Yup, a pretty good list. But I have a few comments.
The extended pavilions of the World Showcase come back in a small way each year for the Epcot Food and Wine festival. We were there in October and many cultures - South Africa, New Zealand, Austria - were all represented in food kiosks, small stages and shops. Its not the same but the countries represented change each year and its very nice.

Also where Comunicore is gone, Innoventions is slowly becoming a rather on pare replacement, especially with the new Sum of All Thrills attraction.

Sorry, you caught me getting my Disney Geek on.

I think I remember reading that one of the Kitchen Kabaret anamatronics was later recycled...as part of a float. It was like a fruit or an eggplant-man, or something. Supposedly it was face-down, but if you looked at just the right angle, you could see part of a smile peaking out, not entirely obscured.

Which is STILL better and more respectful than what happened to all the Star Trek sets, as far as I know, though.

Wow, I'm a bit saddened to see so many classics on the list...but I guess they were dated (and any efforts they made to update them, like Imagination, sucked hardcore...). Oh well. Disney does know their shit.

I always wondered why in EPCOT there is no TRON attraction (or is it?)

If I ever get my hands on a working time machine, I plan on using it to visit all the old EPCOT and Disney rides I never had a chance to. I've been to Walt Disney World twice and Disneyland once, and enjoyed all three visits, but every time I read about the old attractions that are no longer available I get depressed.

only great attraction at epcot is the alcohol. having a drink from every country is a great objective.

Walt Disney's ideal community of the future probably involved less Millennium Villages and more eugenics.

Yeah, nice list for all the spoiled little fuckers that got to go to EPCOT. Maybe I can relate a little more when you put out the list for Boyles Joyland in Topeka, Kansas.

Gotta fess up here. My mom was in town for the food and wine fest this year and she offered to pay my way into Epcot--I live 40 minutes from WDW--and I passed.

Going off on a somewhat related tangent, wish they'd refurb the WDW Tiki room to it's original state and set up a restaurant in there.

For those of you who think the Tiki room is lame, let's remember that Walt's orignal idea was to have the Enchanted Tiki Room primarily as a restaurant with singing animatronic birds. Two reasons shut down the idea: #1 :that the singing birds would be SUCH an attraction that people wouldn't leave the restaurant unitl the show was over and #2 that people would smoke in the restaurant therefore damaging the delicate mechanical birds.
Neither one of these is a problem today, with not one, but two animatronic restaurants at Downtown Disney, the Rainforest Cafe and the T-Rex. Both feature even a similar idea to the original Enchanted Tiki Room with a thunderstorm/meteor shower every forty minutes or so.

If they could combine, say a Carribean restaurant and Tiki bar (ala the local Bahama Breeze) with a restored Enchanted Tiki Room, that would be worth going on Disney property for me!

I went to Epcot for the first time in 1993 on a class trip. I remember all my classmates booing about not going to disney proper and that Epcot was boring. I loved it; my family couldn't afford to go to such places as theme parks.
Horizons rocked my little world. I was sad to go back as an adult and see it was gone.

I think I blocked out Universe of Energy until this blog. I hated it. I was 13 at the time and was ready to fall asleep during it. This was the first time I had ever been to Disney World and we spent more time at Epcot than the Magic Kingdom because we loved the rides better.

Now Journey into Imagination and Horizons were the two rides I went on multiple times during our vacation. My sister was going through an "I am an artist" phase and bought everything she could with Figment on it.

Thanks for the list. Now I know I'm not crazy. All of my favorite rides were on this list and when I tell people about "Horizons" and "Journey to Imagination" trying to explain what it was they all look at me like I'm crazy and that I made it all up. I was at Disney a year ago, and I was bored.

Don't mourn for the Universe of Energy. It was never entertaining, and still isn't. One of my friends got our group to go into it with the "but it has Ellen now!" argument.
I still haven't forgiven him.

Also - when I went on Journey into Imagination in the day it broke down and stranded us for 20 mins. We ultimately had to exit the cars and walk out.

But real moral: Universe of Energy sucks.

