News Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind attraction confirmed for Epcot

[dreday3]

The external structure of Space Mountain is easily (IMHO) the third most iconic image of Disney parks after the castle and SSE. It’s instantly recognizable by many people even those who aren’t huge Disney fans.

I’m not saying the ride will never be replaced but I would expect anything going there to retain the external architecture (ie at worse get the GMR to MMRR treatment). More likely is if they every replace it is it would be Space Mountain but “now featuring Wall-E” or such.

I think it would feature Lightyear if they add IP. I was thinking maybe they'd work in Strange World, but I dont think it's about outer space. (is that movie still even happening?)

By the way, we went on Space in October, all of us late 40s and I forgot just what a plain old fun ride it is.

I hope it never changes in my Disney going lifetime.

 

[999th Happy Haunt]

If you think Space is more iconic then Mansion or Small World, I think you’re allowing your personal preferences to color your understanding of general perceptions of certain rides. Here’s an easy test - compare the amount of Space Mountain merchandise to the amount of HM merchandise.

No ride has merch like HM, I’d say it’s an outlier because of it’s cult followeing, but space mountain certainly pushes more merch than probably any other “mountain” attraction.

 

[celluloid]

They have tried to make a movie mainly based on Space Mountain for over a decade now. After pirates was a hit it was in that batch. One project became the Witch Mountain remake and the other became Tomorrowland. Both lackluster, at a certain point, particularly with the low payoff of Jungle Cruise, Disney knows the odds are against it and it is more famous being the most famous rollercoaster on a planet than a summer popcorn success.

 

[Casper Gutman]

They have tried to make a movie mainly based on Space Mountain for over a decade now. After pirates was a hit it was in that batch. One project became the Witch Mountain remake and the other became Tomorrowland. Both lackluster, at a certain point, particularly with the low payoff of Jungle Cruise, Disney knows the odds are against it and it is more famous being the most famous rollercoaster on a planet than a summer popcorn success.

Jungle Cruise did just fine. It launched a franchise.

 

[DCBaker]

 

[BrianLo]

The external structure of Space Mountain is easily (IMHO) the third most iconic image of Disney parks after the castle and SSE. It’s instantly recognizable by many people even those who aren’t huge Disney fans.

I’m not saying the ride will never be replaced but I would expect anything going there to retain the external architecture (ie at worse get the GMR to MMRR treatment). More likely is if they every replace it is it would be Space Mountain but “now featuring Wall-E” or such.

Exactly. It's also a perfectly serviceable shell. It's one thing if it's a difficult to maintain dark ride. It's another that it's a coaster in a box.

When they replace it, the cheapest option is still to put another coaster in there, with a disco light and music. With whatever thematic overlay of their choosing to push merch.

 

[James Alucobond]

It's possible the goal here is for the east-facing side to look like it has a guide rail for a boarding platform. You can see in the shot below that the base is also asymmetrical, with a platform edged in railing on the right.

 

[THEMEPARKPIONEER]

Tron is a great fit for Magic Kingdom. Allows Disney to close Space Mountain and do some enhancements without everyone freaking out.

Let’s not touch Space Mountain, you know they’ll find a way to screw it up

 

[_caleb]

Let’s not touch Space Mountain, you know they’ll find a way to screw it up

They're already screwing it up by neglecting it.

Also by adding the ceiling to the queue area.

 

[Marc Davis Fan]

I'm in South Korea's Incheon Airport right now, and I came upon quite realistic synthetic trees:

Unless you're all the way up next to them, they're basically indistinguishable from real pine trees. (I think they should have a few more branches and pine needles on them, but that would be easy to accomplish.)

This reminded my of our discussion earlier in this thread about using synthetic trees to obscure the Cosmic Rewind "Big Blue Box" and other visible show buildings.

Just like with Imagineering's other uses of "things in the foreground of show buildings or plain walls," they don't have to obscure the view entirely, but simply draw attention from the background to the foreground. An extreme/imperfect example of "distraction over complete-view-blocking," at least according to Foxx Nolte from Passport2Dreams (if I remember correctly), is the line of flags that reduces the noticeability of some fairly plain walls in Fantasyland:

Anyway, I think having a few thoughtfully-placed "trees" of different sizes, etc., could make the Cosmic Rewind "Big Blue Box" a little "easier on the eyes," as they could do for other visible show buildings.

 

[tommyhawkins]

Trying to make sense of the queue for a while. take with a pinch of salt but indicative of what might be the layout. I haven't included Single Rider, although feel free to go back and find a route on the blueprint im sure theres one there, probably a dodgy fire exit entrance like smugglers run.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Exactly. It's also a perfectly serviceable shell. It's one thing if it's a difficult to maintain dark ride. It's another that it's a coaster in a box.

When they replace it, the cheapest option is still to put another coaster in there, with a disco light and music. With whatever thematic overlay of their choosing to push merch.

