Ellen's Energy Adventure: Disney's Weird Pro-Oil Ride
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- Опубликовано: 1 июн 2024
- The Universe of Energy was an opening day attraction at EPCOT. Sponsored by Exxon, the ride was a weird promotion of fossil fuels and was never very popular, so in 1996 it was updated to Ellen's Energy Adventure, starring Ellen DeGeneres and Bill Nye the Science Guy. This video explores the history of the forgotten Universe of Energy attraction, the update to Ellen's Energy Adventure, and the story of one of the weirder dark rides in Walt Disney World history.
The logo at 5:48 was made by Rob Yeo www.robyeodesign.com/
The History of Ellen's Energy Adventure: When Ellen Had a Theme Park Ride
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Thanks for watching my video on Disney World's Universe of Energy: Ellen's Energy Adventure! I wanted to take a look at a specific lost and forgotten attraction this time after spending so long on my previous video on abandoned Disney World exploring and I hope you enjoy hearing this weird story from Disney history as much as I enjoyed making it!
CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction
0:34 The Original Universe of Energy
4:42 Ellen's Energy Adventure
5:50 A Quick Tangent
6:34 Back to Ellen
13:24 The Problem with Ellen
17:20 The Closure of Ellen
18:19 Conclusions
#disney #disneyparks 
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I loved this ride as a kid! My mom always called it “Ellen’s energy nap” since it was a long dark ride that hardly anyone rode so she could take a nap.
It honestly sounds a good place to take a hot and over-tired kid!
my mom and I did the same thing!! 😂
It was such a good place to just have a breather. And not a terrible ride tbh.
My dad as well
Your mom’s joke just made me snort
It was super nice of the cast members to let the guests walk around the ride and see the animatronics on their last ride :]
Hey, it's never coming back. might as well let the guests enjoy all the work put into that ride
That should be the send off for every ride!
I would liek to capture one of those animatronic chassis and reverse engineer it as the basis for my generic humanoid robot design. Hook it up to any of a variety of modern AIs and I'd be good to go.
@@telesniper2 That would be sick, but I also think might start the final war of humans versus robots LMAO
@@ItsDescaBro an army of disney animatronics stands zero chance at threatening humanity
As a person who experienced the original rides of EPCOT back in 1990, I gotta say Universe of Energy was categorically NOT the weakest ride. I really wish I could convey how magical it felt the first time those "theater" seats turned into ride vehicles. For the first several years, there were still people who had no idea this was a trackless ride. I still remember people gasping as the 2nd showroom theater turned into an actual ride. People stood up and clapped at the end when they realized they'd been taken back to the original theater room and hadn't even realized it.
Also World of Motion suuuuuuucked so Universe of Energy always had at least one ride to dunk on
I suppose it depends if you ask the adults or the kids.
That one with Figment comes to mind. I'm sure kids adore the character - hyperactive, chaotic, constantly excited, just what they love. And the parents must have found the experience teeth-grindingly annoying, for exactly the same reasons.
@@vylbird8014 yeah i was already too old of a child (14) when I went on the figment ride, and i was baffled to later learn that figment is beloved or something (my parents were on the same page). maybe it's mostly beloved by people who were young enough when they first rode it?
@@flatlander3963 Are you sure you're not thinking of Journey Into Imagination With Figment, and not the original Journey Into Imagination? Figment's character was vastly changed after they decided to alter the ride after his original VA died and they got someone infinitely more obnoxious to play him for a worse attraction.
@@madderandmadder yeah I think I did see the original; we mostly just thought it was really boring (sorry!). Looking at vylbird’s comment again, it seems they were probably talking about the revamp, I didn’t read it carefully enough before
Dude World of Motion was better
If she doesn't know anything about energy how can she dream about Judy Peterson saying the correct answers?
