EPCOT Spaceship Earth Redo Shelved Indefinitely

[mergatroid]

They have been focusing too much on current IP, they end up leaving attractions like this neglected. I’m worried it won’t get an update until next decade or next century as long as Chapek keeps making budget cuts.

So that means you don't know? If so why start another thread declaring it officially announced?

 

[doctornick]

A SSE refurb is certainly not canceled, it just won’t be as extensive as they had planned. It will need to close for awhile at some point in the next five years. I believe it will end up being largely a technical refurb with some relatively minor updates to visuals. New costumes, lighting, music, narrator. But no extensive gutting.

Let’s hope they can make the descent more compelling. The rest is honestly fine. Less condescending dialogue, maybe. Not the Dame’s fault. She did the best she could with that script.

It needs climate control work…the climate is no longer controlled.

This all sounds good to me. That's what the ride needs - repairing the technical stuff, refreshing some scenes, adding a new descent. I actually don't even mind the script (earlier ones were better certainly) really though if they updated that, it's fine.

What I really don't want to see is any attempt to wholesale change the ride. modern Disney will just screw that up.

 

[kalel8145]

A SSE refurb is certainly not canceled, it just won’t be as extensive as they had planned. It will need to close for awhile at some point in the next five years. I believe it will end up being largely a technical refurb with some relatively minor updates to visuals. New costumes, lighting, music, narrator. But no extensive gutting.

Let’s hope they can make the descent more compelling. The rest is honestly fine. Less condescending dialogue, maybe. Not the Dame’s fault. She did the best she could with that script.

It needs climate control work…the climate is no longer controlled.

Agreed here. More then just light strings.

 

[Tha Realest]

Agreed here. More then just light strings.

Install the reverse launch mechanism from GOTG to send you back in time to when Disney gave a care about edutainment in EPCOT.

 

[kalel8145]

Install the reverse launch mechanism from GOTG to send you back in time to when Disney gave a care about edutainment in EPCOT.

What a thrill the launch mechanism from RocknRoller Coaster down the decent would be.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Priorities:

1A - Ride system
1B - Script
2 - Everything else

The ride system is in desperate need of replacement. Too many clunks and noises these days. Dame Dench did the best with what she had, but the current script so horrendously dumb... And yes, I felt that way the first time I heard it when the current version debuted in 2007.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Fix the track.
Add Projection mapping on the trip back down.
Replace all the bulbs that are out.
Fix the current effects and AAs -- tired of seeing the paper boy's butt.
And, bring back Walter Chronkite's narration!

Fix the track.... #1 priority
The trip back down was better on the Jeremy Irons version after Walter Cronkite, but Walters delivery was better. With the Irons version they had small scenes depicting types of communication.
So what bulbs are out and how do you know?
Mr. Cronkite is long dead and bring it back in a dark ride would make it like Haunted Mansion.2.

Priorities:

1A - Ride system
1B - Script
2 - Everything else

The ride system is in desperate need of replacement. Too many clunks and noises these days. Dame Dench did the best with what she had, but the current script so horrendously dumb... And yes, I felt that way the first time I heard it when the current version debuted in 2007.

I have already agreed with the ride system. When new it didn't have all those clunks and noises. The ride vehicles are good and the Omni-mover system is unbeatable, but it does need to be refreshed. No doubt.
Horrendously dumbed down script... well it goes along with a vast number of dumbed down guests.

 

[Naplesgolfer]

Priorities:

1A - Ride system
1B - Script
2 - Everything else

The ride system is in desperate need of replacement. Too many clunks and noises these days. Dame Dench did the best with what she had, but the current script so horrendously dumb... And yes, I felt that way the first time I heard it when the current version debuted in 2007.

I would put the script last. But it needs many issues addressed ( AA"s , projectors, effects) and a new last 3 scene's, one of which is covered up and a new descent.

 

[kalel8145]

Fix the track.... #1 priority
The trip back down was better on the Jeremy Irons version after Walter Cronkite, but Walters delivery was better. With the Irons version they had small scenes depicting types of communication.
So what bulbs are out and how do you know?
Mr. Cronkite is long dead and bring it back in a dark ride would make it like Haunted Mansion.2.

I have already agreed with the ride system. When new it didn't have all those clunks and noises. The ride vehicles are good and the Omni-mover system is unbeatable, but it does need to be refreshed. No doubt.
Horrendously dumbed down script... well it goes along with a vast number of dumbed down guests.

Nice

 

[Anteater]

So what bulbs are out and how do you know?
Mr. Cronkite is long dead and bring it back in a dark ride would make it like Haunted Mansion.2.

I've seen multiple videos from 2021 and 2022. Scenes are dark. But, I suspect you knew that.
Jean Sheppard is still voicing "John" in the Carousel of Progress. That doesn't make it a Haunted Mansion.

