Credit: Inside the MagicA Disney Park guest recently shared photos from their experience trapped at the very top of the Spaceship Earth attraction building at EPCOT. Let’s take a look behind the scenes of one of the most iconic rides at Walt Disney World Resort!
Spaceship Earth Evacuation
On January 21, dozens of riders were evacuated from Spaceship Earth at EPCOT. One Disney Park guest shared their experience on Reddit under the username u/splendidsandpiper, including several rare photos of the ride’s top section with the lights on.
Spaceship Earth evacuation from the top, 1/21/26
Spaceship Earth evacuation from the top, 1/21/26
byu/splendidsandpiper inWaltDisneyWorld
The photos show the pitch-black portion of Spaceship Earth with the lights on, including the interior side of the triangle-shaped tiles that make up the iconic geodesic spherical show building. One image shows guests beginning to descend the winding staircase to the bottom of the attraction.
According to the Walt Disney World Resort guest, Spaceship Earth broke down at around 7:20 p.m. on Wednesday. Guests were trapped inside the attraction (including at “the very top”) for about 15 minutes before Disney cast members announced that guests would be evacuated due to “technical difficulties.”
“The lights turned on and we waited another 15 or so minutes for a CM to open our vehicle doors one-by-one,” the social media user wrote. “It took us about 10 minutes to descend the stairs to the bottom, which we reached a little after 8pm.”
Disney cast members provided everyone on board with a complimentary Lightning Lane pass, but it could not be used on the most popular EPCOT attractions: Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Test Track, Frozen Ever After, and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind.
“It was good only for the next hour (until park close),” the guest explained.
Despite the breakdown on Wednesday night, Spaceship Earth had reopened and was operational at the time of this article’s publication.
The History of the EPCOT Park Icon
Spaceship Earth opened alongside EPCOT on October 1, 1982, and has never been replicated at another Disney park in the world. The ride has been updated three times over the years, inviting guests to explore humanity’s past innovations while taking a look into the potential for the future.
A fourth, much-needed update to the ominmover attraction was planned for Walt Disney World Resort’s 50th anniversary in 2021. However, like many projects across the Disney parks, it was indefinitely paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Disney has not announced any plans for the attraction.
Have you ever seen a Disney Park ride with the lights on? Share your experience with Inside the Magic in the comments!