Worldkey: Disney's Fake Internet (1982) 

Went through my subscriptions list yesterday for the first time in ages, and said "Wow, 8 months already? Hopefully there's something new in the works." Didn't know I had these powers, but I'm not complaining. Awesome to have you back.

It’s a dang hard time to present a video this in depth about a Disney park aspect I haven’t already seen. Excellent work.

I remember Worldkey very well! It was a big part of my experience at Epcot when I was there on the third day that Epcott was open - October 3rd 1982. I spent a lot of time playing with it and using it to make a restaurant reservation. At the time it was incredible technology! I was very impressed with it.

It’s almost as if it was an INTRAnet…. The foundations of the current internet have been around since the 70s. Only when HTTP and SSL were developed in the 90s could the internet become useful for wider use.

Learning about the history of transistors and how they played a role in this, along with the laserdiscs is so interesting to me. Thank you, man! I loved this. Excellent job. Disneyland had something remarkably similar to this in the 2000's. It wasn't connected to the internet (or at least would not access it) but you could communicate with other guests in that big "future" room. The computer stations let you create your own Fireworks show so I of course loaded it up with as much as I possibly could and I think it actually froze and restarted the machine. I remember seeing a windows logo and being SHOCKED! Good times. It looked a lot like 3:33 ! It was a very large warehouse-like room with 2 stories. Even in the 2000's it had a very retro feel but also felt like "Wow! This is gonna be what the future is like!" - I really loved it as a kid.I think it was around the time Windows Vista came out. I saw ASIMO for the first time there too! They had a whole demo, it was really impressive to me as a kid. First time I saw a real robot! He kicked a soccer ball! He walked up stairs! This sounds silly now but it was really impressive.

I'm reminded of something Cathode Ray Dude said: they knew where the future was going, just not how to reach it. This system does a remarkably good job of simulating the functions of a device that wouldn't exist for another 30 years using much more primitive technology.

when i went to Disney World for the first time as a kid, like in 94 to 96 somewhere in there, there was this kiosk contraption in the middle of Tomorrowland, two of them, each on opposite ends of the area. Kids were crowded around them. I was able to take a peak at what is was and remembered maybe a red public phone looking thing and a pixelated screen with people on it. Walking by the other, had the same. I THINK it was transmitting between the two, but have no idea what it was and never seen anything on it again. The next time I went to WDW a couple years later, there was no sign of them.

Yay! Finally a video about this! By the time I got to Epcot for the first time they were gone. I've seen videos of vintage Epcot with this in the background and maybe a sentence, or two explaining what it is, but that's it. I've always wondered how in depth it all was and what the actual functions were.

Essentially, it was a giant, and primitive, version of one of those "Encyclopedia" CD's for computers, that were all the rage back in the 90's. I think that every parent bought one for their computer for their kids to use to do their homework with.

EPCOT was one of the first large installs of fiber optic cable.

TRON also had a character named Bit the same year. I wonder if they were supposed to be the same character.

I'm so glad someone finally made a video going into worldkey, it's a aspect of Epcot that became so obscure, that no one has really covered it until now, and if they did, it was a small video

5:35 I remember when you could sign up for a tour of one of the several Sperry computer system areas, where a tour guide would explain what things were controlled by which computer, from the registers at a food pavilion, to the animatronics of an attraction. 16:41 Original? What about TRON?

Fantastic video!!! I remember this from EPCOT when I was a kid. Glad to see all the footage of it, too!

I've always felt a fundamental flaw of EPCOT, or any theme parks with future world type attractions, is that it takes a decade between beginning planning and having the exhibits operational. So right there you are already somewhat behind the times. Add to it that theme parks are very resistant to updating an changing existing rides and showcases. So many of these things end up hanging around 20-30 years. Either we've already surpassed the future timeline or the world has changes so much that the futuristic thing you are showing will come to pass in a very different way. I always feel that way about the end of Spaceship Earth.

Love your videos! So much research, depth and detail goes into them!!

HP sold a PC in 1983 that used that same infrared optical touchscreen system around the monitor bezel. The touch detection was super low resolution, couldn't substitute for a mouse or a graphics tablet, but it was good enough to run a user interface where you could push virtual buttons. I think some other kiosk systems like ATMs sometimes used them, though it was more common to have buttons next to the CRT screen. The idea of integrating laserdisc imagery with a computer information retrieval system popped elsewhere in the 80s, too. Of course there were the arcade games like Dragon's Lair that used it to create a sort of choose-your-own-adventure movie, or provide an animated backdrop. And I remember Sears experimenting with a virtual catalog stored mostly on laserdisc that you could access through a kiosk in the store. (Since Sears had basically been the Amazon of the early 20th century, the whole idea of an electronic Sears catalog now seems like a fantastic missed opportunity for them. If they'd only hung on with that, instead of moving away from emphasizing catalog sales entirely, they might have avoided getting their lunch eaten.)

Welcome back! Completely forgot I was even subscribed…this was such a nice blast of nostalgia…really loved classic EPCOT (visited probably 8 times that first decade…)

Bell Canada was involved with the Telidon system in the 80s as well. A partial implementation of Minitel in Canada and the US blew my mind when it was installed in my public library as a trial for a year or two. Of course my friends and I sniffed out several addresses for game servers. 😄

Back in the mid 80's I used it to make reservations at the restaurants. I loved doing video chat with the cast members before we ever had cell phones and video chat. I can remember going on Horizons and seeing 50 inch flat screen tv's and tablet devices, and the characters doing video chat on those devices. At the time my friends and I thought that futuristic tech was really awesome and we could not wait to actually have it. Here we are 30 years later and we have all that stuff now !

