Epcot Rumor Thread

[EPCOT Explorer]

C25? Where and when?

All day.:lol:

I lived for Horizons. I like M:S. Just don`t compare the two. One was a people crunching Omnimover. One has 2 rides per side, and without protien spill 101s it has wait times of a theatre show by its very nature. Length of wait as a compasisson is irrelevant. Fact is Horizons was old in 1999. Almost embarrassingly so. They had to run it for park capacity - thank Eisner for vetoing the multi million dollar update in late 1993 (update, not gutting for a Space pavilion) - imagine Horizons like SSE is today, but with better triangles. That is what we could have got.

Just don`t mention sinkholes.

:ROFLOL: Hah! That's slightly hyserical and slightly sad to think that Horizons would be given the SSE07 treatment.

 

[Monorail_Orange]

I don't remember ever hearing about a sinkhole under Horizons - I do remember hearing that because the ride system and the attraction were so heavy, there were considerable structural issues with the pavillion building itself that led up to the 1999 closure. Allegedly, these problems were severe enough that coupled with the cost/time to repair the building plus to update the ride's aging scenes, it made far more sense to replace the entire attraction with a new concept. As a matter of fact, and I'm reaching back into my memory for this, but i recall something about Horizons was originally to be closed once TT opened (and in fact did close shortly in 1997). The delay with TT caused WDW to "patch" the structural problems in '97 (why the ride was closed for a brief period then), to avoid the loss of two major crowd eaters simultaneously (WoM and Horizons). I do also recall hearing that the ride system itself (the omnimover) was dismantled and sold to a Mexican theme park.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

I don't remember ever hearing about a sinkhole under Horizons - I do remember hearing that because the ride system and the attraction were so heavy, there were considerable structural issues with the pavillion building itself that led up to the 1999 closure. Allegedly, these problems were severe enough that coupled with the cost/time to repair the building plus to update the ride's aging scenes, it made far more sense to replace the entire attraction with a new concept. As a matter of fact, and I'm reaching back into my memory for this, but i recall something about Horizons was originally to be closed once TT opened (and in fact did close shortly in 1997). The delay with TT caused WDW to "patch" the structural problems in '97 (why the ride was closed for a brief period then), to avoid the loss of two major crowd eaters simultaneously (WoM and Horizons). I do also recall hearing that the ride system itself (the omnimover) was dismantled and sold to a Mexican theme park.

I think that's all rumors..:shrug:

I DO know that sponsorship was a huge part of it, though...

 

[yeti]

Do I look like I am defending Horizons? No, I am not. Read a little more carefully, thank you. I never said one good thing about Horizons.

"Then bring back Horizons", "M:S is not as innovative and won't be remembered like Horizons", "The Horizons Space theme is perfection at its finest, it had some of the most emotional music used in a theme park attraction".

Nope, not one good thing said.

 

[Jasonflz]

"Then bring back Horizons", "M:S is not as innovative and won't be remembered like Horizons", "The Horizons Space theme is perfection at its finest, it had some of the most emotional music used in a theme park attraction".

Nope, not one good thing said.

:lol: What are you saying?

 

[yeti]

:lol: What are you saying?

You should know you said it.

:lookaroun

 

[Jasonflz]

You should know you said it.

:lookaroun

:lol::lol::lol: Good point.

 

[marni1971]

Once again.....

there was nothing wrong structurally, weight wise, sinkhole wise, colour of paint wise or similar with Horizons. Disney wouldn`t pay for the refurb. They had to open it twice with both TT and Ellen going behind schedule. This wasn`t planned, and it showed since it hadn`t been maintained. Compaq came along and wanted to sponsor a space pavilion. JIS was already history since Delta pulled out of sponsoring it. The proposed retrofit of the Horizons building for JIS v3 wouldn`t work for the pacey, edgey show Compaq wanted. Compaq offered to pay to remove Horizons and build M:S. Disney said yes please and had all their problems solved in one fell swoop.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

Once again.....

there was nothing wrong structurally, weight wise, sinkhole wise, colour of paint wise or similar with Horizons. Disney wouldn`t pay for the refurb. They had to open it twice with both TT and Ellen going behind schedule. This wasn`t planned, and it showed since it hadn`t been maintained. Compaq came along and wanted to sponsor a space pavilion. JIS was already history since Delta pulled out of sponsoring it. The proposed retrofit of the Horizons building for JIS v3 wouldn`t work for the pacey, edgey show Compaq wanted. Compaq offered to pay to remove Horizons and build M:S. Disney said yes please and had all their problems solved in one fell swoop.

You should just copy paste everything for each thread. Patent it.

Martin's Quick Answer Service©. It would work wonders.

 

[wickedfan07]

Don't get me wrong, I love the OmniMover. It is a shame that they are slowly dying out of Epcot because they are a versatile ride system that can tell a good story and maintain a high capacity. All that said, it was time for Horizons to go. Even if it had been updated in 1993, it would have been outdated by 1999, let alone 2009. Look at some of the attractions in Epcot today that are from the same period that a Horizons update would have been: HISTA (1994) is desperately in need of replacement; Ellen's Energy Adventure (1996) is still a good show, but the films coud use an update. The 1994 version of SSE wasn't even changed until 2007. The trend here is that attractions opened or renovated in the 1990s haven't seen (m)any updates, even up to today. Even if Horizons had been updated and Mission:SPACE had never opened, we'd be stuck here today with an even more outdated ride and another dead corner of Future World. What happened, happened, and it was probably for the best. Even if Horizons operated as an out-of-date, out-of-touch attraction several times in the 90s, it is out of its misery now, and has been replaced by a much more advanced ride with a broad appeal. M:S has nothing on Horizons' capacity I'm sure, but it also helps open up Epcot to a wider audience.

