02x05 - EPCOT

[bunniefuu]

[birds chirping]

[announcer] Remain seated, please.

[in Spanish] Please remain seated.

[♪ theme music]

[♪ dramatic music]

[narrator in English] The past,
the present,the future, the world.

These lofty ideas come together
in a place, a place called...

EPCOT.

What's an EPCOT?

Experimental Prototype Community
of Tomorrow.

Oh, EPCOT, of course.

[narrator] Right.

And there's nowhere else on Earth
quite like it.

This ever-evolving, ever-changing...

-[train horn honks]
-...massive area in Florida

blends the best of humanity
and the best of Disney

in one harmonious center for progress.

From Walt's original concept
to the cutting-edge attractions of today,

the story of EPCOT really is one of past,
present, and future.

But we'll start this story right now,
where we find ourselves in the '60s

with Walt talking about a yesterday
in the '50s.

You know, it seems like only yesterday
that Disneyland

was just an idea and some plans on paper.

[narrator] But yesterday
quickly became tomorrow...

To all who come to this happy place...

Welcome.

...and the extraordinary beginning
of Disneyland

inspired and delighted park guests
from around the world.

In fact, it was so magical

that Walt started to be asked
an inevitable question.

[Jim] "Are you going to build another
Disneyland?"

And he would say,
"There will never be another Disneyland."

[narrator]
Content with living out his days

above the firehouse on Main Street,
Walt Dis... just kidding.

Walt had much bigger plans
than just making another Disneyland.

What plans for the future do you have
at Disneyland?

Well, there's a little plaque out there
that says,

"As long as there is imagination left
in the world,

Disneyland will never be complete."

[narrator] Yep. Walt had a lot of plans.

And, of course, as you all
probably know by now,

it was the 1964-'65 World's Fair

that gave Wald Disney the chance
to fulfill those plans,

where he used sponsorship
to develop audio-animatronics

and other technology

that would revolutionize attractions
for decades to come.

But this story is more about
how people saw

Walt's attractions at the World's Fair.

[announcer] Each day, thousands of people
pour through the gates to see this fair.

[narrator] Efficiently pouring through,


And certainly, the whole experience
got him to thinking about

the way cities are planned
and the way communities can come to be

and it just got his wheels turning.

[narrator] But Walt Disney reinvented
wheels as opposed to turning them.

The New York World's Fair got him
very interested

in how to develop a community
where people could live and work

and have entertainment and everything

and just improve the lifestyle
of the average American.

[narrator] Even for Walt Disney,

these noble goals were beyond
anything he'd achieved before.

But that didn't stop him
from doing it anyway.

As the mustachioed maestro
of Imagineering,

John Hench was about to find out.

He put his hand on my shoulder
and that wasn't very usual for him to do.

[John] He said, "Hey, how'd you like
to work on the city of the future?"

So far beyond anything that anybody
would ever have ever expected.

I was caught by surprise, of course,
and I don't know what I said,

"Hey, wow" or "Sure"
or something like that,

you know, what else could I do?

And I expected him to say something more

but he just smiled kind of enigmatically
and kept on walking.

[narrator] But Walt didn't need to say
anymore to Hench

because even stronger
than their shared affinity for mustaches,

was the creative shorthand between them.

After all, Hench was not only
the official Mickey Mouse portrait artist

but also the lead Imagineer
on legendary projects,

including The Hall of Presidents and...

[announcer] Tomorrowland.

[narrator] He would also go on to design
the iconic Space Mountain.

But with EPCOT,
he had a new mountain to climb.

Luckily, he wouldn't be doing it alone,

because another of Walt's
most trusted Imagineers,

Marty Sklar was on board too.

Marty Sklar and John Hench
really as the dynamic duo.

[narrator]
And this duo of Imagineering greats

tried to interpret how a city
of the future

could be applied to a Disney park.

In fact, Marty wrote
and produced this very film...

Here is Walt Disney.

...in part, to help Walt explain
what exactly he meant by this whole,

"City of the Future" thing.

And I was fortunate enough
to be brought in

and actually wrote a film
about that project for Walt Disney.

This is where the early planning
that's taking place for our so-called

"Disney World Project."

In that film, we tried to have Walt
explain what he had in mind,

as well as what he had in mind
in the overall project.

By far the most important part
of our Florida project,

in fact, the heart of everything
we'll be doing in Disney World

will be our Experimental Prototype
Community of Tomorrow.

[Mark] He had a big idea.

[chuckles]
He had a big pointer.

We call it EPCOT.

[narrator] Ah, EPCOT.

And just to be clear,
this whole EPCOT Project

wasn't an attraction or even a theme park.

It was nothing less than
an expansive reinvention

of how humans live.

[announcer] This animated model
is a living blueprint of new ideas

and systems for future cities.

It was gonna be a community
that you would live in

and work with modern
state-of-the-art living.

[narrator]
Boasting cutting-edge technologies

in everything from transportation...

[announcer] Two transit systems
will move people into and out of EPCOT

through the central terminal.

The monorail was gonna exist in EPCOT,
along with the people mover.

[announcer] The silent, all-electric
system that never stops running.

[narrator] To infrastructure...

[announcer]
Footpaths reserved for pedestrians.

A one-way road that circles
the city center.