This channel is so slept on it's almost criminal- Have a comment and a like for the algorithm, mate.

Does anyone remember the AT&T phone line simulator ride that they put in the network neighborhood interactive exhibits at Spaceship Earth EPCOT back around 1995?

I know it seems silly now. But in 1984? This was cutting edge fantastic to a kid.

"COMMUNICOR! Your Close Encounter with the Future!" Shows you how they equated technology with alien invasion.

So glad you’re back! I’ve been rewatching some of my favorite videos of yours as I’m feeling ill. :’) They’re quite comforting.

Screw Defunctland making a video about the Star Wars hotel, His next season should totally be all of the things Epcot was inspired by. Like the Montreal world expo.

Please tell me we will get a communicore and innovations exhibits keep Epcot weird video. I know you went over a few in the robots of Epcot but I believe it deserves it own video

I'm confused. Your channel name makes you sound like you hate theme parks, but the video sounds as though you love them. WTF?

I remember using it for dining reservations.

There we go, that's the good stuff

Best theme park channel on the website! Keep it up!

New video, heck yea!

I remember these gizmos. I was in Junior High School in 1982 and was so excited about the prospect of what Epcot was supposed to be. I specifically remember trying ask questions at the kiosk and the awkwardness of speaking to someone with the blue curtain… despite that I was so bought in the future of what was to come nothing could squish my enthusiasm.

Glad to see you back at it!

I was a huge Worldkey fan back in the day.

My goal is learning something every day. The first thing I learned from this video is that the graphics lake in the World Showcase is shaped like an apple. I first went to Epcot in March 1986 and as early as 1965 was exposed to Sperry computer systems--I was in the fourth grade and my father was in the USAF. He used me to see how airman-proof a training system for radar operators was.

Heard about it? I remember using it to make reservations via video call with a cast member. But, that was the old, fun EPCOT with Communicore and World Showcase and not the new, "improved" retail space and Disney IP Showcase.

I seem to recall a system like this in public locations like train stations decades ago. It was a non-Disney information system.

It was still around my first couple of visits, starting in 1994. I loved making restaurant reservations with it.

"General Electric's Carousel of Progress - Six life-like families trace the contributions of electricity to better living." A combination of Mad Men copy and futuristic terror. Someone should make a movie about all this.

I do remember them bringing internet screens in the breezeways. I worked there in 96-2000

I do remember seeing those kiosks. I don't think I ever messed with it. Unless there was a terminal in the Communicore, because I do remember messing with something that could show you a page about The Living Seas.

Your narration is awesome! I loved the way you dogged Exxon and the sly reference to the Universe of Energy being turned into the awful Ellen’s Energy Adventure! 🤪 I actually used the Workdkey system in 1990 when I was living in Orlando, and I’ll admit, it seemed like cool technology, except the live operator always seemed just a little too happy! 🤪

They did have large satellites next to communicore so they used them for something

Man. Future World was beautiful. I miss the old tomorrow.

5:58 the orb streaking across the screen, UFO or Walt haunting Epcot?

I remember using a touchscreen CRT at EPCOT in 1984 to make restaurant reservations.

Has anyone got any of these worldkey kiosks up and running? I do remember this, I was 7ish and it blew my mind to use a touch screen.

FYI, the Bell system Videophone was demoed at the NY World's Fair in 1964-65...

Thanks for the great video! Too bad the channel name sucks now. Sorry but I have to be honest. the new channel name is awful. truly the worst name to give to a channel focused exclusively to them parks. The old name "Park Ride History" made sense. it's a celebration of theme parks. But "theme parks shouldn't exist" sounds like you hate them and want them to go away. Like a sour old man saying "theme parks shouldn't exist!" with a scowl on his face that tells you he hates young people.

Amazing that a laserdisc-based system lasted until 1999

I very vaguely remember using this in 1990, or at least something similar to it.

Where the hell have you been? What has it been almost 2 years since you made a new video?

Sure Worldkey Information System is a mouthful but it sounds way cooler than "the internet." Shoulve called it the Worldkey.

God this is straight GOLD

Instant information gathering? nah. don't think it will catch on. Definitely can't fit the current view count or subscriber count in a football stadium.

DREAMER: Imagine a world where every library book available at your fingertips in an instant. REALITY: Every type of porn is available at your sticky fingertips. This is what humans do with their creativity.

Sperry’s most well known system was the Univac. Anyone who has heard of Univac, they’d know of a Sperry system.

Did you change the channel name?

Those damn kids and their interwebs these days! Back then we only had... Oh, wait a minute.

Honestly did a double take when I saw you had a new video. I was honestly afraid you had gone back into hibernation.

“The innernet” - Tim & Eric

Weird, i thought thhe world key was the card we had for our vacation package in 1986 🤔 maybe they recycled the name?

They had to start somewhere.

But does anyone have any of the laser discs!!!!

Neat 😀

6:09

SIMPLICITY! ROTFL

The system got pulled abruptly in 1999 because it was not Y2K ready. Estimates to update and make compliant were sent out to bid but came back in the tens of millions. It just wasn't worth the price tag at that time to keep the attraction running. Simulations set in the year 2000 predicted havoc wreaked all over the parks from the monorail brakes malfunctioning to attraction lighting going haywire to credit card POS terminals going dark; ie. the office building in Gremlins 2. Nah just kidding

You sound really cynical. Why?

Epoct very fun place when family meet up for lunch ar whatever we wanted to meet up for anything we always tell each other let's meet up at the big golf ball put Epcot looks like a big old golf ball

hell yeah, i remember using WorldKey to setup a reservation at the Coral Sea cafe when i went there on my 9th or 10th birthday. the fact that it was with a live person was wild. i was bummed when they took that out.