EPCOT Spaceship Earth refurbishment coming soon?

[TrainsOfDisney]

This only further illustrates the awfulness of the current script.

I enjoy your posts but c’mon - CM’s having fun and creating a cool moment for guests and you are still negative!?

 

[HMF]

Eisner waned coaster track to come out of an opening of the geodesic sphere! As awful as that sounds, maybe they will revive that terrible idea for the sake if IPeeing all over SSE!

The reason they didn't is because it is structurally impossible so there is virtually no risk of that happening.

 

[HMF]

I enjoy your posts but c’mon - CM’s having fun and creating a cool moment for guests and you are still negative!?

I don't blame them for having fun, but it would have been considerably more difficult to take that approach with the Irons script. The current script is easy to make a joke out of whereas the Irons script was actually inspiring and powerful.

 

[HMF]

Interestingly, the previous iteration of SSE (written in 1994) did a wonderful job of philosophizing about the future, far better than the insipid dialogue that Dame Judi Dench had to record.

The sad part is Dench would actually have been a great narrator had she been given a script with the gravitas and intelligence of the one they had for Irons.

 

[larryz]

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gaming and entertainment streaming, Uber, DoorDash, StarLink but none of these are mentioned as the ride is 30 years out of date.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.

Exactly! As a parent who took kids to Epcot in the early 90's and 2000's, I always wondered why there wasn't more Disney in Epcot. Glad to see they're finally making Epcot a "Disney Park" instead of "Advertisement Land" for a bunch of rich corporations!

 

[larryz]

Don’t worry. Your wish will come true. They will probably eventually close SSE for 3 to 5 years to convert it to some silly IP based ride.

Eisner waned coaster track to come out of an opening of the geodesic sphere! As awful as that sounds, maybe they will revive that terrible idea for the sake if IPeeing all over SSE!

You have to admit, breaching the dome at the top and spiraling down on the outside would be far more entertaining than the current descent...

 

[larryz]

The reason they didn't is because it is structurally impossible so there is virtually no risk of that happening.

Wait... didn't Walt have something to say about something being impossible...?

 

[HMF]

You have to admit, breaching the dome at the top and spiraling down on the outside would be far more entertaining than the current descent...

There are many things in this world that are.

 

[GordoInTheParks]

Steamboat(Willie)Springs

Or Teamboat Springs at Blizzard Beach.

I live in the real CO place.

 

[GordoInTheParks]

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.

Benjamin Franklin invented bifocals, not Thomas Edison. Thanks for providing such a strong case for keeping educational rides at Epcot!

 

[GordoInTheParks]

Irons' voice is equal parts soothing and epic, which is part of what made the attraction exciting and engaging. Despite the fact that the script was relatively more "complex" than what we have now. He just has a natural talent in making things sound very cool.

I do think Judi Dench is a great actress, but actually feel like she's a poor fit for narrating SSE. She's really good at playing rigid aristocratic authority figures. Like posh Shakespearean stage plays and BBC productions (she played Lady MacBeth once back in the late 70s and it's probably the best portrayal of the character i've seen). But her performances often remind me of a strict by the books school teacher (the kind who will smack you with a ruler), and that is definitely the vibe I get from her performance in SSE. It's not really what I want out of the ride's narrator. Doubly weird though given the relatively less extravagant script they gave her compared to Irons.

And don't get me wrong, I also like Walter Cronkite as well. That was the first version I experienced. But Irons to me is the best one. Same of course goes for his variant of the descent.

You're so right, that the narrator is very much a key part of this ride experience! When I heard Sanlely Tucci narrating the local Italian cultural insert sections of this past Winter Olympics, I was so instantly entranced by that narration voice, I declared to my wife that he needs to go to the top of the list for a future Spaceship Earth referb! If you watch and listen those segments with good audio speakers, you will hear what I mean.

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

The ‘86 “Tomorrow’s Child” song should absolutely return to Spaceship Earth’s finale, IMO. We need more of those memorable songs/tunes in the park again. Same goes for “Listen to the Land”/Symphony of the Seed opening of the Land boat ride. Bring back the classic fun & whimsy. The old Land Pavilion lobby mural and moving hot air balloons in the main lobby would be nice to bring back also.

 

[DreamfinderGuy]

You have to admit, breaching the dome at the top and spiraling down on the outside would be far more entertaining than the current descent...

Kind of a low bar. Watching paint dry is more entertaining than the current descent after you’ve seen the cartoon a time or two already

 

[osian]

Exactly! As a parent who took kids to Epcot in the early 90's and 2000's, I always wondered why there wasn't more Disney in Epcot. Glad to see they're finally making Epcot a "Disney Park" instead of "Advertisement Land" for a bunch of rich corporations!

