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September 22, 1999 to December
31, 2000
Presented as IllumiNations:
Reflections of Earth
January 1, 2001 to ?
The information on this
site may not be reproduced in any form on the Internet without express
written permission from EDC.
Please note that if you have not seen IllumiNations
2000: Reflections of Earth, this page gives a good summary
of the show and may spoil some of the effects for you.
The show's name was changed to remove the reference to the year 2000,
but the show itself has remained the same.
As crowds gather around the lagoon, pre-show
music (including a little music from Lord of the Dance) begins
about 15 minutes before the show. The sounds of people talking and admiring
the torches fill the air. Several announcements are made to inform guests
how many more minutes before he show begins.
Female Announcer:
Ladies and Gentlemen, because GE brings good things to life, in just
15 minutes, Epcot and GE Lighting will present IllumiNations
2000: Reflections of Earth. The show can be experienced all
around the World Showcase Lagoon. Due to lower light levels during
the show, please watch your step and take small children by the hand.
Get ready, because tonight's celebration of IllumiNations
2000: Reflections of Earth will begin in just 15 minutes.
Thank you.
Female Announcer:
Ladies and Gentlemen, because GE brings good things to life, in just
10 minutes, the Epcot family and GE will celebrate IllumiNations
2000: Reflections of Earth. There are still great places
to watch the show all around the World Showcase Lagoon. Because of
fireworks and lower light levels during the show, for your safety,
we ask that you remain on the promenade side of all railings, watch
your step, and take small children by the hand. Find a good spot,
because IllumiNations 2000: Reflections of Earth
will begin in just 10 minutes. Thank you.
Female Announcer:
Ladies and Gentlemen, because GE brings good things to life, in just
5 minutes, Epcot and GE Lighting will present IllumiNations
2000: Reflections of Earth. The show can be experienced all
around the World Showcase Lagoon. Due to lower light levels during
the show, please watch your step and take small children by the hand.
Get ready, because tonight's celebration of IllumiNations
2000: Reflections of Earth will begin in just 5 minutes.
Thank you.
A few minutes after this announcement, the music fades out and guests
wait eagerly for the show to begin. The sound of a gentle orchestral
hum becomes audible and the flames grow taller and brighter.
"Reflections of Earth"
Prologue: Acceleration
Male Announcer:
Good evening and welcome. We've gathered here tonight around the
fire as people of all lands have gathered for thousands and thousands
of years before us ... to share the light ... and to share a story.
An amazing story as old as time itself, but still being written.
And though each of us has our own individual stories to tell, a
true adventure emerges when we bring them all together as one. I
hope you enjoy our story tonight: Reflections of Earth.
The sound of him blowing out a candle is heard as the
torches are blown out and all of the pavilion lights go out. A single
drum beat is heard, followed by more and more pulsating drum beats
escalating until a comet streaks halfway across the lagoon to the
center where it collides exploding in a huge circular shape right
in time with the music.
ACT I: Chaos
Chaos
Fireworks, lasers, and a raging inferno engulf the lagoon
to the beat of chaotic, primitive music. Fountains add colors of red,
orange, and yellow in four locations around the fire. The segment
ends as large white fireworks shells explode and fizzle to the lagoon
where small white points glow in various places on the lagoon surface
like a field of stars.
ACT II: Order
Space
The fireworks fade as the melody softens and slows.
Off in the distance, a large rotating sphere covered in the hot glow
of white begins to slowly glide across the lagoon to the center. A
closer look reveals that this is planet Earth floating through space.
The white cools to red which gives way to blue as we see the ocean
water (without any life forms). The blue changes to green as we view
images of lush forests. Four fountains spaced away from the Earth
Globe reflect green-lighted water as the images on the Earth fly over
green landforms.
Life
Trees and flowers cover the earth followed by animals
(such as a rhino and a giraffe) roaming throughout the landscapes.
The image of a horse turns into a cave painting version of the horse
showing the arrival of humans on the planet. The cave painting of
the horse changes to other cave painted animals like a rhinosurus,
deer, and cow. The fountains display only a single red stream of water
as if to be the human's fire. The image of the painting flickers due
to the unsteady light of the fire and then the image zooms out of
the cave to see human feet traversing the ground.
