World of Motion
| World of Motion | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Epcot | |
| Area | Future World |
| Status | Closed |
| Opening date | October 1, 1982 |
| Closing date | January 2, 1996 |
| Replaced by | Test Track |
| General statistics | |
| Attraction type | Dark ride |
| Designer | Walt Disney Imagineering |
| Theme | Transportation |
| Music | It's Fun to Be Free |
| Height | 60 ft (18 m) |
| Site area | 79,400 sq ft (7,380 m2) |
| Vehicle type | Omnimover |
| Riders per vehicle | 4-6 |
| Duration | 15:00 |
| Sponsor | General Motors |
| Control system | Omnimover |
| Host | Gary Owens |
| Audio-animatronics | 188 |
| Show scenes | 30 |
World of Motion, sponsored by General Motors, was the former tenant of the Transportation pavilion at Epcot at the Walt Disney World Resort. It was an opening day attraction at EPCOT Center in 1982 and it closed in 1996 to make way for Test Track, a new thrill ride through a GM testing facility. Visitors would board moving four to six person Omnimover vehicles, and would be taken through scenes that were populated with Audio-Animatronic figures and also projection effects. It was a whimsical look at the history and achievements in transportation, showing scenes from the invention of the wheel right up to the present day and beyond.
The grand finale of the attraction attempted to predict a real future for transportation, with CenterCore, a sparkling metropolis that seemed to be in perpetual motion, and Pepper's Ghost illusions putting guests into futuristic vehicles. At the ride's conclusion, visitors disembarked into the TransCenter, an interactive area about new products in development by GM.
World of Motion closed in 1996. GM has continued its sponsorship in World of Motion's replacement attraction, Test Track, since its opening in 1999. Since that attraction's 2012 overhaul, GM has sponsored the attraction through its Chevrolet division.
The premise of the ride was to be a humorous look into the history of transportation, from the ancient days of foot power, through time into the future. General Motors signed a 10-year sponsorship deal for the ride, in a move to compete with Ford (which had sponsored a Disney-created attraction at the 1964 New York World's Fair). The pavilion's construction was a part of the initial construction of EPCOT Center itself. The attraction was ready for grand opening with the park on October 1, 1982, and was in EPCOT Center's "opening cast". The pavilion was given a specific opening ceremony with GM executives a few days later.
The ride was designed by the legendary Ward Kimball. This was the only attraction the animator ever worked on. His humor was evident in such gags as a used-chariot sale, and the world's first traffic jam.
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