Today I'm going to talk about a wonderful attraction that was located in EPCOT center.
It was the World Of Motion, a state-of-the-art dark ride that featured many animated scenes of the past, present and future transport systems. It opened in 1982, at the same EPCOT center opened.
The attraction was sponsored by GM (General Motors, a company that everybody knows and that unfortunately suffered from bankruptcy) and was located exactly to the right of HORIZONS (another EPCOT former attraction, now changed in MISSION:Space), in Future World, as seen on this old park map:
As I said before, it was really beautyful. It featured the highest number of Audio-Animatronics EVER (188 !), with 33 animated props and 24 full-scale sets! It was really impressive also in its duration: indeed the length of the ride was 14:30 minutes!
Here you can see some of the various scenes of the dark-ride:
Here you'll find pictures of the building, that as you can see didn't change a lot:
The ride begins as guests board their omnimover vehicles, each seating up to six. Exiting the pre-show queue area, guests begin their ascent. The familiar site of the vehicles moving up the modern u-turn platform at the entrance to the ride gives those below a glimpse of the adventure inside. Entering the building, guests find themselves in an ancient cave, but not alone. Soon, footsteps appear on the walls beside the vehicles, heralding the dawn of transportation - foot power.
The second scene depicts early water transportation, showing dwellers floating along on a raft.Next, animal power is introduced. An Assyrian tableau shows man's attempts at harnessing camels, ostriches, and zebras.
The invention of the wheel scene, one of the more memorable, shows three men offering their creations to the King of Babylon. One holds a square, the other a triangle, and the winner holds his prized wheel.
Past an ancient 'wheel factory', guests find themselves in the used chariot lot. The Trojan horse, among other offerings are put up for sale.
Leonardo da Vinci's attempts in flight are shown next, alongside an ignored and visably upset Mona Lisa.
"The Age of Flight" scene finds a man and his animal companions peering down on London from the basket of a hot air balloon.
A Mississippi river boat heralds the introduction of steam power. And the western expansion is shown by a neverending parade of stagecoaches and buckboards.
"Finally, the steam railroads...dependable, fast, and safe transportation..."
Unless, of course, you happened to be one the unlucky individuals stuck on this train, in the robbery scene. The train is completely authentic.
Probably one of the most photographed scenes is the "world's first traffic jam." This American city, circa 1910, has its town square buzzing with excitement...and cars honking, an ice truck spilling its load, an upset horse, cops, kids screaming, and much more to add to the frenzy.
The open road of the twentieth century is depicted in the next few scenes. They include a family picnic, an outing to an airfield, and a highway scene filled with classic cars from the 40's, 50's and 60's.
The speed-tunnels are a tribute to the success of the one found in "If You Had Wings," at the Magic Kingdom. World of Motion vehicles pass through the center of bullet-shaped rooms while filmed images are displayed around the vehicles. These included crop-dusting, bobsledding, and hurtling down a snowmobile trail. The illusion is very convincing, and a guest favorite.
The ride is capped of by a glipse of the future. Vehcles descend around the CenterCore, a depiction of the city of tomorrow, which uses the full height (60ft) of the building. The city is created with fiber optics, liquid-neon, projectors, and advanced lighting technologies.Just before dismebarking, guests are shown, Haunted Mansion-style, just what it might be like to ride in a car of the future. The ride vehicles turn toward a mirror, and the occupants appear to be riding in one of 3 GM-designed concepts.
Here you can see a very famous sea dragon that was featured in the attraction (the man in the picture is Christopher Columbus)
That sea monster is now still existing, but unfortunately it rests in the backstage of Disney's California Adventure, as seen in this picture:
As you probably know, the former World of Motion was closed on January 6, 1996 because GM defined it "obsolete" (and I absolutely DON'T agree with them).
After its closure, works began on site to build TEST TRACK, which was envisioned as a continuation of the same theme of World of Motion.
TEST TRACK is really good, but I will really miss World of Motion!
See you next time with another update from the Theme Parks History section!
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