Bringing a message of innovation and inspiration to a new audience through new technology and quality entertainment. Sounds like Mission: SPACe fits pretty well with the "original" mission of Epcot.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

Don't get me wrong, I love the OmniMover. It is a shame that they are slowly dying out of Epcot because they are a versatile ride system that can tell a good story and maintain a high capacity. All that said, it was time for Horizons to go. Even if it had been updated in 1993, it would have been outdated by 1999, let alone 2009. Look at some of the attractions in Epcot today that are from the same period that a Horizons update would have been: HISTA (1994) is desperately in need of replacement; Ellen's Energy Adventure (1996) is still a good show, but the films coud use an update. The 1994 version of SSE wasn't even changed until 2007. The trend here is that attractions opened or renovated in the 1990s haven't seen (m)any updates, even up to today. Even if Horizons had been updated and Mission:SPACE had never opened, we'd be stuck here today with an even more outdated ride and another dead corner of Future World. What happened, happened, and it was probably for the best. Even if Horizons operated as an out-of-date, out-of-touch attraction several times in the 90s, it is out of its misery now, and has been replaced by a much more advanced ride with a broad appeal. M:S has nothing on Horizons' capacity I'm sure, but it also helps open up Epcot to a wider audience.

Bringing a message of innovation and inspiration to a new audience through new technology and quality entertainment. Sounds like Mission: SPACe fits pretty well with the "original" mission of Epcot.

I still stand by that it's wrong that Park Ops closed all of EPCOT's classics. They should have updated...

However, I agree with this post. It's very EPCOT Centric, and does provide for a larger audience.

 

[marni1971]

I tend to agree too, but what is fustrating is M:S and Horizons could have co-existed.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

I tend to agree too, but what is fustrating is M:S and Horizons could have co-existed.

Journeys in Space would have complimented TLS and TL so well...

 

[Studios Fan]

I tend to agree too, but what is fustrating is M:S and Horizons could have co-existed.

So true.

 

[wickedfan07]

Journeys in Space would have complimented TLS and TL so well...

:innocent question:

I've only ever heard this name tossed around, but besides it being a space attraction, I have no idea what it is. So, oh great keepers of WDW knowledge...what did this concept involve?

And yes, if Horizons could have been updated more regularly, it could have coexisted well with Mission: SPACE. It is unfortunate that such a plan wasn't considered.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

:innocent question:

I've only ever heard this name tossed around, but besides it being a space attraction, I have no idea what it is. So, oh great keepers of WDW knowledge...what did this concept involve?

And yes, if Horizons could have been updated more regularly, it could have coexisted well with Mission: SPACE. It is unfortunate that such a plan wasn't considered.

It was considered in the 80's and 90's.

The concept involved keeping the OmiMax as window into space, a Omnimover, and a Jet Pack attraction. It would have been amazing.

 

[The Conundrum]

It was considered in the 80's and 90's.

The concept involved keeping the OmiMax as window into space, a Omnimover, and a Jet Pack attraction. It would have been amazing.

I was just watching Martin's M:S video and my favorite part is when Eisner and Weiss are trying to hype it up and Weiss is like "and this attraction is SO big we couldn't even fit it in all in the old horizons building!" and martin put in paranthesis (The M:S show building is actually significantly smaller than Horizons). What a hillarious reminder of how bad Disney has gotten. :lol:

 

[Captain Chaos]

I was just watching Martin's M:S video and my favorite part is when Eisner and Weiss are trying to hype it up and Weiss is like "and this attraction is SO big we couldn't even fit it in all in the old horizons building!" and martin put in paranthesis (The M:S show building is actually significantly smaller than Horizons). What a hillarious reminder of how bad Disney has gotten. :lol:

Ohh no... keep this from jt's eyes... Further proof of the evil Eisner years.. :lol:

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

I was just watching Martin's M:S video and my favorite part is when Eisner and Weiss are trying to hype it up and Weiss is like "and this attraction is SO big we couldn't even fit it in all in the old horizons building!" and martin put in paranthesis (The M:S show building is actually significantly smaller than Horizons). What a hillarious reminder of how bad Disney has gotten. :lol:

:lol: Yes, that kills me too. Pretty pathetic, I agree.

 

[mcjaco]

Even if Horizons had been updated and Mission:SPACE had never opened, we'd be stuck here today with an even more outdated ride and another dead corner of Future World. What happened, happened, and it was probably for the best.

Not sure how it would have been outdated. It touched on lots of technology that we haven't seen yet. Orange groves in the desert? hovercrafts? Space travel in your own private rocket pod? Under water cities? How is that out of date?

Even if Horizons operated as an out-of-date, out-of-touch attraction several times in the 90s, it is out of its misery now, and has been replaced by a much more advanced ride with a broad appeal. M:S has nothing on Horizons' capacity I'm sure, but it also helps open up Epcot to a wider audience.

Not sure it's more advanced. Perhaps in computing power.....

I'd argue that it has less broad appeal. Horizons was a family ride from the get go that challenged your imagination. It wasn't a glorified flight sim centerfuge, that made grandma, grandpa and the littles one wait at the exit.