Defunct Disney: World of Motion
By Sam. 10.26.21
You're going to notice a recurring theme of my blog posts are defunct rides or attractions that are no longer with us. While it's not an every day thing for me, it certainly isn't uncommon to cast Youtube to the TV and show the kids things that have been removed from the happiest place on earth. With Ellen's Energy Adventure now joining the ranks of Horizons, Communicore, and Kitchen Kabaret, there will never be an end to nostalgia in Walt Disney World as it's constantly evolving. And that brings us to one of Epcot's hottest opening day attractions waaaaaay back in 1982 - the General Motors' presented World of Motion.
Thanks to Ford's participation in the 1964 New York World's Far - a pretty historic shaping event in the annals of Disney lore, GM wouldn't be denied when it came time to sponsor an attraction at Disney's newest theme park. They signed a 10 year sponsorship deal and thus began famed 9 angry men member Ward Kimbal's lone attraction design.
The Ride
The ride began with a modern u-turn up a portico that was situated directly in the entrance into the building. The Omnimovers would then bring riders to a simple caveman cave. However, it would head into the first means of transportation: footpower, where a caveman and cavewoman are seen blowing on their hot feet.
The second scene presented into the earliest means of over water transportation, people traveling on projected boats and a man fast asleep on a raft floating while a crocodile lunges at him. The next scene showed the first time animal power was introduced. It showed an Assyrian tableau with a person trying to control animals from camels to zebras. This scene also shown a man holding a crystal ball on a flying carpet.
The next scene showed the invention of the wheel at Babylon. A gag showed men holding a square object, a triangle object, a pentagonal object, and the award-winning circle object that won the king’s Laughter. Before exiting, riders passed a wheel factory, into a part called trade and commerce where it shows many useful ideas using wheels from different lands. There were examples such as a rickshaw and a chariot. The next scene was a used chariot dealership where everything including the Trojan Horse, was trying to be sold. Ships were introduced next as explores run into a sea serpent.
The next scenes were the "Age of Flight". It began with Leonardo da Vinci and his many attempts to fly and next to him was a clearly upset Mona Lisa. The following scene was a man looking over London in a hot air balloon.
The scene shifted over to one of the most photographed and most remembered scenes: the world's first traffic jam. The chaos included items such as an upset horse, a spilling ice truck, and kids screaming during the 1900s. Guests then traveled past the open road scenes which include a man who crashed a bicycle, a family picnic, and early 40s and 50s cars and a Suspicious policeman. And addition a picture is taken with a flying ace and a woman, the wind and the airplanes makes it hard to take a picture. And then scenes are shown with all the modern forms of cars.
The following areas were "speed tunnels" which paid homage to the tunnels in the Magic Kingdom's "If You Had Wings". The Omnimover traveled through these bullet-shaped tunnels while images were played on the screens. Some included crop-dusting, rafting, and traveling down a snowmobile trail.
The tunnels led to the final exhibit: CenterCore, the amazing city of the future. Just before unloading, riders were asked to "help shape tomorrow's mobility" with a similar effect as The Hitchhiking Ghosts from the Haunted Mansion, the riders in their Omnimovers appeared to be a simulated car of the future.
TransCenter
Riders left their Omnimover vehicles and went to the TransCenter, which was full of exhibits and showed about transportation and the things surrounding it. It took an Innoventions-style feel to all of it. The TransCenter portion of World of Motion, designed by award-winning experience designer Bob Rogers (designer) and the design team BRC Imagination Arts, offered educational attractions which included prototype cars such as the Lean Machine in the Dreamer's Workshop and a show called The Water Engine, which pitted nine animated characters associated with various and alternate fuel-systems in a debate over which motor design should be used to power cars. There was a replica of America's only wind-tunnel on display. The ever-popular show "The Bird and the Robot", starring a toucan, Bird, and an assembly-line robot, Tiger, entertained people with acts (and Bird's signature bad jokes) about the importance of the GM assembly line. A computer-generated display showed GM's car 'torture' test without actually performing it. Concept 2000 showed the process of creating prototype cars for GM. The prototype concept cars at the TransCenter were once the most photographed spot in Walt Disney World. An exhibit called Aerotest educated people about air-flow on auto concepts and fuel economy. Another exhibit featured stylings of clothes with GM's advanced polyester production styles.
Closure
Business slumped with General Motors after the second sponsorship deal ended for World of Motion in 1992, and as a result, GM started signing 1-year contracts for the ride. However, a suggested idea to gut the building and turn it into a new attraction stuck with Disney representatives and GM businessmen. It would take World of Motion, close it down, and refurbish it into a new ride that focused only on cars. In November 1995, Epcot announced the closure of World of Motion and Universe of Energy. World of Motion would be transformed into Test Track, while Universe of Energy would be rethemed to Ellen's Energy Adventure. On January 2, 1996, World of Motion was shut down to the public. Halfway through the final ride, the attraction faced technical difficulties. GM executives were riding World of Motion and had to walk back to the loading station. Scheduled to open 19 months after World of Motion's closing, Test Track would put guests in a test car against vehicle tests that were needed to deem the car safe for road travel. However, nothing went as planned, and the new ride opened significantly later than the scheduled opening date.
Test Track pays tribute to World of Motion. The logo can be found on the entrance signs, outside banners and trash cans. It is also visible inside the station on the backside of one of the posts. During the climatic outdoor speed portion, guests can spot a few signs. One of them has a picture of a futuristic city, which echoes a model of the same future city seen earlier in the ride right after the brake test. There is another sign located near the right turn. It contains the World of Motion logo and the "FN2BFRE" text, which is a reference to the theme song heard in the attraction.
So Where Did All That Cool Stuff Go?
One more little fun thing about closed attractions is that the mouse tends to re-use props. For example, there was a sea monster that a crusader stared down through his looking glass:
This dude was thought lost but ended up as a prop for the upcoming opening Disney's California Adventure around 2000, was later seen at DCA's backlot stage and finally at rest in a Disneyland boneyard as of 2011, but he may have himself a future somewhere:
Several masks and other WOM props were visible on the now-also defunct Backlot Tour at Hollywood Studios:
The caveman's head ended up in a Disney archives exhibit in 2013, but no idea of where it is now:
Other than that, my guess is that everything else ended up in the trash, on ebay, in an old castmember's closet or who knows where. I thought even the building had been demolished but looking past all of Test Track's rigging and trusses, it's pretty much still the circular shape that it boasted on opening day, 1982.
Luckily there's tons of videos on the interwebs of the ride through so you don't have to go too far to find them. But visiting it in person may be tough. We'll always have our memories though. So thanks for visiting...
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