Building the (Thank the) Phoenicians Scene at Spaceship Earth
The Thank the Phoenicians scene in Spaceship Earth has become one of those EPCOT touchstones that fans quote like it’s a secret handshake. While digging through my ephemera, I uncovered a behind-the-scenes image in an EPCOT Center Construction Newsletter that shows the two Phoenician ships, complete with their boat-to-boat details, still under construction. In 1982, Disney referred to this moment simply as “the Phoenician scene,” years before fans turned it into the now-famous phrase. It’s a tiny detail, but it perfectly captures what makes Spaceship Earth special: the ride doesn’t just tell a story, it celebrates the building blocks of communication, from papyrus to printing presses to computers.
From the original 1982-1986 script:
In the Phoenician scene (9th century B.C.), two ships meet in the ocean to exchange goods. Another man on the larger ship (behind the smaller ship) holds a rope that is connected to the smaller ship so that both ships stay together. Fog surrounds the ships. Smoke rises from small fires in pots at both ends of the larger ship. To the right of us is a wall showing the ocean going to the horizon and stars above.
Vic Perrin: On fine Phoenician ships, we take our scrolls to sea. Real scrolls simplified by an alphabet, eagerly shared at distant ports of call.
It would be almost 20 years before we were able to properly thank the Phoenicians.
From the 2008 Spaceship Earth Script:
Dame Judi Dench: At this point, each civilization has its own form of writing, which none of the others can understand. But the Phoenicians, who trade with all of them, have a solution. They create a simple, common alphabet, adaptable to most languages. Remember how easy it was to learn your ABCs? Thank the Phoenicians—they invented them.
What’s Your Favorite Scene in Spaceship Earth?
That’s what I love about artifacts like this: they remind us that Spaceship Earth didn’t just appear fully formed inside the geosphere. Teams designed it, built it, tested it, and obsessed over the smallest details, including a pair of ships most guests see for only a few seconds. If you’ve got a soft spot for EPCOT history, keep exploring the old-school stuff with me: check out my EPCOT video, browse my other vintage EPCOT posts, and if you want to go deeper, grab a great EPCOT Center book the next time you’re in a “fall down the rabbit hole” mood. And now I want to hear from you: is the Phoenicians scene your favorite moment in Spaceship Earth, or does another scene win your heart every time?