Universe of Energy, Educational dark ride at Epcot, United States.
Universe of Energy was an attraction at Epcot in Florida that combined films and moving theater cars to take guests through exhibits about energy sources and production. The installation featured large screens and mechanical scenes that visitors experienced while seated in vehicles traveling through different rooms.
The building opened on October 1, 1982, as part of the original Epcot attractions and presented scientific content about energy sources. The installation was redesigned in 1996 as Ellen's Energy Adventure and closed in August 2017.
The pavilion's name carried through both versions, even after the 1996 relaunch as Ellen's Energy Adventure, which framed the energy lesson as a Jeopardy! dream in which Ellen DeGeneres played against Jamie Lee Curtis and an Albert Einstein impersonator. The pre-show song "Energy (You Make The World Go 'Round)" closed the original Kinetic Mosaic film, and the finale used a song titled "Universe of Energy".
Visitors sat in large vehicles that moved through several rooms and stopped at different points to show films and exhibits. The entire ride lasted about 45 minutes, so guests needed to plan enough time for the visit.
The building featured solar panels on its slanted roof that generated electricity during the operation of the attraction. This installation demonstrated renewable energy use to visitors in a working theme park context.
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