There is literally nothing more Disney than EPCOT Center. It was the theme park manifestation of where Walt was heading before he died and an expansion of the ideas and interests that he'd always had about future living, transportation, and technology that had aready been a big part of Disneyland, along with the "IP" of course. To me, "more Disney" doesn't mean slap IP everywhere, it means bring back the Disney spirit (rolling back the IP intrusion of recent times), but of course it's just a marketing phrase from the current corporation to mean exactly "slap IP everywhere".

 

[Bocabear]

There is literally nothing more Disney than EPCOT Center. It was the theme park manifestation of where Walt was heading before he died and an expansion of the ideas and interests that he'd always had about future living, transportation, and technology that had aready been a big part of Disneyland, along with the "IP" of course. To me, "more Disney" doesn't mean slap IP everywhere, it means bring back the Disney spirit, but of course it's just a marketing phrase from the current corporation to mean exactly "slap IP everywhere".

THIS EXACTLY!!!!

 

[monothingie]

There is literally nothing more Disney than EPCOT Center. It was the theme park manifestation of where Walt was heading before he died and an expansion of the ideas and interests that he'd always had about future living, transportation, and technology that had aready been a big part of Disneyland, along with the "IP" of course. To me, "more Disney" doesn't mean slap IP everywhere, it means bring back the Disney spirit, but of course it's just a marketing phrase from the current corporation to mean exactly "slap IP everywhere".

Just install a dozens of kiosks selling $14 sampler sized cocktails and sell $49 "Drinking Around the World" or "DRUNCOT" T-Shirts and call it a day.

 

[networkpro]

There is literally nothing more Disney than EPCOT Center. It was the theme park manifestation of where Walt was heading before he died and an expansion of the ideas and interests that he'd always had about future living, transportation, and technology that had aready been a big part of Disneyland, along with the "IP" of course. To me, "more Disney" doesn't mean slap IP everywhere, it means bring back the Disney spirit, but of course it's just a marketing phrase from the current corporation to mean exactly "slap IP everywhere".

Sorry, but Walt’s EPCOT Center never was, it had already shifted by the time of its construction to other storytelling. Bits and pieces of the original dream were built (like Celebration) but never as a whole due to little things like governements and people.

 

[osian]

Sorry, but Walt’s EPCOT Center never was, it had already shifted by the time of its construction to other storytelling. Bits and pieces of the original dream were built (like Celebration) but never as a whole due to little things like governements and people.

Which is why I said "It was the theme park manifestation of where Walt was heading". The city concept would never have worked, for the reasons you stated, however as the "visitor center" for EPCOT (hence the name) that showcases technology, and the international shopping/dining district of the city, the theme park we got was true to the spirit of what was intended. Nowhere in the visions for the Florida Project (apart from MK) did "IP" appear. To make EPCOT "more Disney" should mean removing the IP and putting it into MK. Unless of course we interpret "more Disney" to mean removing IP from the other 3 parks and making them all about transport, technology etc, because that's what Walt was all about. But perhaps we should separate "what Walt would have wanted" from "what the current corporation wants to do"?? What exactly does "more Disney" mean? "More like Disney"? "More traditional Disney?" "More Disney IP"? "More Disney streaming"? "More Disney values"?

 

[HMF]

Which is why I said "It was the theme park manifestation of where Walt was heading". The city concept would never have worked, for the reasons you stated, however as the "visitor center" for EPCOT (hence the name) that showcases technology, and the international shopping/dining district of the city, the theme park we got was true to the spirit of what was intended. Nowhere in the visions for the Florida Project (apart from MK) did "IP" appear. To make EPCOT "more Disney" should mean removing the IP and putting it into MK. Unless of course we interpret "more Disney" to mean removing IP from the other 3 parks and making them all about transport, technology etc, because that's what Walt was all about. But perhaps we should separate "what Walt would have wanted" from "what the current corporation wants to do"?? What exactly does "more Disney" mean? "More like Disney"? "More traditional Disney?" "More Disney IP"? "More Disney streaming"? "More Disney values"?

The whole "More Disney" crap really started because Iger had the false impression that the failure of DCA had more to do with the lack of Disney IP than the obvious fact that it was done completely on the cheap originally.

 

[Disstevefan1]

You have to admit, breaching the dome at the top and spiraling down on the outside would be far more entertaining than the current descent...

Absolutely no. I would never admit to something that awful. The geodesic sphere should stay as beautiful and majestic as it is!

PS I hated the wand…