 

[Goofyernmost]

I've seen multiple videos from 2021 and 2022. Scenes are dark. But, I suspect you knew that.
Jean Sheppard is still voicing "John" in the Carousel of Progress. That doesn't make it a Haunted Mansion.

The video's are only as bright as the camera is able to pick up and it is, after all a dark ride. Seeing it in person is what the correct judgment would be.
That's true, Jean is the voice and even Mel Blanc's voice is still used, but as a narrator of Disney Jean was heard a lot, but Cronkite was a national and Worldwide figure and with a voice and diction all his own heard by millions of people for years and is also associated with information more then entertainment. However, that said it was just a depiction of how I would feel about it. Sort of the same as Robin Williams doing the Genie or the Timekeeper. Others can do it, but it would be spooky now for many people and not be at all the same.

 

[brb1006]

FTFY

Nothing like kicking the can on overdue ride refurbishment down the road another 5-8 years. The ride system needs replacement. The first projectors have been wonky for years. When was the last time you saw the paper boy? The steam effects. The script! My god, the script... They've managed to do some AA refreshing lately, but that's just window dressing when the house needs a deep-clean and some significant work.

I just hope they finally remove the screens and interactive elements on the ride vehicles in a future update.

 

[Mickeynerd17]

FTFY

Nothing like kicking the can on overdue ride refurbishment down the road another 5-8 years. The ride system needs replacement. The first projectors have been wonky for years. When was the last time you saw the paper boy? The steam effects. The script! My god, the script... They've managed to do some AA refreshing lately, but that's just window dressing when the house needs a deep-clean and some significant work.

Don't forget the ride camera for the finale. I don't even remember the last time that worked properly.

Priorities:

1A - Ride system
1B - Script
2 - Everything else

Be careful asking for a new script. Every time SSE's script has been changed in it's 40-year history they've watered it down. 2007 refurb was the worst but in this day and age they'd probably throw the entire thing out and start over.

As for narrators/music, we need something really emotional ('94 ascent music but through the whole ride) with a narrator similar to Jeremy Irons. People who come to mind are Morgan Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch. I feel that's the best way to go.

 

[HMF]

Be careful asking for a new script. Every time SSE's script has been changed in it's 40-year history they've watered it down.

I don't agree. The first 3 scripts were pretty consistent quality-wise with the 94 script the best in my opinion. It was in 2007 when the script was dumbed down to an insulting degree.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Don't forget the ride camera for the finale. I don't even remember the last time that worked properly.


Be careful asking for a new script. Every time SSE's script has been changed in it's 40-year history they've watered it down. 2007 refurb was the worst but in this day and age they'd probably throw the entire thing out and start over.

As for narrators/music, we need something really emotional ('94 ascent music but through the whole ride) with a narrator similar to Jeremy Irons. People who come to mind are Morgan Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch. I feel that's the best way to go.

The first two scripts (82/86 were pretty close) were incredible. The 94 script was rather prophetic, which I’ve pointed out before elsewhere - the piece about will these new communication tools be used to usher in a new era of knowledge and understanding or will it become a flood of electronic babble. The latest script is so dumb it’s insulting.

 

[kalel8145]

The issue I have with the current script is that it insists upon itself.

 

[Mickeynerd17]

I don't agree. The first 3 scripts were pretty consistent quality-wise with the 94 script the best in my opinion. It was in 2007 when the script was dumbed down to an insulting degree.

Just because I said they watered it down each time doesn't mean each of those were equal amounts of simplification.

As HauntedPirate said, the first two were quite similar with slight modifications. '94 had some more but still was highly sophisticated and used very large chunks of the original script (and a fan favorite anyway).

You are correct in saying the largest change was 2007, and a large part of that was to drift away from communication and more to general technology (thanks Siemens), but the result of that was quite a lot of narration had to be changed/replaced for the ride to still make sense. Of course, they used the '94 script as a framework and kept quite a bit of it intact, but I'd argue they could've kept more than they did.

In addition, I'd argue that a possible decline in the quality of education in the US might have made guests less tolerant of dialogue over the last 40 years, which would also explain the need to simplify AND provide another reason for the demise of Omnimovers in EPCOT for thrill rides and IP. That's why the script was changed in the first place, for being "too wordy," "too dry," etc.

 

[22FLknight]

Disney had to neglect this ride. From those reports, I heard the update is completely dead. I am worried the ride will never get refurbished.

 

[No Name]

From those reports, I heard the update is completely dead.

Then it’s not “official.” You keep using that word wrong.

 

[Tha Realest]

Then it’s not “official.” You keep using that word wrong.

I agree it’s not “official.” But I think that, given it’s conspicuous absence in the write ups and concept art, if we don’t hear anything on this front at D23 the refurb is functionally dead at this point, right?