Makes you think 🤔
and all the stuff Bill teaches her 😭 i was having this exact same thought
To be fair I have dreams where people are telling me the “right answers” to things but when I think about it awake it actually makes no sense
@@GeorgesSpaceI am really enjoying your content! Have you ever considered taking a deep dive into Las Vegas theme parks of the 90s? There was a bizarre, albeit brief, period when Vegas was experimenting with a family friendly vibe. I was a kid when that stuff was happening and I went with my family to many of the attractions the town was offering at the time. I haven’t seen many people on here covering that topic. Thanks. 😊
it also sounds like she doesn't ever wake up from the dream, which... hmm
as someone whos studied dinosaurs; man, those animatronics are ROUGH. they were outdated depictions when the original ride was built, let alone in the mid-90s when the Ellen version was made. cause by that time, Jurassic Park had been out for a few years and essentially updated the pop culture depictions of dinosaurs to something more modern that these animatronics that look straight out of the Rite of Spring segment from Fantasia, made about 50 years before the Ellen version, and 40 years before the original version of the ride.
and comparing it to the 40s is being generous cause they honestly look like artwork from the late 1800s.
(let alone comparing them to the present day 2020s understanding of any of the animals shown)
paleontology is one of the sciences most easily susceptible to what tvtropes calls Science Marches On, so it could be excused if the ride itself was just that old, but those animatronics were made in the 80s yet look straight out of art from the 40s, and a little something called the Dinosaur Renaissance happened between those times so the difference is ESPECIALLY noticeable. Jurassic Parks release would make the issue easily noticeable to the general audience by the time the Ellen refresh happened, which kinda sucks cause that segment of the ride seems to be the most liked.
i mean, its not like the animatronic scenes actually look bad in the ride, far from it, the scientist in me just makes it painful to look at.
I was a 90's Orlando kid that visited this ride umpteen times as a kid. Even before Ellen, it wasn't to be missed. The dinosaurs were always worth sitting through the pre and post shows.
it's nice to know someone appreciated it, lmao. I always wondered what it was like to grow up as a kid in orlando and go to disney or universal often.
I remember it got to the point where I was the only 1 the family that still wanted to do this lol
I think it's great that they got to get out and do a walk through on the last ever ride. Looks like they allowed photography. Good way to say goodbye.
the whole “ellen’s energy crisis” thing is an exercise in why books are better sources than the internet
Depends on what subject you're discussing.
Man I legit rode this ride once! I completely forgot about it until suddenly seeing Ellen on Jeopardy brought it all crashing back to me! I still remember how hokey the final question was with the answer being 'Brain Power', ha ha! Man you unlocked a deep memory for me today! ^^
It would be fitting if they rethemed this ride to WALL-E or UP. As they are themed to Adventure, Space, Exploration or Earth day...
Up barely has any entertainment and WALL-E doesn't even HAVE any.
Rode this without any knowledge as to what was going to happen in 2006, imagine my surprise when we got to travel INTO the primeval world. As a HUGE fan of the Disneyland Railroad I was blown away!
The best part of this ride was 50 minutes of air conditioning and darkness. Loved it.
I thinks it’s too coincidental it broke down on the last ride ever and they let everyone get out and explore, I think they did it on purpose.
Yup, A/C was the big main reason to ride this ride. At the time Epcot didn't have a whole lot of anything other than "cruising the world" there was Soarin, the boat ride through the greenhouse, test track and the dark ride in the big geodesic dome (please don't crucify me for not knowing the proper ride names). 40 minutes no problem, that's a good sit down wait after lunch or something. But while I'm not sad to see it go man oh man I'm jealous AF for all those who got that last ride walk through due to it breaking down.
learn the ride names it’s not that hard
Disney considered an electric makeover of Autopia until Chevron stepped in to sponsor the Disneyland version. I also remember that the diesel engines that powered the submarine voyage were some of the worst polluters at the park. Disney could take simple steps like closing the doors to the Main Street shops if they really wanted to improve energy efficiency. It makes no sense to let all of the air conditioning out, but a closed door would of course deter some merchandise sales. Hopefully the company reaches a point where they use their theme parks as a platform to show responsible energy use and what the future of energy might really be.