[narrator] Energy...

[announcer] Only electric-powered vehicles

will travel above the streets
of EPCOT's central city.

[narrator]
And even city-wide climate control.

[announcer] This entire 50 acres
will be completely enclosed,

protected day and night from rain,
heat and cold, and humidity.

[narrator] But it was what was
under the dome that's most amazing.

Walt's vision was that this was
a showcase.

It was a showcase of technology,

a showcase of different parts of the world

that people would come to and be inspired.

[announcer] The concept for EPCOT
is one part of Walt Disney's master plan

for the future of Disney World in Florida.

The City of Tomorrow,
possible today with the technology

and imagination of American industry.

I'm sure this Experimental Prototype
Community of Tomorrow

can influence the future of city living
for generations to come.

[narrator] Unfortunately,
Walt ran out of tomorrows

before the team could realize
his vision for EPCOT.

That was his plan, and unfortunately,
it didn't happen.

He was designing it right up
to the day he died, frankly.

You know, Walt was totally focused
on the idea for EPCOT,

an experimental community.

A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
for everyone who participates.

We finished sh**ting all the film

just before he passed away
in December of 1966.

[narrator] Leaving us with these images

from one of the very last times
Walt was ever filmed.

Speaking for myself and the entire
Disney organization,

we're ready to go right now.

[narrator]
Five years after Walt Disney's death,

Walt Disney World opened in Florida
to great success.

Vastly bigger than the park in Anaheim,

Walt Disney World had it all.

All that is except for this part
of the map.

EPCOT.

However, Walt's ideas for EPCOT
weren't truly lost.

Because the recently built Disney Park

was keen to add many
of his wish list items.

[Tom] Water treatment and fiber optic
telecommunication systems

and solar energy.

Monorails, electric transportation.

[narrator] And so with Walt's EPCOT ideas
infused into the park,

for some that might have been enough

but not Card Walker,
who was now head honcho.

Card Walker, who was the Head
of Walt Disney Productions,

the Walt Disney Company at that time,

turned to Marty Sklar
and John Hench and said,

"Now it's time for Walt's phase II,
for Walt's dream of EPCOT.

How do we bring that to life?"

[narrator] How indeed?

With nothing but big ideas and a big map,

when it got down to the details,
what exactly was EPCOT?

Walt's vision for EPCOT
was a little bit nebulous

because it was just starting out.

[narrator]
So under Card Walker's direction,

some of Disney's greatest
Imagineers put their minds to the task.

A committee was selected.

I think we had 12 or 13 people on it.

We jokingly called it the,
"Wednesday Morning Club."

[Bob] You know, it had Marc Davis,
Roger Broggie, myself,

you know, a mix of people.

We met every Wednesday
and Marty Sklar chaired it.

And I'm very proud to be one of them.

[narrator]
The Experimental Prototype part of EPCOT

was certainly in the wheelhouse

of this ragtag bunch of creative geniuses

but they quickly got stumped
on the community part.

It's a very complicated thing
to have people live there.

Where are you gonna register to vote?

Where are your kids gonna go to school?

All of the details of residential
and commercial life

had not been fleshed out,
but we agonized over it.

[narrator]
But even after a substantial fleshing,

as they chewed the fat over breakfast
each Wednesday,

it became quite apparent
that the Wednesday Morning Breakfast Club

had bitten off more than they could chew.

[Bob] We saw how much of EPCOT
would never, never work.

It just would not work for 10,000 reasons.

Well, Walt himself did say...

Everything in this room may change time

and time again as we move ahead.

The Imagineers picked it up and said,

"Well, we can't really focus so much
about the living part of it.

Let's bring people there.

But what we can absolutely do
is focus on bringing a place

that will inspire people and entertain
people in a new way."

But it was definitely gonna be a lot
of the DNA of what Walt talked about.

[narrator] As the Wednesday's rolled by
and the ideas came and went,

Marty and the team would lean away
from the community living aspect

and more into the ideals of what
Walt was trying to accomplish.

[Mark] It was sort of that physical
experiential place to be inspired.

To show the best of humanity.

The way to think about the future.
To think about tomorrow.

[Mark] To show how really anything
is possible when people come together.

[Jeanette] To think about how people
could live and work together.

And to think about the world.

[Mark]
A place that celebrates world culture.

You know, and what makes us unique.

But a place that also shows
what we all have in common.

[narrator] And so, with a firm grasp
on how to bring EPCOT to life...

Walt Disney liked to say, "It's time
to stop talking and start doing."

-...for Card Walker...
-Good morning.

...it was time to do.

I want to, right now, give each of you
a personal invitation

to join me here on October 1, 1982

and I want you to be correct
on the time at 9:02 am.

[crowd laughs]

[Card] You got an extra two minutes
so don't let me down.

Let's open it on time.

[narrator]
But even with two surplus minutes,

EPCOT would be a major challenge
for Disney.

It was an enormous-scale project

and certainly the biggest the company
had been undertaking at that point,

maybe the biggest anywhere.

It was a massive project.

Everything about EPCOT is big.

[Zach] The scale of this park is big.

It's one of the largest parks
we've ever built.

The resources of the company
were all bet on EPCOT.

[narrator] These ideals were distilled
down into two large lands

that would comprise the EPCOT Center.

