World of Motion

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World of Motion

Gary Owens: Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the wonderful World of Motion. General Motors now invites you to travel the open road, to discover that when it comes to transportation, it's always fun to be free.

World of Motion offered a tongue-in-cheek look at the history of transportation and was sponsored by General Motors. After boarding on the ground floor, the ride vehicles spiraled up a ramp and then briefly went outside the building before bringing the passengers to the second floor.

The story (narrated by Gary Owens) started out with how humans are looking for a better alternative to foot power. This leads to the development of water transportation. A man on a ship is shown looking through a telescope at a sea monster. Scenes are then shown of people using different animals to get around. The next scene shows the inventor of the wheel and leads to a scene of a used chariot lot.

(Photos courtesy of Mark Thompsom.)

Time quickly passes and Leonardo Da Vinci is shown with a model of his flying machine, followed by a man in a hot air balloon. Steam power is invented and a river boat scene is shown. Train travel is depicted, complete with a train robbery.

Bicycles arrive along with automobiles and the first traffic jam. Sunday drivers are then shown watching an air show, which then leads to the car culture of the 1940's and 1950's. The ride concluded with a trip through a room where 70mm film clips gave the illusion of speed and then led to a scene depicting a futuristic city. The ride vehicles then went past mirrors that turned the vehicles into futuristic cars. (The effect was similar to the Doom Buggy effect at the end of the Haunted Mansion.)

The ride had 22 scenes and over 150 Audio-Animatronic characters. The exit of the ride led to the Transcenter, where exhibits such as The Bird and the Robot, The Water Engine, and The Dreamer's Workshop could be viewed, along with GM prototype cars. World of Motion closed on January 2, 1996 and was replaced by Test Track.

World of Motion Tributes

Some of the World of Motion figures have been reincarnated as characters in Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean attraction. Chicken figures from the attraction are now featured in Goofy's Barnstormer at Mickey's Toontown Fair in the Magic Kingdom. Other props from the World of Motion are in the queue of the tram tour at the studios. Some of the cars such as the LaSalle and '55 Chevy Nomad were also moved to the studios for street props. The weirdest tribute/reuse of a World of Motion figure is that one of them was remade into the Ellen figure for Ellen's Energy Adventure!

The Bird and the Robot

Here's the script featuring the bird with the New York accent.

The show started out with the bird acting as a sort of latter day Tropical Serenade barker bird, counting down the seconds until the show began and advising that the presentation was "standing room only 'cause we got no seats". Please note there are two parts where my audio of this is not clear. I'm not sure about the sentence after "He's a little shy" and when the bird uses a word to describe the painter robot.

Bird: Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, General Motors is proud to present the one, the only, bird! (fanfare plays) Hiya folks and welcome to my show. My name is Bird and I'm here to entertain, educate and amaze for I am an audio anamatronicated figure. I'd like to introduce my assistant. He's a robot. I call him Tiger. Come on Tiger, help me entertain the nice people. Tiger! He's a little shy. See folks, I've been in showbiz...but Tiger here, he's in manufacturing. He's got no aim in life beyond making a better car for you folks to drive. But today, I'm giving him his lucky chance to break into showbiz. He's a little nervous, so give the kid a break folks. Tiger! Thata boy, that's better! I'll give him something easy to start with. Roll over! You gotta talk slow. Tiger! Roll over! (Fanfare plays as Tiger performs.)

Thank you, thank you, I trained him myself. Alright, Alright. Tiger! Play dead! Dead, Tiger! (Fanfare as Tiger performs again.) Thank you, thank you, I don't deserve it. Ok Tiger, now get the doughnut. Fetch it to me. Go on, fetch the doughnuts. He'll get'em in a moment. Hey, Tiger! What's the big idea? I give you your big break and you deliberately humiliate me in front of all these nice people. Want me to send you back to General Motors where I found ya? Think about it kid, they do terrible things to robots. (Dramatic music plays.) They can lock you up in a room full of smelly paint fumes and make you spray paint out of your nose all day. Or force you to pick hot parts out of an oven with your bare fingers. Or they could make you hold hot parts together, while they get welded right in your hand. Heh heh, you wouldn't like that, would you?

(Photo courtesy of Brotherdave.)

Kid, you got a bug in your program. Shut up and do your stuff. Are there any requests? Anything at all you'd like to hear? (Tiger starts playing music.) Not yet! I'm not through talking! As I was saying...(Tiger interrupts with music again.) Thank you! Thank you! It was nothing, really. How about some applause for my assistant here? (Fanfare and applause track plays.) Alright, alright enough for him! How about some more applause for me? (A cowbell is heard.) Put that thing away! Wise guy, eh? I taught him everything he knows and this is how he... What the? This is the most ridiculous... You're not fooling anybody. He can't see anything out of those things. What? So, think you're funny, don't you? Seriously folks, he can't see, but some robots can see. Take this guy for example, he's got laser eyes. He goes around measuring critical stuff on the car part, and big as he is, he's very delicate. Accurate to the nearest ten thousandth of an inch. Of course, most robots don't need to see, they just remember where things are. This is robot school. This...painter robot is learning the shape of a new body. A new car body that is. And with instructors like that, school don't look so bad. Look at him go! Perfect! This one graduates with honors!

The best part about it, these guys 'paint 'em perfect every time! And look at this guy. He's no dummy. Let the robot be out there in the smelly paint fumes. This guy's got air conditioning! Look at that reach! With arms like that, maybe I can get him into basketball! That's it! I'll sign him to a contract and retire for life! Look at those moves! Pure poetry in motion. Now it's time for the cultured portion of our show. I'm a great believer of culture. So now, it is my privilege to present-remember, I taught him everything he knows-Tiger! Conducting the Detroit PhilRobotic orchestra! Maestro? (Various classical music songs play.)

Now what? Well folks, that's my show. The exit is to your right. Tell everyone out there that you saw the one, the only, bird! Oh yeah, and the robot.

It's Fun to Be Free

The World of Motion theme song was written by Buddy Baker and X. Atencio, who also wrote Grim

Grinning Ghosts for the Haunted Mansion. The songs was played in many different period styles in the queue area.

It's fun to free,

to be on the move,

to go anywhere,

with never a care,

to do all there is to be done,

it's fun to free! Ah yes!

It's fun to be free,

to be on the move,

to ride or to hike,

wherever you like to,

thrill to this beautiful land,

ah, is everybody happy?

You'll see what living can be,

it's fun to be free! Yes sir!

TRANSCENTER

Here's the 'Concept 2000' GM concept car that was in the Transcenter for many years.

(Photo courtesy of Mark Thompson)

The Transcenter had a showcase for the latest car models from GM.

(Photo courtesy of Mark Thompson)

Maybe you got one of these folded-tab pins when you visited World of Motion. They were given away free at the Transcenter. It's fun to be free!

(Thanks to Johnny Casella for the above picture.)

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See ya real soon!