Listen to the Episode:
Welcome to Episode 50 of the RetroWDW Podcast: “Horizons – Part 2: The Promise” – We appreciate your support and hope you have been enjoying each and every episode. Be sure to check out some of our previous shows.
Listen to Horizons Part 1 – The Prologue
Corrections
- Rick wrote in, regarding The Timekeeper. At one point in the film, The Timekeeper mentions something about “If you had wings”. We find out if that was intentional or not from the director himself.
- Connor wrote in discussing “Century 3” and “Future Probe”. The vintage book called Horizons is discussed and some World’s Fair snippets as well. We discuss the possible connections to WDW, EPCOT Center and more.
Read the Horizons Book by Norman Bel Geddes via Archives.org
Listener Mail
The mail bag is full and we love that! Every month, you can possibly get on the show, so be sure to write us!
- Park wrote in asking about Mizner’s and where the name came from. How discusses who it was actually named after and why…
- Adam asked us about the old Teacher Center brochures we mentioned some episodes back. They are here and here and are very snazzy – enjoy!
If you have any of the Teacher Center materials, please contact us as we’d love to add them to the galleries and JT would really appreciate it! - Ryan wrote in about aquatic areas at WDW – he really enjoys River Country! Ryan more specifically wants to know about the possibility of live fish at Stormalong Bay. We discuss the possibility of this, our knowledge on pools Stormalong Bay in general.
Thank you for all the emails, tweets and comments you have sent our way. We try to respond to almost everything and do our best to pick unique questions for the show.
Questions, Comments & Concerns
We love feedback and hearing your memories!
Drop us a line at podcast@retrowdw.com or call us and leave a voice mail at 978-71-RETRO. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Audio Rewind
Our audio rewind this month turned out to be The American Adventure! (Listen to Episode 9 – Building the Golden Dream – American Adventure)
We have a winner! Congratulations Heather Manning – you win the VHS copy of ‘A Day at The Magic Kingdom’. You can pick the version you want too!
If you think you know the answer to this month’s audio rewind, email us! contest@retrowdw.com – This month, the winner will be getting a Vacation Kingdom Poster – All entries due 7/8/2019 and a random winner will be selected.
For a Summer Bonus Prize, drop JT an email if you would like to win a new 6-month old ‘Speedramp’ Onesie. This doesn’t fit my son and is blue with the yellow Speedramp logo on the front. jt@lbvhistory.org
Main Topic
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Horizons: Part 2 – The Promise
The moment you have been waiting for is finally here. The classic attraction from EPCOT Center is finally getting time on our podcast and we couldn’t be more excited. Horizons is here and get ready: this is going to take more than one episode!
For Part 2 – The Promise, this is the meat and potatoes episode, ride throughs, scene discussions and so much more. Our discussion starts though with a simple questions: Was Horizons under construction on opening day? Well we get into this with some aerial photography (footings, construction after opening). From here though, we start this main topic off walking through the front door. No waiting around and no discussion about the company who made the seals on the front door – although I’m sure some of you would enjoy that fact.
The main entrance had an amazing quote, which has been a controversy for many, many years. The Disney Company misquoted it, many people claim ownership, but we have some BREAKING NEWS on the topic of “If you can dream it, You can do it“.
The discussion continues and we discuss the queue, known as Future Port. How and Todd paint such a great picture throughout this ride, but be sure to look below at the various galleries and images we have on the site. Each scene is gone through in detail this episode, taking you back on the ride. How gives us a little behind the scenes information and Todd gets technical with some various facts and figures.
This episode is the one you have been asking for with music, sound effects and everything in between. If you are a fan, have a foggy memory, never ridden or always dreamed of this ride coming back, you have to listen to this episode multiple times. This is one of our longest episodes, but it sure doesn’t seem like it as you listen. Enjoy!
1983 Horizons Cast Member Guide
We’ve reconstructed the original cast member guide that details each and every scene in Horizons. Click the cover to download and read along with us as we discuss Horizons in this episode:
1983 Horizons Cast Member Guide
How’s Mad L’Orange Drink Recipe
Horizons POV Ride-Thru Video
Horizons & EPCOT Documents
- EPCOT 1976 Introduction
- Horizons GE Client Marketing Brochure
- Executive Club News newsletter with the opening of Horizons
- Horizons GE Magazine (Click cover to load PDF)
- Horizons Cast Member Guide (Click cover to load PDF)
- Proposal for Edison Square (Click cover to load PDF)
- 1983 Walt Disney Productions Annual Report
- Horizons Ride Control Manual
Read More About Horizons
Read more about the design and construction of Horizons from:
- “From Horizons to Space Mountain – The Life of a Disney Imagineer.” by Horizons show designer, Imagineer George McGinnis
- “It’s Kind of a Cute Story” by Imagineer Rolly Crump
- The Progress City Primer by Michael Crawford
( Links go to Amazon & helps support the Lake Buena Vista Historical Society and the RetroWDW podcast)
Get Your Horizons T-Shirts
Proceeds help support the podcast & the Lake Buena Vista Historical Society.
Horizons Scenes Galleries
Check out our Pictorial Souvenir for nearly 600+ Horizon images!
RetroWDW Merchandise
Be sure to get your shirt, iPhone case, tote bag, pillow or coffee mug today: www.retrowdw.com/supportus
Some of Our Latest Designs
Next Month
- Join us next time as we dive into Part 3 of this Horizons journey. Everybody has been waiting a long time for these episodes and we hope you enjoy all three parts. We thank you for your support and welcome you to enjoy all of our other offerings including our photos, restored films & The Lake Buena Vista Historical Society.
Wonderful show! Loving this series about my all-time favorite attraction. I wish it were still around because it was inspiring and amazing!
Brilliant as usual!
I am also not one for wanting to address the problems of humanity in my theme parks, but now as an adult I have a new-found appreciation for the Mesa Verde scene.. the woman is the farmer (a quick Google shows that at about the time Horizons was developed only 5% of US farmers were female, and now it’s still less than 20% ) and the dad is at home baking the cake.
Also.. given the timeframe.. are the grandparent narrators now alive in 2019 (if you get my meaning!)? I guess they would be children?
mesaverdetimes.blogspot.com
The story of Hoot and Chief, and their favorite EPCOT Center attraction, Horizons.
Video below is a bittersweet tribute, but a good summary of their illicit adventures.
WARNING: documentary style film, but contains some adult language at times.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfh7A0lH1ac&has_verified=1
It took me several sessions to get through, but this was an enjoyable show. Thank you for all the hard work that clearly went into this.
I’ve been listening to ya’ll’s podcast while lesson planning. It is so cool to hear about Horizons in such detail. I never got to see (was too young!) but I feel like after this podcast, I have finally experienced it! I love all of your EPCOT podcasts. Can’t wait to hear more in the future!!