It would be built on an enormous


making it bigger than Disneyland
and the Magic Kingdom combined.

The first land would be, "Future World",

filled with six pavilions such as...

Well, we'll let whoever this guy
is explain.

[reporter] I know a lot of you out there
are saying, "Who is that guy?

And what is whoever he is doing
wherever he is."

It, uh, sorry. What's that?

And now you're saying, "What's that?"

Well, that is Michael Landon
in beige leisurewear. And this...

This is the "Journey into Imagination,"

where you'll star in a special effects
video demonstration

and explore the frontiers
of your own mind.

"CommuniCore" the center of it all,
where we'll see and touch the future.

"The Land", a floating excursion

through the incredible bounty
of tomorrow's harvest.

And here, the "World of Motion."

Sit back and relax and have fun
riding through a moving experience.

[narrator] The second major part
of the EPCOT Center

would be, "World Showcase"

where international pavilions

would line a 48-acre lagoon.

Over there, Mexico.

There Canada.

Germany, the United Kingdom.

[narrator] And every country on this list,

an impressive showcase of culture,
food, and global harmony.

These are kind of heady topics.

[narrator] Perhaps too heady?

People understand adventure,

nostalgia,

tomorrow, they get all that.

But now you're building a park
without a castle,

with themes that people don't readily get.

[narrator] But not so fast.

The EPCOT Center would be
a Disney, well, land after all.

And although Mickey would be
nowhere to be seen,

they still needed a mascot.

And young Imagineer, Tony Baxter
had been assigned that task.

So he came up with this nameless
little dragon here.

What is the name of that? Bill? Sally?

[narrator] Never fear, Tony did
what anyone in the '80s would do,

he found inspiration from Tom Selleck.

And one night I'm watching, Magnum, P.I.

and he had a goat hidden in the garden.

[narrator] That's right.

A goat in the garden.

-[Thomas] Hi, Higgins.
-I'm going hunting.

Hunting? Hunting what?

[narrator] Spoiler alert! It was the goat.

And Higgins, the old butler was upset

because all the plants were being eaten.

And don't tell me it's a figment
of my imagination.

Figments don't eat grass.

[narrator]
Whatever it was that inspired Tony...

It must be the mustache.

...or perhaps it was his professional
interest in goats,

having recently finished,
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad,

whatever it was, Tony's mind was racing.

[Tony] And I was sitting there
and in my mind,

I thought, "Well, what do figments eat?"

And I went, "Oh my God, there's a word.

Nobody has ever, you know,
defined this word."

I came in and I grabbed Steve Kirk's
little sculpture and I said,

"Meet Figment."

And with that, EPCOT had a mascot.

[Thomas] A goat?

[narrator] Uh, no. A Figment.

But the main thing
the EPCOT Center was lacking

compared to these magical parks,
was a castle.

If our Magic Kingdom park you've got
this beautiful fairytale castle, right,

that anchors a park that's about fantasy,

EPCOT's a park about the world,
it's about people.

[narrator]
But still, they needed something.

EPCOT needed a central symbol
to represent it to the world

and it had to be something futuristic.

Well, one idea was floating around.

In the doodles and early ruminations
on EPCOT,

you see a lot of references to the idea
of this floating sphere

as something that was captivating
and it was... it kind of hearkened back

to some of the old World's Fair
iconography.

[♪ fanfare music]

Well, the idea was a sphere, it's Earth.

[narrator] But not just any old Earth.

The Imagineers came up
with this concept of calling it,

"Spaceship Earth"

which I think is the perfect name
for this park

that is supposed to represent
the community of tomorrow.

The nations coming together
to form this community.

What's better than a reminder

that we are all on this spaceship
we call Earth together?

[narrator]
This idea came together beautifully.

However, structurally,
that's a different matter.

Because upscaling this idea,

to be able to house an attraction
and thousands of guests,

would require phenomenally
difficult engineering.

So to help them with this ambitious task,

the Imagineers turned
to the esteemed architect,

Buckminster Fuller.

Buckminster Fuller is credited

with creating the notion
of the Geodesic dome.

[narrator] But building a Geodesic dome
on this scale?

Well, that had never been done before.

And the engineers kept coming back

and showing it as kind of a dome
sitting on the ground.

They could get to about two-thirds

and then they were struggling
with the lower portion.

[narrator] But for John Hench,
that just simply wouldn't do.

No, we need it to be off the ground.

That's the aspirational thing.

The sphere that you enter through

to get into our brand-new park
about the future.

It can't sit on the ground.

[narrator] And so the great Imagineer
showed them how it was done.

John Hench created a drawing
of this tripod,

kind of like a table that has a cup
sitting in it, like, half of a sphere.

And then you're gonna build another
half a sphere on top of this thing.

And that's how we're gonna lift it
off the ground.

The outstanding imagination of the people

that created this without computers.

Solving like mind-boggling problems.

[Joe] What's the wind load?
What's the dead load?

What are the internal stresses
that'll keep this thing up in the air?

[narrator] And after crunching
the numbers, they created this,

the world's largest geosphere.

One hundred eighty feet tall.

Two point two million cubic feet
of space inside.

All completely stabilized
without any interior supports.