Regarding Captain Eo:

1) I didn't realize the borg were a rip off of captain eo. Just try to not think of that again.
2) He looked like he was trying to not grab his crotch the whole time.
3) All you need to see is story by "George Lucas" and it explains every "what the fuck" you think watching it.
4) The part where he uh... touches with music... to "change" the queens prince was edited out?

sad to see so many attractions that happen before Walt went away now long gone and also that Diseny seems to not ever want to consider revisiting them espically given what today's technology could do to things like Journey into Imaganation and Horizon's which doubt full will be brought back for Epcot's aniversary in fact Disney may not even aknowledge it. as for Kitchen Karbert no doubt the characters and props got recycled.

I liked the old versions of these rides better than their new ones, especially Journey into Imagination. I miss the old Horizons and World of Motion rides. Their replacements may be much more exciting but they are much shorter rides with much longer lines. Great article.

Although this list is very good- I would call out Cranium Commando as the thing I most miss out of the life pavillion-- body wars sucked)-- although it was dated past the 80's how can Hans and Franz running your Heart and Jon lovitz being your emotions not be in the top 5..

I also believe World of Motion was a 100% Disney attraction- with the level of animatronics, background humor and well thought out scenes-- I really wish they never got rid of that one-- the Imagineers outdid themselves with that--

And I too wish the Kitchen Kabaret would return-

Whats nuts is disney could open a whole other theme park with all the rides and shows they have closed and I think it would get just as many visitors as the other parks..

"What's really sad about Horizons' absence is that the attraction really wasn't obsolete, despite its overly optimistic predictions for 21st Century life. The vision of humanity's future it presented, complete with all the sights, sounds and smells (mmm, orange groves), was so full of hope it was intoxicating. That's something that never gets old. Most people experienced the ride and came out wishing they lived in that world. That's something kids should still be able to see, especially in a time when the world around them isn't as promising. It'd be great if, for EPCOT's 30th anniversary in 2012 (a year with ominous connotations in popular culture), Disney could open a new version of Horizons to not just entertain future generations of kids but inspire them with a positive depiction of the future."

I could not agree more, and well said!

The best part of Epcot is,indeed,the booze. We went for the first time shortly after it opened...I was about 10 at the time. The rides were awesome but I could give a rats-ass about the world village part. As my family was walking through Germania(or Germany-land) I saw an open air bar,hopped up on a stool,and ordered a beer. The bartender,with his back to me,poured a HUGE draft beer,set the mug in front of me,and went back to whatever the hell he was doing. Before I could take a drink my mom came in and dragged me out of the bar in a Darth Vader chokehold....as soon as we got outside though we both started laughing our asses off. It remains a beloved family memory to this day....

Went there the first time as an awestruck 12-year-old. LOVED Commmunicore and Journey into Imagination. Returned as a seen-it-all 19-year-old in 1992 and dismissed The Living Seas as "new school" (it was pretty awesome, though). This list makes me feel sad and old.

Now that I live in the Tampa Bay area and can get there in a short drive, is there any reason I should?

Thanks for dredging up my memories of the time my family and I got stuck in Journey into Imagination for almost two hours. We were near the middle of the ride and it just stopped and we had to listen to that one line of the song over and over and on top of that my little sister starts crying because she had to go to the bathroom. The rest of the list is great.

1. Epcot (or Epcunt as my friends and I call it, not to be confused with the Magic Condom, Whorrywood Shittios (formally S.T.D. Shittios), the Anal Condom, or Blister Bitch) is by far the 2nd shittiest of all the Disney World theme parks with Hollywood Studios taking top prize in the big shit department.

2. Captain EO is awesome on so many levels. It should be brought back.

Wow, so much of this is sad to me. I cut my teeth on Disney's view of tomorrow. But most important was The Living Seas.

That's the world I wanted to live in. It's part of why I started working in aquariums and on boats when I was 13 and for much of the next 20 years.

UGH!

Great, it took almost 20 years for me to get that "Veggie-veggie Fruit ftuit" song out of my head, and now it's back.

Add me to the list of kids that were inspired by horizens. I can't believe they shut that down! I really think I came away from my first trip there fundamentally changed for the better because of that ride.

Gah I am devastated! I haven't been to Epcot since I was like 6 and now it turns out that everything I thought was awesome is gone! *Tear*... I remember my parents literally having to drag me out of the Living Seas because I loved it so much... I kid you not!