This is why I'm not that worried about Space Mountain. Can't think of much that would be cheaper for them to (re)build or maintain in that shell than what is there now. I would never put anything past them, but either just leaving it as an empty shell or demolishing Space Mountain entirely would seem a weird move even for current Disney management.

Could see Tiana's Space Mountain Jumpin' Jubilee or something like that as a new "coaster in a box" if they figured it was already going to cost them a fortune to refurbish it, mind you.

 

[Incomudro]

I'm in South Korea's Incheon Airport right now, and I came upon quite realistic synthetic trees:
View attachment 624461View attachment 624460

Unless you're all the way up next to them, they're basically indistinguishable from real pine trees. (I think they should have a few more branches and pine needles on them, but that would be easy to accomplish.)

This reminded my of our discussion earlier in this thread about using synthetic trees to obscure the Cosmic Rewind "Big Blue Box" and other visible show buildings.

Just like with Imagineering's other uses of "things in the foreground of show buildings or plain walls," they don't have to obscure the view entirely, but simply draw attention from the background to the foreground. An extreme/imperfect example of "distraction over complete-view-blocking," at least according to Foxx Nolte from Passport2Dreams (if I remember correctly), is the line of flags that reduces the noticeability of some fairly plain walls in Fantasyland:

View attachment 624462

Anyway, I think having a few thoughtfully-placed "trees" of different sizes, etc., could make the Cosmic Rewind "Big Blue Box" a little "easier on the eyes," as they could do for other visible show buildings.

Very interesting.
I didn't know about these artificial trees, but I said that something similar could be done with palm trees - and would likely be much easier with artificial trees in front of the Guardians building.
They don't need to try to hide the entire structure, that in itself would draw attention to it.
They just need to break up its outline.
Like how branches, or fringe on camouflage can be used to break up hard outlines.

 

[flynnibus]

they should have just themed the pedestal to be a red ladder - then it would have fit right in with Disney's new EPCOT 'forever' plan

 

[Marlins1]

I’m well aware of this from a year and a half ago. I also know about the Space Mountain project they were developing in 2012. The phrase is “development hell.”

From a sane outsiders perspective, it would be stupid to close SM. Also from a sane outsider’s perspective, it was stupid to build a very, very, very similar ride right next door.

Where do you think Space ranks on the “iconic” scale of JUST the Magic Kingdom? I’d slot it behind Pirates, HM, Small World, Splash, Jungle Cruise, and Big Thunder, in roughly that order. So it’s about the seventh most “iconic” ride.

I also consider Country Bears and Tiki Room iconic. Are they untouchable?

Iconic - I would say it ranks 3rd behind HM and POTC. There is a feeling when you walk from the entrance to boarding that is hard to describe but multiple generations know it. The ride is still fun but needs to be restored to its original state (Including lighted ships to view from the PeopleMover). Trim brakes before final drop - how can anyone think that is acceptable? It reminds me of when Jackie Robinson’s wife said “You can’t kill baseball but Lord knows they’ve tried”.

 

[rtmachine]

They should just take out the state fair coasters in the dark and get Elon to sponsor a Space X themed smooth modern ride system with planets, stars, moons etc that can be seen.... keep the building pretty much the same, and while there at it..replace the Speedway go carts with mini Tesla's

 

[Hawg G]

I'm told zero AA's...again, thanks to Chapek. Apparently ground work was done for them to be installed but they were axed.

No surprise. This ride has been an overhyped coaster in a dark box for years. Only the Diznoids thought it would be some next level Gringotts killer.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

The external structure of Space Mountain is easily (IMHO) the third most iconic image of Disney parks after the castle and SSE. It’s instantly recognizable by many people even those who aren’t huge Disney fans.

I’m not saying the ride will never be replaced but I would expect anything going there to retain the external architecture (ie at worse get the GMR to MMRR treatment). More likely is if they every replace it is it would be Space Mountain but “now featuring Wall-E” or such.

I can’t imagine them ever removing Space Mtn, at some point it’ll probably get a new coaster within the same building, but still in the dark and still themed to space, but that’s probably as major a change as we’ll see. It’s one of the top 5 most iconic Disney rides and has been duplicated in some form in Disney parks all around the world.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Diznoids

 

[MisterPenguin]

I can’t imagine them ever removing Space Mtn, at some point it’ll probably get a new coaster within the same building, but still in the dark and still themed to space, but that’s probably as major a change as we’ll see. It’s one of the top 5 most iconic Disney rides and has been duplicated in some form in Disney parks all around the world.

As the number of indoor coasters with launches and great theming and smooth rides increases, an old clanky and whiplashy basic coaster like SM, whose main theming is being mostly in the dark... certainly needs an upgrade for sure. Cosmic Rewind is going to be a better Space Mountain than Space Mountain.

Good thing Lightyear is coming out soon...