4 Things Inside The EPCOT Ball | Revealed!
The EPCOT ball is a massive geodesic sphere structure which leads many to wonder what, if anything, might exactly be inside this huge structure.
In this article we'll detail everything that's inside the EPCOT ball which is also known as Spaceship Earth!
Questions We'll Answer About EPCOT:
- What Four Things Are Inside The EPCOT Ball?
What's Inside The EPCOT Ball?
Spaceship Earth
Taking up most of the giant EPCOT ball is the ride Spaceship Earth which is also the official name of the EPCOT ball.
Spaceship Earth is a slow moving dark ride attraction which takes you through various time periods of human innovation specifically around advances in human communication.
The ride is approximately 15 minutes long and begins in the prehistoric era before traveling through show scenes from set in Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome, the European Renaissance and 1969 just as Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon amongst many other scenes.
Spaceship Earth features dozens of animatronics and another dozen uniquely themed environments all set in different time periods and locations.
You truly feel like you're traveling through time on Spaceship Earth as you slowly move into present day where you're also given a sneak preview of what your future might look like thanks to human ingenuity and innovation.
The ride opened on October 1st 1982 and has gone through three updates/refreshes to modernize the attraction.
Plans for another refurbishment have been discussed for years now but have yet to come to fruition - we'd love to see another update to Spaceship Earth sooner than later! While the attraction is one of our favorites, it is starting to show its age.
Along with the multiple attraction refreshes, the ride has also seen multiple celebrity narrators including Vic Perrin, Walter Cronkite, Jeremy Irons and Judi Dench.
The legendary Ray Bradbury who wrote the books Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles also wrote the original narration script for Spaceship Earth.
Fun Fact: 11,324 tiles makeup the exterior of Spaceship Earth!
Event Space
On the second floor of Spaceship Earth is an event space which overlooks World Celebration (formerly Future World) and World Showcase areas of the theme park.
From the outside you can actually see the event space if you walk past Spaceship Earth, so you can see the entire structure and turn around.
There will be multiple sets of windows slightly elevated above the ground fixed against a small building attached to the giant geodesic sphere.
When you see these windows you've found the event space!
The event space itself is very plain and doesn't feature any cool ride elements or take place in any of the show scenes in Spaceship Earth, but there are some great views of EPCOT from inside!
As of now Disney only uses the event space for very special events, internal company gatherings and corporate meetings, so it's nearly impossible to book for a personal event such as a wedding.
The event space is now primarily used as storage, but for the right customer Disney will certainly clear out the location and host an event in there!
The video at the end of this page shows what the event space looked like previously as a VIP lounge and gives you a good sense of what the area would feel like to be inside of today.
Project Tomorrow
Project Tomorrow is an interactive play area where you disembark from the Spaceship Earth ride.
At Project Tomorrow you can see the on-board photo taken of you on Spaceship Earth projected onto massive screens, as well as a huge map of where various EPCOT visitors who rode the ride are from.
The play area is full of a different games and challenges mainly intended for children.
Some of the games include what it might be like to drive or power an entire city in the future!
Again, these games are targeted at children and are typically very simple, but always fun and interactive!
Bonus: A (former) VIP Lounge
The EPCOT ball has actually been home to a few VIP lounges for corporate clients of Disney and their employees as well as VIP guests.
The most notable company lounges have been from Spaceship Earth sponsors AT&T and Siemens.
Siemens actually took a more creative approach with their VIP lounge originally naming it lounge Base21 before rebranding to a more simple Siemens VIP Center name.
Those allowed into the VIP lounge would vary from time to time, but typically high ranking employees and special guests were given permission to enter the lounge.
This extra special and exclusive lounge was a great way for Disney's corporate partners to give their clients an extra perk when visiting EPCOT as well as a great opportunity to relax with some food, drinks and air conditioning.
Spaceship Earth hasn't had a corporate sponsor since 2017 leaving the VIP lounge empty for an extended period before Disney converted the area into event space and general storage as it remains through present day.
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