Pictures of the Future      Fall 2008

Create Your Own Future!

Those who want to have fun while they explore the inventions of humankind and the trends that are shaping our future won’t find a better place to pursue this interest than Disney’s Epcot theme park in Florida. The facility has been shaped by a winning team that combines Walt Disney Imagineers, Siemens, and Pictures of the Future.

Centuries pass by in minutes when you ride this time machine. Thousands of people embark on this journey, which introduces you to Egyptian pharaohs, the Phoenicians, Greek philosophers, Roman emperors, Gutenberg, Michelangelo, and much more. You’ll view steam engines in action and hear and see historic radio and television broadcasts. You’ll also witness the first lunar landing and the dawn of the computer age and the Internet. When you reach the climax of this journey through the past with all of its inventions, you’ll arrive in the present, where you’ll behold a view of infinite space and millions of stars. A voice will then call on you to get into the act and give some thought to shaping your own future. Welcome to the Spaceship Earth Attraction—by far the most impressive attraction at Epcot^®, which is one of the four theme parks located at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida.

"With the help of Siemens, we’ve created something here that’s never before been achieved with such intensity,” says Pam Fisher, who, as Senior Show Writer at Walt Disney Imagineering, helped shape the concept behind Space­ship Earth. "For the first time, we are now able to integrate our guests personally into what’s going on in one of our attractions. They become part of the story, which is exactly what we want to achieve at Disney. In other words, we don’t just want to thrill and entertain our guests in a playful way; we also encourage them to work together and think about how they can help to design a better world.”

Spaceship Earth’s senior show producer, Bob Zalk adds, "People’s own inspirations are based on real science and technology, not science fiction or science fantasy. Our ability to combine these inspirations with probable future developments is what sets Epcot apart. What’s more, Epcot fits in perfectly with the studies of the future that are known as Siemens’ Pictures of the Future. Disney and Siemens are ideal collaborators for the new Spaceship Earth attraction."

Living in the Past and Future. Spaceship Earth has been a hit with visitors since its reopening in March 2008. People from around the world visit Epcot every day to enter its 50-meter-high sphere, which resembles a giant golf ball but is actually a unique structural geodesic design. Visitors are quickly captivated, but their excited voices soon turn to a hush as the ride slowly begins to climb a spiral ramp inside the sphere. As famous figures from the past come to life, visitors hear the distinctive voice of actress Dame Judi Dench, who explains how each invention has built upon those that came before it, eventually leading to the creation of the world we live in today. When they reach the top of the sphere, visitors enter a giant planetarium where they can see the earth from a distance, while above them long rows of shining blue-white light diodes depict the infinite universe. At this point, video screens in each of the ride’s two-seat cars return to life, and participants are called upon to make decisions about their future in the language they originally selected for the tour.

The questions they are asked are thought-provoking. What aspect of the future interests you the most—life at home, your health, your work, or your leisure time? Where would you like to live—in the city or the countryside? Would you rather build a house with recycled materials or natural ones? What do you prefer—high-tech or human touch? If faced with an emergency, would you act yourself or call for help? The visitor’s answer to each question determines which questions are subsequently asked. "We’ve installed 256 different options for the future, so everyone in effect receives his or her customized future,” says Imagineer Ken Neville. "That’s one of the reasons why many people ride Spaceship Earth more than once,” adds Zalk. "They simply want to experience themselves in a different future each time.”

This tailor-made future is the most surprising element of the ride for most visitors, since once they’ve made their choice, they see a short animated film about their future on a monitor. The main character in this film is an animated figure with the visitor’s face. Depending on the future selected, this figure might be eating breakfast in a futuristic home in the countryside, reading an electronic newspaper, going on vacation in a mini-submarine, or being saved after a skiing accident by a robot that has a direct wireless connection to the nearest hospital. High-tech systems can be found not only in these imaginary futures but also in the equipment used to create them. For example, visitors are photographed before the journey begins, and then intelligent image processing software identifies individual faces and maps them into the right videos.

^{Playfully discovering the future. Along with visits to the past (small pictures), interactive games are a big hit with visitors. Here, they can move packets of virtual energy and help cities grow (top), or supply a skeleton with organs (below) in a sort of telemedicine experience. Display boards show the connections to Siemens technologies}

"This incorporation of the visitor, and the way his or her own imagination is stimulated, are what make the attraction unique," says Senior Show Writer Fisher. "The scenarios presented in the Pictures of the Future magazine were our most valuable source of inspiration here. We Imagineers also learned a lot from the discussions we had with Siemens experts from Munich and Princeton and with the medical system specialists we met at the Radiology Society of North America Congress in Chicago. We also visited Siemens Corporate Research in Princeton, where things were so exciting that we could have continued brainstorming forever. Our goal was to enable our Spaceship Earth guests to experience the same amazement we had felt."

