The year is 1990. You are just getting to EPCOT Center. As you enter the park, you pick up a map, and discuss what pavillion will be the first one you'll visit. Horizons? No. World of Motion? No. Living Seas? No. You are going to Wonders of Life.
Wonders of Life opened in 1989. It was the last Future World pavillion to be opened, pratically one of the firsts to receive permanent rehabs (such as Seas with Nemo), and was sponsored by Metropolitan Life. Metropolitan Life is a company that did just what the pavillion theme was - Health and Life.*** Wonders of Life was a big golden ball and used a simple concept, the ride-watch-see. This was used in lots of other pavillions. Wonders of Life originally contained two theaters: one for The Making of Me and another one for Cranium Command,a simulator for Body Wars. Wonders of Life also has two food bars and lots of healthy exhibits.
The pavillion only opened on 1989 because the Imagineers couldn't find the right technology to make those concepts come true and there was no one to sponsor it. When it opened, it surprised everyone. I mean, Horizons opened on 1983, and Living Seas on 1984, but 1989? That was in the verge of the 90's! Disney wanted to do something that made people scream: "This is from the future!". They did that, a bit.The two attractions are Body Wars and Cranium Command.How about let's talk about Cranium Command first.
Cranium Command was a show that was builded like it was inside of someone's head. The story of the ride is as follows: You are another Cranium Cadet who joined the Cranium Command team. These are little guys who control people's heads. As you enter the pre-show theater, you meet two of the most iconic characters of EPCOT Center. First, is General Knowledge who is a strong and angry general. Then you meet Buzzy. Buzzy is a young cadet who wants to be a Cranium Commander. General Knowledge decides that Buzzy should drive an adolescent boy so he could see if Buzzy deserved to be in the team. He then ordered the audience (delivering his best line: Where do you think you are, Disney World?) to follow Buzzy and see how he works. The audience then moved to the main theater and watched as Buzzy tried to control the boy's brain and deal with all the other organs in the body, who always talked with him.
The other attraction was Body Wars,a simulator much like the one in Star Tours. There is one difference, instead of travelling to Endor, you travel inside the human body. The attraction has a backstory. It is that you are travelling with MET (which matched the sponsor's name), an enterprise whose speciality was making medical operations from inside the body and turning "spaceships" into mini-"spaceships".The min-spaceships are beamed into the body. Things go wrong as you have some... technical problems.
Wonders of Life was received with acclaim. People loved it and it filled quicker than Horizons or Imagination.Things didn't go all well. On 2001, MetLife dropped sponsorship. Wonders of Life remained open until 2004. This was a surprise since the most expected thing was a rehab (example: Horizons, Universe of Energy and Living Seas).
On 2004, It started to become a seasonal pavillion. It opened when the WDW management wanted it to open. On 2006, Wonders of Life opened its doors as Wonders of Life for the last time. The big DNA which stood outside the pavillion was removed and since that year, Wonders of Life only re-opens as a pavillion for the International Food & Wine Festival.The question is: will Wonders of Life get back to its brains or stay on its feet?
Only the Imagineers and time can tell.
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3 comments until now.
Please reopen this wonderful, hands on pavillion! It has been been our favorite for years!! We love Cranium Command, The Making of Me and all of the sensory experiences in the center part. There are many children that are missing out on an educational experience that is hands on and fun and immense learning all at the same time. We still laugh at Cranium Command and we've seen it at least a couple of dozen times. We want to bring our grandchildren to experience this exhibit. I know that kids are so technology based but this is such a great young child learning expereince and the ability to touch and experience everything was wonderful! Please, Please bring this back permanently. We will be at WDW the first week in February 2010, please open it that week!
Good and nice article.
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Nice to come across a great article like this. The current generation (think generations Y and Z) are inhumanely deprived of some of the pavillion's most famed (yet underrated) exhibits that EPCOT had to offer. I can only hope and pray that one day, the pavillion would reopen to allow the thousands heartbroken when it closed.
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