Spaceship Earth is the icon of Disney’s Epcot Park. This “giant golf ball” is an awesome site, and aside from being a great photo opportunity it houses one of the must-do rides for an Epcot visit. Inside this 180-ft tall geosphere guests experience a slow-moving 16-minute ride through time and the development of communications.
Once inside Spaceship Earth, you will board your own “time machine” which includes interactive touch screens that ask you to respond to questions like: whether you prefer the country or the city, how eco-friendly you are, and how you would like to live, work and play in the world of tomorrow. The continuously moving ride spirals through the 18-story interior of Spaceship Earth.
The ride includes very unique audio-animatronic scenes which cover the eras from the beginning of time through the 21st century. Guests get a good look at how each generation of mankind has paved the way for the next. It is a great educational ride for kids. It covers the renaissance with beautiful artistry including the Sistine Chapel, as well as scenes from the beginning of the development of data communications. You will even notice a familiar character slaving away in a garage developing computer technology, and some of us recognize him as Steve Jobs.
Once the ride is coming back down the 18 stories towards the end, you will get to see fun images of yourself and your potential future. By using image capture and face recognition technology, Siemens has made this a fun part of the attraction. The pictures below are ones I took with my phone while they were up on the screen inside the vehicle.
When you come off the ride, you will be able to email the fun pictures of your future self to anyone you wish. Then, be sure to stop off at Project Tomorrow: Inventing the Wonders of the Future. This area is an interesting, interactive play area for guests of all ages filled with challenging games and informative displays that showcase the latest technologies in medicine, transportation and energy management. Be careful, though, as it can become time-consuming. Sometimes I literally have to tell my family, “Come on guys, let’s go!”
Ride Information:
- This ride is for guests of all ages, but children need to be supervised at all times. Children under 7 must be accompanied by a person 14 or older.
- Spaceship Earth rarely gets a long line (except at park opening) and is continuous so it moves quickly.
- Handheld Captioning is available at this attraction. Please visit Guest Relations to obtain a device.
- Due to the nature of the experience, guests with service animals should check with a host or hostess for attraction and boarding information at this attraction.
- Guests may rent attraction translation device units at Guest Relations locations in the Theme Parks with a refundable deposit.
- Guests must transfer from their wheelchair, motorized scooter or ECV to board the ride vehicle.
I hope you will visit Spaceship Earth during your next trip to Epcot, which I hope will be very soon! Have a magical day!
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Brenda is a native Texan born and raised on the Gulf Coast. She visited Disney World twice as a teenager and always dreamed of growing her family Disney. She took her first-timer husband and their three children to Disney World in 2000 and they now spend every Thanksgiving there. Brenda writes with a comedic twist on various Disney topics. She will be sharing tips she has learned during her travels and also hopes to enlighten people on little-known freebies that Disney has to offer. She wishes she could have met Walt Disney and considers herself to be a student of Walt. In parallel to his dream it is her wish that everyone would take at least one trip to Disney World in order to share in its magic with their families.
