Wonders of Life, presented by MetLife, featuring "Body Wars" flight-simulator thrill ride and a variety of shows and activities celebrating human life. The DNA Tower at the entrance to Epcot Wonders of Life pavilion is 5.5 billion times actual size -- just the right size for a human 6 million miles tall.

A 100,000 square-foot attraction at Epcot taking a serious and amusing look at health, fitness and modern lifestyles.

Attractions:

• Body Wars -- A thrill ride through the human body, accomplished by means of flight-simulator technology.
• Cranium Command -- A humorous theater show in which the audience helps to “pilot” the brain of an adolescent boy. This light-hearted look at how our bodies work includes many popular actors from stage and screen, including George Wendt, Dana Carvey, Kevin Nealon, Charles Grodin, Jon Lovitz and Bobcat Goldthwait.

Fitness Fairgrounds:

• “The Making of Me” -- Where the miraculous process of pregnancy and birth is seen through the eyes of an adult traveling through time from his own conception to birth.
• Frontiers of Medicine -- Presenting exhibits on leading-edge developments in medicine and the health sciences.
• Sensory Funhouse -- Featuring interactive exhibits that baffle the senses.
• Coaches Corner -- Where guests get tips from top professionals in golf, tennis and baseball. Instant replay allows Walt Disney World guests to compare their videotaped stroke with that of a professional athlete.
• Goofy about Health -- A multi-screen video presentation in which Goofy comes to terms with good health habits.
• Met Lifestyle Revue -- Answer the computer’s questions about your work, diet, exercise and sleep patterns and find out just how you rate.
• The Anacomical Players -- An improvisational theater troupe performs skits dealing with the lighter side of life and health.
• Wondercyles -- Video-enhanced exercise bikes that allow guests to enjoy a light workout using tomorrow’s exercise technology.

"Body Wars" combines the physical sensation of a roller coaster with special-effects film techniques on this fantastic journey aboard a "miniaturized" medical body probe.

Set beneath the gleaming Wonders of Life gold dome in Future World, the breath-taking ride is one of many life-and-health related attractions presented by MetLife in the colorful, 100,000-square-foot pavilion.

Excitement builds steadily as guests traverse a tunnel-like corridor enroute to the "Body Wars" launch site, where scientists are "miniaturized" to the size of a single cell and beamed inside the human body. The probe’s captain -- ex-fighter pilot Jack Braddock -- prepares to set out on a seemingly routine medical mission. The crew of civilian observers accompanying him is comprised of Walt Disney World guests. Their objective is to rendezvous with Dr. Cynthia Lair, an immunologist who also has been miniaturized and beamed inside a patient to study the body’s response to a splinter lodged beneath the skin. Soon, however, the voyage evolves into a high-speed race against time when Lair is swept from the splinter site into the rush of the blood-stream.

Beyond the pounding chambers of the subject’s heart and on through the lungs’ gale-force winds, the ship rides the body’s current in an effort to rescue Dr. Lair. Even after she’s safely on board, excitement builds as the ship loses power and heads toward the brain in search of emergency power and escape.

Created by Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) -- the design and engineering division of the Walt Disney Co. -- and Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), the adventure leaves guests with the sensation that they have traveled through a real human body. ILM, the motion picture effects group established by George Lucas, created the Academy Award-winning visual effects of "Star Wars" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark."

The film is directed by Leonard Nimoy, known worldwide for his portrayal of Mr. Spock in the "Star Trek" television series and films and as director of "Star Trek IV" and the Touchstone comedy hit, "Three Men and a Baby."

"Even though ‘Body Wars’ is the shortest film I’ve ever directed, it presented a new set of challenges," says Nimoy. "We had to take into account that the film will be shown inside a moving theater -- the simulator. So, in order to intensify the sense of motion, we built a set that actually moves, and rocked it during filming to match the pitching and rolling of the simulator."

Through the uncanny use of models, computer graphics and stunning photographic techniques, images of the heart, lungs and brain envelop guests as their body probe careens, dives, and rocks its way through the bloodstream.

The result is a "fantastic vision of the body -- a very dramatic and beautiful place that’s anatomically accurate," says Braverman, WDI veteran and show producer for the Wonders of Life pavilion. "It’s a unique new perspective on the wonders of life. Our goal is to show people what a wondrous realm the human body is."

Forty passengers can ride in each of the four 26-ton moving theaters -- actually simulators resembling those used in pilot training -- which provide the sensation of fast movement. All the excitement of a thrill ride is created by combining this movement with the 70mm motion picture footage projected inside the simulator.

"You’re watching a movie, but you’re in a capsule that’s being moved about with incredible forces and speed," says Braverman, who previously worked on concept and design development for Epcot’s Journey Into Imagination and The Living Seas. "You’re getting G-forces that tell your inner ear that you’re pitching, rolling and rapidly accelerating. When these motions are synchronized to the visuals, the illusion is extremely convincing."

Filming a dramatic chase on location inside the body proved to be a real challenge, says Scott Hennesy, show writer for "Body Wars." "But what better team could you imagine than Disney’s own Imagineers, together with the premier wizards of movie special effects, Industrial Light and Magic," Hennesy adds.

Based on designs and story ideas from the Imagineers and Industrial Light and Magic, technicians at ILM built extremely detailed sets that re-create the world within the human body.

Then they went to work, using the same computerized motion-control cameras and equipment used to film the spectacular space footage for the "Star Tours" attraction at Disneyland in California, Disneyland Paris, Tokyo Disneyland, and the Disney Hollywood Studios in Florida.

The innovative film was produced by Tom Brodek. Tom Smith, executive producer of the hit, "Honey I Shrunk the Kids," and former five-year head of ILM, was technical adviser on the film.

To ensure the authenticity of "Body Wars," a prominent team of advisers specializing in the teaching and practice of medicine was consulted.

Director of visual effects for the project was ILM’s Dave Carson, who was fascinated with visualizing the body from the point of view of miniaturized explorers.

"It was difficult to create the illusion of a tiny body probe bouncing along in the bloodstream," Carson says. "In some scenes, we used complex computer graphics to depict thousands of blood cells. These shots only last a few seconds, but it took several very large computers running day and night for weeks to generate all the images."

Beyond "Body Wars," more adventures await guests in Wonders of Life, the eighth major pavilion in Future World. Other attractions include "Cranium Command," "The Making of Me," "Coach’s Corner," "The Anacomical Players," "Goofy About Health," the Fitness Fairgrounds and a food bar featuring guilt-free goodies.

"Wonders of Life is designed to celebrate fitness, wellness and the joy of being alive," Braverman says. "Its goal is to have the guests come away with a greater appreciation of what a marvelous machine the human body is and how they can help keep their own in good running order."