I went to EPCOT when I was 6 years old. Journey into Imagination was my favorite part of EPCOT and Disney combined. I miss it, now. Thanks for depressing me. Why not do a cereal list that makes me miss Nerds and Strawberry Shortcake cereals now. God, I miss childhood.

Horizons was always my favorite ride, and somehow I knew before I even started this article it was gonna be number 1 on the list.

Thanks man, I just nostalgia'd all over the place.... better get a towel.

I swear there was a spoof/play on EPCOT shutting down the good stuff in a Batman TAS episode where the joker is hiding out in the remains of an epcot like amusement park and making lude passes at the robot wife.

It was nice to see such a bittersweet list here. It was actually kind of emotional reading this.

And as one fan of closed Disney attractions to another, KUNGALOOSH!

"I swear there was a spoof/play on EPCOT shutting down the good stuff in a Batman TAS episode where the joker is hiding out in the remains of an epcot like amusement park and making lude passes at the robot wife."

Mask of the Phantasm... but I'd bet that if that was in there, it was more about Disney than EPCOT since most of these were still around when the movie was in production.

EPCOT was the one we'd always save for the inevitable rainy day in Orlando, since all the rides were indoors and it was easy to hit everything while staying pretty dry.

This list makes me really glad I got to go to EPCOT for the first time in 1998, before some of these closed. I remember getting the autograph of the Dreamcatcher and I have some vague memory of hearing about how world of Imagination was going to be closed down (I was in 1st grade). And I loved World of Energy, especially the bikes.

I work at WDW. But I must admit that the Nemo-palooza is kinda... dull. yeah. enough said. for now.

Man, I was lucky enough to have a father willing to do road trips from Louisiana all the way to Orlando, Florida. AND I got to see all of these at different times.

Funniest thing I remember from World of Motion: The Greek girl who bought herself a centaur and was giving it bashful looks while the centaur was giving her a "There is NO WAY you are hooking me up to any chariot!" look.

Journey Into Imagination was our favorite place, really. With all the crud we had to deal with, a ride that encouraged flights of fantasy and the ability to dream and imagine was heaven for a kid like me.

It didn't hurt that Dad trusted us enough to let us cut loose. He knew we worked at our own speed, so we made a deal with him: we showed up for lunch on time at a certain place, and again at dinner, and he let us do as we pleased. Two twin kids with no parents to slow them down...my friends, we were truly in the happiest place on earth.

Jeez, now *I* just nostalgia'd all over everything. Pardon the mess.

Thank you SO MUCH for writing this. I'll always be an EPCOT fan, but more specifically, a fan of the EPCOT time forgot.

There's still about 90 years left in the 21st century...probably a little early to write it off just yet.

the best beer is in china, and they have a kick-ass 360 theater. I recall finding the park as boring as Al Gore as a kid in the eighties, but revisiting it a few years ago, not so bad. Way over-priced, FWIW.

OH MY GOD NO!!!
The Wonders of Life and The Living Seas are CLOSED?!?
Damnit Disney, those were my fondest memories of my childhood trip to Epcot (and the few that weren't boring for a 12 year-old me)! I feel really sad now...

I just watched all three parts to Imagination, and bawled the whole time. That was so magical, like I was there again. How does disney know how to convert all of us cynical, society-hating geeks into utter children again with a familiar old tune? Imaaaginaaation, Imaaaaginaation.......

I miss Captain Eo! YouPushedTooHard, I thought the same thing when I saw Picard take on the Borg.

Universe of Energy was always boring, especially the original version. The dinosaurs were the only good part.

#7 is very funny, because SMRT means death in my language! Imagine meeting a robot as a child named DEATH-1! Heh

Olorin, maybe you're right and I'm guilty of being too cynical. Perhaps Disney will turn out to be not far off the mark with its predictions. I certainly hope so.

There's a great big beautiful tomorrow
Shining at the end of everyday
There's a great big beautiful tomorrow
And tomorrow's just a dream away

I agree wholeheartedly with you on Horizons and Imagination.

As far as Universe of Energy: last time I visited Disney World, I was dragged onto "Ellen's Energy Adventure". A far, far better title for it would be "I Love Fossil Fuels!!!" Apparently, I wasn't the only person insulted by this (this was right around when gas prices were starting to go strait to hell). At the end of each of the ride's "acts", an announcer would ask everyone to "stay in your seats or we'll have to shut down the whole show!" Which implies that people had been walking out of the theater!

