Hi again! We’re back with another EPCOT Center 1989 blog post today. Today, we’re going to be taking a closer look at each of the pavilions of Future World East and Spaceship Earth, some interesting details regarding their development, and some more insight regarding their designs, both on and off PNT Cubed.
We’ll start at the entrance to EPCOT.
Spaceship Earth is by far one of the greatest engineering and architectural marvels of the past century. Every aspect of its design – from its rainwater collection system which funnels water to the World Showcase lagoon behind its Alucobond tiles to its uniquely designed supports that directs air to the breezeways beneath the main “globe” to improve its durability in Florida’s infamous severe weather – is deliberate and specifically designed.
In much the same way (but with a lot less calculations), Spaceship Earth in EPCOT 1989 is deliberately designed to “wow” you as you enter EPCOT Center. Our Spaceship Earth is, to our knowledge, the only recreation to utilize a pattern on its surface to emulate the unique angled texture of Spaceship Earth. This is the work of one of our Team Members, DomoMess (or RadioDogWife), and I don’t think it would’ve turned out nearly as well if not for her.
We’re going to move onto Communicore Plaza, now. Communicore was one of the first EPCOT Pavilions to be redone; After joining the former HorizonParks, this was the first pavilion I built (and outlined) by myself. I learned a lot in the following 3 years, and by 2021, we determined that the old Communicore was very inaccurate. We redid the entire pavilion, and this is the state you see it in today. Funnily enough, the only part that wasn’t touched during this refurb is the Fountain of Nations, making it one of the oldest parts of the entire park.
Communicore was designed (as you may or may not know) with the ability to expand and extend into three designated expansion pads, where the Satellite Lawn and the lawn nearest to Expo Robotics are in EPCOT ’89. The first planned to be the “Bell Systems Lab” where the 1994 Innoventions expansion ended up going. Of course, when Bell System was split up in 1982 creating the modern AT&T company, those plans kinda came to a halt.
Walking through the halls of Communicore, the faux-skylights (actually lit by flourescent lights) really illuminate the tall ceilings. The two-story walkways were designed as such to accomodate a Peoplemover system on its upper level. This was never finished, of course, and around the mid-80s, WDI decided to add these hanging banners from the skylights, officially doing away with the Peoplemover.
Horizons! By far the crown jewel of EPCOT Center 1989, this project took a lot of work on the exterior alone. As you’ll start to notice, redoing pavilions was a big deal around 2021. We redid Horizons as we noticed that Horizon’s normally sharp, angled edges looked more like the roof was caving in. Back in 2018, we also had trouble fitting showscenes in and had to make numerous sacrifices of accuracy to make every scene fit. Using newly rediscovered blueprints from WED, we were able to rebuild the pavilion with the most accurate reference to date.
We have blueprints of nearly every showscene, with some exceptions, straight from WED, which is opening our eyes to how certain effects worked, the layout and structure of the building, and even unveiling details that are rarely captured by grainy photos and videos.
Due to the nature of Horizons, this will likely be one of our last pavilions in EPCOT to open. We want to make sure it benefits from everything we’ve learned from the pavilions that come before it, especially as we recognize its importance to our community and the Disney community at large.
Universe of Energy is the pavilion that has been redone the most by far – three times, to be exact! (And you all wonder why it took so long to open this park…) Each time, the pavilion was fully completed, before we decided we could do better. I will say that this version is by far the best recreation that we’ve completed to date. From a design standpoint, the almost monolithic design of Universe of Energy towers over Future World. The trees take away quite a bit from realizing its true height and size, but make sure to really take a look. Energy makes the world go ‘round!
Universe of Energy is so far the only fully complete EPCOT Center 1989 pavilion. The trouble with getting it open? The 45 minute screen presentation, interrupted briefly by the Primeval diorama. We’re looking to find an adequate solution to open Energy to our guests soon, so keep an ear out!
World of Motion is one of the most fondly remembered Future World pavilions, and rightfully so, as it is really beautiful, inside and out. Some of the visual gags still hold up, even today. On the outside, World of Motion is one of only 2 pavilions that hasn’t been completely redone since 2018, the other being Journey into Imagination. Instead of being redone, they’ve simply been “plussed” – no tearing down and redoing them. We added the light gray stained glass around World of Motion in an attempt to emulate the reflective metal paneling of the pavilion in real life, something I think came out incredibly effective.
At one time in EPCOT ’89, we had to move the entire building about 8 blocks south towards the Odyssey to better accomodate the pathways surrounding the building. We first lifted it about 25 blocks above the ground, at which point I realized just how much the pavilion looks like the scene from Independence Day where the Alien UFO destroys the Empire State Building. We eventually lowered the building back down when we got it in its final spot, but I always thought it was funny and still remember that tidbit.
We’ll stop there for today. In a future article, we’ll continue our journey around Future World, starting with the Wonders of Life pavilion and then journey west to take a look at The Living Seas, The Land, and Journey into Imagination.