This year marks the 30th Anniversary of the opening of my all-time favorite attraction at Disney Parks, Horizons. This attraction operated at Epcot from October 1, 1983 to January 9, 1999. For those who never had the opportunity to experience it, Horizons was an amazing vision of 21st Century living – “on land, sea and even out in space.” If you have read some of my previous stories on the Disney Parks Blog, you will know that I was obsessed with this attraction. I even rode it 40 times during the last day of operation in 1999! That’s why I’m thrilled to share that the Disney Parks online store will offer an exclusive anniversary T-shirt from November 21-25, 2013.
Disney Design Group artist Casey Jones created the artwork for this shirt. The front shows the iconic robot butler along with the attraction’s signature marquee. Casey also included one of my favorite quotes from a Disney Parks attraction – “If we can dream it, we can do it.” This quote was found just inside the attraction’s entrance and was used in the ride script (contrary to popular belief, Walt Disney did not say this quote).
The back of the shirt has one of the best nods to the attraction. Some of you may recall “choosing your own flight path back to the FuturePort” at the end of the attraction. Inspired by this “choose your own” element, Casey decided to feature three different graphics for the back of the shirt – Mesa Verde, Sea Castle Resort and Omega Centauri.
He partnered with Steven Vagnini from the Walt Disney Archives in Burbank, California to obtain reference images to make sure they were authentic to the attraction. The front of the shirt will remain the same, but guests can choose the logo they want printed on the back (I’m getting all three, of course!).
While writing this article, I found a few photos I took in 1998-1999 of Horizons. I thought you would enjoy this trip down memory lane.
To order this shirt starting November 21, please visit http://www.Disneystore.com/ParkEvents. All items will ship in 6-8 weeks (unfortunately, express shipping is not available).
Comments
WOOHOO!! I received my three shirts this morning! *VERY* nice! Now I just need to get back down to WDW and wear them around “EPCOT Center”! :)!
To all the folks in the Brava Centauri vs Omega Centauri discussion, allow me to provide my view… In the final part of the ride before choosing your own ending (with the floating dog and holographic birthday party), we are in Brava Centauri. We are allowed to choose a path back from the future. If Space wins (which it usually did any time I rode), the movie sequence depicts traveling on a Intercolony Shuttle from Brava Centauri to Omega Centauri. Otherwise, you would be leaving Brava to go to Brava. Just my $0.02.
That being said, I miss Horizons and wish we could still ride it to definitively settle this discussion!
I really wish that when something like this is released, they would be offered in a women’s shirt style shirt as well!!
Got all 3 of them for my 18 year old son. He said he wanted the Mesa Verde one, but once I got online and saw the 3 for $60, I ordered one of each. Couldn’t pass up the deal (then had to toss a Vera Bradley item on there for me to hit free shipping…LOL)
He is obsessed with all things Horizons. It was gone before he was old enough to have memories of it, yet he can almost describe it like the back of his hand. I think he’s an imagineer reincarnated!
Thank you so much for sharing this information!
I actually ordered all 3 for myself and my husband. THEN I ordered 1 for each of the kiddos. Each child gets a different back since we have 3, it was perfect…..We LOVED Horizons!!! We will be wearing them in June for our WDW trip!
Just ordered my three shirts! 🙂
Man I do miss this attraction.
@Patrick – Right on! I’m glad to hear you got the shirts, especially with the Mix & Match deal of 3 for $60. That was a nice surprise to find today. Thank you 🙂
I just ordered my entire family the Horizon shirts!!! That was one of our favorite attractions at EPCOT. I hope they arrive before Christmas! It would be a great gift!!
@Julie – Thank you! What a wonderful gift idea. I decided to give myself an early Christmas gift too. All three ordered this morning 🙂
Just bought ours! Very glad Horizons received this nod…I miss the hope and faith in a brighter future that Horizons always brought. There was something magical about that belief that if we can dream it, then we can do it. Too often we (and in my opinion the parks) get too caught up in the now, and I miss the inspiration to look to the horizon. Our family will wear our shirts proudly!
@Wendy – Yahoo! That’s great. And with the Mix & Match deal of 3 shirts for $60 … awesome! I agree that the attraction offered such a positive view of the future. It’s a belief I still incorporate into my daily life. Keep dreaming and doing!
