EPCOT Spaceship Earth refurbishment coming soon?

[davis_unoxx]

I couldn't disagree more, really. I think it still fits perfectly into EPCOT. It is EPCOT. It is the most important attraction in the entire park. It was when it opened, and it has remained so even as EPCOT has evolved.

SSE, even with all of the changes the park around it has gone through, still ties the whole park together and lays out what the whole thing is and what it means. Now, some may claim that the park isn't that anymore because they don't like a ride or two being there, or they don't like the new spine, but EPCOT is still about what it was always about. I's just telling that story in new ways. Not everyone will agree with those new ways, but EPCOT is still today telling the story it was telling when it opened.

SSE still is representative of EPCOT's story, and they can update it periodically without getting rid of the purpose it serves in the park. It does not need to be IP based, because they can put IPs elsewhere that help tell the story. There's no need to get rid of the park's thesis statement.

Agreed! I'm 25 and Spaceship Earth is my favorite ride at Epcot, and top 3 Disney Ride for both coasts combined....

You're honestly 100% right in this post, and I hope new leadership can see how these original rides are quintessential Disney... I have optimism, I've met Josh 3 times and he seems like real deal to me.

 

[WondersOfLife]

I actually am surprisingly happy with the Canada: Far and Wide film. It feels like what a modern-day EPCOT attraction should be. As with Test Track 3.0 and Awesome Planet though, it is basically shoving a very good appendage to a whole that is pretty much conceptually dead.

Agreed but at least theyre good attractions.

 

[HauntedPirate]

EPCOT is still about what it was always about. I's just telling that story in new ways. Not everyone will agree with those new ways, but EPCOT is still today telling the story it was telling when it opened.

The current script of the ride this thread topic is about is so dumbed down from the previous versions it's not in the same league. Energy = Marvel characters chasing a bad guy who disappears? Life = ummm... next topic. M:S is the only replacement that retains some of the original message of the park but it's so inaccessible to so many, not to mention so narrowly focused. Transportation = Riding in a car? Imagination = dumbed down bastardization of the original masterpiece. The Land is the last bastion of the original park message, specifically LWTL. Seas? Moving on. JoW is a 5 minute outside diversion that people love to point to but yet again, nothing about it fits the original park message, only Bob's theme for his reimagined EPCOT.

 

[FigmentFan82]

SSE is and always will be EPCOT!! Love that attraction so much!!

 

[Mr. Sullivan]

I disagree. I dont believe it represents epcot anymore. I love it and hope it stays forever, though. Mr. Edison might have invented this bifocals I'm wearing... But I can assure you they are not rose colored.

And while I don’t agree with that myself, I can understand what I assume the reasons you feel that way. I appreciate you disagreeing in a respectful way.

 

[wdwmagic]

It has just reopened

 

[Nordic4tKnight]

It has just reopened

Thank the Phoenicians

 

[AndyS2992]

Lol wow, some of these responses. So you people are happy for this dinosaur of a ride to continue to stagnate in it's current form for another 20+ years when it could be so much better? As I said, it ends in the late 80s/early 90s with the invention of the PC and the internet. We have since had 24 hour news feeds on Cable TV, cell phones, social media, online gaming and entertainment streaming, Uber, DoorDash, StarLink but none of these are mentioned as the ride is 30 years out of date. And then half the ride is looking at cheap early 2000s flash animation where a couple of extra scenes of what could be future communication could be added, think 'Black Mirror' levels of technology. The animatronics alone need replacing with ones from this century that aren't just static blinking mannequins.

I want this ride to evolve in to something worthy of theme park attractions today and yet the usual gatekeepers are scared of change and want it to stay a dusty old dated museum, so much so I get branded as rage bait You people are insane.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

To be honest, Time Racers kind of did happen with GOTG only they put it in UOE rather than SSE which really is the better of the two options if we really must have a roller coaster in EPCOT.

I don't like the GOTG coaster. I just mentioned Time Racers in this instance because SSE is relevant to the topic. Plus i've always felt SSE (even in its current lesser iteration) was the better ride than UoE and there would be a far more extreme reaction if/when Disney were to ever decide to gut it. Would probably dwarf all of the other crap they've pulled too. Doesn't make what they did to UoE acceptable though.

That said, EPCOT had TWO good coaster concepts from pretty much the very beginning that were never built. Matterhorn and Mt Fuji. I'd have warmly welcomed both.

