Horizons - Future Port Music (Scene 1) from EPCOT Center - Future World Attraction Information, Research and Statistics

Last Updated:7/14/05

Attraction Footage:

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Cast:

Father/Narrator:  Bob Holt
Mother/Narrator:  Dena Dietrich
Easy Living Television Singer:  Larry Cedar
Tom2/Boyfriend/BeachBoy:  Tom Fitzgerald

Cast Photos:

Bob Holt	Dena Dietrich	Tom Fitzgerald	Larry Cedar

Designers, Composers and Crew Members

GE Chairman:  Reginald Jones
GE Chairman Successor:  Jack Welch
GE Creative Design Team Rep:  Ned Landon
Musical Composer/Writer (If we can Dream it...):  George Wilkins
Musical Score Composer:  George Wilkins
Musical Score Composer:  Richard Bellis
Musical Score Composer:  John Debney
Aeoleon Harp Synthesizer Musician:   Richard Boddicker
Pipe Organ Musician: Richard Bolks
Initial Concept Art (1979)/Show Design Team:  Collin Campbell & George McGinnis
Post Show Concept Designer(FutureFair/unused):  Marc Nowadnick & George McGinnis
Story Team:  Tom Fitzgerald
Entrance/Exit Mural Designer:  Bob McCall
OmniMAX Sequence Director:  Eddy Garrick
Building Architectural Design:   George Rester
Architecture/Attraction Layout:   Bill Norton
Industrial Designer/Attraction Layout:   Bob Kurzweil
Attraction Design Engineer:  Marty Kindel
Initial Concept Director:   Claude Coates
Project Show Designer:   George McGinnis
Show Designer:  John Berman
Show Designer:  Gil Keppler
Show Designer (Robots):  Ernie Soos
Show Designer (Floating City & Space Colony Scenics):  Shim Yokoyama
Show Designer:  Greg Wilzbach
Set Design Team:  Alex Taylor
Undersea Restaurant Set Designer:  Tom Sherman
Dimensional Design Team:  Trevor Bryant
Finale Film & Model Director:  David Jones
Finale Model Design Team:  Ken Larson
Underwater Classroom Student Animatronic Concept Model:  Scott McGinnis
Underwater Classroom Student Animatronic Concept Model:  Shana McGinnis
Space Port "Tommy" Animatronic Conceptual Model:  Reed McGinnis
Concept Music:(Unused)   Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman

Designers, Composers and Crew Members Photos

The Sherman Bros	Tom Fitzgerald	Alex Taylor	George McGinnis	John Debney	Richard Bellis

Claude Coates	Reed McGinnis	Shana McGinnis	Scott McGinnis	Reginald Jones	Jack Welch

Bob McCall	George Wilkins

Attraction Statistics

Site Work:  August 5, 1981
Ground Breaking:  circa January 6, 1982
Dedication Ceremony:   October 1, 1983
Guest Opening:   October 1, 1983
Attraction Closing:   January 9, 1999 (Mission Space was its successor)
Cost:  
Sponsor:   General Electric (until September 30, 1993)
Total Land Occupation   136,835 Square Feet (3.141 Acres)
Length:
Highest Point  Space Sequence 65 feet above ground.
Ride duration:   14 minutes 52 seconds
Video Playbacks:  13
Video Monitors:  4
Film Projectors:  12
Video Projectors:   9
Ride System:   Suspended Omnimover variation (vehicles weight approx 3000 lbs a piece)
Vehicle Numbers:  174 on track with 10 spare vehicles
Speed: Average: 1.5 Feet Per Second ...(0.457 m/s)
Dispatch Interval   approx 4.8 Seconds
Riders:   4 Guests max per vehicle, Approx. 2,784 Guests per Hour
Restrictions:   None
Residence:   54 Audio Animatronics, 770 Props, within 24 Sets

Attraction Historical Information

Originally to be entitled, "Century 3" and later Futureprobe, Horizons is a trip through time that never was, showing us the innovation of the future and what 21st Century living would be like, on land, under the sea, and even out in space. Under the Sponsorship of GE, Horizons is the "continuing saga" of the Carousel of Progress. Where the Carousel was a look at the history of innovation, Horizons takes a look at the possibilities that awaited us in the 21st century, holding firmly to the belief, "If we can dream it. We can do it."

Horizons opened during EPCOT Center's 1st birthday on October 1, 1983. GE's sponsorship would run for the next 10 years before their contract expired on September 30, 1993. The attraction, now running without a corporate sponsor closed for a brief time in late 1994 and would not reopen until December 1995, due to the current "progress" and lack of attractions currently operating within Future World East. The World of Motion had closed for its Test Track Transformation, scheduled to open in 1997, and the Universe of Energy was currently undergoing its own transformation to Ellen's Energy Adventure which would not open until 1996. Unfortunately the 21st Century caught up with Horizons as it was permanently retired on January 9, 1999 to make way for Mission: Space sponsored by Compaq/Hewlett Packard.

Horizons marks several firsts in theme park ingenuity and engineering as a whole. The DNA sequence would mark the first time computer animation would ever be used in OmniMax format. Furthermore, this would also be the first time that Lansat animation (the Earth simulation sequence) would be used in the OmniMax format, the first time that 2 OmniMax screens would ever be merged together making 1 large experience. Not being the most prestigious of "firsts", Horizons also marks the first pavilion that was demolished to make way for further development of EPCOT Center.

With the presence of genetic engineering already underway, Disney Imagineer Alex Taylor took things one step further, by developing such fruits and vegetables as Solar Berries, Flavor Grapes (Grapes of Varying Flavors), Siamese Apples (3 Apples growing as 1 stacked together), Pinanas (Pineapple Banana Hybrid), and the signature of Horizons, the Lorange, a lime/orange hybrid. It is this fragrance that one would experience when entering the desert farm sequence. The smell was diffused into the air with the help of the handy "Smellitzer" system.

GE technology was once again displayed throughout the attraction through the use of TV and film projectors, lighting, ride-vehicle motors, radio systems etc. As an ode to GE's former sponsorship of the Carousel of Progress, The Sherman Bros song, "A great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" from the 1964 World Fair version of the attraction was used during the "Easy Living" segment and sung by Larry Cedar.

References to Horizons are still in use in Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Mission Space carries a reference to the attraction which occupied the ground where it now stands. In Disneyland, shots of Horizons' "Easy living" segment can be seen as artwork on the "Carousel Theater" as well as during the pre-show video presentation.

Attraction Trivia

Disneyland's Monsantos Home of the Future can be seen in the future from the 50s segment

The extensive Bob McCall Mural at the attractions exit was replaced due to guest confusion of GE's tie in. It was replaced with a rotating GE symbol projection and color-backlit alternating transluncent panels

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