Al, totally agree about the colors! I feel like a lot of the adult shirts are in greys, browns, etc. Would love to see some color come back!
So well they have a kitchen Kabert shirt and a figment shirt with the Dream Finder? got to have my veggie veggie fruit group shirt
@Jennifer – If you use your imagination, I think you will LOVE the next shirt we will offer on the Disney Parks online store. Stay tuned 🙂
Horizons is, by far, my favorite Epcot ride. I used to ride it over and over again. It is missed, and I will definitely be ordering a shirt for myself!
I truly hope the good folks offer the shirts in xxxl for those of us who love Disney in a slightly larger way!!
Hi
Do we have a price or price estimate?
@Robert – Retail will be $24.95 plus tax for each shirt.
This is awesome, I’m definitely getting one. Maybe 3.
I know what you mean about being a Horizons junkie, I have the logo tattooed on my right calf. Of course I have all the rest of them running down my spine, but Horizons gets a spot all to itself.
@Gregory – Wow! Now that’s dedication 🙂 Glad to meet a fellow Horizons fan.
Why the limited window? I’d love to buy one (or all three) but these are only available when I’m in the middle of an expensive vacation. 🙁
@Sean – I hope you have a great vacation. This type of sale is something we’ve offered every so often since the 40th Anniversary of Walt Disne World Resort. The exciting news is there will be other sales in the future featuring some awesome designs. The next one will be amazing … if you use your imagination. 🙂
Color me excited for these. Any word on how heavy the shirts will be? Will they be a heavier cotton or will they be a thin cotton?
@Timothy – The shirts will be soft not heavy. Casey is pretty particular about the fabric choices for shirts. It will have a more vintage, retro-feel that is popular in the marketplace today.
Hooray! I was trying to figure out what to get my husband for Christmas. Horizon’s was always his favorite ride, and we listen to the song often.
Just wondering where the bright cheerful color selection went, why the drab browns and greys?
Screen just refreshed and saw the added comments. You can delete my previous one.
Steven, these are amazing! I loved Horizons as well and am so sad it is gone. I MUST get the robot butler shirt!
Marc beat me to it… I too hope that the spelling is corrected before it is shipped since that is the graphic that I’ll choose.
@Ricardo – It will be corrected as it’s the best 🙂 I always chose “Space” before my sister could when we rode Horizons. I selected three out of the four as “Space” – it’s what older brothers are for – Ha!
Um, Centauri is spelled wrong on the shirt…should not be Centuari. And I think you’re going to get alot of argument from the Horizon fanbois on the Brava versus Omega.
@Steve – Noted. The image was updated (had the wrong one). Will be correct in final production. As for the debate … wasn’t Horizons famous for that? I mean I call it “kelp.” 🙂
@Steven, I understand the choice of Omega versus Brava. I had to go back and watch a video of the ride to figure out where it came from.
That being said, the word Centauri is spelled wrong, at least in the image above. The U and the A are reversed.
I hope that gets fixed before shipment. 🙂
@Marc – The image above was updated, and Omega Centauri will be spelled correctly when the shirt is shipped. 🙂
Daniel’s right—it’s Brava, not Omega.
One of my favorites of all time. Sign me up for an Omega Centuari!
I still find myself singing “Horizons” now and again, as well as having dreams about my flight path back. The ocean trip was my favorite. 🙂 I will always miss Horizons.
@Jamie – “New Horizons” is such a great song! I also sing it often. 🙂
What sizes will be available?
@Eric – Sizes will range from small to 2X-Large.
Why did they close it ? I wish they’d bring it back ! I don’t do extreme rides, so this was a good one for me to go on.
Very nice idea. But isn’t the space scene and advertisement actually “BRAVA Centauri”, not “OMEGA Centauri” ? (i.e. – “Come up to Brava.”)
@Daniel – In the scene just past the holographic party line (where the family sings “Happy Birthday”), there were three advertisements. The first was “Omega Centauri / Now Open” followed by Mesa Verde then Sea Castle Resort. This transitional scene allowed Horizons passenges to chose their own ending. Casey chose Omega Centauri rather than Brava Centauri based on this scene as it was more in line with the attraction’s ending.
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