Explore behind-the-scenes details for the capsules featured in Windows On Orlando.

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  Beach

  • Location: Satellite Beach

  • Species: Pelicans, Sandpipers

  • Central Florida’s beaches are unique in character with distinct local flavors and histories. This capsule was filmed at Satellite Beach, a location that embodies the Central Florida coast. The aquamarine colors of the sky and ocean form a dynamic dance as the clouds move in rhythm to the wind, while waves lap the sandy beach under a group of pelicans passing by.

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  The Runway

  • Location: Orlando International Airport
  • Arrive at the edge of runway 17R for a unique point of view of Orlando International Airport. This capsule focuses on departure as a continuation of the visitor’s Orlando Experience®, creating in essence a “Bon Voyage” moment. The drama of takeoff begins with the twinkling of the runway lights, the signature heat haze emanating from the hot tarmac, and the movement of the planes in queue. As the plane gains momentum, the sound becomes more audible, rising in temper until it gracefully takes off above the viewers with a swoosh.
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  Ranch Land

  • Location: Deseret Ranch
  • Revealing the ranching culture of Central Florida, with ranches once as vast as those of the American West, the scene shows the intricate choreography of ranch hands as they herd cattle across a dramatic panorama stretching over the 110-foot expanse of the three Windows On Orlando displays. This capsule is a tribute to the historic Florida Cattle Drive.
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  Space Coast Launch - Kennedy Space Center

  • Location: NASA KSC Vehicle Assembly Building, Cape Canaveral
  • Spaceship: SpaceX Falcon 9
  • Mission: CRS-22 Mission ISS
  • This capsule takes the viewer to the best seat available in Cape Canaveral to see the grand spectacle of a rocket launch. Filmed from the roof of NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center, there is a clear view of the historic launch pad LC-39A. Viewers are centered amongst a stunning landscape as the launch facility is surrounded by wetlands and the Atlantic Ocean. A source of pride for America, launching from Cape Canaveral is packed with historical significance.
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  Space Coast Launch - Cape Canaveral

  • Location: Playalinda Beach, Canaveral National Seashore
  • Launch Pad: LC-41
  • Spaceship: ULA Atlas V
  • Mission: SBIRS GEO Flight 5
  • Filmed at Playalinda Beach, this capsule celebrates a United Launch Alliance (ULA) rocket launch from the storied Space Coast, where Apollo missions blast off aboard Saturn V rockets as all of America once watched from their TV sets. The scene celebrates the remarkable rebirth of the area by capturing a launch signaling a new generation of space exploration. With wildlife in abundance, the scenery features the Canaveral National Seashore, with the rumble of the rocket launching in the distance.
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  Cloud Atlas

  • Location: Lake Apopka
  • Florida plays a special role in forming the International Cloud Atlas, the annual recordings of cloud activity by type and size collected by climatologists. Central Florida boasts majestic cloud formations that represent the largest density in the Americas, extending over a mile and half both vertically and horizontally, weighing well over a million pounds. This capsule captures the majesty of a great king cumulonimbus cloud as it takes form, in the context of the brilliant blue sky it will ultimately transform. Filmed from the south shore of Lake Apopka in high-speed, this scene has a dreamlike feeling from the sped-up clouds and slow moving lake surface.
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  Florida Wetland

  • Location: Orlando Wetlands Park
  • Species: Great White Egret, American Coots, Black Bellied Whistling Ducks, Red-Shouldered Hawk, Alligators
  • Florida is a “land of water,” a wetland, from its lakes and rivers, marshes, and swamps, to bogs and crystalline springs. This capsule captures the kind of wetland scene that has long inspired artists like The Highwayman. The Eden-like settings, with coves and endless stretches of water, have defined the loose boundaries of where the land ends and the water begins. This capsule takes place at Orlando Wetlands Park, a premier birding area in the state of Florida. Located just outside the city, this highly photographic location offers a large variety of wildlife, creating a uniquely Floridian landscape. Did we mention this park is a man-made wetland that’s part of Orlando’s advanced water treatment facility?
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  Winged Gathering

  • Location: Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge
  • Species: Common Tern
  • Florida is a major warm winter destination for migrating birds. Huge swarms of birds are a familiar sight on the Floridian horizon. Few moments are as breathtaking, or as rarely seen, as the massive gathering of migratory birds and waterfowl along Florida’s lakes and marshes. Their graceful choreography was captured at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge using a high-speed frame rate to offer viewers a bird ballet impossible to see from the naked eye.
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  Split Oak Forest