Can you do a video on Attractions Sponsorships, how it worked and why it was so crucial to keeping a Disney attraction open, and how this business model doesn’t generally seem to exist.
Ooh that's a great topic!
It seems to still be common in Tokyo Disney, interestingly enough.
Oh new ride's replacing it? Can't wait for Chris Pratt to sell me on oil and gas this time!! /j
nah the rides already out and youll be too busy throwing up to learn anything lmao
I remember one time we went on this, my little sister had just gotten her hair done at the Bibbiti Boppiti Boutique (or however it's spelled). After the opening in the large room where Ellen talks to us on those two giant screens, she pointed out my sister and said "I like your hair by the way!" and me having been sort of in front of her thought she meant me, but she was like "Oh, no, the girl next to you, sorry lol." It was kind of wild?
I loved this ride as a kid (roughly ‘04-‘12). We would ride it every time we went when my parents got tired and needed to rest.
I used to LOVE this ride but when I was a kid my parents used to gaslight me into believing the seats were not moving and the dinosaur scene was just screens. I always questioned it especially because of the one that sprays water but my dad was SO insistent it was just screens that I honestly wonder if he actually believed it wasn’t animatronics somehow. I did also ride it during its final week in 2017 (sadly wasn’t on the final ride with the in-show exit which I will forever kick myself for)
I’ve never heard anybody talking about this ride. But I loved it. I went on it all the time in my glory days of disneyworld, and for the longest time I didn’t even know the name. I just remember a few specific parts of it. The beginning, the dinosaurs, the loud noise when they talk about the Big Bang, the flying part (helicopter?) but anyways, I loved this ride. It was a gem…
I’m mad they took it out because at Epcot they have unlimited land, why could they just add guardians in somewhere else while keeping this? Idk
Frankly they should have just not bothered with fucking Guardians at all and put something better in. An updated version of the energy concept, or literally anything other than Chris Pratt's annoying smirk slathered all over the most annoying sub-franchise within the already overexposed MCU. And if they REALLY had to, they ought to have put it at the Magic Kingdom or Hollywood Studios or somewhere other than Epcot. Ipcot sucks.
If the ride was still around after 2020, not only it would be controversial since it focuses fossil fuels but it has Ellen as a host. We all know she’s not a very good person.
I just can’t get over how ironic an oil company sponsoring a ride about electricity generation, “nuclear is scary so it’s bad” lmao
The ride did not break down on the last ride through. Letting the guests walk through the ride was planned. They do it for every ride that they shut down, if a walk through is possible. They also did it with the great movie ride.
i think you’re totally right about the disneyland railroad connection. it may go further back to the 1964 worlds fair’s ford pavilion that featured a disney attraction w/ a prehistoric scene using (i’m pretty sure) the same dinosaur animatronics as the ones on the disneyland railroad
The auditorium seats becoming huge ride vehicles was indeed mind-blowing as a kid in the eighties. (Though I wonder why the dinosaur part wasn’t the grand finale, rather than more screens.)
the only memories of this ride i have is me and my dad falling sleep on it when i was about 4 lol. i usually don’t comment on stuff but i’ve been binge-watching all your videos. you deserve tons more subscribers!!! keep up the great work
Quite a tragedy that the ride ended because Ellen had all the dinosaur animatronics laid off over their nails looking a little iffy 😢.
I remember riding this in its original form when it first opened...and being completely *blown away* by the dinosaur section...and absolutely bored into oblivion by everything else. But, yes, the dinosaurs were awesome enough that I rode it multiple times. Sad to hear when it closed.
we went in 2005 and i LOVED energy adventure. But I think i mostly loved the air conditioning. It was september, i was a heat exhausted 6 year old. Vividly remember seeing the Ellen animatronic with my own little eyes.
Best nap ride in the history of theme parks.
I havent been able to go to Disney since I was a kid, and three years ago that realization spawned a curiosity to research what rides still existed there. When I ran into this one I genuinely thought it was an experience I dreampt up because putting Ellen in a theme park ride is truly such a random thing... Childhood memories are so vague and half created from what people said actually happened that I was falberghasted haha
I had the same thing with the great movie ride.