 

[Mr. Sullivan]

Lol wow, some of these responses. So you people are happy for this dinosaur of a ride to continue to stagnate in it's current form for another 20+ years when it could be so much better? As I said, it ends in the late 80s/early 90s with the invention of the PC and the internet. We have since had 24 hour news feeds on Cable TV, cell phones, social media, online gaming and entertainment streaming, Uber, DoorDash, StarLink but none of these are mentioned as the ride is 30 years out of date. And then half the ride is looking at cheap early 2000s flash animation where a couple of extra scenes of what could be future communication could be added, think 'Black Mirror' levels of technology. The animatronics alone need replacing with ones from this century that aren't just static blinking mannequins.

I want this ride to evolve in to something worthy and yet the usual gatekeepers are scared of change and want it to stay a dusty old dated museum, so much so I get branded as rage bait You people are insane.

I think even a moment’s look at my profile will tell you I am very pro rides being updated, refreshed, or even replaced if need be. I was one of the first on here to be very pro turning the river and TSI into something else on here when it was announced.

I just don’t believe SSE is one of those attractions. It certainly needs an updated second half, and I welcome some updating. But there is no need for the whole ride to be changed. Yes, it’s old, but it’s also a beautiful representation of what the park is trying to say. If anything, it stands as a monument to the ideas it speaks of being not only possible, but it sits in a park that shows it all came to pass.

There’s no need to get rid of that. It doesn’t need an IP integration. It is the prologue attraction to a park that can integrate IP elsewhere. EPCOT isn’t EPCOT without SSE just as Magic Kingdom isn’t Magic Kingdom without the castle. It is the anchor, the origin point, the tone setter everything revolves around.

 

[wdwfan22]

Looks like it’s reopened.

 

[DreamfinderGuy]

Have either of your sources told you what part of the attraction was affected in terms of scenes? Any estimate as to when they expect to reopen (couple days, weeks)? Obviously the situation is fluid and estimates can change, just curious if they are taking it day by day or they're expecting this to be an "unplanned refurbishment"

Water went from Rome through the floor into the Mammoth scene and then below that into the maintenance areas. If anybody is looking for real signs of damage I'd take a look at the drop ceiling in the Mammoth scene, unless they managed to replace the affected tiles in the last couple days I would assume there's visible water damage up there.

 

[Streetway Again]

It has just reopened

 

[HMF]

Agreed but at least theyre good attractions.

Indeed!

 

[HMF]

I don't like the GOTG coaster.

Neither do I famously.

 

[HMF]

Lol wow, some of these responses. So you people are happy for this dinosaur of a ride to continue to stagnate in it's current form for another 20+ years when it could be so much better? As I said, it ends in the late 80s/early 90s with the invention of the PC and the internet. We have since had 24 hour news feeds on Cable TV, cell phones, social media, online gaming and entertainment streaming, Uber, DoorDash, StarLink but none of these are mentioned as the ride is 30 years out of date. And then half the ride is looking at cheap early 2000s flash animation where a couple of extra scenes of what could be future communication could be added, think 'Black Mirror' levels of technology. The animatronics alone need replacing with ones from this century that aren't just static blinking mannequins.

I want this ride to evolve in to something worthy of theme park attractions today and yet the usual gatekeepers are scared of change and want it to stay a dusty old dated museum, so much so I get branded as rage bait You people are insane.

I would like nothing better than have a tastefully done refurbishment done to this attraction that is already a sad shadow of what it used to be. I am hesitant to trust this generation of management and Imagineering with the attraction given their recent history of messing up and/or wholesale destruction of classic attractions. Not all change is always good change especially at Disney.

 

[HMF]

it ends in the late 80s/early 90s with the invention of the PC and the internet.

The final scene in the attraction is now set in 1977.

 

[Jambo Dad]

I mean The land, seabase, America, Canada, China, France, Japan, Mexico, Test track, JOW ,mission space all have educational aspects to them still besides SSE.

I agree. I also have to respectfully disagree with the poster who thought it should be updated for modern audiences. If anything - modern audiences are seldom exposed to anything designed to challenge and inform while being entertaining. That’s how you get the Better Zoogether overlay at AK - a bunch of babbling party animals with no intent. EPCOT needs to live with this higher standard and make it work. They also should not let SSE or Imagination get to the state they are in.

 

[dmc493]

For those of us who did not have the privilege of knowing the original Epcot in any shape way or form, I’m sorry and it sucks to know what something once was and losing that. But if you follow the quoted chains, this started with someone saying they should go full IP or just finally get rid of what’s there currently.

Excuse us for defending what we sentimentally know as old Epcot because there’s still plenty of Epcot’s spirit left throughout the park. Sure maybe it’s 30% of what used to be, but it’s 100% of what I have ever known

 

[Jambo Dad]

Neither do I famously.

Actually me either. The coaster is great but the overlay is awful. And I like Guardians of the Galaxy. This is a case where IP was not an advantage. It’s just a bunch of screens that get in the way.