Epcot opened 30 years ago as the second park at Walt Disney World. To celebrate this impressive anniversary we’ll take a tour of Future World and look at how the different Lands have changed over the last 30 years. If you want to learn more about this innovative park read The Imagineering Field Guide to Epcot 
We’ll start our tour of the pavilions by turning left and going past Innoventions East. The first pavilion on our left in the Universe of Energy, home to Ellen’s Energy Adventure. I’ll say this right now, even though many may disagree with me – I love this attraction! It is my favorite attraction in Epcot. Don’t get me wrong. I love Soarin’ and Mission: SPACE, but my absolute favorite ride is Ellen’s Energy Adventure.
Many of you are shaking your head and wondering if my taste is all in my mouth. But let me just list the three reasons I love this attraction.
1) It is really funny.
2) It is really educational without feeling like school.
3) It has dinosaurs.
Enough said. My biggest fear is that Disney is going to replace this attraction with a newer, more advanced ride. I will be very sad when that happens, but I hope if they do replace it that the new ride has humor, fun facts, and dinosaurs. Happiness squared.
5 fun facts about the Universe of Energy:
1) Ellen’s Energy Adventure stars Ellen Degeneres, Bill Nye the Science Guy, and Jamie Lee Curtis. Ellen and Jamie play Jeopardy! in Ellen’s weird dream. Alex Trebek makes an appearance, too, and it becomes one crazy game show.
2) Your theater seats are actually ride vehicles. The seating area is divided into six parts and each section becomes a vehicle. As you move forward Ellen’s dream goes from 2D to 3D.
3) The vehicles weight 30,000 pounds fully loaded. But the amazing part is they are guided through the ride by a wire that is only 1/8 inch thick. Imagine that!
4) The roof of this pavilion is covered with photovoltaic cells. There are two acres of them or about 80,000 cells. They produce 15% of the power needed to run the attraction. All that power from the sun could run six houses.
5) The building sits where it does to get as much sun as possible. The slope of the roof was also designed to direct more of the sun on the cells.
Talking about energy needs and possibilities can be a touchy subject in today’s world. Everyone seems to have an opinion and they are more than willing to defend their opinion to the death. With Ellen’s Energy Adventure we can explore many avenues of energy generation and laugh instead of argue. No wonder I like this ride so much.
Goofy Tip: This ride never has a line and you will be sitting for most of the show so it is a great ride do go on after lunch. Do the busy rides in the morning and then relax in the afternoon. Just make sure you wait at least 30 minutes after eating so you don’t get a tummy ache from laughing too hard.
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