What a great list! And I'm not just saying that because I live in Orlando and I've had an annual pass to Disney World for the past 15 years. :)

First, I can understand why theme parks would want to update their rides, but I think Disney is doing people an injustice. If they *don't* change the rides, parents can take their kids on the same ride that they were on when they were a kid and share the experience. But now, both the parent and kid have the same experience of riding a new ride.
Second, I don't agree with Epcot's decision to replace show rides (World of Motion, Horizons) with high-speed thrill rides. Mission: Space simulates a flight to Mars and is probably one of the most intense rides out there. How long will it be until all the rides at Epcot are turned into thrill rides, in an attempt to compete with the roller coasters at Universal Studios and Sea World? :(

On the other hand, you can sort of see why they would change the rides: Epcot was originally designed as a place to learn... and as some posters are saying, this could put kids to sleep! Maybe Ellen and Bill Nye will keeps awake long enough for them to learn something about energy. lol

Anyway, some trivia:
#10 The Millennium Village: this pavilion also had a motion-simulator ride called "Journey to Jerusalem". And, yep, some religious groups got upset because they thought Disney wouldn't show the city "properly", meaning the ride wouldn't mention their religion.

#9 The Living Seas: come on, how can you blame Disney for re-"imagineering" a so-so attraction into one that's based on the highest-grossing animated movie of all time? Okay, "Finding Nemo" may not be the top animated movie of all time, but it's definitely up there.

#8: Captain EO: this was a collaboration between Michael Jackson (obviously), Francis Ford Coppola AND Lucas! I don't remember what Lucas (or ILM) did for the movie, but he was definitely involved. Also, Angelica Huston played the role of the alien queen.
One of my friends worked in this pavilion and he said the movie was kind of like the old episodes of Star Trek: it's fin to watch once or twice (which is what the average tourist will do), but after repeated viewings, the errors become very visible. The worst is when a long shot shows an African-American dancer coming down off a wall, but then a medium-range shot shows a white guy in his place!
The movie was changed to "Honey I Shrunk the Audience" in 1993... and, no, the child-molestation allegations against Jackson had nothing do with Disney's decision to change it. (Yeah, right.)

#7 Communicore: I remember going to Epcot as a kid and playing with the Roller-Coaster Creator. Back in 1984, it was amazing! And to think this led to games like "Ultimate Ride" and the roller-coaster view in games like Roller Coaster Tycoon 3.

#6: The Wonders of Life: Body Wars starred Tim Matheson (of "Animal House") and Elizabeth Shue... yep, the same actress who won an Oscar for "Leaving Las Vegas". Though the Body Wars movie was made around the time of "Back to the Future".

#5: The Universe of Energy had the greatest display of live-action, though robotic, dinosaurs... until "Jurassic Park" came long with it's computer-generated and more-realistic-moving dinos.
Also, the new version also includes Jamie Lee Curtis (as Ellen's college room-mate, Judy), and Alex Trebek (as himself) when Ellen dreams she's on an energy-themed episode of "Jeopardy".

#4: The World of Motion: this is sponsored by GM. Let me just say that they should be ashamed and embarrassed of themselves! In the car-showcase after "World of Motion", there was a car on display called the "Lean Machine" which boasted a 200 miles to the gallon! Yes, 200!! It was basically a super-aerodynamic motorcycle, which only sat one person, but still: 200 miles to the gallon!
Now, in the car showcase after "Test Track", GM had been displaying the latest Hummer model, with its whopping 18 miles to the gallon. This was displayed next to the latest pickup trucks, which got an impressing 22 to 25 miles per gallon. Well, impressive compared to the Hummer.
And people wonder why GM is on the edge of bankruptcy: they could have (or should have) had the technology to make a 200 miles per gallon motorcycle-like vehicle, but instead they made super-large trucks. Sorry for the political rant.

#2: Journey into Imagination: one of the rumors for this ride's change in 1998 is because it was too long... either for good or bad. Personally, I think a long, indoor ride is perfect on hot summer days. But, the Disney people wanted to boast that the new Test Track was the longest ride at Epcot, so Journey into Imagination had to be scaled back.

