Body Wars
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| Watch the on-ride POV |
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| The ride's entrance in 2007 | |||||||||||||||
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| Manufacturer | Rediffusion Simulators | ||||||||||||||
| Product | Motion simulator | ||||||||||||||
| Designer / calculations | Walt Disney Imagineering | ||||||||||||||
| Capacity | 4 simulators seating 40 people each | ||||||||||||||
Body Wars was a Simulator attraction located at Epcot in Lake Buena Vista, United States. Located within the Wonders of Life pavilion, the ride had guests be taken on a mission by Miniaturized Exploration Technologies corporation (MET), to board space pods in order to study the effects of white blood cells reacting to a splinter inside a volunteer. The ride was Epcot's first true thrill ride, and its last thrill ride until the opening of Test Track.
History
After the success of Star Tours in the various parks, Disney was looking for a way to have the simulator ride type be at more of their parks. So, they turned to the health pavilion, which was still under development, to incorporate the system. It was to be about shrinking down to cell size to see how they worked, and a climactic scene where guests barely make it out of the host body. The ride would be incorporated into the finalized Wonders of Life Pavilion.
Interesting to note is that the volunteer was never shown directly, as the Imagineers wanted to give the impression it could be anyone. Though it seemed to be male, the volunteer's face was turned at the beginning and ending of the ride, and camera footage of the ride also make them look female. Despite this, another volunteer was shown in the pre-show; however, he wasn't shown inside of, even though they were demonstrating how MET worked. It is commonly speculated that the same actor who played the volunteer in the preshow also played the volunteer in the main show, as they look alike. What we do see of the volunteer in the main show has been compared to David Hayter's portrayal of Sean Barker in Guyver: Dark Hero.
Wonders of Life, Body Wars and the rest of the attractions in the pavilion opened with MetLife as the sponsor on October 19, 1989. The ride, while popular, proved it wasn't the ride for everyone, as the ride was deemed too intense with its violent rumbling, sharp drops, quick and sudden turns, combined with the less than pleasing imagery of the film, so the ride was toned down shortly after opening.
After this, the ride would never receive any kind of change or makeover, including its somewhat outdated safety video. MetLife would stop sponsoring the pavilion and ride in 2001.[1] In October 2006, it was announced that Body Wars, along with the rest of Wonders of Life would be shuttered permanently by January 1. The day came, and the ride and pavilion were shut down for good, standing but not operating to this day. While the ride's stations and queue areas were left abandoned, the simulators were moved next door to Disney's Hollywood Studios for use on their Star Tours attraction.