5 Things We’ll Miss About Ellen’s Energy Adventure
Earlier this month, the Universe of Energy closed its doors to make way for a new Guardians of the Galaxy-themed attraction announced at D23. Though often overlooked in favor of headliner attractions like Soarin’ and Test Track, the Universe of Energy was an attraction we always made sure to visit. Ellen’s Energy Adventure took us on an educational yet fun-filled look at the history and future of energy. Ellen’s Energy Adventure also had the distinction of being the longest (in terms of time) attractions in all of Walt Disney World, discounting walking tours; thus providing Guests with a great place to relax and cool off on a hot summer afternoon. Ellen’s Energy Adventure wasn’t the first attraction to be housed here, and the attraction building itself was a wonder to behold and had its own stories to tell (but we’ll save that for another post!). In the meantime, here’s a quick list of some of our favorite moments from Ellen’s Energy Adventure.
Universe, you are cleared for take off!
1. The Birth of the Universe
For a slow-moving, relaxing attraction, Ellen’s Energy Adventure did contain a few thrills here and there. This was the first, the Piggy Bank! Er, the Ding Dang! Um, I mean the Big Bang! As the glowing point of light exploded into the rapidly expanding universe, we traveled through time and space watching the galaxies form, then the Sun, and finally the Earth. Our twisting turning journey ended with a crash-landing into the newly formed landscape, with a thunderous explosion that rivaled the bellowing roar of the Carnotaurus over in the Animal Kingdom’s Dinosaur attraction. Once the dust settled we found ourselves in the dense primordial jungle where we were reunited with Ellen and Bill Nye, our hosts. (One more explosive moment awaited us as the discussion moved toward nuclear energy, but one Big Bang is enough for today!)
2. Dinos, Dinos!
Speaking of the Carnotaurus, (see where we were going there?), the main attraction of the Universe of Energy has always been the giant Animatronic dinosaurs that you saw once the moving theater began to, well, move. Once you moved past the brontosaurus family (one of whom had a nasty cold), you saw an epic battle taking place between a Stegosaurus and an Allosaurus (seen here), several Trachodon chilling beneath a waterfall, a group of Ornithomimus (those are the duck-billed ones), a Pteranodon gang hanging out around an erupting volcano, and at one point a nasty Elasmosaurus that Ellen ran into (that Animatronic disappeared toward the end of the attraction’s run, which was good news for those folks who were afraid of dinosaurs…this was a particularly mean one!). Sadly, the dinos were destined to turn into dino soup, the origin of the fossil fuels we use today (well, sort of, Bill Nye always explained it better!)
3. The Cameos
Celebrity cameos pop up all the time in Walt Disney World attractions (Patrick in Soarin’ is probably our favorite), but one of the all time greats was Michael Richards (Kramer from Seinfeld) making a brief appearance as the caveman who discovered fire. While the show featured some pretty big stars, Richards’ appearance was uncredited, and to non-Seinfeld fans perhaps unnoticed. But his performance was hilarious, and for all Seinfeld fans you couldn’t help but think, “yep, that’s Kramer all right!”
4. Stupid Judy
Ellen may have won the game of Jeopardy at the end of the attraction (we’d say “spoiler alert” but since the attraction is closed I think we can safely spill the beans), but her nemesis put up quite a battle. Dr. Judy Peterson may have had a Phd, but we can’t help but agree with Ellen that she had the perfect nickname for her. Ask Disney Guests what Judy’s last name was, and you’ll likely draw a blank, but everyone remembers her endearing nickname. Judy may complain about it and protest that Ellen must have been cheating, but in the words of Alex Trebek, “Zip it Judy!”
5. That Other Guy
Ellen and Judy certainly went back and forth throughout the whole game, but as we all know there are three contestants in Jeopardy. The third in this case was of course Dr. Albert Einstein, and just the fact that he never uttered a word was hilarious in of itself. He’s also the source of one of those “hey, I never noticed that” moments you seem to find in nearly every Disney attraction. During the first round, his podium says Albert in nice big letters. But as the second round began, astute Guests may have noticed that his name had been replaced by a complex series of math equations! At least that explains what Einstein had been doing the whole time, and he did get an energy saving light bulb for his efforts (not quite as good as a Nobel Prize, but that probably wasn’t in the show’s budget).
Anyway, that’s our list of five things we’ll never forget about the Universe of Energy! What were some of your favorite moments? Leave them in the comment area below and we can all enjoy one last fond farewell to Ellen and the gang.
And don’t forget, Energy, you make the world go ’round!
My favourite part was also the brief trip through the dinosaur areas with the animatronic dinosaurs. The smell, the sounds, the visuals and Ellen battling with the ‘Bully-o-saurus’ were dear to me.
Ahead of our upcoming visit in November/December, this will be the most disappointing omission from our trip! We’ve had a tradition since 2001, of always visiting Epcot on our first day at WDW and Ellen’s was always the first attraction we did! It has since always remained my favourite attraction at Epcot and in my top 3 favourites at WDW. I am heartbroken that I won’t get to see it again and I thank Ellen, Bill, Alex, Jamie, Michael, Albert and all the dino’s galore for the memories.
I love the name “bully-o-saurus”! But yes, anytime there’s change at Walt Disney World it’s bittersweet…we’ll always miss those attractions that have come and gone (I still miss the old Imagination attraction, the “city of the future” end of Spaceship Earth, and of course Horizons). But the anticipation of what’s to come is exciting too, and there have certainly been a lot of things that have been added that we adore (the additions to the Haunted Mansion come to mind, especially the Escher-like stair room, the Leota tombstone, and the new queue!). It’s always sad to see some of our beloved attractions go…but then again that’s always been one of the great things about Disney (and Walt Disney himself)…the idea that it’s always good to try new things, to explore new opportunities, and not to rest on their laurels. Like anything new, sometimes they might not work, but just as often they do…and before we know it we have a new attraction (or land, or restaurant, etc.) that quickly becomes our new favorite! To me that’s always the exciting part; to see what the Imagineers have in store for us next 🙂
My favorite part of this attraction was absolutely the dinos. I know Disney has a history of re-purposing Audio Animatronics (like Panchito, Donald and Joe of Mickey Mouse Revue ending up in Gran Fiesta, etc.) Any idea if there’s anything planned for the Dinos of Ellen’s Energy Adventure?