I think your next list should be "Why the World Showcase countries at Epcot don't really represent the countries".
First issue: the Soviet Union/ Russia STILL doesn't have a pavilion, yet Morocco and Norway do?
I know the history of Berlin and West/ East Germany is still a little touchy, but does the Germany pavilion really have to be the stereotypical Munich/ Bavaria/ Austria representation of Germany?
Obviously Mexico and Canada have to have pavilions because they're our neighbors, but why are there no South American countries in the World Showcase?
There's still no India pavilion, even though India has over 1/6th of the world's population. Again, Morocco and Norway get pavillions, but India doesn't?

At least China finally updated their movie a few years ago: until then, the movie played like a "look at how nothing has changed in China since we made this movie in 1982". Now, they include shots of Hong Kong, Shanghai, and other 21st century cities.

I, too, lived in Orlando during those years and I remember how things were and the changes made. Incoming buck-fifty (two cents just doesn't cut it :-) ).

Horizons is the one I miss the most. I like Mission: Space (actually, I like the game afterwards more than the ride itself), but I really enjoyed being surrounded by the future. Also, as the ride says, "It's fun looking back at tomorrow."
Interesting detail is the sideways ride is reminicent of the GM ride in the 1930 World's Fair which showed their vision of the future; they got the highways right (Horizons was originally sponsored by GE).

Journy Into Imagination is my 2nd most missed item, though a part of that is due to their lame replacement. It had none of the fun or adventure of the original. I understand they did have problems with the car technology then (as noted in earlier posts of people getting stuck on it).
Chuck McCann ("Far Out Space Nuts" and other bit parts) did Dreamfinder and Billy Barty (the high wizard in "Willow") did Figment. It wasn't until a Sid & Marty Krofft reunion show that I found this out.

World of Motion is my 3rd most missed ride because it was a lot of fun and the future part looked cool. Also, I loved the future imaginings after the ride. I really dig ideas of the future. The Engine of Tomorrow show was fun, too. From the superheroic Maglev Guy to the mad scientist Water Engine...it was all enjoyable (and interesting).
Yeah, the Lean Machine was something I was really looking forward to seeing on the market. I remember hearing there was some regulation that prevented them from selling it. :-(

What I miss most from Wonders of Life was the Cranium Commando show about a group of military-esc people who run everything in your head. "Putting you into the head of a chicken would be cruelty to animials. I'm going to put you into a squid; a lungfish; a talk-show host!" Lots of fun. :-)
The other fun thing was the hands-on exhibits near the end...they were interesting. One hand on a hot pipe (not too hot), one on a cold one. Hold 10 sec. Both hands on a room temp pipe. Cold hand feels warm, hot hand feels cold. Also the recombant bikes that let you bike through Disneyland, the Rose Bowl Parade, or a typical house from a mouse point-of-view was neat.

I don't miss Living Seas too much since it's basically still there. I really like it for being immersed in the future. The Hydrolators were neat until Hulk Hogan used them for prison cells in his TV series filmed at WDW. :-/
I don't know if I like the cartoonifying of it or not. There are some fun new things there now, but I miss the "seriousness" of being in the future. Ah, well.

I do miss Captain Eo a bit because the lasers were cool and I was lucky enough to have a really cool announcer late one night: "Please no eating, drinking, smoking, flash photography, or break-dancing in the aisles. Also we use real lasers for this show so I would recommend you not stand up while it is playing. You don't believe me? How do you think I got this part in my hair?" That was a cool night. :-) I have to admit, however, that the show is rather dated.

I must confess I wasn't really much of a fan of the Kitchen Cabaret, although I enjoy listening to the songs on the Disneyland/WDW CD I got 20 odd years ago. I like Soarin' a lot better even if it's about California and not Florida.

I must also confess that while I liked the dinosaurs in Universe of Energy, the ride itself was really boring. The upgrade with Ellen DeGeneres and Bill Nye is more entertaining at least, though it could still be better.

Some of the stuff in the old Communicore was fun, but some of the stuff in the new Innoventions is fun, too. I look at that as required evolution.

