Please help me remember what ride this is

[ladyv]

I've only been to the Magic Kingdom once when I was a kid, but one of the only memories I have is this ride where we saw a family moving through the ages. I think there was a scene where they were in a futuristic family room or something.....and then the ride cars turned sideways and looked onto a HUGE movie screen (well, I was a kid, so everything was huge)

Am I just remembering wrong? Is/was this really a ride at Disney? I'd love to know what it is so I can be sure to jog my memory and ride it again on our honeymoon.

Sorry for the horrible description - like I said, I'm trying to remember something from 20+ years ago. Thanks in advance for anyones help!!

 

[BethR]

Horizons? (It's gone now. )

But that is in Epcot and I don't know if that is over 20+ years old.

Or Carousel of Progress??? But that is in a theater. But it definately shows a family through the ages and ends up in a futuristic family room...

 

[lovetink]

the ride that you are describing is carousel of progress in tomorrow land. strangely this ride is not listed in some of the wdw information books. this ride was one the first original in tomorrow land. audience cycles around as time and scenes progress, but i don't remember a large screen. i think this is a great ride, but kids seem to think it's corny.

 

[kmcdougan]

It sounds like Horizons to me. At the point where the cars turned sideways, you got to "vote" on which environment you wanted to visit, then, got a tailored film to the choice that the people in your car selected.

Oops. Missed the part about MK. Yep, had to be Carousel of Progress. Sorry about that.

 

[tippisangel]

That's the Carousel of Progress in Tomorrowland. The theatre actually rotates around through different ages. It really was one of my favorites as a child, and I was pleased that it was still there when my husband and I took our little girl in February.

Angie

 

[Jamieb]

It sounds like the Carousel of Progress at Magic Kingdom.

COP follows the life of one family from the early 1900's to the present. There is no big movie screen though so that's what makes me wonder.

Since COP is more like a movie theater, there is no ride car, which then makes it sound sort of like Spaceship Earth at Epcot. While that does not follow a specific family, it does follow the progrss of communication through time but does have family elements to it as well. At the top of the ride, the car turns and you see Earth from space on the inside of Spaceship Earth and then you turn around and decend back down backwards.

I would say it's one of those two or a combination of both.

 

[DaddyPrince]

Horizons at Epcot is the only attraction that comes to mind. It showed different scenarios of the future. Such as, living, farming and travel, etc. One scene showed a family in a futuristic home and there was a scene that was shown on a movie screen near the end of the ride. I believe I still have it on videotape somewhere. It used the same ride system as Haunted Mansion, World of Motion and Spaceship Earth.

There aren't any cars that turn on Carousel of Progress.

Jeff

 

[WendyWorld]

How long ago was this? How old ar eyou now, if this was long ago it does sound like Carosuel of Progress to me too!

 

[BethR]

Originally posted by DaddyPrince
Horizons at Epcot is the only attraction that comes to mind... One scene showed a family in a futuristic home Jeff

And if I remember correctly, it was the same family that is in COP.

 

[LibertyBelle]

It had to be Carousel of Progress as that is the only ride in MK that fits the description. Horizons was my first thought as well but it was at Epcot not MK and if you never went to Epcot you couldn't have ridden it.

I think that is what you are remembering but as you stated it was a long time ago and you probably just have the memory a little jumbled. COP follows a family through the years of progress and ends with a futuristic room (which is not so futuristic these days). It is a great ride that is currently only open seasonally (it is open everyday right now because the Alien Encounter is being changed to Stitches Great Escape, but once Stitch opens COP will fall abck to the seasonally openings.

Check out this web page http://www.yesterland.com/progress.html
it has some pics from COP that might jog your memory if that is the attraction you are remembering

 

[Robo]

Originally posted by ladyv
I have is this ride where we saw a family moving through the ages. I think there was a scene where they were in a futuristic family room or something.....and then the ride cars turned sideways and looked onto a HUGE movie screen (well, I was a kid, so everything was huge)

This was not Carousel of Progress (CoP) at MK... using ALL of your descriptions, I know you're remembering Horizons at Epcot.

The Huge Screen (the best clue) was indeed HUGE... by anyone's standards... it was an Imax screen and there were at least two of them in the attraction. They featured a shuttle launch and the vastness of space (BEAUTIFUL orchestral score playing under that film!)

