(BEFORE YOU READ: I didn’t think this would get any real attention in the Imagineer forum, but this is a hot topic now so that's why it's here. Mods, feel free to move. My only observations of SSE 4.0 are what I have seen on videos, but I have a pretty good idea of what's in there currently.)
Okay, my impressions of the new SSE seem to echo what most everyone else feels like...the first part rocks, the descent...disappointing at best. I'm still optimistic that it is not finished, but I decided to a little imagining of my own anyway.
The Create Your Tomorrow concept is worth keeping, but the current execution is flawed. My ideas would keep this concept (and make it more Horizons-esque, if you will), but make the descent more cohesive and exciting.
Let's start at 180-top, shall we?
The "Matrix" tunnel is one of the coolest effects WDI has done recently, but why the empty space before we get into 180-top? The "Matrix" effect should keep rolling to the very end of tunnel, where the music will reach a sweeping climax into 180-top as we gaze down upon Spaceship Earth.
Here's where the real changes begin, folks. I decided SSE should go back to the original plans, where riders see satellites and spacewalking astronauts, and then, when we begin our descent, we go through a space station. As we look up, another space walking astronaut will be doing some work on the space station. This spacewalker should be animated as well. Heck, we could even throw the old "girl in the window" up there. During this space scene I've conceived, a little detail we could add would be to have astronauts communicating with each other or with "home base". Judi Dench will have to be contacted to provide more narration for this sequence. The script should include something about "expanding our horizons" and mentioning mankind spreading his wings into the vast reaches of the universe. You know, stuff like that.
Guests should be given some time to ponder over that scene, so the uber-cool blue grid effect will have to be moved back. In this idea, the effect will be more than eye candy. It leads the transition into the future, only the future has not yet arrived. The next scene represents imagination (here you can see how SSE can unify all of Future World). Here, the narration can talk about “imagining the future” and instead of black nothingness, we can have more cool lighting effects (like swirling stars, lightning to represent the mind at work, fiber optics, maybe even those rotating lasers from DL Space Mountain) and some mist. All to play up the idea that “we don’t know what the future will be; it is our turn to decide what it will be”, and the narration will contain something to that effect. I’d also like to see some Tomorrow’s Child-type screens briefly appear cycling through some scenes from the first part, while Judi Dench reminds us that we must use the lessons of the past to create the future. Then, the screens fade away in the mist.
After guests can no longer see the screens, they are left in this mysterious “imagination room”. The mist and lighting effects still go at full blast while guests take the survey. The survey is a little different, though. Instead of asking really personal questions, the questions are broader (you’ll see why).
Instead of making guests stare at the small screen for their personal future, guests will see the future for several groups of cars. Here’s how: you know those triangular-shaped things that you sometimes see separating the cars. Well, put those at regular intervals so a chain of cars will see one future, and the next unit will see a different one. And the future they see will be based on the general consensus of answers to the survey in one group of Omnimovers.
But the future you create will no longer be confined to the touch-screen. Rather, you can see your future on video screens outside of the car, with real sets providing backdrops a la Gran Fiesta. The sets don’t have to be anything complicated, maybe just some structures you’d see in a futuristic city. The face recognition technology can be applied here as well, and this idea improves on that concept by seeing yourself in a future with the other riders around you. I’m sure a computer program is capable of doing that if the current computers can put your face in the touch-screens, like was rumored. Since it is an Omnimover, the projections will have to be less chronological (if you get what I’m saying) and should keep cycling for each group (like Gran Fiesta’s repeating projections). The narration will have to be changed to match a more visual experience. The touch-screens also offer the possibility of interacting with the projections. For example, if guests want to learn more about medical technology, touching buttons on the touch-screen could activate a “body diagnostics check”. Stuff like that. It’s much more exciting and interactive than what’s there.
Then, guests go through the finale. The “glitter city” model would return while Dench goes through her “The future looks very exciting, doesn’t it?” spiel, as would the old lighting effects that went with it. Remember those overhead “sweeping” mesh lights? Those would come back, and guests would also have another visual treat – Tomorrow’s Child screens would come back showing glimpses of people in the future with radiating fiber optics run up the walls and ceiling, giving an illusion that the fiber optics are connecting each screen. At the very end the SSE model would return in all it’s glory before guests return to Earth. (Someone may have to correct me on this – did the sweeping overhead lights come after the SSE model or the glitter city? Whatever the case, the throwback Tomorrow’s Child-like scene would occupy the same space as those lights)
EDIT: After the SSE model and before the unload, there would be another time portal area like the beginning. Guests go through a starfield before they pass under the blue and orange "portal" and return to Earth for unload.