This is the first time I've seen any sort of RUclipsr cover the history and creation of this ride!! Which I think is really unique and I'm thankful for it, because its such a bizarre concept that I knew that it must have had an interesting development (and it did! The facts you are presenting I have not heard before and are very interesting to me!) So thank you!
I rode this ride in 2012, and even back then it was pretty outdated (it survived until 2017 which I still am not sure why). I did not like this ride, I will be honest. I found it extremely long and boring and outdated. That being said, I am EXTREMELY happy that I can say that I rode it before it got demolished, and it seems to have a really interesting history. I always liked the dinosaurs at least, since I am a Disneyland gal and always loved that part of the train ride, but it just couldn't justify going on it again for me. Maybe if I went back when it was less horribly outdated, like the early 2000s (sadly could not be there in the 90s because I was born in 2000 LOL), maybe I would have a more positive opinion on it. It seemed like, at the time, it was a huge step and much better than the original incarnation of the ride, and kids seemed to like it.
Recently an animation story RUclipsr covered it. They.....were traumatized by this ride cause of a fear of dinos.
Hello, great breakdown and research! Great video :-). As someone who grew up in the 80s, and at the time when Epcot was first opening, I saw all of these rise as they were opening on their first versions of themselves, in addition to some of their updates. I can tell you that it was a different time. And kids maybe were different than they are today or even 15 to 20 years ago. That being said, I remember the original version and the Ellen DeGeneres update of this ride. I remember one of the things that draws you into the ride initially is as you mentioned it was a Place to escape the hot Floridian son, and it was air conditioned… guests would come inside get cooled off watch the preshow, then go to the second room and sit down for a minute while you are watching the next piece and before you know it, you were wished away to the dinosaur era. I always thought this was a really cool ride, I loved the 3-D mosaic also,and was disappointed when they took it out… I also remember seeing the Ellen DeGeneres update. And remembering as a kid, even then, while entertaining and fun, I felt like it was an update that wasn’t needed even then. However, I came to love that one as well just not as much as the original. I have to say I do not agree with you by saying it was the most boring ride in future world. The most boring rides in future world or the land by far but the only reason I feel like it was more popular was because it was a place we could sit down and get some food, and they also had their food rocks upstairs presented by Kraft… but the right itself was boring, going to be second by the next boring ride, and that was body wars, or whatever that was where you shrank. World of motion also wasn’t bad. They just need to update the effects not completely turned into a different ride. By far the best two rides there in future world war spaceship Earth in Journey into your imagination which also underwent a change, which I think was a mistake. Taking out pigment and dream binder was a bad move… anyway that’s my take from someone who actually experienced it as a kid
My family refers to this as “the time we got kidnapped by Ellen”
I find it to be an absolute shame that World of Motion was closed to become Test Track, I would've absolutely LOVED to see World of Motion.
It was an amazing ride. There was so much detail and heart to it. Test Track is an abomination as far as I'm concerned.
@@AdventistPrepper Unfortunately it seems like all of Epcot has gone down the toilet, More or less. They've replaced and gotten rid of most of the rides that were unique to Epcot and instead just put in rides that in my opinion don't fit with Epcot's theme and is nothing special compared to the other parks.
@@AdventistPrepper how is test track an abomination the new one yes but the old one no
Good news, they’re redoing crappy test track theming based on world of motion
That was one of my favorite rides! I'll never forget it, and Disney won't be the same without it.
The kinetic mosaic was epic. I loved it.
I greatly miss the Epcot of the '80s and '90s. Back then it was very unique and not Magic Kingdom (part 2). I realize that Disney has to do what is necessary to keep its money flowing. But, I've lost interest in attending what used to be a wonderful evening walk.
bill nye and ellen’s energy together at that time was so chaotic lol
Wonder what Bill Nye would have to say about the ride today
the allosaur stego fight in both this ride and the disneyland railroad are most likely a reference to The Rite of Spring segment in Fantasia! the dinos in both rides are pretty similarly posed as they were in the film. just a little thing i happened to notice, whether or not it was intentional on the imagineers part is left to be determined!
