stars all around. Midway, the guests are asked to have their picture taken to be used later in the ride, and in the post-show where you can email your picture. Guests then see prehistoric man fighting for survival, later on Cavemen are depicted, who developed the first spoken languages. Then guests see the Egyptians, who invented a system of hieroglyphs and made papyrus on which to record them; Phoenician merchants, who developed a written alphabet (the Phoenician alphabet); Ancient Greece, where the theater was a popular form of entertainment; and Ancient Rome, whose leaders built a vast system of roads all over Europe.

After the sacking of Rome by invaders, guests see scenes of the Middle Ages, when Jewish and Islamic scholars continued to progress in science, and when monks copied Bibles by hand. The attraction then moves on to the European Renaissance, the development of the movable-type printing press, and the 20th century communications revolution—newspapers, telegraphs, radio, telephones, movies, television, as well as the computer.

The remainder of the ride is involved in seeing a depiction of Earth from space, traveling through an infinite amount of stars and into a realm of glowing triangles. The guests can then use the touch-screens in their Omnimover vehicle to fill out a questionare to create a possible depiction of their future, which uses the pictures taken at the beginning of the ride.