Horizons began with a section titled Looking Back at Tomorrow, showcasing visions of the future as perceived from the era of
Jules Verne through the 1950s. The ride then moved past two immense
OMNIMAX screens (groundbreaking technology at the time the ride was built), showing modern technologies and ideas that could be used to build the world of tomorrow. Afterward came the main part of the ride: visions of futuristic life in deserts, undersea, and even in space.
The only Disney attraction with multiple endings, Horizons then allowed riders to select which path they wanted to take back to the FuturePort: from the
space station Brava Centauri (depicting
space colonization), from the desert farm of Mesa Verde (depicting
arid-zone agriculture), or from the Sea Castle research base (depicting
ocean colonization). As the final part of the ride guests in their 'omnimover' would push a button to select amongst the three choices, and would be presented with a 31 second video sequence. A film would then be displayed to riders in each individual car. The videos showed a simulated flyover of an outdoor scene. To create the effect, scale models were built and a camera swept across the futuristic terrain. The models were some of the largest ever created at the time, the model for the Desert sequence for example was 32 feet by 75 feet long. The visual effects were filmed in a hangar at the Burbank airport. Produced in 1983 by 30 model makers it took over a year to build and shoot the three segments.