Horizons, in its concept phase, was named
Century 3 (or
Century III), to recognize the third century of American existence (1976–2076). The name was changed to
Futureprobe to help appeal the attraction toward international guests who wouldn't understand or appreciate
Century 3. In the end, the
Futureprobe name was scrapped due to the medical connotation of the word "probe". After much debate, GE and Disney officials settled on the name
Horizons. Prior to the start of construction, the project's budget was slashed by $10 million (USD). The building size was reduced and the length of the ride was shrunk by 35%, shortening the ride length by . Horizons opened exactly one year after Epcot opened and was located between
World of Motion and the
Universe of Energy. The
Wonders of Life pavilion became Horizons' new neighbor in 1989, and World of Motion closed in 1996. Horizons remained operational until World of Motion's successor,
Test Track, was ready to open to the public in early 1999. It was proposed that Horizons would be the sequel to the
Carousel of Progress (located in Tomorrowland at Magic Kingdom), Disney's ride from the
General Electric Pavilion at the
1964 New York World's Fair. As the Carousel of Progress followed the changes in lifestyle that faced a family as they lived through the 20th century, Horizons continued their story, showing how they might live in the 21st century. The Carousel's theme song "
There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" was part of the Looking Back at Tomorrow portion of Horizons. The version of "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" that could be heard in Horizons coming from a television (sung by
Larry Cedar) in the Art Deco scene is the exact version that can still be heard on a radio during the first act of the present
Carousel of Progress. The original ride concept came from
Reginald Jones (then-CEO of
General Electric) and
Jack Welch (future CEO of General Electric). The concept was to focus on
Thomas Edison and his body of work along with the origin of GE; it was changed to focus on the future of America, a theme that changed yet again to respect that EPCOT Center was to appeal to a global audience. The building which housed Horizons was designed to resemble a
spaceship, while accentuating the third dimension and giving the impression of an infinite
horizon. On June 24, 1993, it was announced that GE would not renew sponsorship of Horizons. The sponsorship's expiration occurred on September 30. Following this, all references to the company were removed. Without a sponsor, Horizons would begin to have technical issues as time went on. Several animatronics were deteriorating and the ride would frequently break down. Ideas were tossed around about the pavilion being turned into a space-themed pavilion. The building would have been upgraded and rethemed. The ride system would be changed drastically, in which the guest would be in an individual space harness while viewing space stations and space in general and would control the pitch and yaw of the vehicle. The attraction would close on Christmas Day, 1994, with no reasoning given. The attraction was left dormant for slightly under a year, before its reopening on Christmas Eve, 1995. This was due to
World of Motion closing the following month for its conversion into
Test Track, and
Universe of Energy's refurbishment into
Ellen's Energy Adventure, leaving no other attractions outside of
Wonders of Life open in the east half of Future World. The attraction would operate until January 9, 1999, when it would close permanently. No reason was publicly given, but the lack of corporate sponsorship, which happened around the same time of the financial disaster of
Euro Disneyland is widely accepted as having played the largest part in the decision. Also widely speculated as a reason for the attraction closing was major structural problems, along with rumored problems with the roof. The building stood unoccupied for well over a year as Disney decided between either relaunching the attraction (which would have required a new storyline and major building renovation and upgrades) or demolishing the building and creating a new attraction in its place. It was decided to build a new cutting-edge
outer space-themed attraction, so the Horizons building was slowly torn down in July of 2000. The demolition of the building marked the first time in Disney history that an entire ride building had to be demolished in preparation for a new attraction. Construction on
Mission: SPACE began in late 2000 and the new attraction opened on August 15, 2003. Various props from Horizons used to be displayed around Walt Disney World and formerly in
Walt Disney Studios Park at
Disneyland Resort Paris. A display that featured the butler robot animatronic was set up in
EPCOT: Creating the World of Tomorrow for Epcot's 25th anniversary. At Disney's Hollywood Studios, a few props were found in the warehouse of
The Studio Tour. The mould for the desert hovercraft can be found hanging from the ceiling of a restaurant. At
Walt Disney Studios Park, the desert hovercraft prop and sub pod were on display on the
Backlot Tour. However, that attraction has
since been replaced and the props are now missing. The McCall mural,
The Prologue and the Promise, painted on canvas, was removed prior to demolition and its current whereabouts are unknown. Some artifacts from the attraction are in private collections. ==Attraction==