After the initial success of Epcot Center in 1982, Imagineers returned to work to complete more attractions that didn’t premiere on the park’s opening day, especially in Future World. When the front half of the new park opened in 1982, there were only four completed pavilions with all their attractions and Spaceship Earth. Horizons, where Mission: Space stands today, was still under construction on the park’s opening day. The Imagination pavilion only had Magic Journeys, the Figment attraction was still not complete, The Living Seas was still in the concept stage, and the Wonders of Life pavilion wasn’t even a thought yet. Needless to stay, even though Epcot was a hit, it needed more attractions in Future World to entertain guests.
Now you’re probably wondering what all these attractions in Future World have in common with The Great Movie Ride. There is, in fact, a relatively unknown connection between the two. While Imagineers were still fleshing out the Future World pavilions, under the management of Marty Sklar, a movie making themed attraction was also in the works for Epcot.
Sandwiched in between the Imagination pavilion and Land pavilion, ride designers positioned the idea of ‘Great Moments at the Movies’ attraction. It was to be an educational experience revealing the process of making movies. The entrance of the pavilion would have been a big departure from the style of the other show buildings in Future World. Most of the buildings in Epcot took a queue off of Walt’s designs for his pavilions at the 1964/1965 New York World’s Fair. These buildings were sleek in their mid-century modern design. The Epcot pavilions were not quite as stylish, but reflected design aesthetics of the late 70s and early 80s. The Epcot pavilions were grand in size and scope. They housed huge track rides (mostly omnimover type rides) that could handle large capacities at any given time, and this movie-making ride would be the same. The entrance to ‘Great Moments at the Movies’ was to be very different from the rest of Future World, but would be just as magical. There was to be a large flat structure that would have hung a mural of nothing but a blue sky. At the very center of that mural was a very small box office entrance to a cinema with a marquee. The simplicity of this entrance, especially now knowing the size and detail of what this attraction would have in store once inside, presented a sense of wonder and magic.
There is very little detail of what else Imagineers had planned for this Future World pavilion of making movies. But planning for this version of the attraction came to a stop once Disney’s new CEO came into office, Michael Eisner. Eisner and Sklar discussed the plans for this attraction, and naturally Eisner coming from the movie making business himself was certainly intrigued. But I suppose some obvious facts came into play. First of all, as much as a movie-based attraction aimed to educate guests on the technical and scientific side made sense at Epcot. However, the overall established layout of Future World didn’t have an appropriate location for the pavilion. The landscaping and aesthetics of Future World East are meant to reflect the attractions which are focused on ‘hard sciences’; science that coincides with mathematics and design. The footpaths are straight, or consists of right angles mostly. Future World West focuses on the ‘soft sciences’; that is science that focuses on natural elements, like the land, sea and human imagination. Again, the footpaths planters on this side have a curved shaped.
The challenge with finding the right location for an attraction based on film, is that the process of movie making is a balance of both aesthetics. Making movies is about the marriage between hard sciences and technology with the imagination of the human mind. You certainly couldn’t place the attraction in the middle of Future World, because that’s where the beating heart of Epcot has Spaceship Earth and, back then, Communicore.
On top of this, once the Imagination pavilion opened the central attraction with Figment, guests were given a ride that touched on the topic of visual and performing arts. The original omnimover ride had show rooms that showed Figment making and starring in his own films. Therefore, having a movie making pavilion right next door, which was an independent pavilion to Imagination, was redundant.
As much as Eisner and Sklar loved the idea for ‘Great Moments at the Movies’, they quickly realized that Epcot was not a complete fit for this attraction. But a separate theme park, completely dedicated to the art of making movies, with this attraction at the center…now that was a great idea. Thus, the Disney MGM Studios was born and the central attraction was to be this ‘Great Moments at the Movies’ attraction, which was renamed ‘The Great Movie Ride’.
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