4. Spaceship Earth

From the time they decided to turn Walt Disney’s idea for an experimental community into a theme park known as Epcot, Imagineers knew that they wanted a stunning entrance icon that would represent the future yet avoid becoming dated. They considered many ideas, but kept returning to the geodesic dome designed by Buckminster Fuller for the ’67 Expo in Montreal. They also liked the 1939 New York World’s Fair Perisphere, which was supported just off the ground on 8 legs. Spaceship Earth tweaks that design, lowering the number of legs to 6 and dramatically raising the height.

A full geodesic sphere supported above the ground had never been attempted, and this one also had to house a full ride-through attraction. Imagineers hired Fuller to help, along with a team of MIT engineers. The final design is actually two separate shells, the exterior geodesic sphere and an internal structure that holds the attraction components. The legs were installed first, and a sort of hexagonal table built on top. This table distributes the weight of both the interior and exterior shells. Most of the ride structure was built on the table before the geodesic sphere was added. The sphere consists of two geodesic domes stacked together.

The results are stunning. Disney even ensured that rain would never drench those taking shelter beneath Spaceship Earth by building an elaborate gutter system into the Alucobond panels that compose the exterior of the sphere. Rain is diverted through those gutters into the structure’s legs and then channeled underground into the World Showcase Lagoon.

5. Backstage Studio Tour/Studio Backlot Tour

Universal Studios began inviting the public to watch movie filming on its Hollywood lot in 1915, though this practice was discontinued in 1930 due to insufficient soundproofing in the new era of talkies. In 1956, the studio began allowing Gray Line buses to drive through the backlot, and in 1964, it began offering its own tram tour. Walt Disney talked about opening up his own studio for tours at around the same time, but concerns about traffic and land costs prevented the idea from becoming a reality.

In the early 1980s, Michael Eisner was president and CEO of Paramount. Universal was interested in expanding its theme park holdings to Central Florida, but was skeptical about taking on the full financial risk associated with challenging Disney in its own backyard. So Universal approached Paramount with the idea of a partnership. At the time, the park concept was based around a tram tour, as Universal Studios Hollywood was.

Eisner declined the proposal, but never forgot what Universal wanted to do. When he took over as CEO of Disney in 1984, he began quietly working on ideas for a Disney movie park. When Universal announced plans for its Florida park in 1987, Eisner moved full-steam ahead. With help from the Reedy Creek Improvement District, a semi-governmental agency that allows Walt Disney World to bypass the normal permitting process, Disney-MGM Studios opened in 1989, a full year ahead of Universal Studios Florida.

As Eisner was well aware of Universal’s design plans, he focused the new park around the Backstage Studio Tour (now the Studio Backlot Tour). A two-hour peek behind the scenes of moviemaking, the original format of the attraction was half tram tour and half walking tour. With such extras as Catastrophe Canyon (which strongly resembled a set-piece proposed for Universal's tour), the Backstage Studio Tour was specifically designed to beat Universal to the punch. The rest of Disney-MGM Studios was practically non-existent, haphazardly put together to present something of a finished design.

Naturally, Universal changed its course. Rather than open a similar tram-based theme park, Universal responded by opening its park with a series of high-tech standalone attractions. Disney fought back by adding attractions, leading to a movie park war that spanned the next decade.

Today, both parks have grown and changed dramatically, the Studio Backlot Tour has been scaled way back, and neither resembles the tram-based Universal Hollywood on which both were originally based. Interestingly, Universal Studios Hollywood has also grown and progressed, and that park’s tram tour now forms only a fraction of its overall experience.