Spaceship Earth Revamp - Wonderful AND Woeful

[Zone Stop]

I am on youtube.

Hakuna Matata and enjoy the ride, I doubt it's done...

One-Take Ridethrough

[Jumpin'JiminyCricket]

Little disconcerted to hear the Dench soundtrack, esp. around the Renaissance portion, loved the music of Michaelangelo paining.

Is there a ride CD that you all know of that would have the old version on it? An Epcot CD if you will? At least I could listen to it on my Ipod while I ride the enhanced ride.

Thanks,

p.s. How are the Dark Ages, still smelly?

[magicofdisney]

Little disconcerted to hear the Dench soundtrack, esp. around the Renaissance portion, loved the music of Michaelangelo paining.

Is there a ride CD that you all know of that would have the old version on it? An Epcot CD if you will? At least I could listen to it on my Ipod while I ride the enhanced ride.

Thanks,

p.s. How are the Dark Ages, still smelly?

I got the Jeremy Irons version from MouseBits .

I'll hold off getting worked up over the ending scenes. If this ride was truly suppose to open in 2mos, we still have plenty of time for the 2nd half to be completed. Then again, I have to wonder why they'd need to divert our attention with a video at the end, if there's other stuff to see.

[Ian]

Ian, any chance there might be something behind the curtains that might get "revealed" at launch?

I could be wrong, but if there's anything planned to go in those spaces it's as well-hidden as you could possibly imagine.

It basically looks like what the background did before ... the dreaded black curtains ... I don't see where they'd have any space to include anything of any substance there. They could potentially add some lighting effects or something, I guess, but I suspect that WYSIWYG.

p.s. How are the Dark Ages, still smelly?

Yes, they kept the burning smell in tact.

[brownie]

Hopefully they react to the feedback and make some improvements before the rehab is complete.

[DizneyRox]

Hopefully they react to the feedback and make some improvements before the rehab is complete.

Unfortunately, if it's not already in the works, it ain't going to be done before the current announced reopening date. Two months isn't nearly enough time to get anything off the drawing board and into the show building, especially with the busiest time of the year rapidly approaching.

Now, if they were to shutdown and concentrate on any improvements, maybe, but they want to have SSE open for the holidays to boost the park capacity which allows them to make more money. If they close it, they will need to lower the amount of people they can allow in the park, and that's not good for profits. Maybe if they opened up WoL, but that's not going to happen either.

[MickeyAD]

Booo to that ending! As I was reading about it, I figured it could perhaps be like the ending of Horizons and at least be a little entertaining since you can choose where to go. But all you get is a Jetsons look-alike cartoon. It just doesn't make sense to me that Disney would leave it like that...

[goofy for pluto]

On another sight, I read a ride report that stated
"Rather than completely in the dark this part was done surrounded by 1000's of LED lights--
like blue stars." {The writer was refering to the interactive part of the ride.}
If this were true, would it be enough to bring the ride up from bad to OK? I am not sure its enough, but at least its something.

[Jasper]

Regardless of whether the new ride is good or bad I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has taken the time to post their views of the new ride. We have had to cancel our January trip to WDW so this is as close as we will get for a while.

[lindique]

I was wondering about the black curtains too when I was on the ride on Saturday. They looked like they were quickly hung up to hide something, and didn't look permanent. So I'm still hoping that something is behind them that isn't finished yet.

However, I'm not very optimistic because the video screen program is designed to make you want to stare at it during the entire descent. You can't answer their questions and watch the cartoon and look at something else at the same time. However, you could listen to "Tomorrow's Child" (or something else) while using the computer screen (hint, hint, hint!)

I can't fully describe the letdown I felt after exiting that ride. The beginning was so promising - and then BLACK CURTAINS!

[Haunt1000]

Sunday we went to MK for the day, and at 7pm they closed for MVMCP. So we decided to go eat in EPCOT and watch Illuminations in Mexico. As we were riding the monorail I saw the temporary wooden gates open for SSE and ran right to it. Now I had never been to Epcot before, but here are my thoughts. As you climb from the loading area, and decend back into it, the black curtains with l.e.d. stars on them were not tacked down completly showing a/c vents and wiring behind them. From what I saw they were just waiting to put a few wires in place and situate a/c ducts before finnaly smoothing out the star curtains and attaching them to the wall. Since it was 3/4 of the way done up the first climb and only partly finished the rest of the way down the end, it seemed they were just waiting to finish around loading/unloading areas.
The touch screens worked for me and I thought it was a bit cheesy. I would have liked a movie about space and or time much more fitting than something about the "cartoon future". Cool idea with the screens, but wrong content. An informative ride, updated with amazing AAs, teaching and entertaining all at the same time looses its messae at the end with a lame cartoon. The rest of the ride was out of this world!!! First 9/10s are perfect, the decent needs different content on the touch screens, and that seems easy enough. Trip report comming soon!

[John]

Well, it saddens me to report this...

But I have it on pretty good authority that what you see is what you get as far as the descent of Spaceship Earth.

Apparently Imagineering thinks that the touch screen alone is enough to keep you busy for 5 minutes as you return back to earth, and that black curtains are good enough to get by.

So, if you care about this ride, it's time to put your feelings in WRITING and MAIL Walt Disney Imagineering & Bob Iger. Email is fine but letters really get the point across.

The only way to change this is to give them feedback that for an attraction of this magnitude, leaving us in the dark just won't cut it.


The Walt Disney Studios
Attn: Robert A. Iger
President & Chief Executive Officer
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521


I also encourage you to write:

The Walt Disney Studios
Attn: Jay Rasulo
Chairman, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521


Also...

