Notes from 2009:
Overall I enjoyed the the Undiscovered Future World Tour. This time around we visited a couple new locations that were of interest to me. I really enjoyed the General Motors Lounge as well as seeing the backstage areas of Journey into Imagination. The 3D glasses cleaning machine was fun to see and interesting to learn they do the glasses for all four parks there. I guess that makes sense to save money to only have one machine. Also this time around our guide spent quite a bit more time trying to relate EPCOT and the tour directly to Walt Disney. I thought this was a nice touch and kind of interesting to see.

Notes from 2004:
I found the Undiscovered Future World tour an enjoyable morning. The tour is a walking tour of the Future World half of EPCOT. It focusses on the history of the park and the attractions as well as some behind the scenes information and stops. The history portion of the tour was interesting to me but almost all the information presented I already had ingrained in memory, but not to many in our group. The highlights of the tour for me were the backstage and VIP areas we visited. I had never been back to the marina area or to the Living Seas and Mission Space lounges. I was a little disappointed in the number of times the guide said that something was off limits due to the Food & Wine or changes in the tour. I think as a presentation point not knowing that would have been better. An example that comes to mind is over at the Universe of Energy he described how they used to be able to walk into the dinosaur scene but now we are just able to walk into a room and get pictures with an old bird that is no longer in the show. Unlike several of the other tours we have taken this one did not supply any food or beverages but instead some free time to go buy whatever you wanted. I thought it should have included something, the break seemed out of place and a little strange, especially after some of the great food that was presented on previous tours like the Wild By Design and Keys to the Kingdom.

Another strange occurrance on our tour this time were the number of drop outs. We lost about a third of our group for various reasons. The tour guide took this rather hard and was at a loss just as we were. I am not sure what these guests were expected, but I thought the tour was covering what it was advertised to be. The two groups that bailed out both did so within the first 1/4 of the tour. This was a good thing for us as it made the group smaller and more presonalized.

I would like to warn anyone about this tour.. it does invovle quite a bit of walking in a condensed amount of time. There is plenty of opportunity to sit inside airconditioned buildings though.

The highlight of the tour for me was stopping by the marina and seeing the dry dock as well as the Illuminations barges. I wish we could have spent more time out there and walked around a bit more. I thought the tour was very well focused on showcasing where many of the ideas for EPCOT came from and tying the history of attractions back to Disneyland and Walt Disney.

Tour Stats- 4.25 miles, 4 hours

Met at guest relations then walked out and talked about EPCOT in general and Spaceship Earth. After the introduction it was off to the House of Innovations. Took a walk through then out near the fountains and over toward Innoventions West. Cut through where the Food and Wine Festival booths were on our way to the Living Seas and the old VIP Lounge which was still being dried out after the storms. Our guide Howard talked for a bit and showed some old photos, then it was off to the Land. We were given a break and a chance to buy any snacks we want. Next up a step out the back door near the Soarin'construction backstage. We next headed back onstage and over to Journey into Imagination. Took the elevator up to the old Imageworks area, which is now used for private functions. Most of the sets and some of the gear is still up there, like the pin boards. Back down the elevator and across Future World and into the Universe of Energy. Walked into a side door and shown a audioanimatronic bird from the attraction. We posed for pictures then back outside and over to Mission Space. Cut through the queue and into the control room. Its the same room you see from the queue, so many guests were staring through the glass at us as we got a quick tour of the room. Back outside and across the plaza and into the VIP Lounge of Mission Space. Walked through then over to Test Track. We walked backstage and through a door near the service area. Traveled down a series of hallways and stopped to talk about the attraction, then given the opportunity to jump on the attraction. After our ride it was through a door and backstage again. Back through a couple walkways then out backstage. Crossed the perimeter road and headed for the cast center. Caught our breaths then back outside and into a trailer to hear about the international program for CMs to come from overseas. After hearing from a few CMs it was back outside and around the entertainment warehouse to the dry dock area for the Friendship Launches as well as the docks for the Illuminations barges. Finished up our tour and headed for China and back on stage to end our tour. We were all given pins and told our names would be on a list near Italy for a reserved spot to watch Illuminations.

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