Horizons at 40: Why this remains Epcot's most beloved past attraction
The wonderful future
This led to the crux of the ride, the pavilions's view of the future. First, we see that couple sitting in a nice home with a fancy city in the background, showcasing a monorail train and looking clean and crime-free. The AA man is playing a keyboard-like instrument as his wife chats on video phones with their daughter.
The ride then moves to show the daughter, who's in a farm area called Mesa Verde, with robot harvesters in the background. The genius touch was the ride piping in actual orange smells to make the scene feel more authentic. We see the woman's family at home, her husband making a cake with their son while her own daughter chats on video with her boyfriend (who the grandfather calls "a beach bum").
That leads to the underwater city Sea Castle, where we see the other end of the conversation of the guy working on a sub while chatting with the girl. The omnimover circled to show a pack of kids in diving gear getting ready for a "field trip" as a seal barked at them. There were then windows of a restaurant, a kid looking at a giant turtle, a movie screen showing those kids swimming around and robots digging up kelp.
In a gorgeous effect, the waves of the ocean gave way to the stars of outer space as the vehicles passed through a giant space station called Brava Centauri. The Imagineers had a blast with this section as a little kid floats in the air with his dog, having forgotten his magnetic boots. There's a scientist floating as she studies a crystal in a lab, a guy riding a bike in front of a screen, shadows showing zero-G basketball and more.
The final scene had the family gathering via holographic screens to sing a birthday song to the couple's grandson. Guests were then given the option of voting for three different scenes, each of which was a mini-simulator using one of the vehicles shown: A hovercraft for the farm section, a sub for underwater, or a space pod. They were then given a thrilling one-minute trip through miniature landscapes before "docking," and the ride ended with guests walking through a wildly multicolored hallway.