Wonders of Life
Epcot is a theme park that is like no other. Opening on October 1, 1982, Epcot offered two unique areas: Future World and World Showcase. Future World was to feature the latest science and technology with pavilions dedicated to topics like energy, land, water, and space, while World Showcase would feature cultures from around the world with dedicated pavilions including restaurants, attractions, and shows.
Map of Future World — Image: Disney.wikia.com
The last of the Future World pavilions to open was Wonders of Life on October 19, 1989. Wonders of Life was a pavilion devoted to health and fitness! The golden geodesic dome costed $100 million to construct and was sponsored by MetLife.
Image: Disney.wikia.com
Wonders of Life featured a number of health-related exhibits and attractions including Cranium Command (A theater-style show with audio-animatronics and a movie that explained brain function and its integration with the human body.), Frontiers of Medicine (Where guests listened to stories about medicine and the brain on small TV’s.), Body Wars (A simulator ride that took guests on a voyage through the bloodstream as they are “shrunk” to complete a mission inside of the human body.), Goofy About Health (A show featuring clips of Goofy cartoons to help promote healthy living.), Fitness Fairgrounds (Activities that tested the guests’ athletic abilities.), Sensory Funhouse (An interactive playground that tested the guests’ sensory abilities.), The Making of Me (A film about birth and life that starred Martin Short.), and Wonder Cycles (Stationary bikes that had TV’s attached to them. The faster guests pedaled, the faster the video would play taking guests to places like Disneyland and the 100th Anniversary Rose Parade in Pasadena, California.)
Wonder Cycles — Image: WDWFacts
While all of these exhibits and attractions weren’t crowd favorites, there were a few standouts! Personally, the two attractions that I remember most were Cranium Command and Body Wars. Cranium Command was known for the loud General Knowledge and little soldier Buzzy who was piloting the body of a 12 year old boy! My favorite pre-show line has to be when General Knowledge asked guests, “Where do you think you are, Disney World?! Get your strollers in line and hustle!” pointing towards the theater where guests would enter the show.
Buzzy from Cranium Command — Image: blog.theswca.com
Body Wars was extremely popular because it was the first thrill-type attraction in Epcot at the time. Offering the same simulator technology as the already popular Star Tours in California’s Disneyland (and eventually in Disney-MGM Studios), Body Wars experienced wait times of more than an hour pretty regularly.
Body Wars — Image: astranyx.deviantart.com
Wonders of Life continued to operate and update as planned until the sudden loss of sponsorship by MetLife in 2001. This loss of sponsorship led to the decline of the pavilion, causing Wonders of Life to move to seasonal operation on January 4, 2004 and eventually closing for good on January 1, 2007.
Wonders of Life Reimagined as the Food and Wine Festival Center — Image: wdwnt.com
Guests were surprised to see the doors open again fairly quickly in Fall of 2007, but this time as the Festival Center for the Food and Wine Festival. Very little was done to the building’s interior for that festival year. Temporary walls were placed in front of the existing attractions, but the mural and sign for Body Wars still remained in tact. By 2008 they began to dismantle the signage and paint over the murals. Over the years the interior received slight transformations to continue to adapt the building to be the Festival Center, only open for Fall and Spring for Flower and Garden Festival and Food and Wine Festival.
Flower and Garden Festival Center 2017
The rest of the year this building sat empty and abandoned. Aside from it’s bright teal handrails leading up to the closed off building, Wonders of Life sits almost hidden in plain sight between Universe of Energy and Mission: Space. Some have even ventured into the building to confirm that Body Wars and Cranium Command areas are still there untouched after all these years! (Check out the Body Wars video here and the Cranium Command video here.)
As someone who has a love of the nostalgia and all things Disney yesteryear, I personally enjoyed getting to visit Wonders of Life during these festival openings. Although most of the building’s features have been blocked off, repainted, or dismantled, I always liked going back to remember those times in the 90’s and early 00’s where I could visit the building anytime.
Entrance Area to Wonders of Life
At the beginning of this year after closing for the 2017 Food and Wine Festival season, Disney announced that the Festival Center would not be opening for the 2018 year. In late February 2018 a photo surfaced of a large group of Imagineers and Disney Executives heading into the abandoned pavilion in hardhats. This photo began to spark rumors in the Disney Community of potential changes coming to the pavilion that has continued to sit abandoned for over 10 years.
Imagineers Entering Wonders of Life Pavilion in February 2018 — Image: @BacksideOfMagic
Now the question is: What’s in store for this iconic geodome?
Some say an Inside Out inspired attraction, others guess a potential space-themed restaurant or Marvel attraction. As Disney continues to move toward a path of IP-only attractions, it’s not crazy to assume that this building will be getting a Disney/Marvel/Star Wars overhaul in the very soon future. Although I’m always open to growing and changing in the Disney parks (like Walt always intended), looking back on the initial plans for Epcot’s Future World makes me miss the days of creativity and IP-free attractions.