Adventure
The human population begins to grow and spread from
tribes to farms to villages. Images show Eskimos, islanders paddling
a carved out catamaran, and others. People use animals to help them
travel and cultivate. Now the humans explore their world using fantastic
oceanic vessels from a Viking ship to sailing ships. Human curiosity
of the world causes them to develop other transportation inventions
including helicopters, hot air balloons, aerial tramways up mountains,
trains, and airplanes. Now flying over landforms indigenous to the
continents on which the images are displayed, we begin to see famous
vistas such as the Himalayas, Victoria Falls, and the Sahara Desert.
Countries are formed and images of famous landmarks
cover the sphere as the pavilions are lit. The first civilizations
to be formed, China, Italy, Japan, France, and Canada (by tribes crossing
the Bering Land Bridge from Russia into North America), are lit with
rim lights outlining the pavilion first. The rest of the pavilions
are lit next (Mexico, Germany, the American Adventure, and the United
Kingdom). Images including the Sphinx, St. Basil's Cathedral, St.
Paul overlooking Rio de Janeiro, Golden Gate Bridge, the Sydney Opera
House, Mayan pyramid, the Statue of Liberty, Copenhagen's Little Mermaid
statue, and Mount Rushmore can be seen on the Earth Globe. This segment
ends with four white clusters of fireworks that fizzle as the pavilion
lights fade, the fountains stop, and the images on the sphere fizzle
like snow on a television.
Bluish/purple lights illuminate the inside of the Earth
Globe allowing us to see the structure behind the continents. The
next images displayed are those of colored paint splashed across the
continents on the Earth Globe. Artists are seen painting and musicians
are performing. Four sets of different colored fireworks are launched
one color at a time (green, orange, and lavender blue/green) as powerful
colored searchlights scan the sky illuminating the smoke from the
fireworks.
Famous works of art are seen on the Globe including
The Thinker and David statues. Next, mini shooting stars are launched
one at a time circling around the Globe twice. The fountains are in
full color and various colored laser lights join the searchlights
in sweeping through the sky.
The Space Shuttle takes off. Images of people who have
played an important role in society are seen on the Globe as the music
builds and strobe lights on the pavilions flash. The final person
shown is an astronaut who spins around moving further away from the
foreground (getting smaller in the video image).
Home
The astronaut's view from space is that of the whole
planet Earth - a home to all people. Strobe lights flicker on the
pavilions and from within the center of the Earth Globe. Also spinning
with the astronaut are various colored shapes that eventually join
together filling each continent with a rainbow of colors. The pavilions
are then all lit again together as a rainbow of laser light fills
the panorama spreading from the American Adventure like a fan. Four
very bright fireworks shells explode high in the sky while four other
shells explode soon after and fall immediately like a meteor shower
to the lagoon. This occurs three times and then fireworks are set
off from all around the perimeter of the lagoon and in the center.
Celebration
More fantastic fireworks, exciting, uptempo music, colorful
lasers, and lighted pavilions create a dazzling, colorful atmosphere.
Halfway through this segment, the rainbow of colors splashed across
the continents on the Globe give way to video images of Tapestry of
Nations puppets dancing. This portion of the show ends with another
set of white perimeter fireworks and an amazing burst of thousands
of small purple fireworks filling the whole center of the lagoon.
The video image fizzles to black while the pavilion rim lights remain
lit.
ACT III: Meaning
Meaning
A timpani drum roll is heard as the finale begins. The
pavilion lights fade out while the Earth Globe continents sparkle
and fade in to show people of varying cultures and ethnicities standing
together.
"We Go On"
Kellie Coffey:
With the stillness of the night
There comes a time to understand
To reach out and touch tomorrow
Take the future in our hand
We see people reach out to hold hands. Small white points
of light glow in various places on the lagoon surface. The people
are now holding candles and pass the light of their candle on to the
next person's.
Kellie Coffey:
We can see a new horizon
Built on all that we have done
And our dreams begin another
Thousand circles 'round the sun
The nineteen torches around the lagoon ignite. The powerful
white searchlights light up and are aimed up at an angle so that they
meet above the center of the lagoon.
Kellie Coffey and
Chorus:
We go on
To the joy and through the tears
We go on
To discover new frontiers
Moving on
With the current of the years
Images of athletes carrying and passing on the Olympic
torch give way to images of torches and candles burning brightly.
