Original subtitles

[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, 51 million people.

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 shooting 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 300-acre site,

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, 40 years later

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 climax 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]