And in this case,
beauty really is skin deep.

Now not a lot of folks know
there's a double skin.

There's an exterior skin
which is what you see.

And there's an inner skin
that is insulation and neoprene

and different materials like that
to basically seal up this building,

because it has to withstand
the hurricane season.

The whole outer skin is really
a truss work all open,

so basically, allow wind to go through
and everything like that.

But from the guests' point of view,
it's completely opaque

and that's kind of a neat illusion
with the architecture.

All these years in a Florida sun,


and still really looks beautiful.

[Bob] Beautiful, beautiful.

And every day the weather changes,
all the light changes on it.

It's a marvelous, marvelous icon.

[narrator] But if you thought
this was impressive from the outside...

There's a very elaborate attraction
going on inside.

Where we'll board a time machine

and journey through thousands
of years of history into tomorrow.

Well, Spaceship Earth is a really,
really unique attraction.

I mean, for one thing,
it tells a great story.

[narrator] With the original narration
written by Ray Bradbury, no less.

So if you put the children in the
centrifuge of Spaceship Earth

and whirl them around, they'll come
out galvanized and care very much

about getting out of bed tomorrow morning.

That's what you must do for children.

[narrator] And what a story he told.

Spaceship Earth tells the whole story
of man and communication.

[narrator] Snaking its way through the
history of mankind in scene after scene.

What's that smell?
[laughs]

Spaceship Earth was one of the first
attractions that Disney

as a company used scent effects on.

[announcer] The Imagineered, Smellitzer.

Able to produce scent so authentic
that the Disney Fire Department

was dispatched during the burning of Rome.

The system today is the exact same system

as it was installed opening day in 1982.

[narrator] Believe it or not,
the Smellitzer isn't the best bit.

The cl*max of Spaceship Earth,
there is a giant planetarium...

[narrator] But this is no ordinary
planetarium because it's up here.

...all the way at the top.

[announcer] On Spaceship Earth.

-[narrator] Also...
-[Daniel] It's massive.

And it has to be so big
because you drive through it.

Not only do you drive through it,
you drive through it

and then your vehicle turns
around and clocks

and then exits the scene
facing the other way.

[narrator] Using the Omnimover system,
pioneered in part by Bob Gurr,

the Spaceship Earth attraction

intricately weaves
its way through history.

Because you have a continuous ride system

that snakes like a corkscrew
throughout this giant sphere.

It circles up, up, up to the top.

[Daniel] And then it goes through
its own corkscrew to exit.

That's just insane.

All the space that you think is there
that couldn't possibly be there

if you thought about it
for like two seconds.

It's forced perspective
to get you to think

that there's more going on
that's going on.

Spaceship Earth is one of those
attractions that, as a guest,

you go on and you can't believe
this is in that giant sphere

that you just went inside,
but it entirely is.

[narrator] Spaceship Earth alone
was just one part

of a monumental construction project,

one that had been talked about for years.

And so like Walt said...

"It's time to stop talking
and start doing..."

[laughs]
...you know?

-And at Imagineering, you...
-[narrator] Uh-uh.

No time for that.

There's a heck of a lot of work
to be done.

-[narrator] Only time for doing.
-We can do it.

We can do it!

-We can do it!
-We can do it!

We can work. We can win. We can do it.

[narrator] And as the chorus
of construction workers

toiled under the supervision
of Michael Landon,

with Card Walker's voice bouncing
around in their hard hats...

-We can do it!
-Yes, we can!

[Card] You got an extra two minutes,
so don't let me down.

Let's open it on time.

They actually did it, right on time too.

And on October 1st, 1982

the world watched in wonder

as EPCOT made its grand debut
to the public.

And for those of you who were lucky enough

to visit the EPCOT Center
in those early days,

it was clear that the new park
was having the desired effect.

Growing up with this park,
I went to this park as a kid

and I remember seeing these big objects,
Spaceship Earth,

the land to "The Land"
or you'd see, "Horizons"

or even "Universe of Energy."

This large, kind of abstract,
big architectural statements,

the big pavilions that not only had
massive scale

but also had big ideas behind them.

[narrator] And so this part of the map,
Future World,

on its own was extremely impressive

in both scale and content.

But this is only half the story

because if we travel
around the lagoon here

or walk on water as angels do,

we arrive at the other half
of the EPCOT Center.

Here, at World Showcase,
guests are transported around the world.

[Mark] World Showcase is really
an exciting place to visit.

You know, you walk around.
You can go from country to country.

And each one of these pavilions
is its own jewel.

[Zach] And its own testament
and celebration to that country

and that culture.

And, you know,
for Imagineers the ability to try

to take the breadth of a country

and try to condense that
into a really kind of small

but beautiful composition
that celebrates the diversity

is actually a really tough
design challenge.

The thing I think is wonderful
about the pavilions

is that they were designed and are staffed

by people from their countries

and have that deep knowledge
of their own culture

and you can experience that as well
as the attractions

that are in those pavilions
and the shopping and the dining.

[narrator] The EPCOT Center was nothing
short of a triumph.

And Walt's last big dream
had been realized.

But the big question was,
what would Walt have thought?

You step in it when you try to predict
what Walt might think

but let's step in it.

[narrator] To be fair, he did say...