My favorite part about Universe of Energy was the dinosaurs as a kid. The 90's were a fun time indeed. I never rode it when they added Ellen to the ride (I'm old). Unfortunately the educational part about energy was lost on me at that age. Still fond memories of this ride and EPCOT in general. It's too bad they closed this ride. I think Bob should allow the Imagineers to create attractions that amaze people. Not just cram ideas into a budget that appease shareholders.
Subscribed almost 4 hours ago and you live already gained another 500 within that time, really been enjoying what I’ve seen so far. Keep it up!
Underrated! I'd image you'd have at least 100K subscribers but only 3K!? Wild, Hopefully you can continue going viral.
IT WAS PRO-OIL????? I JUST REMEMBERED THE DINOSAURS AND JEOPARDY MAN WHAT THE SCALLOP
Dang this channel is severely underrated/underviewed. I sense a massive views explosion coming your way, sir! Keep up the good work
I did not think this was as recent as it is, but hey. It was fun. The "not because it was the 70s" is very true too
Can't recall which, but one of the big oil companies funded an investigation back then and wouldn't you know it
Fossil fuels do play a part in climate change, they just published a report basically sweeping that under the rug.
Bad for business as you'd imagine, speaking of bad (But in hindsight) Ellen being the focus in general
To be fair to both sides, Global Warning reports in the 90's were grossly inaccurate and tried to fudge the numbers to make it seem a lot worse than it was, which ended up hurting the cause even today. Nowadays because the numbers were fraudulent a lot of people refuse to believe it exists at all.
It was Exxon (the sponsor of this ride) that predicted climate change based on internal research.
This ride wasn’t pro-oil in any way, it just expressed the facts
Nowadays we can’t have facts, only propaganda
i still think about this ride... it was so dark and the only thing you could see lit were the different tableaus. i was lost in the sense of scale. what a cool ride
Your account's amazing, I've loved all the videos you've posted. Keep it up! :)
I just found you and love your channel!! You are doing an amazing job and cant wait for more videos from you!! 😊
i genuinely cant believe you only have 11k subs! i really expected this to be another 1million sub youtuber i just somehow had missed! but wow, super underated! keep up the good work dude
i have such nostalgia for this ride, i remember riding it as a 6 or 7 year old and being amazed when the seats started moving. i get why they got rid of it, and the guardians coaster is amazing but i do miss Ellen and her dinosaurs
The energy adventure medly will forever be my favorite Disney parks original song
Great video. Really took me to my happy place. Thank you!
Just subscribed after binging your videos. Great content.
I saw the original and loved the mosaic projection in the pre-show. It was fantastic. I didn't mind the rest of it so much, but I do think the Ellen upgrade was a vast improvement. It's the show technology used in both versions that was really impressive to me. One thing that you may not be aware of is how the backlash to Ellen's coming out on TV and in real life affected the ride's attendance. That was a subject covered mostly in LGBTQ publications of the time. Great video. Thanks.
I only ever went on the Ellen but I really liked it. The last time I rode on it was in 2016 and the information was definitely outdated 20 years after opening, and It might’ve been pro-oil, it was still somewhat informative. And I found the Jeopardy segment as a kid to be funny.
This ride was a great break from the Florida sun. 40 minutes of AC, yes please! I look back fondly on this ride
How does this video only have 4k views so far 😭 you are so underrated
Also I have to add. This ride was far from boring. You can't imagine what it was like to see a huge screen cartoon film with dinosaurs, than get into a moving theatre and be taken to a room of dinosaurs. It was even misted so you felt like you were in a mild thunderstorm, complete with thunder and lightening.This ride was awesome.
Keep up the good work, love these vids.
I love your videos man 👍especially the disney ones. Can you do a video about Disney's matterhorn bobsleds basketball court?
