Subsonic Radio

Whenever I listen to fabulous subsonic radio (which is a lot!) inevitably someone plays a track (or tracks) from Horizons. What the heck is this? I don't want to sound anti-disney as believe me that could not be further from the truth but I just do not remember this attraction. It must have been closed for a while as I have been traveling to WDW once a year for at least 10 years and I just can't remember this attraction. Can someone fill me in on what it was and why everyone still loves it so much?

thanks -- tory

PS - no disrespect to those who love the attraction and the music I'm just curious. I completely understand as I still miss mr. toad's wild ride

Easiest way to explain is this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGByAds2_AE

Horizons was where Mission Space is now. Unfortunately I never saw it while it was around, or if I did I don't remember it, I was 10 for my first trip to WDW and I don't remember what I did yesterday let alone 15 years ago.

Visit www.horizons1.com if you want to read about the attraction.

You would think since I chose it as my user name that I would be able to explain it but it's hard to put into words. It was a mutlimedia, multisensory, audio animatronic extravaganza. It was inspirational, it was hopeful, it was long, it was amazing, it was slow, it was funny, it was clever, it was fun.

At the risk of oversimplifying, the story was that you were visiting life in the future and in many ways it was the perfect complement to Carousel of Progress. It had four main segments:

1) A look back at how the future was viewed in the past:
Audio animatronics showed whimsical scenes of 19th century through mid 20th century views of what the future was going to be like

2) Omnimax transition:
Giant screens (like Soarin' but I think bigger) depecited a digital cityscape, a space shuttle launch, etc.

3) Land, Sea & Space show scenes:
Sweeping massive sets that your vehicle moved around, above and below, depicting various members of the narrators' family living the good life in their preferred setting.

4) Choose Your Own Ending finale:
A screen projection in front of each car and synch'd with the movement of your vehicle allowed you to select a "trip home" via flying craft, submersible, or space pod. You made your selection from a panel in the car and majority ruled. Each film was a first person view a la Star Tours.

This doesn't do the ride justice. My personal opinion is that Mission: Space could've been placed somewhere else and allowed Horizons to stand. Horizons was not wholly a "space" theme. It has been said that structural issues would've lead to the ride's eventual demise anyway but I believe it was mainly because GE dropped their sponsorship.

As far as I'm concerned, it most successfully depicted the original theme of Future World, much more so than even Spaceship Earth. I wish it had been in the big golf ball, since then it would at least still exist in some form.

It was full of memorable iconic scenes and great ideas, and had one of the most effective uses of the smellitizers. The citrus smell from the orchard scene is often listed as one of the favorite "Disney smells".

It's one of the main reasons that, years later, I'm posting on a Disney forum when I don't even go to Disney any more! It made a big impact on me when I was young, and just hearing the music again makes my heart ache for the days when Disney had respect for its audience.

The first time I heard the music from the desert scene on subsonic, my eyes got all misty. I could smell the orange trees and see the robots and the "farmer" chick with the square butt in my mind and for just a brief moment I was reminded of a time when I could be convinced to be hopeful about the future.

Disney used to sell hope along with its crass commercialization...

Good times.

That looked like a very tough attraction to maintain...

But looks amazing.

By the way, the loss of Horizons is just about the most symbolic and telling thing to happen in Future World.

As if manufacturing its own irony expressly for the purpose of turning away longtime fans like me, Disney allowed the inspirational sign at the beginning of the attraction -- "If we can dream it, we can do it." -- to decay in full view of the public for months before the ride was permanently shut down.

The last time I saw it, it said something like "If e can ream t, w ca do it." and I believe its final state (while they were still letting guests in) was " ca ea t ca ".

Yep.

Wow Schnemo. That's deep, really. I had the pleasure to ride this attraction several times. It will always be missed. I wonder why stuff like this doesn't last like POTC does. They are both animatronic attractions packed full of detail. I'll bet if Disney simply took the time to upgrade Horizons it would still hold up to todays standards.

I'll forever miss Horizons.

Horizons was one of our familys favorite attractions. It seemed to capture the spirit of what EPCOT was in the beginning. There are several DVDs available that show some of the extinct EPCOT attractions such as Horizons, World of Motion, Kitchen Kabaret, etc.

A great attraction. You had to ride it three times. You wanted to see all three endings.

As if manufacturing its own irony expressly for the purpose of turning away longtime fans like me, Disney allowed the inspirational sign at the beginning of the attraction -- "If we can dream it, we can do it." -- to decay in full view of the public for months before the ride was permanently shut down.

The last time I saw it, it said something like "If e can ream t, w ca do it." and I believe its final state (while they were still letting guests in) was " ca ea t ca ".

I saw that online. So sad.

We used to refuse to choose a ride ending, just to see what the system would pick for us. Or pick one of each so that there was no "majority rules" to default to.

Such a great attraction.

i just don't understand why you like the music....

To each his own.

For me, it brings back the memory of a great attraction.

marcdijon wrote:i just don't understand why you like the music....

The music is soothing in and of itself, but I suspect if you never experienced the attraction, you'd never appreciate it as much as people who did. Same way I don't quite 'get' what people get out of the Haunted Mansion Holiday music (but hope to, when I finally get to see it someday. ). With Horizons - and many of the tracks on here - a lot of why people enjoy them is probably more related to memories than musical tastes. That's my thinking on it, anyway.

you're right DisBeamer
but even though i've never seen the attraction, it looks like everything i dislike : this popular delirium from the 80s about future, science and space, along with the design and music created at that time....but i respect people who like that

i have to dissagree i think that anything that was in the disney history should be listened to and played over and over to show how much we liked this part of disney history. it all started with a mouse.