  • Location: Deseret Ranch
  • Species: Sandhill cranes
  • One of Florida’s most emblematic trees, the giant sprawling Ancient Oak, covered in Spanish moss, has a stillness and wisdom to it that evokes silent awe and contemplation. Because its sprawl can reach up to 200 feet wide, this display captures its magnificence to scale. To add to the scenery, a family of sandhill cranes serendipitously wanders into the area and curiously comes close to the camera, striding from one side of the screen to the other.
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  Florida Artscape - Wetland

  • Location: Econlockhatchee River
  • Life imitates art in this capsule from the Econlockhatchee River area, highlighting a beautiful Central Florida landscape by imitating the style and feel of an artist. Style transfer algorithms are incorporated to paint a picturesque “moving” tableau.
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  Florida Artscape - Marina

  • Location: Titusville Marina
  • Life imitates art in this capsule from Titusville Marina, highlighting a beautiful Central Florida landscape by imitating the style and feel of an artist. Style transfer algorithms are incorporated to paint a picturesque “moving” tableau.
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  Art Sculptures

  • Locations:
    • "Take a Flight" by Douwe Blumberg at Lake Eola
    • "Waltzing Matilda" by Alice Aycock at Mennello Museum of American Art
    • "Union" by Ralfonso Gschwend at Lake Eola

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  • This capsule focuses on three public art pieces in Orlando. The experience includes sculptural forms worked into three-dimensional shapes. The designs are embodied in freestanding objects and in various environments that envelop the spectator. There are a variety of shapes and mediums chosen for their visual outstanding distinctiveness and aesthetic qualities, such as kinetic movement, light reflectivity, and complex geometry.
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  The Florida Highwaymen

  • Artists:
    • Mary Ann Carroll
    • Roy McLendon Jr.
    • Willie Daniels
  • This capsule pays homage to The Florida Highwaymen, a group of 26 African-American artists from the Fort Pierce and Gifford areas of Florida. Known for their bold colors, glowing skies, and striking landscapes, the Highwaymen sold their artwork from the trunks of their cars to individuals and businesses along the eastern coastal roads from the mid-1950s through the 1980s. The artworks are now highly collectible, not only for their aesthetics but also for the story behind them. Featured here are scanned original paintings by the artists.
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  Sunrise

  • Location: Blue Cypress Lake
  • Species: Ospreys
  • As the sun rises at dawn over the pristinely calm Blue Cypress Lake and as its beams permeate the screen with golden light, viewers feel the warmth from the rays due to the sheer magnitude of the display. The experience features the bald cypress, a native tree found in the wetlands whose roots create a unique shape, which also serve as a nesting habitat for the osprey. This scene instills in the viewer a sense of possibility, beauty, and reverence for Florida’s myriad natural landscapes.
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  Sunset

  • SUNSET
  • Location: Herky Huffman/Bull Creek Wildlife Management Area
  • Species: Ibis
  • This capsule takes place in a longleaf pine forest, an endangered ecosystem that represents a cultural symbol of the southern United States. The trees standing wide apart create a high contrast landscape that complement the bright orange sky. On the ground level are bright green palmettos. Rolling clouds are set ablaze by the setting sun over the forest, while birds are soaring off to their nests for the night. The mood is one of meditative introspection.
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  Orlando Night

  • Location: Lake Eola Park
  • The night scene of the city skyline reflecting on Lake Eola captures Orlando’s city center. This capsule is a homage to the generations of civic-minded leaders who created the parks, promenades, and urban settings that define Orlando’s public realm, making it a community as much as a destination. The viewer is taken on a contemplative journey to the lakeside to observe the colors of the Orlando skyline and the iconic Lake Eola fountain.
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  NASA Hubble

  • Location: Orlando International Airport (Latitude 28° 26 N Longitude 81° 18 W)
  • Photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope, this journey through the equinoxes and solstices as seen from the airport showcases celestial objects and bodies, like nebulas, which can be observed at the Astronomical Twilight End of each of these moments.
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  Airfoil (Transition)

  • The Airfoil transition is composed of curved metallic “airfoils” reminiscent of airplane propellers and are an acknowledgement of the airport’s early life as McCoy Air Force Base. They are massive rotating sculptures inspired by industrial and parametric design.
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  Faceted (Transition)

  • The Faceted transition design is a subtle nod to American architect Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic domes and EPCOT. Between capsules, a grid will appear, then the triangular, 3-D panels will emerge and close over the content, to reopen and reveal the new scenery.