Spaceship Earth (Epcot)
| Spaceship Earth | |
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| Epcot | |
| Area | Future World |
| Coordinates | 28°22′31″N 81°32′58″W / 28.375321°N 81.549408°WCoordinates: 28°22′31″N 81°32′58″W / 28.375321°N 81.549408°W |
| Status | Operating |
| Opening date | October 1, 1982 |
| General statistics | |
| Attraction type | Dark ride |
| Designer | Walt Disney Imagineering |
| Music |
Edo Guidotti (1994–2007) Bruce Broughton (2008–present) |
| Site area | 109,375 sq ft (10,161.3 m2) |
| Vehicle type | Omnimover |
| Riders per vehicle | 4 |
| Rows | 2 |
| Riders per row | 2 |
| Duration | 15:00 |
| Host |
Lawrence Dobkin (1982–1986) Walter Cronkite (1986–1994) Jeremy Irons (1994–2007) Judi Dench (2008–present) |
| Diameter | 165 ft (50 m) |
| Height | 180 ft (54 m) |
| Circumference | 518.1 ft (158 m) |
| Volume | 2,350,000 ft3 (716,280 m3) |
| Weight | 15,520,000 lbs (7,040,000 kg) |
| Number of tiles | 11,324 |
| Notes | The sphere is raised 18 ft (5 m) off the ground by pylons sunk more than 120 ft (37 m) into the ground |
 Fastpass+ available |
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 Must transfer from wheelchair |
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 Assistive listening available |
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Spaceship Earth is the iconic and symbolic structure of Epcot, the second of four theme parks built at the Walt Disney World Resort. One of the most recognizable structures of any theme park, it is also the name of the attraction that is housed within the 18-story geodesic sphere that takes guests on a time machine-themed experience using the Omnimover system. The 15-minute dark ride demonstrates to guests how advancements in human communication have helped to create the future one step at a time. Passengers journey back in time to witness the origins of prehistoric man, then travel forward in time to witness important breakthroughs in communication throughout history—from the invention of the alphabet to the creation of the printing press to today's modern communication advancements, including telecommunication and mass communication. At the conclusion of the ride, passengers have the chance to design their own future using touch screens that are embedded into the ride cars.
The structure is similar in texture to the United States pavilion from Expo 67 in Montreal, but unlike that structure, Spaceship Earth is a complete sphere, supported by three pairs of legs. The architectural design was conceived by Wallace Floyd Design Group.The structural designs of both Expo 67 and Spaceship Earth were completed by Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc. of Boston, Massachusetts.
Geometrically, Spaceship Earth is derived from the Class 2 geodesic polyhedron with frequency of division equal to 8. Each face of the polyhedron is divided into three isosceles triangles to form each point. In theory, there are 11,520 total isosceles triangles forming 3840 points. In reality, some of those triangles are partially or fully nonexistent due to supports and doors; there are actually only 11,324 silvered facets, with 954 partial or full flat triangular panels.
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Wikipedia