We can see a new horizon built on all that we have done as our dreams begin another thousand circles 'round the sun
We Go On - lyrics
CENTURY 22 is our contemporary update to the former Horizons pavilion concept at Epcot, Walt Disney World. Horizons opened on October 1, 1983, one year after the official opening of EPCOT Center. The pavilion was sponsored by General Electric, which had a long history collaborating with Disney, dating back to the Carousel of Progress at the 1964 World's Fair. In many ways, Horizons followed the traditions of Carousel of Progress, only instead of looking back at progress spanning a century, it looked forward to provide guests a glimpse of the future. The audioanimatronic family living in Horizons resembled the family from Carousel of Progress, and "It's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" featured in one of Horizons' scenes. In 1993, GE dropped their sponsorship of the pavilion. Horizons, although a popular attraction, was the only pavilion at that time with no sponsor. It operated seasonally until 1999, after which it was demolished to make way for Mission Space.
Horizons began with a look back at how the "future" had been depicted from Jules Verne to the 1950s, used an Omnisphere portion of the ride to outline current technological innovations such as DNA, computer chips, and land satellite imagery, and then went on to reveal environments in a future city, a desert farming community, outer space colony, and undersea community. At the end of the ride, guests could chose which vision of the future most appealed to them. Each rider had selection buttons in front of them, but "majority ruled" as to what short video presentation (desert, sea, or space) guests in that vehicle would see at the conclusion of the ride.
In designing CENTURY 22, we retain several of the features of Horizons, including putting guests in the middle of the action by allowing them to design their own vision of what is important to them in the future. We also incorporate the use of family in the physical displays, so that guests can picture themselves in those environments. We minimize a look back at the past, but launch this attraction with an homage to Walt Disney, whose vision of an experimental prototype community of tomorrow prompted a unique theme park. We've tried to take into consideration quality of life issues, rather than what might be technologically possible. Finally, our vision includes "achievable future" (that which might be possible given technological advances), along with a fanciful look at what might be possible at the dawn of the 22nd Century.
We selected the site of the former Wonders of Life (now seasonal headquarters for various festivals) as the location for our new pavilion. Our pavilion design takes inspiration from the building depicted below. The white color suggests a blank canvas on which to build a vision for the future. It is both contemporary and futuristic, and would fit well within Epcot's Future World. The ride system is detailed later, but uses trackless technology combined with a "thrill" element. Click on the navigation tabs above for more detail about each aspect of this attraction from the queue to guest inspired visions of the future.