Please share your feedback. Thanks for reading.
Okay, my impressions of the new SSE seem to echo what most everyone else feels like...the first part rocks, the descent...disappointing at best. I'm still optimistic that it is not finished, but I decided to a little imagining of my own anyway.
The Create Your Tomorrow concept is worth keeping, but the current execution is flawed. My ideas would keep this concept (and make it more Horizons-esque, if you will), but make the descent more cohesive and exciting.
Let's start at 180-top, shall we?
The "Matrix" tunnel is one of the coolest effects WDI has done recently, but why the empty space before we get into 180-top? The "Matrix" effect should keep rolling to the very end of tunnel, where the music will reach a sweeping climax into 180-top as we gaze down upon Spaceship Earth.
Here's where the real changes begin, folks. I decided SSE should go back to the original plans, where riders see satellites and spacewalking astronauts, and then, when we begin our descent, we go through a space station. As we look up, another space walking astronaut will be doing some work on the space station. This spacewalker should be animated as well. Heck, we could even throw the old "girl in the window" up there. During this space scene I've conceived, a little detail we could add would be to have astronauts communicating with each other or with "home base". Judi Dench will have to be contacted to provide more narration for this sequence. The script should include something about "expanding our horizons" and mentioning mankind spreading his wings into the vast reaches of the universe. You know, stuff like that.
Guests should be given some time to ponder over that scene, so the uber-cool blue grid effect will have to be moved back. In this idea, the effect will be more than eye candy. It leads the transition into the future, only the future has not yet arrived. The next scene represents imagination (here you can see how SSE can unify all of Future World). Here, the narration can talk about “imagining the future” and instead of black nothingness, we can have more cool lighting effects (like swirling stars, lightning to represent the mind at work, fiber optics, maybe even those rotating lasers from DL Space Mountain) and some mist. All to play up the idea that “we don’t know what the future will be; it is our turn to decide what it will be”, and the narration will contain something to that effect. I’d also like to see some Tomorrow’s Child-type screens briefly appear cycling through some scenes from the first part, while Judi Dench reminds us that we must use the lessons of the past to create the future. Then, the screens fade away in the mist.
After guests can no longer see the screens, they are left in this mysterious “imagination room”. The mist and lighting effects still go at full blast while guests take the survey. The survey is a little different, though. Instead of asking really personal questions, the questions are broader (you’ll see why).
Instead of making guests stare at the small screen for their personal future, guests will see the future for several groups of cars. Here’s how: you know those triangular-shaped things that you sometimes see separating the cars. Well, put those at regular intervals so a chain of cars will see one future, and the next unit will see a different one. And the future they see will be based on the general consensus of answers to the survey in one group of Omnimovers.
But the future you create will no longer be confined to the touch-screen. Rather, you can see your future on video screens outside of the car, with real sets providing backdrops a la Gran Fiesta. The sets don’t have to be anything complicated, maybe just some structures you’d see in a futuristic city. The face recognition technology can be applied here as well, and this idea improves on that concept by seeing yourself in a future with the other riders around you. I’m sure a computer program is capable of doing that if the current computers can put your face in the touch-screens, like was rumored. Since it is an Omnimover, the projections will have to be less chronological (if you get what I’m saying) and should keep cycling for each group (like Gran Fiesta’s repeating projections). The narration will have to be changed to match a more visual experience. The touch-screens also offer the possibility of interacting with the projections. For example, if guests want to learn more about medical technology, touching buttons on the touch-screen could activate a “body diagnostics check”. Stuff like that. It’s much more exciting and interactive than what’s there.
Then, guests go through the finale. The “glitter city” model would return while Dench goes through her “The future looks very exciting, doesn’t it?” spiel, as would the old lighting effects that went with it. Remember those overhead “sweeping” mesh lights? Those would come back, and guests would also have another visual treat – Tomorrow’s Child screens would come back showing glimpses of people in the future with radiating fiber optics run up the walls and ceiling, giving an illusion that the fiber optics are connecting each screen. At the very end the SSE model would return in all it’s glory before guests return to Earth. (Someone may have to correct me on this – did the sweeping overhead lights come after the SSE model or the glitter city? Whatever the case, the throwback Tomorrow’s Child-like scene would occupy the same space as those lights)
EDIT: After the SSE model and before the unload, there would be another time portal area like the beginning. Guests go through a starfield before they pass under the blue and orange "portal" and return to Earth for unload.
Please share your feedback. Thanks for reading.
