In this post we give an overview of Spaceship Earth, an educational dark ride at Disney’s EPCOT theme park in Walt Disney World. We cover the basics of the ride, how to ride it, and our thoughts on the experience before closing with an FAQ. Read on to learn more!
Related Posts
This post is a quick guide to Spaceship Earth, but we have related content that dives deeper into topics. Our Epcot Lightning Lane Strategy Guide covers Lightning Lane strategy in depth. The Epcot Rides and Entertainment Guide gives brief introductions to all the park’s offerings. For putting together your day at the park, we have a One Day Plan for Epcot.
And if you want to dive into more about the other rides at Epcot, we have guides to each:
Spaceship Earth Basics
Spaceship Earth is a dark ride at Disney’s EPCOT in Walt Disney World. Spaceship Earth:
does not offer rider switch
is a Tier 2 ride on Lightning Lane Multi Pass
does not have a single rider line
is about 15 minutes long
Measured by wait times, Spaceship Earth is the sixth most popular ride in Epcot. (As of this update, Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind still uses a virtual queue.) You should expect an average wait of about 0 to 20 minutes, but this will vary greatly by time of day and day of year.
If you’re visiting Epcot with small children, I’d call this a “probably ride.” Personally we love it, but our toddler has sometimes gotten a bit restless on the lengthy ride. We still ride it as a family without hesitation, but keep in mind the length.
Where is Spaceship Earth located?
This one is easy! Spaceship Earth is located inside the gigantic geodesic sphere that is the icon of the park. You can’t miss it!
How to Ride Spaceship Earth
For this section we’re going to talk about all the Epcot Tier 2 rides (plus Soarin’) together, before talking specifically about the one in this post. The next few paragraphs are going to be similar in the posts for these other rides, too.
General Notes About Epcot’s Tier 2 Rides (And Soarin’)
The tier 2 rides at Epcot are:
Journey into Imagination with Figment
Living with the Land
Mission: SPACE
The Seas with Nemo & Friends
Spaceship Earth
Turtle Talk with Crush (show, not ride)
Disney and Pixar Short Film Festival (show, not ride)
When it comes to tier 2 Lightning Lanes—plus Soarin’, usually—at Epcot, there’s not much way to go wrong. We typically recommend Spaceship Earth and Mission: SPACE as your advance bookings, but the overall ride strategy will depend more on (1) what times you’re able to luck into when booking subsequent rides and (2) how low you want to keep your step count.
The Tier 2 rides are all in the front portion of the park. It’s a long 17-minute walk from Spaceship Earth (at the front of the park) to The American Adventure pavilion (in the middle of the World Showcase). Because the World Showcase is itself a loop, it really won’t make sense to be going back and forth between rides and the World Showcase. If you’re near one of these rides and the wait is 20 minutes or less, probably just ride it.
If you have Lightning Lane Multi Pass, you should be able to time a lot of these to ride in quick succession. You might wind up with a Lightning Lane for Living With the Land that’s 30 minutes away, but that just gives you time for a 20-minute wait for Journey Into Imagination, for example.
Riding Spaceship Earth
As for Spaceship Earth specifically, it’s all the way at the front of the park. Depending on the schedule for the nighttime show (and whether you want to watch it), you might just ride Spaceship Earth on your way out of the park. Otherwise, it’ll make sense to try and fit it in around the time you’re on nearby Cosmic Rewind or The Seas with Nemo and Friends.
Enjoying This Post? Thank the Phoenicians!
Spaceship Earth is a 15-minute dark ride that takes you through scenes depicting the history of communication.
Is that a bit…boring? It can be. I don’t want to hide the ball here—there’s really not a “wow” element or scene that sets Spaceship Earth apart. By the first scene, you’ll get it.
That said, I think the scenes in Spaceship Earth are some of the most beautiful in Disney World. They aren’t stunning in a large sense, but the care and detailing in each and every scene is astounding. The best way to get something out of Spaceship Earth is to make sure you’re appreciating every single scene.
The ride is both literally and figuratively iconic. Along with Living With the Land, it’s also one of the few remnants of the old Epcot philosophy of edutainment.
Spaceship Earth FAQ
Is Spaceship Earth Still getting refurbished?
Maybe. Disney hasn’t said much about the future of Spaceship Earth since the reopening. The ride was originally supposed to begin a lengthy reimagining in 2020, but things got weird and that didn’t happen. Based on everything we’ve heard / read, it seems likely the ride will close at some point for this work to get done. Unfortunately, there’s really no way to know when it will begin until Disney makes an announcement.
Is Spaceship Earth a roller coaster?
No. Spaceship Earth is a slow dark ride. The only roller coaster at Epcot is Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind.
Does Spaceship Earth have drops?
Spaceship Earth is a long, slow dark ride. It’s not a coaster. During most of the ride, you’re moving slowly upwards. At the end, you’ll move slowly downward, but I wouldn’t call it a “drop” in any sense of the word.
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