Great Moments at the Movies: Epcot Center's Canceled Attractions Part 6



Epcot Center has only had three entirely newly built pavilions added to Future World beyond the originally planned 5. But it almost had a fourth. For this part of the Epcot Center's Cancelled Attractions series, we look at the movie-themed pavilion proposed for Epcot Center's Future World.

This pavilion, originally intended to be placed in between the Imagination Pavilion and The Land pavilion in the current location of the Soarin' show building. It would contain a ride known as Great Moments at the Movies, alternatively known as The Great Movie Ride.

This pavilion would have featured a film backdrop of a blue sky as well as a classic cinema-themed entrance. It was developed at about the same time as the Wonders of Life Pavilion and both were set to be constructed as an expansion to Future World.

Then Michael Eisner intervened.

Now there are two versions of this story both ending with the same result. The first is that knowing of Universal's intention to build a movie studio-themed park in Orlando, he saw this ride as an opportunity to build a park around it to beat Universal at its own game. The other is that he loved the proposal so much he told Imagineers to create a whole park around The Great Movie Ride. You can decide which one is true.


This ride then turned from an Epcot pavilion into the flagship opening day attraction of Disney's MGM Studios.


As a result of this, the facade got a major facelift, becoming a replica of the Grauman's Chinese Theatre as it would serve as the icon of the park, not just one of many Future World Pavilions.


It also had handprints added to the courtyard in front of the attraction.

This pavilion may never have been built in Epcot Center, but instead, it was turned into a full park, whether it was artistically or capitalistically motivated. We still got the original idea realized, just instead on a much larger scale than originally intended.



Thanks for reading this entry in the Epcot Center's Cancelled Attractions series. If you missed any please go here to check out previous entries in this series. Also, be sure you sign up for our Email newsletter below so you don't miss any of the latest Theme Parks and Entertainment articles. Be sure to come back for part 7 of the series, The Soviet Union Pavilion.

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