The Original Space Attraction: Epcot Center's Cancelled Attractions Part 17

Epcot Center's Cancelled Attractions

Welcome back to Epcot Center's Cancelled Attractions, like always be sure to go here to find all the previous and future entries in this series. This week we are discussing the Space themed attraction at Epcot Center, and I'm not talking about Mission Space.

No before Mission Space there was another proposed space-themed pavilion that would have been built from the ground up, not replacing any pavilion, and being much larger in scale than Mission Space would end up being.

This pavilion was designed much earlier in the developmental process of Epcot before simulators proved to be a viable option for a theme park attraction with the opening of Star Tours. That means all of the attractions were to be built using practical effects, a massive departure from all of the rides Disney has ever built taking place in space.

The idea behind it was that you would enter a walkthrough attraction, including large rotating theater, a kind of step-up in technology from shows like Carousel of Progress and see a show about space and a simulator, although this was more in line with something like Mission to Mars than Star Tours.

Exact details on any of the attractions that were proposed for this version of the pavilion are hard to come by as this version was almost immediately budget cut out of existence. It would have gone into the expansion spot The Living Seas, and now The Seas with Nemo and Friends was located in, but eventually, the pavilion changed locations.

This would end up being the only location change, as it was decided it would replace Horizons, although this would also delay the pavilion until Horizons permanently closed, after a temporary reopening.

During this time there were several other proposed versions that never got too far into development, including a highly detailed dark ride version, but eventually, they settled on the cheapest option, bringing us to Mission Space.

Maybe we will see some concepts from this version when Space 220 opens in the next year. No good idea ever dies at Disney, and there are certainly a lot of abandoned ideas about space in the Imagineering vault.

Thanks for coming back to Epcot Center's Cancelled Attractions. If this is your first visit, be sure to go here for all the previous entries in the series. Also, make sure you come back every Tuesday to check out each of the last 8 articles in this series. And don't worry, we have a special new series premiering right after that in early 2020, so make sure you come back for that!