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EPCOT Spaceship Earth Refurb - 2 Year Closure

Unplugged

Unplugged

Well-Known Member
Well, there is always the under/never used Gravity Falls. At this stage it would make sense to put all kinds of weird hokey props in SSE and just have Gruncle Stan narrate it. Personally, I think the Six Pack-A-Lope and Questiony the Question Mark would add some interesting spins to the ride.
 
DaBears81

DaBears81

Member
I’m sure it is in here and I’m sure I’ve read it, but when is this supposed be starting?? I can’t imagine this going on while they are redoing the entrance and everything behind SSE. Also would this likely be a D23 announcement? Thank in advance.
 
trainplane3

trainplane3

Well-Known Member
DaBears81 said:
I’m sure it is in here and I’m sure I’ve read it, but when is this supposed be starting?? I can’t imagine this going on while they are redoing the entrance and everything behind SSE. Also would this likely be a D23 announcement? Thank in advance.
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Summed up here:
https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/wdw-rumor-and-timeline-tracker-v-2.934137/#post-7911457
Big v. Little Refurb
  • Spaceship Earth's scheduled refurb in 2019 is just a regular refurb. [here] (now changed...)
  • SSE may go down for a 2 year complete refurb, keeping the journey through communications concept but with new tracks and updated modern scenes (the internet is a thing!) [here]
    • the major 2-3 year refurb is happening by the end of 2019 or maybe in 2020 [here] and [here]
    • Spaceship Earth could see a new ride system, but way in the future [here], including a coaster though the less likely option [and here]
    • expect scenes to be overhauled and a new descent, also major updates to queue, pre-show, post-show [here]; definitely not the coaster, "Time Racers" [here]
  • but, that's not 'project Gamma' (which could be one of the proposed spine revamps). [here] and [here]
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Kitchandro

Kitchandro

Well-Known Member
Why would they want to close all this stuff all at once? Surely the changes are drastic enough, keeping certain flagship attractions the way they are for now would at least soften the blow and reduce pitchfork sales in the short term. Seems like they're trying to wind people up.

Surely it won't be closed before the last Illuminations show.
 
Timothy_Q

Timothy_Q

Well-Known Member
Kitchandro said:
Why would they want to close all this stuff all at once? Surely the changes are drastic enough, keeping certain flagship attractions the way they are for now would at least soften the blow and reduce pitchfork sales in the short term. Seems like they're trying to wind people up.
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It's one attraction. Spaceship Earth.

There's basically nothing inside Innoventions.

If they don't close them together, it takes twice as long
 
Kitchandro

Kitchandro

Well-Known Member
MickeyMario said:
It's one attraction. Spaceship Earth.

There's basically nothing inside Innoventions.

If they don't close them together, it takes twice as long
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Well no, they’re closing the fountain, innoventions, Illuminations and Spaceship Earth at the same time. That’s quite a lot of significant things to be closed at one time.

If this has been planned for a while it would have made more sense to have done it in stages. Spaceship Earth could have been refurbished and reopened already if they must do it and the Illuminations could have carried on for a few more years.

Not really sure what direction they’re trying to head in anyway tbh, it’s like they know the reaction to the overhaul is going to be so bad they are just letting the backlash come all at once and when it’s over they’ll just be left with the people who never really liked Epcot originally.
 
Bender123

Bender123

Well-Known Member
Kitchandro said:
Well no, they’re closing the fountain, innoventions, Illuminations and Spaceship Earth at the same time. That’s quite a lot of significant things to be closed at one time.

If this has been planned for a while it would have made more sense to have done it in stages. Spaceship Earth could have been refurbished and reopened already if they must do it and the Illuminations could have carried on for a few more years.

Not really sure what direction they’re trying to head in anyway tbh, it’s like they know the reaction to the overhaul is going to be so bad they are just letting the backlash come all at once and when it’s over they’ll just be left with the people who never really liked Epcot originally.
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At this point, they don't really have much to lose by doing a wholesale rebuild. Epcot is already out of 2nd place and falling. By the time RotR and MRR opens, there is a good chance that the Studios will have a shot of moving Epcot to the least popular WDW park.

For construction costs, impact to guests and other concerns, its also far better to just make the whole area a single construction zone for two years, over making endless smaller construction zones for the next decade. Epcot is in need of serious help, it would be embarrassing to allow it to fall further, so do the major work now in the front of the park, when that is done, move onto "bad" but functional updates like JII, Nemo, etc...

On a side note, somewhere in one of the threads, we actually figured out the last day that all pavilions in Future World were actually open at the same time...I believe it was in the mid 1990s.
 
GlacierGlacier

GlacierGlacier

Well-Known Member
Kitchandro said:
Well no, they’re closing the fountain, innoventions, Illuminations and Spaceship Earth at the same time. That’s quite a lot of significant things to be closed at one time.

If this has been planned for a while it would have made more sense to have done it in stages. Spaceship Earth could have been refurbished and reopened already if they must do it and the Illuminations could have carried on for a few more years.

Not really sure what direction they’re trying to head in anyway tbh, it’s like they know the reaction to the overhaul is going to be so bad they are just letting the backlash come all at once and when it’s over they’ll just be left with the people who never really liked Epcot originally.
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Illuminations's removal is softened by the temp show, the fountain (contrary to what this forum seems to think) isn't a big enough attraction for guests to truly be upset that it's down alongside other things, and Spaceship Earth needs work asap.

It's a band-aid scenario - rip it off instead of gently peeling. Begin the heavy work at once, DHS style, so when you're getting close to completion you can release them to the public over several months to years.
 
trainplane3

trainplane3

Well-Known Member
CAD said:
Slightly off topic, I remember a CM telling us (around 2001) that Spaceship Earth was going to be turned into a dark roller-coaster and to my shame I believed it for a long time.

Anyway back on topic. It's easy for me to sit here and say close it all and upgrade it at one time but if I were there during construction I'd be well annoyed. They will always upset someone somewhere with their refurbishments.
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That was a proposal at one point. Search "Time Racers".
 
jrogue

jrogue

Well-Known Member
but so far there's no confirmed closing of Spaceship Earth before the end of this year ... right? So a chance I can still see it in October?

(sorry, tried to follow along this whole thing, but the latest comments have me confused!)
 
marni1971

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
jrogue said:
but so far there's no confirmed closing of Spaceship Earth before the end of this year ... right? So a chance I can still see it in October?

(sorry, tried to follow along this whole thing, but the latest comments have me confused!)
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I’d be very surprised if you didn’t.

The actual closure is still fluid but should be way past October.
 
BEARSHOUSE4

BEARSHOUSE4

Well-Known Member
marni1971 said:
I’d be very surprised if you didn’t.

The actual closure is still fluid but should be way past October.
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I’m concerned about this as well. I’m taking my brother and his wife and kids who’ve never been to WDW. We are going end of January 2020. Kids are in their late teens. I’m HOPING that they won’t miss this Disney World Icon. @marni1971 has offered encouraging words recently. Fingers crossed!!!
 
marni1971

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
BEARSHOUSE4 said:
I’m concerned about this as well. I’m taking my brother and his wife and kids who’ve never been to WDW. We are going end of January 2020. Kids are in their late teens. I’m HOPING that they won’t miss this Disney World Icon. @marni1971 has offered encouraging words recently. Fingers crossed!!!
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I can’t promise anything. Original proposal was end of this year / very start of next.
 

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