Man I love this channel
i went on ellen's energy adventure once as a kid; the only parts i remember were the first two screens and the dinosaur part, which i think indicates that i fell asleep for the rest of it lol. i can say for SURE that my least favorite part of the whole ride was the first theater experience, because i was incredibly spiteful that instead of chairs for the movie we all had to sit or stand on a hard carpeted floor
Considering how many times they've used the same face molds for several AAs in several different attractions (for example "Father" and "Daughter" from Carousel of Progress also happen to be in two AAs in Spaceship Earth playing instruments, a lot of the AAs in this attraction in general are also Presidents from Hall of Presidents). So they probably did the same thing, only instead two whole dinosaurs.
Also, random, but I generally don't like how sponsorships can change these rides. With Carousel of Progress, they had to make a song called "Now Is The Time", because they didn't want people to buy their products a "Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" (luckily it was changed back once sponsorship was over). And while I'm grateful that it's over at WDW, I think it's ridiculous and technically unfair to California that it's only here, because their sponsor demanded they move it to WDW so they'd be advertising to more people since it was being visited by more diverse guests. However, at the same time, downside is since it hasn't been sponsored it really hasn't had a real major refurbishment like it used to.
Inflation-adjusted, the cost to go to Disney World has gone up 500% in only a few years… it’s partly because the sponsorships all left
I rode this in 2015 as a teenager and despite it being dated, found it was part of the charm-- especially after growing up with Bill Nye. The dinosaur section was still really fun just for its detail and large scale, even after visiting Jurassic Park in Universal on the same trip. It was definitely time the ride got an update though, IMO even if it was just for teaching outdated and biased info. I haven't been on the new guardians ride, but Epcot's move into more and more exciting rides makes sense for a "future" themed land. The future should be exciting! Thanks for another great video✨️
I had totally forgotten about this, but now I remember going on it in 1998. Mom was a big Ellen fan.
i went on this in 2004! that explains why i don't remember the exxon sponsorship. i remember thinking ellen had just been in a disney ride because i knew she played dory in finding nemo, never realized how old the whole thing was lol. i also have no memory of how long this thing was tbh, i do remember mission to mars being REALLY quick so maybe it was just in comparison to this and...whatever the ride in the epcot ball is called i forget.
It was a great break from the heat and the moving seats were pretty cool. As a kid I didn't think it was boring, but not the most exciting.
Maybe BOTH those stegosaurus battle scenes were inspired by the Rite of Spring sequence in Fantasia. (Though, in that version, it was a T-Rex, a paleontological error. And the fight was a LOT scarier and more intense.)
This was a fantastic ride to work at when I worked at EPCOT, but good lord did I hate it at the same time. The science was SO BAD to BEGIN with, and it did NOT age well.
I LOVED this ride in the 90s before the tragedy of Ellen’s appearance ( I like Ellen, but the change ruined a great ride!) The kinetic screens preshow was incredible and that those giant theater seat cars moved was some truly amazing Imagineering! The theme song at the end just rocked and I felt like they covered all aspects of energy production pretty well…”nuclear power, controversial, but still a viable form of energy production in the future” I always left the ride feeling positive about our future humming the theme song. 😎
I had never even heard of this until Ellen announced on her talk show that it was closing… I quickly looked it up on RUclips and immediately knew why it was closing. Also, I think the “break down” and letting guests wander on the last day was planned, considering how long they let people wander around. That would have been much cooler than the ride itself.
The only time I remember riding it, it was Ellen's version and I had a huge cold. I was the only one of our party left standing and I had an entire row of seating to myself, which I settled down in and sneezed and coughed for 40 solid minutes. Long, long before covid.
The idea of promoting solar energy combined with the reality of all those solar panels powering only 15% of the required energy to move just those slow ride vehicles, one can't help but laugh. 😆
Love your content sm dude ❤
I really hate that Disney replaces everything different and remotely unique or original with an IP ride. Like what does Guardians have to do with the point or message of Epcot?
