Today Mission Space is known as the home of all things space travel at Epcot, but it is actually the third planned version of a space pavilion for Epcot, and the final version that ended up being the one to finally get built in the park.
Welcome to Epcot Center's Cancelled Attractions, where we explore the never built rides and attractions of Epcot Center. Today we are exploring the never built originally planned version of the Space Pavilion at Epcot. Be sure to check out the rest of the series here.
A space-themed pavilion was intended to be a part of Epcot from the earliest stages of the park. Initially, it was planned for a different location, at one point being planned for the eventual location of The Living Seas. But it was not originally planned to be a simulator.
Initially, it was intended to be a much larger pavilion with multiple exhibits and attractions.
The major attraction was supposed to be a play on a rotating theater model, but being used in a verticle fashion. While the exact content of the pavilion has never been explained in great detail, it would have taken a futuristic look at space travel and show you dioramas of planets, stars, and space ships as you traveled in a hanging style moving theater.
This pavilion was one Disney wanted to build since the earliest days of Epcot, and it ended up being made a part of the phase two plans for the park, along with so many projects that never ended up getting built.
The pavilion would never get built from that point on for many reasons. For one it was to be extremely expensive to build due to its massive size. It would have been likely the tallest pavilion outside of Spaceship Earth and massive parts of the pavilion would need to move in order to make the general idea of the pavilion work.
Also, reportedly many of the planned scenes and effects simply would not have worked given the nature of its pavilion and how it would have been viewed from many different verticle angles throughout the attraction.
This was not canceled for a reason as simple as political issues or the drop out of a sponsor but because the basic plan for the pavilion was impractical to be built. This happens with blue sky ideas at Disney and often they help inspire future attractions. Space Mountain was initially considered too technologically complicated to actually be built, but then it was revisited years later when technology had improved.
By the time Disney revisited the idea for a space-themed pavilion at Epcot, it was an entirely different idea, and even it would not be the final version that would end up being built.
Would you have liked to experience this version of the space pavilion? Be sure to let us know in the comments below!
Thanks for coming to Epcot Center's Cancelled Attractions and be sure to check out the rest of the series here. Also make sure to come back next week when we explore Disney's never built Thames River Cruise, the planned boat ride for the UK pavilion in Epcot's World Showcase.
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