The Earth Globe, now lit up with white inside, begins to slowly split
open. It blossoms like a flower and when all of the petals have opened,
a torch ignites and rises high above the lagoon.
Kellie Coffey and
Chorus:
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on
With the spirit born to run
Ever on
With each rising sun
To a new day
We go on
Two sets of glittering white tailed fireworks are launched
from the center torch.
Kellie Coffey and
Chorus:
We go on
As the chorus holds that last note, 1,000 white fireworks
are launched filling the sky in a breathtaking sight while strobelights
on the pavilions and the Earth Globe flash. The show ends with one
more round of white perimeter fireworks, several colorful bursts high
above the center of the lagoon, and a final set of white fireworks
a little lower ending with a loud crackle. The torches, including
the flame in the center, remain lit and the searchlights cast a rainbow
of colors upon the smoke in the sky.
Male Announcer:
All of us at Epcot hope you have enjoyed Reflections of
Earth.
Total Running Time: 13 minutes
As the crowds slowly begin to leave the
lagoon, a longer, slower version of We Go On plays.
"Promise"
Kellie Coffey:
Every evening
Brings an ending
Every day becomes a legacy
Every sunset
Leads to morning
With the promise of opportunity
We can reach for the stars we find
along the way
Dreaming as we learn to love everyday
Promise
You will take my hand
As tomorrow comes
We'll go on
We'll go on
Growing closer through the years
Moving on
Through the good times and the tears
Ever on
Another thousand circles 'round the sun
If two can be as one
We'll go on
There is music
If you listen
In the rhythm of each breath we take
Destinations
Undiscovered
Revelations from every choice we make
And I know
There are diamonds dancin' in the sky
All we have to do
Is open our eyes
Promise
We'll walk side by side
As a new day dawns
We'll go on
We'll go on
Growing closer through the years
Moving on
Through the good times and the tears
Ever on
Another thousand circles 'round the sun
A new life has begun
The two of us as one
We'll go on
Moving on
Through the good times and the tears
Ever on
Another thousand circles 'round the sun
A new life has begun
When two of us are one
And we live to keep the promise
We'll go on
Ever on
We'll go on
Following Promise is some of the music from Tapestry
of Nations (without any of the additional percussion added
for that show). The torches extinguish at the end of that music. The
exit music originally only played throughout World Showcase. In the
fall of 2000, this exit music was expanded to fill the entire park throughout
World Showcase, Future World, and even to the Entrance Plaza.
New Year's Eve 1999 & 2000 Tag
For the narration and description of the special New Year's Eve 1999
and 2000 editions of the show, go to: New
Year's Eve 1999 & 2000.
July 4th 2000 Tag
After IllumiNations 2000: Reflections of Earth ended
on the 4th of July, 2000, the following announcement was heard:
Female Announcer:
We hope you have enjoyed this evening's performance of IllumiNations
2000: Reflections of Earth. And now, to honor America, Epcot
would like to present a special finale to celebrate this first Fourth
of July in the new Millennium.
The American Adventure's theme song,
"Golden Dream," plays while red, white, and blue fireworks
burst into the sky. Due to the threat of fire in the summer of 2000,
no fireworks were launched from behind the pavilions as usually done
for the 4th of July. The Earth Globe was not used during this add-on
section. It remained open throughout, but the torch was re-lit at the
finale of the show.
Female Announcer:
And now, ladies and gentlemen, our national anthem.
Sandy Patti sings two verses of the song. At the end
of the song, they are launched from a special barge in the center of
the lagoon at a constant rate filling 20 seconds straight of loud booms
and bright fireworks. Most of the final announcement was hard to hear,
but this is approximately what was said.
Female Announcer:
[ ? ? ?] We hope you have enjoyed this presentation and have a safe
trip home. Thank you and goodnight.
The normal exit music ("Promise" and "Tapestry
of Nations") is heard while guests exit the park.
July 4th Add-on Running Time: 8 minutes 35 seconds
IllumiNations Fact
Sheet | Original IllumiNations ('88)
| Holiday IllumiNations
IllumiNations 25 A | IllumiNations
25 B | IllumiNations ('98-99)
IllumiNations (2000): Reflections of Earth
Return to: IllumiNations
Introduction | EDC Gateway
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© EPCOT Discovery Center
Created February 14, 1998 / Last modified
September 29, 2003
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