The reason for some confusuion here is that both CoP and Horizons were each (originally) sponsored by GE and had very similar themes.
In fact Horizons (by far the newer of the two rides) had a B&W "TV set" in one of the early vignettes that featured a man singing "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" the original signature song of the CoP in its earliest (and NOW, present form.)
When EPCOT was built, the MK was presenting a version of the CoP that offered another song "Now is the Time" (both of these were written by the venerable Sherman Bros.)

I was delighted (back then) to hear "Beautiful Tomorrow", even if fleetingly, used in Horizons.
Now, sadly, Horizons is gone (Mission Space sits where it used to be) but "Beautiful Tomorrow" song is back at MK in the latest version of CoP.

Hope they keep CoP open, but its "seasonal" normally (its staying open now until "Stitch Encounter" is completed) and its "hit-or-miss" otherwise.

 

[ladyv]

Horizons! Now that someone mentioned it, I DO remember getting to choose different outcomes at the end of the ride!

Then again, perhaps I'm just mixing up COP and Horizons into 1 ride (we did visit MK and Epcot - it would have been...oh let's say around 1984 ish)

So this Horizons ride is closed now? That's too bad!
Is the Carosel (sp?) of Progress still around?

Thanks for all the great responses!!!

 

[Cinderellee]

The CoP is still there and I make it a point to ride it almost every time I go. It is one of my favorite attractions and it's a nice break on really hot days. You get to sit down and it's air conditioned!

 

[Eeyore2003]

I have been wondering and wondering which was the ride that we chose the different ending and have been doing all the little "extra rides" etc. for ages until I finally gave up. So it was Horizons and is no longer. I always liked that ending!!! Now my mystery is solved after all these years!!!

 

[McCall]

sorry mistake.

 

[Phrank40]

Someone in a previous post mentioned that Mission:Space now sits on the old Horizons site. Sort of sums up the change in Disney's view of new attractions replacing the old ones. I guess in today's got to have a thrill a minute world an attraction like Horizons would be just to slow. You actually had a little time to think about what you were seeing. With Mission:Space got to get you in, have the 4-5 minute thrill, get you out. Nothing wrong with thrills, just hope Disney doesn't decide the thrill has become more important than the story. If Splash Mountain were being built today it wouldn't last 10 minutes or so. It would take half the time that it does now to get to the big plunge then you would get off the ride in half the time.

That being said one of my most memorable moments at WDW was the first time I saw a Rock 'N Roller Coaster car take off. Talk about a thrill.

Phrank

 

[rhanditresmom]

Speaking of old rides...does anyone remember what the Kodak ride was in MK? I just remember a portion of it where it felt like you were flying....this memory is from forever ago...I was little!!

 

[Robo]

Kodak sponsored "Magic Journeys."
Not a ride but a 3D movie. It was in the Fantasyland Theater. (Where Mickey's Philharmagic now resides.)

Kodak/Disney moved "Magic Journeys" to Epcot's Imagination Pavilion when Epcot first opened. Then, after Journey Into Imagination ride finally opened next door, they premiered "Michael Jackson in Captain EO" in 3D. Finally, it changed shows to today's "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience." (IMHO, a big improvement!)

Having said all this... YOU MIGHT be thinking of "If You Had Wings" at MK that had sort of a "flying theme" as it was sponsored by "the official airline of WDW" at the time. This ride had a couple of variations (and Names) over the years (as the "official airline" changed.) Now its the space where BUZZ LIGHTYEAR'S SPACE RANGER SPIN takes place (Again, a big improvement.)

Before anyone JUMPS me for this... I liked IYHW... but it never quite got past the corporate-travel-center feel for me (still I rode it a BUNCH). Come to think of it, it was VERY MUCH like the "coming DOWN" section of SE is now...
so I guess a similar (part of) this ride is still in existence. And I can't forget the Light-Vortex Tunnel effect still in BUZZ that was aways a part of the airline rides (It was to simulate flying into a JET ENGINE!!!) Something all of us (especially ducks) should try to avoid!

 

[rhanditresmom]

Oh, yeah! It was If You Had Wings...told you it was a long time ago! I just remember thinking that was pretty cool...I was LITTLE!!!!

I agree...Buzz Lightyear is a massive improvement!