Looking to New Horizons

One year ago today, people were celebrating the 30th anniversary of the grand opening of EPCOT Center, which opened in 1982. That means that on this date thirty years ago, October 1, 1983, the seventh Future World pavilion, the pavilion and attraction that is most bemoaned by its absence, held its grand opening. It was Horizons.

The festivities were overseen by then President and CEO, Ron Miller, and featured fabulous jumpsuits, 1980s hair that just wouldn’t quit, and all the spectacle you would expect from a grand opening in that day and age of Walt Disney World. Many of the props used were actually repurposed from EPCOT Center’s opening just a year earlier.

Horizons was the epitome of what EPCOT Center meant. It took a look at the global community and used the ingenuity of human imagination to imagine what it would look like in the future. Everything from travel and communication, to agriculture and energy was touched upon in some way, shape, or form as the tale of Horizons unfolded throughout the attraction. The message of a brighter tomorrow through the resourcefulness of the moment is something that could definitely reinvigorate Epcot and Walt Disney World as a whole today.