I actually cannot give the nod to Millenium Village since that was never intended to be permanent. What I do miss (and I admit it's stupid) is the three plexiglass shapes in the fountain in front of Spaceship Earth. My stupid reason? I pretended somebody could fit in that space and be teleported to parallel dimension where EPCOT was an actual base of some sort. I actually had a show in my head based on that. Ah, well. :-)

Epcot's long been my favorite of the parks at Disney World, but with each passing year the reasons I like it so much and what makes it so unique lessen and lessen as it becomes more dumbed down.

Big difficulty for imagineers:
1] today, we have almost no imagination, we can't identify with fantasy. In Walts day, radio was still a daily player in the entertainment of the masses. We most often had to use our minds to grasp what was presented, so seeing Walts EPCOT was a thrill of reality one step more vivid. Seeing the future under those conditions was pleasant 2] we cannot clearly see a future today, most cannot envision even a foggy future day, but we could estimate one back in Walts day.

What shall imagineers dabble in, today? Examples of future computing power isn't going to make us feel as entertained today as it did back in Walts day. Individual space travel is only closer today than in Walts day (but not any more accessible).

What shall we dream of? Moisture farming? Passe, but Mars colonization will definitely have some. Will we be enthralled by in home holographic entertainment any time soon? No, but again, Disney touched that idea years ago. So what are we dreaming of, today, that will enthrall us, today, in the same manner as these lost attractions?

Lets see... TV is reaching out for a vulgar audience, with uncouth slang and a life overly focused on sexuality... all offered as de riguer life.... thats pretty bleak, yet we see it every day at work and school, and tv execs will tell you these are what is exciting the audience!

Hmmm. Ah! The future of energy is entertaining! We'll probably dream of energy independence! Solar cells! Wind farms! Oceanic hydrogeneration systems! Oh, wait. We aren't able to get mass production under way, because nobody with any money wants to gamble on a solar technology which just might lose; NIMBY puts us in contention wherever a person wants to harvest wind energy; so much more difficulty in life today. We've forgotten how too be considerate to one another, we seem to not want to accept less than flawlessly perfect solutions. We dream of transportation! no.... no we don't. High speed rail is not the future, it isn't really happening much in the present, and the present growth is not very positive, if at all. Autos are now 100 times more computation intensive that the Apollo missions needed, yet we still junk them after they do the same for us today as they did in Walts day.

Get your minds back into your lives, dream about your future, give the imagineers something with which they can work, and then you will see magnificent possibilities.

Oh wait. That costs money and we havent any.

John,

In response to your why doesnt the World Showcase have countries x, y and z...

Morocco is represented because there was a planned Africa Pavilion but it was shelved because of the politics of Africa. There was how to treat and do justice to the warring tribes, Aparthtid, the racial injustices that were going on. The African Pavilion was actually the furthest along in the planning stage. It was really very close to becoming a reality, but it was shelved for reasons of not being able to represent the countries. Morocco decided that it would represent itself and to this day, it is the only country that sponsors its own pavilion. The others are sponsored by corporations. Morocco sent people over to help Disney with the design of its pavilion.

East/West Germany. While I agree this is a part of German history, its not what EPCOT is about. EPCOT is about history only when it impacts the cultural aspect. It is not a living encyclopedia that must be updated. They are showcases to show the culture of the countries, not their histories. Look at the rest of the countries. The rides or attractions are there to showcase the culture of the country. Look at Norway. The ride is about the cultural story of how Norway came to be a country. I dont know what is culturally relevant about East Germany and the Berlin Wall. Historically important yes. Culturally important no. Disney goes out of its way to avoid political things on blatant display.

This is part of the reason why the Soviet Union never got a pavilion. There wasnt supposed to be any "culture" in the Soviet Union. Only work comrade!!! The Soviet govt didnt want a history of Russia there either, so it was shelved. I would love to see a Russian Pavilion now as I have a minor in Russian History and it is very interesting and unique. Israel was also set to have a pavilion and their's was cancelled as well. I'll give you one guess as to why...

As for South America, Venezuela was set to have a pavilion, but it was cancelled. My guess is money on that one. This was well before Hugo Chavez.

Now as to why new showcases arent added regularly or updated is simply because of money. There were 9 showcases(Morocco and Norway were added later) when EPCOT launched in 1982. Disney had spent over a BILLION dollars in 1982 to design the 9 showcases. Money is the biggest reason.

And I agree that India and the Middle east need to be represented at the showcase. UAE and Israel were set to have pavilions but were cancelled.