Everything in this room may change
time and time again

as we move ahead.

[narrator] And in some ways,
you could argue everything did.

But that's not how Imagineers see it.

From John Hench,

who shouldered the burden
of re-imagining Walt's vision...

But I don't think it varied from his...
from his first idea at all.

He emphasized over and over again
it was to be a showcase city.

[narrator]
To Imagineers of the modern era.

I would say that the exposition vision
of EPCOT,

a lot of that stuff made it in.

It was a pretty ambitious thing
when it opened

and then it runs and it runs and runs.

[narrator]
And EPCOT is still running as fast as ever

because since it opened in 1982,

EPCOT hasn't stopped, with the future
always nipping at its heels.

And so as the years ticked by...

EPCOT, EPCOT Center, EPCOT '96.

[Tim] EPCOT '97.

[narrator] EPCOT changed with the times,

which is exactly what Walt
had wanted it to do.

[Mark] And when he first talked about it
to the world,

he made a very clear statement.

He said,
"EPCOT will always be in a state of..."

State of becoming.

It will never cease to be a living
blueprint of the future.

It will always be changing.

It will always be moving in new directions
because it needs to.

[narrator] For example in 1986
they added a whole new building

with The Living Seas pavilion,
complete with the hydrolator.

[♪ upbeat music]

You actually stepped into
what was essentially an elevator

that took you under the water.

[narrator]
And they updated existing pavilions.

[announcer] A Universe of Energy.

Eighty thousand solar cells on this roof

will enable us to ride on sunshine.

[narrator]
The Universe of Energy pavilion

explored the electrifying world
of energy from lava to light bulbs.

And in 1996, it was updated
to Ellen's Energy Adventure.

Starring Ellen DeGeneres
and this Science Guy.

And as you'll see later,
it won't be the last update.

And that's just this one pavilion.

Updates were happening
all over EPCOT all the time.

World of Motion became Test Track.

[Tom] Horizons made room
for Mission Space.

[narrator] CommuniCore...

-CommuniCore!
-...became, Innoventions.

[announcer] It's called, Innoventions.

[narrator] But the updates weren't all
in Future World.

World Showcase
was constantly evolving too.

Because in 1988,
in the spirit of global harmony,

the Prince and Princess of Norway

presided over the opening
of the new Norway pavilion.

The Norway pavilion at World Showcase

was one of the later ones that was added.

[narrator]
But not just some fun attraction.

Maelstrom actually was one of the first
thrill rides considered in EPCOT

because it had a drop.

[narrator] Uh... A gentle slope.

But more importantly,
true to EPCOT's ideals,

Maelstrom embraced the history
of Norse mythology.

It was a flume ride and it had
a Viking-themed long ship

and you would go through
the mythology of Norway.

Maelstrom was a beloved attraction.

[narrator] And proof you could keep
the great concepts of EPCOT

and add some new fun.

You know, this is a park that's really
based on real-world stories

and the clock keeps ticking
and moving forward.

[narrator] Always changing.

Always asking.

What will tomorrow bring?
What will the future look like?

[narrator] Always noticing.

How quickly the future becomes yesterday.

[laughs]

EPCOT has to be constantly refreshed.

It needs the vibrancy
of the art festivals,

of the food and wine festivals.

It needs exhibits to come in
and countries to come in.

-It has to be in a state of becoming...
-In a state of becoming.

...all the time, more than any other park.

[narrator] And as the years rolled by,
EPCOT continued to reflect the moment.

The moment frozen in time where two
young royals from a Nordic country,

where it snows a lot... Uh, uh-uh.

No, actually it's the Prince
and Princess of Norway again.

Because before there was Elsa
and Anna, there was Harry and Sonja.

It was their country, Norway

that inspired Walt Disney
Animation Studios,

who in turn, inspired
the Imagineers to ask themselves...

♪ Do you wanna build a snowman? ♪

Come on. I know you do.

[narrator] Turns out they did wanna build
a snowman.

As well as a Snow Queen and actually,
an entire, Frozen attraction.

The crazy thing is that they decided
to transform Maelstrom

into a Frozen attraction
before the movie released.

You never know if a movie is going
to do very well in the theaters or not.

And so we knew we were kind of
playing with fire.

[narrator] Not only were they using
an animated movie

that nobody had heard about,

they'd be replacing a popular attraction

that lots of people had heard about.

Maelstrom was a beloved attraction.

[narrator] So to avoid upsetting fans
and angering the Norse gods,

the Imagineers proceeded with trepidation.

What's amazing when we re-imagine
an attraction

is that we're not actually competing
with what really was there

the day it closed,
we're competing with your memories

and often your childhood memories.

[Roger] That's a high bar.

We have to make something
that's so wonderful

that you forgive us for replacing
your childhood

and you go forward with us and say,
"Wow, I'm so glad this is here."

[narrator] And while they got started on
those plans something happened.

On November 27th, 2013
Frozen took the world

and box offices all over by storm.

A magical musical snowstorm.

When the film came out, it exploded.

The love for it was something
that all of us

at Walt Disney Animated Studios...
you dream of but you can't plan for.

You can only hope for.

[narrator] And for those working
on the new Frozen attraction,

hope soon turned to mild panic.

There was a lot of responsibility
and kind of pressure.

