Universe of Energy
| Universe of Energy | |
|---|---|
 |
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| EPCOT Center | |
| Area | Future World |
| Coordinates | 28°22′29″N 81°32′52″W / 28.374599°N 81.547877°W |
| Status | Closed |
| Opening date | October 1, 1982 |
| Replaced by | Ellen's Energy Adventure |
| General statistics | |
| Attraction type | Pavilion |
| Designer | WED Enterprises |
| Theme | Energy |
| Music | Robert Moline - Energy (You Make the World Go 'Round), Al Kasha & Joel Hirschhorn - Universe of Energy, Buddy Baker - Film background scores |
| Vehicle type | Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) |
| Vehicles | 6 |
| Riders per vehicle | 80 |
| Duration | 45:00 |
| Audio-animatronics | 34 |
| Sponsor | Exxon (1982-1996) |
| Host | Vic Perrin |
 Wheelchair accessible |
|
 Assistive listening available |
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| Ellen's Energy Adventure | |
|---|---|
The marquee as it has looked since 2004, after the pavilion lost ExxonMobil as its sponsor
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| Epcot | |
| Area | Future World |
| Coordinates | 28°22′29″N 81°32′52″W / 28.374599°N 81.547877°W |
| Status | Operating |
| Opening date | September 15, 1996 |
| Replaced | Universe of Energy |
| General statistics | |
| Attraction type | Pavilion |
| Designer | Walt Disney Imagineering |
| Theme | Energy, Bill Nye the Science Guy, Jeopardy! |
| Music | Bruce Broughton |
| Vehicle type | Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) |
| Vehicles | 6 |
| Riders per vehicle | 80 |
| Duration | 45:00 |
| Audio-animatronics | 26 |
| Sponsor | ExxonMobil (1996-2004), none (2004-Present) |
| Host | Ellen DeGeneres, Bill Nye 'The Science Guy', Alex Trebek, Jamie Lee Curtis and Johnny Gilbert |
|
Wheelchair accessible |
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|
Assistive listening available |
|
The Universe of Energy is a pavilion located in the eastern half of Future World at Epcot. The pavilion contains one attraction, its second since its 1982 opening. The current version of the attraction features a show entitled Ellen's Energy Adventure, stars Ellen DeGeneres and Bill Nye. It features a combination of four separate large-format film presentations and a slow-moving dark ride. The Universe of Energy pavilion was previously sponsored by ExxonMobil (formerly Exxon) from opening day on October 1, 1982 through 2004.
The original Universe of Energy pavilion itself was an innovation in energy technology, as the entire roof was covered in 80,000 photovoltaic solar cells that partially powered the ride vehicles. Visitors were transported through the pavilion in large battery-powered "traveling theatre cars" that followed guide-wires embedded in the floor as opposed to riding along conventional ride tracks. The original attraction featured numerous films that presented information on the subject of energy in a serious fashion as well as a ride through a primeval diorama complete with audio-animatronic dinosaurs.
The original pre-show featured an eight-minute live-action film presentation about the various forms of energy found in nature and traced the history of how mankind harnessed these different forms of energy for his use. This unique film presentation was known as the Kinetic Mosaic and was invented by Czech film director Emil Radok. The mosaic screen consisted of 100 rotating prism-shaped flip screens (reminiscent of those on the classic game show Concentration), arranged in a twenty five wide by four high array. These flip screens rotated under computer control and were synchronized to a live-action motion picture that was projected onto their surface via five synchronized motion picture projectors. Each flip screen contained three sides, with white projection surfaces on two sides and a matte black surface on the third. The combination of the film and the screens' rotation created undulating, sometimes three-dimensional-appearing images. During the conclusion of the pre-show, the song Energy (You Make The World Go ‘Round) was played.
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Wikipedia