Walt Disney Imagineering
1401 Flower Street
Glendale, California 91201-2421

Try writing any/all of the following folks at Imagineering:

Chief Creative Executive - Bruce Vaughn

Executive Vice President, Senior Creative Executive - Tom Fitzgerald

International Ambassador - Marty Sklar

Senior Vice President, Creative Development - Tony Baxter

Principal Creative Adviser - John Lasseter


Finally, pick up the phone and call Disney Corportate: (818) 560-1000


Good Luck!

[PirateLover]

Thanks John for all that info. I will definitely be writing letters. 1st of all part of my reason for traveling there last week was based on the assumption the ride would be open based on the original dates given. I know things are subject to change but it really saddened me that I missed the soft opening by 1 day, especially when I asked a cm about it the day before and she said no soft openings until christmastime, despite there being the rumor posted on Intercot a few weeks before that it might open on the 7th.

Second, I loved this ride because of the integrity and majesty of it. I know that it bores some, but I thought it was great and I know many others who loved it as well. From what I've heard of the script and what I've seen of the touch screens, it really seems like they've "dumbed it down" if you know what I mean.

I was too young to remember the original JIYI, Horizons, World of Motion etc so this, for me, is really the first thing that I've ever been really upset over in regards to changes at WDW. I wrote a letter about the Country Bears Christmas layover so you can bet your bottom dollar I'll be campaigning hard against this could-be-travesty.

[Iluvpooh]

This is really so sad. SSE is EPCOT's signature ride and to make it worse after a major rehab is just terrible. I was expecting so much, but would have been happy with an equally as good ride as the original. I feel this is unexceptable and I will also write a letter.

[LauraSAnne]

Something to think about...

Some have mentioned that at the start of the ride, your picture is taken to be "used later in the ride"...but no one has mentioned seeing that picture again. Do you think that they may be hiding something behind those black curtains that pertain to that picture? Perhaps they will use the image of people's faces on the cartoons, giving it a much personal (and funnier) appeal.

Or better yet, maybe Disney is trying to really wow everyone. Spaceship Earth is the hallmark of Epcot. Isn't having soft openings TWO months before the grand opening, a little far out compared to normal? What if they've got something grand for the decent, but are holding out until February to really stun people? Get everyone disappointed and then WHAM them with something amazing! Perhaps it's such a major thing that EVERYONE is sworn to secrecy--even those who usually divulge tid-bits of information.

I guess deep in my heart, I cannot believe that Disney would do so little (for the decent) for a ride that they know is a glowing icon for such a HUGE population of people. If they put so much care into preserving and enhancing the first portion of the ride, and then do such a 180 for the end, it seems so out of character. Maybe that is a sign of the times though. My heart is just trying to be optimistic and for some reason, I think, just maybe, we'll end up pleasantly surprised soon. I just hope it entails deep, beautiful, powerful, emotional music. The kind that give you the chills for a good while after you disembark the ride...how it used to be...

[wiltsan]

I agree with the person that posted saying that they loved the desent with just the lights and the music. Very relaxing, let's your mind wander and gave a sense of wonder to what's next for your day, the week, the earth...I also loved the little city with bridges and lights.

This is one of our favorite attractions at WDW and I hope that they do not cheap out. I am worried. Also, the comments about the narration and new music are concerning. The Rennaisance music is so pretty.

Ahhh, won't be able to find out for myself until Spring. Fingers crossed and thanks to all the posters.

[John]

Or better yet, maybe Disney is trying to really wow everyone.

Unfortunately, given my source, I think you are going to be dissapointed unless you start contacting Disney now... while there may be a few minor things still left to go in place, things are pretty much done from what I understand.

[DizHawk]

We were able to ride it this afternoon, and here are my observations.

The ascent is wonderful. The changes to the caveman/mastodon image at the beginning are pretty cool, The AA figures have been amazingly redone, giving them even more life-like movement. The ride seemed to be smoother and less noisy, but then it's been three years since I've been, so maybe I'm not remembering it well.

The descent is the exact opposite. It is terrible. If they want to do cartoon images of me, and ask what kind of things I'm interested in, they can do that when I get off the ride. This isn't "good old days" syndrome, the descent is completely underwhelming. The old configuration had something interesting to keep looking at when the ride stopped for some reason. We got stopped for about five minutes near the bottom and had nothing but twinkling lights on the walls and the screen in front of us.

I don't hate the new narration. Judi Dench has a great voice and is more calming than Jeremy Irons. The attempts at humor are not well done though, and her narration is far too conversational. And I'm sorry, but the computer revolution didn't start out of a garage in California. The addition of what is obviously supposed to be Steve Jobs seems like nothing more than a shout-out to a board member.

The touchscreen is a neat addition, but woefully misused. If the ride stops, give us something to do on it. How about additional facts or pictures about what we are seeing around us?

The ride is half spectacular, half give-up. I hope that they realize the response they are getting to it is not positive.

[Celestria]

i MUST be in the minority.i rode it three times today. the beginning is very nice and the decent was cute. if you don't input your data right away and look around at the blue lights, if those kinds of effects interest you, it's not entirely stupid. and after you look at the lights you still have time to input your data. the cartoon characters smiling at you is a bit silly.

but i will say one thing. everyone is entitled to their own opinion and mine is that it's just as good.

[REV]

Did they take a survey of the guests when they came out of the ride to comment about the 2nd half of the ride?
or the new ride itself?
Thanks.