A lot of pressure.

Pressure to live up to...
[chuckles]

...the expectation
of what is a Frozen attraction?

[narrator] So Michel Den Dulk,
who came up with the idea,

chained himself to his desk in a way
that only an Imagineer could.

I went to EPCOT and ride
the Maelstrom attraction

over and over again to get inspired
and see what we could do.

[narrator] Well, fair enough since
Frozen Ever After

would use the same ride mechanism.

And actually, it was one of the first
thrill rides considered in EPCOT

because it had a drop.

[narrator] Uh... A gentle slope.

[Michel] At some point,
this idea popped into my head.

Like well, Elsa sings, Let It Go.

Wouldn't it be cool if she sings,
Let It Go

and at the exact same timing,
the boat would be pushed backwards.

That would give this whole contraption

of why the boat goes backwards
like new meaning.

[narrator] Meaning, for Maelstrom,
it was time to...

-Let It Go.
-Exactly.

[roars]

We did a last like round where fans
could... could ride the ride

and, uh... and say goodbye to it.

[narrator] October 5th, 2014
was the last day of operation

and final voyage for Maelstrom.

And from there,
the Frozen transformation began,

starting with the queue.

Some of the things we changed for
the queue specifically was its location.

The whole first floor,
we more or less gutted completely,

which gave us sort of like quite
a big canvas

to play with for the new attraction.

We took the entire load area
and took the unload area

and made that work
both as load and the unload.

So we actually added almost
a minute to the entire attraction.

We also wanted to introduce, like,

cutting-edge technology
to this attraction.

[narrator] And to do that,
they reinvented something old.

We came up with leaning on some stuff
that Yale Gracey had taught us

from Haunted Mansion
and other things like that,

to try to play with projection.

[narrator] But the Imagineers turned
this technique on its head.

So we kind of figured out
a few different ways of packaging

really, really tiny video projectors
inside the figures

to make the faces look animated.

This attraction set a completely
new standard

for audio-animatronic technology.

We, as animators, could now bring
these characters to life with a nuance

and a subtlety that was never
possible before.

So combining the existing ride system

with some of the most advanced
audio-animatronics at the time

was no small feat.

[narrator] Especially because some
of those characters barely had feet.

Oh, Olaf.

The new attraction was completed
and opened to the public

on June 21st, 2016.

Literally, on the morning
we're about to open,

I was feeling dizzy.

Literally, like,
"Oh no. I don't know if we did it.

I don't know if we delivered or not."

When the first boat kind of was out
of the station,

and then goes through the ride, comes back

and there is this cheering,
people clapping.

[Roger] People were applauding
as they got off.

And people were singing,
In Summer as they came off.

[narrator] And as for the big moment...

♪ Let it go ♪

♪ Let it go ♪

That whole scene just, like, works.

It's like, you know, goosebumps
when she sings Let It Go,

and then the boat just pushed backwards
and she kind of, like, disappears.

But what I think is really amazing

is the team still put a ton of fiber
optics in the scene

as kind of a call back to the original
troll dust effect.

Even that we were replacing Maelstrom,

we wanted to make sure there were
a few magical winks for those fans.

[Roger] With the puffins in our finale,

there's a little bit of a wink back
towards the Maelstrom that once was.

[narrator] Frozen Ever After was met
with an exceptionally warm reception

which was good, even though...

♪ The cold never bothered me anyway ♪

-Bing.
-[narrator] Exactly.

Anyway, Frozen demonstrated
that Disney characters

have a place in EPCOT.

In fact, it was so successful
that as the process of updates continued,

surely the World Showcase
would offer more opportunities?

But where?

We had a French pavilion.

It was kind of a nice French pavilion,
but it was from the '80s.

Like all of the World Showcase
pavilions at EPCOT,

the France pavilion is this magical
sort of condensation

of like your ideal version of truly
what Paris and France is like.

[narrator] Well, there was one attraction
that might be quite appropriate.

Tom Fitzgerald was like,
"Well, I have an idea."

[gasps]

[narrator] Because it just so happens,

that Tom Fitzgerald had been in France

where he was overseeing all creative
endeavors for Disneyland Paris.

And as it happens, he'd recently
installed a groundbreaking attraction

based on the beloved Pixar classic,
Ratatouille.

It seemed almost too perfect for EPCOT.

A strong story, strong characters,
strong Disney connection

and you have French culture
and you have great French food.

-You have all those things.
-Vanilla bean.

Oh, a small twist of lemon.

It happened that we had a piece
of real estate behind the France pavilion

to put Remy's Ratatouille Adventure.

[narrator] And while the attraction
would be very French,

there was a special dash of England
that inspired it.

And it's basically, Mr. Toad's
Wild Ride for the 21st century.

That's right. There's more than just
frogs' legs in the Ratatouille kitchen.

Mr. Toad is the secret ingredient.

It's kind of a new iteration of that zany
feeling that many guests

who experience that ride had,

but using all the tools
and tricks we have today.

[narrator] It was a feast for the senses,

using 3D animation custom created
at Pixar Animation Studios

exclusively for the attraction.

And smells that take you straight
into the kitchen

by using brand-new, cutting-edge
Imagineered, oh...

[announcer] The Imagineered Smellitzer.