Images from Tomorrow’s World. This amazement, this feeling of being part of something they’ve never experienced before, doesn’t end for visitors when they exit the ride—because they then enter the "Project Tomorrow" hall, where the real excitement begins. Many simply stand with their mouths agape when they see their own faces pop up on the hall’s giant globe and then fly to the countries where they come from. As if that weren’t enough, there are also many kiosks where visitors can send an e-mail postcard from the future to them­selves or their friends—complete with photos and a scene from the video they have created themselves with the decisions they made about their futures. The walls of the futuristic hall are adorned with video screens showing interviews with winners of the Siemens Competition for mathematics, science and technology, who talk about future challenges and their plans for the future. There are also display boards that highlight the latest developments and trends in fields such as energy, healthcare, and mobility, with many of the concepts taken from Siemens’ Pictures of the Future projects.

Organs for a Cheeky Skeleton. The biggest attractions, of course, are the interactive games the Imagineers have created, such as a sophisticated car race and reaction games that teach players about the processes that occur in the muscles and the brain. The most popular games are Body Builder and Power City. Body Builder is a challenging 3D game in which players wearing 3D glasses attempt to reinstall all the human organs into a virtual skeleton on an operating table, thus bringing it back to life. Here, spinal cords, kidneys, hearts, lungs, etc. all run by on a conveyor belt; players use a robot arm to grab them and put them in the right place, all the while having to listen to the cheeky comments of the talking skeleton.

Just as Body Builder is a game related to real medical technology (e.g. robotics and telemedicine), Power City is a fascinating game for all ages that addresses one of the biggest challenges facing the globe today —how rapidly-growing cities can be supplied with energy in the future in a sustainable manner that won’t damage the environment. How much energy from renewable sources can be injected into the mix? What other forms of energy are required? And how much energy needs to be supplied to each consumer? "We spent a lot of time talking to Siemens energy experts to develop this game," says Imagineer Brent Strong. "We first had to understand what the key elements would be—for example, that there will always be an energy mix, that certain applications require more energy than others, and that green technologies can not only make a city more environmentally friendly, but also more beautiful."

The Walt Disney Imagineers (the term combines the words "imagination" and "engineer") are a unique team—not likely to be found anywhere else in the world—comprised of creative engineers, software experts, designers, theater and film people, game developers, and writers. All of them love the challenges associated with their work. "We spent months testing new virtual and real models of the games over and over again at our facility in Glendale, California," says Strong. "The breakthrough with Power City came when we got the idea of shifting energy units around and distributing them throughout the city."

In the final version of the game, two players use a type of hockey stick to move energy packets from facilities such as coal-fired and wind power plants to different private and industrial consumers. The city itself is projected onto the floor underneath the players, whereby cameras register the hockey sticks, the energy packets, and the force with which the players attempt to move the energy in different directions. The more skillfully the players perform their tasks, the faster the city grows—and it can get as large as a major metropolis with more than 10 million inhabitants.

"This game incorporates a huge amount of state-of-the-art technology," says Strong. "You’ve got the image processing system, the graphics, and the Teflon-coated sticks that have to withstand a lot of force—but that’s not why I think Power City will still be a big attraction even a few years down the road. I think the game will remain successful because it combines all these things with an outstanding overall concept, a unique playing field, and the ability to appeal to the whole family. The adults understand the real background of the game, while the children simply have fun moving the energy packets around." What pleases him most, Strong says, is when he sees a grandfather playing Power City with one of his grandchildren—"because we want our attractions to appeal to everyone regardless of age, gender, or cultural background."

Creating a Better World. Strong’s colleague Greg Butkus, who is the "Father of Body Builder," describes the partnership between Disney and Siemens this way: "We Imagineers are experts for the fun part, while the Siemens people are masters of the technology details we need to depict the future. Together we make an unbeatable team. We contribute the edu-tainment element and the Siemens people provide the basis in reality that ensures that the future visions of Spaceship Earth never lose sight of reality."

Siemens’ broad portfolio of technologies is ideal for making sure that the future scenarios cover practically all aspects of life. As Pam Fisher points out, "If we can get the kids who play here to think creatively about their own future, then we’ve definitely accomplished a lot. The most important thing is to inspire them to make the world a better place, because they are the ones who will one day create the future in which they and their children and grandchildren will live. If you can dream it, you can do it—that’s our motto."
                                                                                                                     Ulrich Eberl