I miss this ride but omg cosmic rewind is next level amazing
I think its really cool that Cosmic Rewind plays homage to this ride by also going back to the big bang
The scene of the allosaurus fighting the stegosaurus is definitely based on the iconic scene in Fantasia (1940) where the t-rex and an stegosaurus fight to the death in a similar sunset environment, the change of the t-rex to the allosaurus is for time period accuracy. It has to be this because the stegosaurus is even on a similar defensive pose, waving it's tagomizer
Yeah upon looking at this again I now realise that has to be it. It's a super cool detail!
The more I learn about things I experienced as a child the more I learn I had no concept of plot 💀💀
I remember riding this ride once in Jan 2008 as a kid and I thought the plot was Ellen went back in time to hang out with dinosaurs because… reasons??
I rode it twice once in both forms the things I mostly remember the things that did not change were the dinosaurs and toward the end the hydroponics garden which was not mentioned here. The second time was around 1997 or 1998 they had a "Super Computer" at the exit of the ride. I think it was either a IBM or Cray. I think it had a gig or ram. At that time I had a 486 DX 66 MHZ with 8 MBs of ram running Windows 95 and a 40 MB hard drive. One GB hard drives were just starting to be sold to the public. Also the Smell of the dinosaur part of the ride was very unique. I've only smelled it a couple of times other than at EPCOT.
This was one of my favorite rides at Epcot as a kid
Wait... Closed before you were born?! I'm only 28 and got to ride this ride at least 2 different times. HOW YOUNG ARE YOU😂
I don't recall this ride being pro-oil but I do miss Bill Nye.
kinda funny that for me, the most fun sounding thing about this ride is being able to walk through the dinosaur exhibit on the last day it was open.
Calling the Ellen version of Universe of Energy a "pro-oil" ride is a pretty big stretch. I must have rode that version of the ride fifty times throughout the late 90s through the mid 2010s, and I just went back and watched a recording of it two or three days ago. While it definitely wasn't as critical of fossil fuels as it could have been, with its coverage of alternative energy sources it was also a pretty far cry for shilling for them.
You also certainly can't call it "forgotten," practically anyone who visited Epcot in the time frame I mentioned is going to remember the animatronic dinosaur section of the ride.
i went on this as a child, I thought it was a fever dream, so it brought back some nostalgia, I specifically went on the ellen version.
I enjoyed the ride in it's last iteration. Not only this ride, but others that had a educational focus were losing interest as the new generation "didn't go there to learn... but to have fun" The difference between a theme park and an amusement park was (is) lost on them. I felt that replacing Malestrom with Frozen was a bit of a stretch, for example.
Ultimately, I think Cosmic Rewind is a solid replacement, since EPCOT had long since shifted away from edutainment. But if they ever replace Living with the Land, we'll have to riot.
This ride was my favorite place to take a nap, the seats were long it was air conditioned ...perfect nap place
It was originally sponsored by Exxon which accounts for the oil thing. It was also better when you didn't have to listen to Ellen yap. All i can think of is Dorry the ADD fish when I hear her. This was my favorite ride when I was a kid. Rode it for the first time in 83 when i was 6.
Looking at the three screen display, I wonder why it was so hard to make the projectors line up properly without a visible black gap between them.
10:54 Actually a pretty interesting list of prehistoric creatures.
I wonder how Bill Nye feels about his participation in this ride now. 😬
I’ll believe what oil companies have to say before I believe him. I can’t believe this is the same Disney that gave Helen Reddy the chance to be a movie musical star.
I have to disagree with you dude it was not boring. It was very educational and well liked by many.
I don’t really remember the original version that well but liked the video portions overall of the Ellen version. I always hated the ride though for the time spent just sitting there. It took about 40 minutes but feel like a lot of that was just waiting on the vehicles to move. They went so slow so there was so much time spent with no video playing or anything to look at.
🚙 “Hello, I’m an electric car! I can’t go very fast, or very far! And if you drive me, people will think you’re ghheeey!”
Great video dude. Glad you're picking up the recognition you deserve!