Jim Hill: From the Archives
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WHOOOSH!

And here we are! Inside a much better Epcot. Ignore that Matterhorn you see sticking up along the far shore of World Showcase Lagoon. We've got no time to visit the Swiss pavilion. (Or the Russian pavilion. Or the African pavilion.) We're here for an adventure in deep space. Which is why we're standing in front of this oddly familiar looking Future World building.

The old Horizons show building

And why does it look familiar? That's because it's still the same old "Horizons" show building. Sure, the exterior has been extensively repainted and rethemed to foreshadow the space- based attraction inside .. But there's no mistaking that old squat diamond shaped exterior. (And why would Disney want to build its fantastic new "Space" show inside the old "Horizons" show building? Two reasons, actually.

1) In theory, this was supposed to have kept construction costs of this new Future World show down. Unfortunately, following the "World of Motion" / "Test Track" and "Journey into Imagination" / "Journey into Your Imagination" debacles, the Imagineers learned the hard way that this theory had no basis in reality.

2) It would have also allowed Disney to skirt recent changes in the Americans with Disabilities act. Strange but true, kids. But if the Imagineers had built their new "Mission: Space" attraction inside the old "Horizons" show building, technically that would have made - at least in a legal sense - this all new attraction just a rehab of a pre-existing structure. Which would have meant that the Walt Disney Company was under no obligation to bring this particular pavilion up to current code. Which would have saved the corporation millions in construction costs.

Unfortunately - after checking out this Future World show building after all the "Horizons" show elements had been removed - WDI learned that its original plan just wasn't going to work. In order to properly anchor the centrifuge units that were to power the ride vehicles featured in the "Mission: Space" show, the Imagineers were going to have to tear out the existing foundation of the "Horizons" show building. To do this, Imagineering would have to remove most of the superstructure of the building.

When they got this news, the Imagineers realized that it was pointless to try and save the "Horizons" building. Any attempt to preserve the structure would just add to the cost of an already expensive project. So that's why WDI decided that it would be easier - in the long run - to just flatten this Future World pavilion and start from scratch.

This is the reason Disney hired a demolition team to carefully tear down the "Horizons" show building earlier this year. The upside of this situation was that the Imagineers now had a clean slate on which to construct its "Mission: Space" building. The downside was that the Mouse now had to wrestle with meeting all of today's ADA standards. But that's another story for another time...

Let's get back to our alternate reality version of "Mission: Space," shall we? )

ANYWAY ... We enter the old "Horizons" show building that's now been redressed for Epcot's new "Space" attraction. After winding our way through the queue, we find ourselves in the pre-show. Here, WDW guests learn that they're about to board a futuristic space shuttle for a quick trip across the cosmos. Once on board, they'll be taken to a fantastic space station that's actually built into the side of an asteroid. After they've arrived at the station, Epcot visitors will be free to disembark and discover the many wonders that are hidden deep inside that asteroid.

Once this briefing was concluded, guests would have then been moved to the shuttle simulator. Here, WDW visitors would have entered a "Star Tours" -like cabin - where several rows of seats faced a large window- like movie screen.

Ah, but this ain't no trip to Tattoine, kids. There's no motion base to be found under this ride vehicle. The "Mission: Space" shuttle cabin actually hangs at the end of the arm of a massive centrifuge (Which was to have been housed inside the taller portion of the old "Horizons" show building). Once the guests were all properly strapped into their seats, the arm of the centrifuge would begin rotating around its axis.

As this was happening, guests inside the "Mission: Space" cabin would be watching images on the shuttle's main view screen that would have told them that the ship was blasting off into orbit. As the speed that the centrifuge arm was revolving at increased, so would the gravity inside the ride vehicle. Passengers would have felt the increased G forces pushing them down in their seats, which would reinforce the illusion to these WDW visitors that the shuttle was actually leaving Earth for a rendezvous with that far-off asteroid.

At a key point in this "Space" simulation, the massive arm of the centrifuge would suddenly deliberately begin to slow its revolutions. At that instant, Epcot guests inside the cabin would float up out of their seats and experience a brief moment of weightlessness. This sensation alone would make "Mission: Space" the type of attraction WDW guests would love to reride.

But now the images on the cabin's main screen tell us that we're nearing our destination. Just as we've been told in the pre-show, a massive futuristic space station - built right into the side of an enormous asteroid - looms in the distance. As the shuttle docks with the station, the guests exit their "Mission: Space" ride vehicle and enter the central area of this Future World pavilion where they find that ...