[narrator]
They just used the Smellitzer tech.

It's a really brilliant system.

Anybody who loves the smell
of good food will love to ride this ride.

[Darien] The smell in a lot of the scenes
on the ride, honestly are breathtaking.

It's amazing how they were able
to make a ride so immersive like that.

It's really cool.

[narrator] And like flavors themselves,
it's all about pairing.

When we tell a story in our attraction,

we look to pair it with a ride system
that will enhance the story.

[Tom] And so we look for a ride system
that could make you feel like a rat.

And that meant, well,
I want a ride system that is trackless

because I wanna be able
to start, stop, spin.

And dash and dive around on the floor.

[Roger] Well,
if we had a trackless ride system,

that meant that we wouldn't know
from moment to moment

where are we gonna go next.

[narrator] And while the guests are human,

the attraction invites everyone
to become honorary rats.

What we really started with for Paris
that came to EPCOT

was this notion of what if we could
make you feel

that you were the scale of Remy.

How would the world feel like
to you at that scale?

And that's really the fun of it.

[Tom] And that happens in the queue.

And so we do that by taking
elements of tiles, bricks

towards the end of the queue.
Those start getting larger and larger,

so that by the time you're ready
to board your vehicle for the attraction,

you're at rat scale and everything
you see around you,

the gutters are enormous over your head.

It's fun to be small.

Why is that? I don't know.

[Roger] I think it's because there's
a childlike quality to it, right?

When we're little the whole world
is giant around us,

so I think somehow getting
to be small again,

there's just fundamentally
this childlike joy to it.

[narrator] Using clever projection,

the Imagineers take you
into all the nooks and crannies.

I'm underneath the oven
and one of the chefs turns on the oven.

Suddenly there are flames over my head.

[Tom] And then all of the effects
that we can use, heat, water, smell.

You know, a feast, no pun intended,
for the senses

to really give you the fun
of being in that adventure.

[narrator] The arrival of Remy's Paris
to EPCOT's Paris was world-changing.

Well, at least World Showcase changing.

I don't see at all a disconnect between
high franchise Disney storytelling

and trying to tell things about culture
and worlds.

And I think probably the best example
is Ratatouille.

[Bob Weis]
It brought that whole pavilion to life.

That's what EPCOT to me, should be.

We can expand what World Showcase is.

So it's everything you know
and love already and more.

I think something
that our guests expect now

is they wanna see these characters
that they know and love

and in the place that really inspired
their stories.

[narrator] But World Showcase
wasn't the only part of EPCOT

getting a fresh infusion of familiar
Disney faces.

In World Discovery, a cosmic shift
was underway at...

[announcer] The Universe of Energy!

[narrator] And later known as,
Ellen's Energy Adventure.

But after over 30 years,
it was starting to...

[screeching]

...run out of gas.

Everything that we proposed
in the Universe of Energy attraction

of alternative energy sources
for the future...

[announcer]
Eighty thousand solar cells on this roof

will enable us to ride on sunshine.

...has come true.

[narrator] It was clear that the building
beneath that solar paneled roof

was ready to be filled with a new story.

And in looking to the future,

Imagineers took inspiration from the past.

Just as Marty Sklar had done initially
in designing EPCOT,

go meet with the experts in the field

to find out what stories
should we be telling.

[Tom] And for the Universe of Energy,
we met with Brian Greene.

[narrator] That would be
the world-renowned theoretical physicist

and mathematician, Brian Greene.

He said, "Well, one of the biggest
stories of course is where it all began.

It's the Big Bang."

[narrator] Ooh, this one?

No. You know, the origins of our universe.

[narrator] Well, that is a better idea.

After all, it's got energy
and the universe.

Next question.

How are we gonna tell that story?

A story that's that big and that dynamic

deserved to be a thrilling story
which led to the coaster.

[narrator] An Omnicoaster to be specific
and we'll get to that.

But first things first.

Who can tell the story in a way
that will connect with our audience,

that will also be more Disney,
and frankly more fun?

[narrator] Luckily, there was a vast
Disney roster of more fun

and certainly more furry characters
to choose from.

But the choice was obvious.

You know them as...

The Guardians of the Galaxy.

Who?

[narrator] Well, maybe you don't.

If not, they're a ragtag crew
of space-faring superheroes led by...

Peter Quill, people call me, Star-Lord.

[narrator] And thus, this burgeoning
attraction had its story.

Peter Quill was at an age
that he could have gone to EPCOT.

So in our backstory, we said,

"Peter Quill went to EPCOT
as a kid with his mom.

He loved it."

And so he went to the Xandarians and said,

"Hey, why don't you put a pavilion
at EPCOT?"

And, of course,
EPCOT has the World Showcase

where countries come to show us
about their culture,

their technology, their people.

Well, this will be our first Other World
Showcase pavilion.

[narrator]
But Peter Quill wasn't the only one

who needed a team for a big mission.

Imagineers assemble!

I joined the project when it was just
coming out of what we call our,

"Blue sky phase."

I was not even done with Frozen Ever After
when I got the call to say,

"Hey, we want you to come work
on this new coaster.

We have this ride system and we're
gonna put Guardians at EPCOT. Go."

[narrator] So goodbye audio-animatronic
dinosaur...

