Industrial Revolution: Cinema

Look quickly to your right for the Cinema Scene because times they are a changin’ at a rapid pace! This one has been a challenge to fit into the timeline before the 2008 refurb. Let’s start with the original version. It starts with a grand cinema marquee and a woman in a ticket booth.

Space Age: Television

Radio was huge. The next logical step was to add visual information to the audio via radio waves. Television is really a three-part invention: 1. the TV camera that turns a picture and sound into a signal; 2. the TV transmitter that sends the signal through the air; and 3. the TV set in your home.

Computers (’82-’94)

With instant communication from Radio, Telephone, and Television – technology constantly grows to automate this vast network. With instant communication available each day we not only get information faster, we are inundated with information. How are we supposed to deal with all of this information?

Computers (’94-’07)

The previous computer scenes (boy in his room, woman in her office, and the NOC) were removed and replaced with one giant scene featuring an international video chat. This is all to the left and whatever old scene was on the right is still covered up.

Mainframe Computers

With technology moving so fast its no wonder that instead of looking ahead, it was easier for Disney to go back. It does make sense given that this refurb was in 2007 and the scene prior to computers is from 1969 with the Moon landing – a lot has happened in between!

Inventing the Personal Computer

We leave the computer server room and travel outside where it is nighttime and a Chevy Nova is parked outside of a house in Menlo Park California with manicured hedges. Inside the garage is a man building a personal computer.

Data Flow Tunnel

Just before entering the top of the sphere vehicles ride through a data flow tunnel meant to replicate the dramatic flow of information and acceleration of knowledge sharing speed. The vehicles enter a tunnel where lines of light furiously race back and forth on the ceiling and the walls.

Our Spaceship Earth

As our time travel vehicles spin backwards for our return to Earth, we take a look at our home planet for perspective. We see the Earth on display among the stars in the planetarium at the top of the Spaceship Earth dome.

Tomorrow’s Child

Today, our search for understanding is unbounded by space and time. Centuries of information stand ready to reach us in an instant … our link with the past … our hope for the future. In the information age, our knowledge and tools of communication will continue to grow and improve. We’ll discover new ways to share our ideas and dreams, to create a better world for today, tomorrow and tomorrow’s child.