Spaceship Earth (Disney)

For the phrase, see Spaceship Earth.

Spaceship Earth is an attraction at Walt Disney World's Epcot. It is one of the most recognizable structures at the Walt Disney World Resort.

The 18-story geosphere houses a 12-minute dark ride using the Omnimover system that explores the progression of human communications from cavemen to the dawn of the internet (see ride scenes below).

Geometrically, Spaceship Earth is a pentakis dodecahedron, with each of the 60 equilateral triangle faces divided into 16 smaller equilateral triangles (with a bit of fudging to make it rounder). Each of those 960 flat panels is sub-divided into four triangles, each of which is divided into three isoceles triangles to form each point. In theory, there are 11,520 total isoceles triangles forming 3840 points. In reality, some of those triangles are partially or fully nonexistent due to supports and doors; there are actually only 11,324 of them, with 954 partial or full flat panels.

Facts and figures

• Designed with the help of science fiction writer Ray Bradbury
• Designed so that when it rains, no water pours off the sides onto the ground. (All water is 'absorbed' into the ball by small openings)
• 180 feet (about 55 m) in exterior diameter
• Raised 18 feet off the ground by pylons sunk more than 120 feet into the ground
• 15,520,000 pounds (7,040,000 kg)
• Construction time was 26 months

Ride scenes

The ride starts with cavemen, who developed the first spoken languages. Then viewers see the Egyptians, who invented a system of hieroglyphs and made papyrus on which to record them; Phoenician merchants, who developed a written alphabet (the Phoenician alphabet); Ancient Greece, where the theatre was a popular form of entertainment; and Ancient Rome, whose leaders built a vast system of roads all over Europe.

After the sacking of Rome by invaders, viewers see scenes of the Middle Ages, when Muslim scholars continued to progress in science, and when monks copied Bibles by hand. The ride then moves on to the European Renaissance, the development of the movable-type printing press, and the 20th century communications revolution—newspapers, telegraphs, radio, telephones, movies, television, and videoconferencing.

This is the end of the historical segment of the ride; the remainder is split between abstract depictions of Earth and the communications that take place upon it, and the possible communications technologies that will be developed in the future.

Timeline

October 1, 1982 

Spaceship Earth opens with the opening of Epcot; the narrator is uncredited but is thought to be either Vic Perrin, Walker Edmiston, or Walter Pigeon.

May 26, 1986 

Narrator changed to Walter Cronkite.

August 15, 1994 

Closes for renovation.

November 23, 1994 

Reopens, now narrated by Jeremy Irons.

January 1, 2003 

AT&T sponsorship ends.

External Links

• Official Spaceship Earth website
• Epcot Discover Center's Spaceship Earth