[growls]

...and hello to
a giant Xandarianpavilion.

A cutting-edge Omnicoaster
which yes, we will get to.

And the story of the creation
of the universe.

Sounds like a lot for one building.

We used to think that
the Universe of Energy box

was the biggest thing ever, but no.

This show is so big that it required
a second building,

essentially the size
of the Contemporary Hotel.

It's one of the biggest buildings

that Disney's ever made
an attraction inside.

This is one of the largest enclosed
coaster in the world.

[Alex] Tom Fitzgerald was able to join us
on a walk of the facility.

The ride track had gone up.

The building was boxed in.

He stopped in his tracks
and we heard him just say,

"Dear God, what have we done?"
[laughs]

[Alex] It was... it was a really kind of
visceral reaction to the scale of it.

[narrator] It couldn't just be big.

It had to deliver an authentic
Guardians of the Galaxy experience.

And just like a Hollywood movie,

this new attraction wouldn't go
public without test screenings.

We started keeping track
of how many times we rode

and made a little competition of it.

I have not ridden it as many times
as Wyatt and Alex.

Hundreds of times they've ridden.

[narrator] All right, what are we
talking here, 200, 300 times?

-More?
-Uh, maybe.

[narrator] Well, all right, guys.
Don't leave us hanging.

Five hundred and thirty nine rides.

[narrator] Oh, that is a lot.

-Five hundred and sixty three.
-[narrator] Well, that's more.

You've got some catching up to do, Alex.

[Alex] When I tell people
how many times I've ridden,

sometimes they wonder,
you know, how is that your job?

But we actually had a number
of factors on the ride experience

that we had to continue to assess.

[narrator] For example,
what about the ride music?

You can't have Guardians without music.

[Alex] We tried 100 different songs.

And then as we narrowed them down,

we would try them again and again
and make comparisons.

And then just sort of like,
special effects

and the speed at which things were moving.

So it really did take that many rides
just to make sense of it all.

[narrator] The Wonders of Xandar pavilion,

housing Guardians of the Galaxy:
Cosmic Rewind,

opened on May 27th, 2022.

As you move through the first scenes

it's connecting not only to galaxy
formation and concepts

that relate to real science
that EPCOT's always been celebrating.

Things like binary stars.

[Scot] Big Bang.
Going through the stars being formed.

Those are all real science
that we got to really craft

what it may have looked like.

But also links even to Walt.

[Zach] Xandar talks about some
of their urban planning

that was inspired by some of the ideas

that actually inspired Walt's
earlier version of EPCOT.

[narrator] Not only were Walt's ideas
ahead of their time,

they were also out of this world.

But before you know it...

Seconds later, I'm on a ship.

We're in a mission that's gonna send me
off with the Guardians

to save the planet.

I'm an Attractions Host,

so I get to send everyone on their
Star Charter out into the attraction.

[narrator] But don't think for one second

that you're just gonna coast through
this mission

because it's time to board
the Omnicoaster.

And this is a brand-new type
of roller coaster

that seats that you're in
can actually rotate 360 degrees

and we can control that.

So as you're moving through
the attraction,

we can actually point you
to different parts of the story

and you can take it in.

You turn sideways
and there's no vehicle in front of you

and that's not something
you're used to seeing

or you rotate and you're getting wind
on the side of your face.

And there's people get off

and say that they don't have any ride
experience to compare it to.

[screaming]

Which I tell the team
is like music to my ears,

because I think that's the best thing
we can do

is put something out there
that people haven't done before.

[narrator] Guardians of the Galaxy:
Cosmic Rewind

is just the tip of the iceberg
of where EPCOT might go next.

Wherever that may be,

and where EPCOT goes,
and what EPCOT becomes,

well, we'll just have to wait
for tomorrow.

But one thing's for sure,
when people once asked...

What's an EPCOT?

...now they very much have an answer.

Where once EPCOT stood for...

[Tim] Experimental Prototype
Community of Tomorrow.

...now EPCOT stands for something
even more.

The optimism and kind of the notion
that things are okay

and you can go out in the world

and use technology
and even make it better.

[narrator] Which is what Walt was really
striving for in the first place.

I think he would be pleased
because it happened.

Because the team he left behind
was dedicated to the idea

of making EPCOT a reality in the best way

that they could with the Imagineers
that had worked with him

and also new Imagineers
who have come along since.

So I think he would be very proud.

[narrator] EPCOT was Walt's last big dream

and the Imagineers have decided
to honor that.

We have created a brand-new
statue of Walt.

[Zach] And instead of him being
on a pedestal or being separated,

he's actually sitting in this location
with his arms crossed,

looking out across this idea that he
dreamed up, that he never got to see.

And it's representing him as one
of many dreamers, right,

who are inspired by the world

and inspired by the ideas
that EPCOT stands for.

[fireworks crackle]

[narrator] As we approach the end
of this episode,

it's clearly evident that this story
of EPCOT

can't really have an ending because...

It will never cease to be
a living blueprint of the future,

that will always be in a state
of becoming.

[narrator]
So in the spirit of limitless progress...

And then it runs and it runs and runs.

...and the constant state

-of becoming...
-State of becoming.

...this is not the end.

[♪ epic music]

[♪ closing theme music]