I’ve been concentrating a lot on rides that are shared on both US coasts, and thought I’d change it up before I get to the last of the 1964 World’s Fair attractions. Today, it is one of my favorite rides of all time, The World of Motion. The World of Motion was sponsored by GM and was an opening day attraction when EPCOT opened October 1, 1982. The premise of the ride was simple; take a ride through the history of motion.
The ride began with one of my favorite parts. After loading inside, your car, the Omnimover, took you outside the building to the portico, where you slowly moved around in a spiral up to the second floor. It looked pretty cool from the outside, and I especially enjoyed waving to people who were walking inside to get on the ride as we made the turn to go inside.
Once inside, you began with the cavemen and foot power, the first method of transportation. From there you moved onto water travel with rafts, and then animal travel with camels and zebras. In the third scene, we finally saw the invention of the wheel in the form of a contest. Many submitted designs, including squares and triangles, but it was the circle that ultimately prevailed leading to the end of the scene, which was a wheel factory where you could purchase your wheels or even your own vehicle. A Trojan Horse, anyone?
Next came flight. Leonardo Da Vinci is there with an obviously upset Mona Lisa and his flying machine, followed by a man in a hot air balloon. Next came steam with a Mississippi Riverboat, stagecoaches streaming westward, and the steam engine that propelled the railroad across the budding country, complete with robbery. Next came everyone’s favorite scene, the first traffic jam. The horse with the spilled cart, crying children, people shouting, complete chaos. It was the most photographed scene on the ride. In fact, my parents may even have one in an old album somewhere. Next came the country road with a man who crashed his bicycle, a family picnic, and the cars of the 40s and 50s. The ride ended with a few of the tunnels that were so popular in “If You Had Wings” in Magic Kingdom, and a tribute to the Hitchhiking Ghosts where your Omnimover was given a futuristic car overlay.
Once you left the ride, you moved on to the TransCenter, which still remains, in a newer version, today. There you could view prototype cars, a show called “The Water Engine,” another show called “The Bird and the Robot,” a wind tunnel, a simulated torture test, a display about GM’s polyester production, and the Aerotest, which featured air flow and fuel economy tests. The most photographed spot in the park was the floor where the prototype cars that GM was working on were featured, and carried over to the original concept for Test Track.
The ride was sponsored by GM for its entire run, though in 1992, because of a slump in the economy and thus sales, GM started signing 1 year sponsorship contracts, and began to push for a new attraction that would feature only cars. On the final ceremonial ride of The World of Motion on January 2, 1996, the ride broke down and the GM executives that were taking that final ride were forced to disembark and walk to the exit. The World of Motion came to an end, and the building was gutted to reopen 19 months later, however due to delays, Test Track did not open to the public until March 17, 1999. The closing of The World of Motion forced the reopening of Horizons, which closed again in 1999 to make way for Mission: SPACE. The song, “It’s Fun to be Free” was written by the same composers who brought us “Yo Ho (A Pirates Life for Me)” and “Grim, Grinning Ghosts,” and can be found on The Official Album of Disneyland and Walt Disney World (1991) and Official Album: The Happiest Celebration on Earth – Walt Disney World Resort Album. Though the ride has been closed for more than fifteen years, there are still many who remember and miss it, though it will always live on for those of us who remember it fondly.
The Adult Side of Disney 