steve2wdw
WDW Fan Since 1973
CoP
Well I just went on and on about the TK and I forget to mention anything about that other attraction, that too, remains closed for most of the year. Yes, I'm talking about the CoP. I remember the good old days ( the late 70's ) when this attraction always had a line. I marveled at the way the carrousel doors would open and simutaneously, theatre 6 would exit, while right next door theatre 1 would be filling up ( and I mean FILLING UP ). As a kid, I was amazed as the guests would file in from opposite sides and the theatre and move towards the middle rope to be seated (the ONE theatre in the Disney theme parks that rewarded you for being first in line by giving you a middle postion in the theatre upon entering-usually you have to move all the way to the end of the row). And the whole change-over took so little time. It was cool. Flash-forward a dozen years and sure, you can get one of those great middle seats, but when you're one of just a dozen guests, everyone gets a middle seat. I guess our tastes have changed over the years. The younger ones like their attractions hip, fast, and thrilling. They didn't come to WDW to get a lesson on mans progress in the 20th century. They came to hurtle through the universe on Space Mountain (mind you, at the lightning speed of 28 miles an hour-Captain Kirk would surely be impressed) and get the begeebers scared out of them at Alien Encounter. But you know what? The kids in the late 70's liked the fast paced life on Space Mountain too, just like todays do. So why did we kids of the 70's endure the Cop back then? One, it was one of the newer attractions in the park at the time; two, it had a zippier theme song back then (even though "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" is the original song from the World's Fair and Disneyland, I thought that "Now is the Best Time of Your Life" was far less hokey) But it's reason number three that I think tells the tale of the attractions popularity, and that reason is ECONOMICS. Remember those books of tickets we had to use to ride almost every attraction in the Magic Kingdom? Space Mountain used to be an "E" ticket. The Flight to the Moon/Mission to Mars started as a "D". Pirates "E", Skyway "C", and so on. Well guess what. Here in Tomorrowland were located not just one, but three of the four FREE attractions in the Magic Kingdom. CoP was one of these free attractions along with "America the Beautiful" in the circle-vision theatre, and "If You Had Wings" presented by Eastern Airlines (the official airline of WDW). ( The other free attraction was the Diamond Horseshoe Revue, which required a mad dash after the rope drop, to get a reservation.) Well having three free attractions conveniently located right next door to each other, kept them all filled to capacity, daily. (By the way,during the nations Bi-Centennial celebration in 1976, The Hall of Presidents was also a free attraction, translating to long lines for that show too. The area where the artists are located in Liberty Square, used to be the covered queue for the Hall.) Back to the CoP. When tickets were replaced with the pay one price system, those free attractions suddenly lost some of their appeal. (Indirectly it also lenghthened the lines throughout the MK since the urgency of getting more paying guests into more attractions was now of no concern, but that's another topic to save for another time.)
So that's my theory on the wanning attendance of the CoP. Don't get me wrong though. I am a CoP fan, and hope to be able to ride through mans progress just one more time. Sure it's a bit dated, and if you're tired and you ride it at the wrong time of day, it can lull you to sleep, but it always puts a smile on this 40 year olds face. And I can still imagine the line spilling out into the rest of Tomorrowland, watching with amazement as that huge building started to rotate. That was "the best time of IT'S life" for the CoP.
Well I just went on and on about the TK and I forget to mention anything about that other attraction, that too, remains closed for most of the year. Yes, I'm talking about the CoP. I remember the good old days ( the late 70's ) when this attraction always had a line. I marveled at the way the carrousel doors would open and simutaneously, theatre 6 would exit, while right next door theatre 1 would be filling up ( and I mean FILLING UP ). As a kid, I was amazed as the guests would file in from opposite sides and the theatre and move towards the middle rope to be seated (the ONE theatre in the Disney theme parks that rewarded you for being first in line by giving you a middle postion in the theatre upon entering-usually you have to move all the way to the end of the row). And the whole change-over took so little time. It was cool. Flash-forward a dozen years and sure, you can get one of those great middle seats, but when you're one of just a dozen guests, everyone gets a middle seat. I guess our tastes have changed over the years. The younger ones like their attractions hip, fast, and thrilling. They didn't come to WDW to get a lesson on mans progress in the 20th century. They came to hurtle through the universe on Space Mountain (mind you, at the lightning speed of 28 miles an hour-Captain Kirk would surely be impressed) and get the begeebers scared out of them at Alien Encounter. But you know what? The kids in the late 70's liked the fast paced life on Space Mountain too, just like todays do. So why did we kids of the 70's endure the Cop back then? One, it was one of the newer attractions in the park at the time; two, it had a zippier theme song back then (even though "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" is the original song from the World's Fair and Disneyland, I thought that "Now is the Best Time of Your Life" was far less hokey) But it's reason number three that I think tells the tale of the attractions popularity, and that reason is ECONOMICS. Remember those books of tickets we had to use to ride almost every attraction in the Magic Kingdom? Space Mountain used to be an "E" ticket. The Flight to the Moon/Mission to Mars started as a "D". Pirates "E", Skyway "C", and so on. Well guess what. Here in Tomorrowland were located not just one, but three of the four FREE attractions in the Magic Kingdom. CoP was one of these free attractions along with "America the Beautiful" in the circle-vision theatre, and "If You Had Wings" presented by Eastern Airlines (the official airline of WDW). ( The other free attraction was the Diamond Horseshoe Revue, which required a mad dash after the rope drop, to get a reservation.) Well having three free attractions conveniently located right next door to each other, kept them all filled to capacity, daily. (By the way,during the nations Bi-Centennial celebration in 1976, The Hall of Presidents was also a free attraction, translating to long lines for that show too. The area where the artists are located in Liberty Square, used to be the covered queue for the Hall.) Back to the CoP. When tickets were replaced with the pay one price system, those free attractions suddenly lost some of their appeal. (Indirectly it also lenghthened the lines throughout the MK since the urgency of getting more paying guests into more attractions was now of no concern, but that's another topic to save for another time.)
So that's my theory on the wanning attendance of the CoP. Don't get me wrong though. I am a CoP fan, and hope to be able to ride through mans progress just one more time. Sure it's a bit dated, and if you're tired and you ride it at the wrong time of day, it can lull you to sleep, but it always puts a smile on this 40 year olds face. And I can still imagine the line spilling out into the rest of Tomorrowland, watching with amazement as that huge building started to rotate. That was "the best time of IT'S life" for the CoP.
