Horizons....

[SOLISIMO]

Horizons was and is EPCOT.

Very well put

Like I said, to each his own. For me it just doesn't feel like "Disney". I know that's a term we all like to throw around. This is just one of those instances for me.

Yup, It seems more of a Six Flags/Universal ride to me. Its very well themed dont get me wrong but I dont see it being a family attraction..

 

[Mickey is King]

Well the only thing that comes to mind is Captain EO. Although I doubt it was brought back due to fan complaints...rather for a quick money grab.

Micheal Jackson tribute of sorts? I'm sure the show is great but:hurl:

figment? I have seen it, good for the kiddies, that's about it in my opinion.
was everyone REALLY "screaming" about it being gone?
was/ is it as BIG as Horizons was?

I guess mty question really should be is it comin' back?

 

[Evil Genius]

figment? I have seen it, good for the kiddies, that's about it in my opinion.
was everyone REALLY "screaming" about it being gone?
was/ is it as BIG as Horizons was?

I guess my question really should be is it comin' back?

Yes people were really up at arms when they removed and re-designed imagination...and the first revision was so poorly received that Eisner actually had WDI go back to the drawing board...readd Figment and try again.

The final result mollified fans to a degree...but the attraction is still a shell of its former self and nowhere near as amazing as it used to be. I think JII is a clear cut example of an attraction that even in its original incarnation would be relavent and highly entertaining today compared to what came after it.

 

[THEMEPARKPIONEER]

Epcot needs to tear down the Wonders of Life pavilion and make a brand new dark ride, something good and different from anything that has ever been in Epcot and beats Horizons and Spaceship Earth combine.

 

[duff527]

Epcot needs to tear down the Wonders of Life pavilion and make a brand new dark ride, something good and different from anything that has ever been in Epcot and beats Horizons and Spaceship Earth combine.

Any ideas?

 

[LorangeJuice]

I don't think it's so much that Disney "traditionalists" don't wish to see their precious childhood attractions removed as much as they want to see the replacements actually be a tremendous improvement over their predecessors.

For quite a few people (myself including) Mission:Space simply was not much of an improvement. I think it was an idea that looked great on paper, and if WDI had been able to build the entire pavillion as they had initially designed it it may be been better...but the attraction itself for those of us that do not enjoy it is simply boring!

I'm all about bringing in new advancements to the parks! I hope daily a press release will surface noting the "next big thing" coming to WDW...but I want to see these advancements accompanied by the Disney Magic that has existed in past generations of attractions. Massion:Space lacks that magic.

I couldn't agree more, especially about M:S lacking that Disney magic, which brings me to my next point...

Sort of like what happens to actual astronauts when they train to go into space....Which is what I thought the attraction was all about.:shrug:

Yes, but IMHO, something like that belongs at Kennedy Space Center. I think that just the fact that M:S is a Disney venture brings a certain expectation along with it, and I personally think it falls short. It's hard to explain exactly why, but it certainly never helped that it replaced something that no matter how you characterize Horizons, is still passionately discussed 11 years after its closing.

 

[misterID]

Sort of like what happens to actual astronauts when they train to go into space....Which is what I thought the attraction was all about.:shrug:

Dude, I could do without any of that, especially the puking realism...

But, now that I think of it, I don't think there's a green mode for astronauts to take to mars... Or crashlanding testing on mars... Matter of fact, I don't think there's anything realistic about the ride except the take off. :animwink:

I have an idea, build Horizons 2.0, with the cool intro section of yesterday's visions of the future and end with a M:S simmulator style trip to a mars colony. Problem solved.

 

[ERich2010]

heres the deal, you cant say that it lacks Disney magic.i believe Eddie Sotto himself stated that the whole core thing of Disney World is allowing those inner imaginations to run free. and what kid didnt want to be an astronaut?

what it comes down to is that people didnt want to see Horizons go, and they couldve put the greatest attraction in the world there, but it wouldnt have made a difference

i understand Horizons was a great ride. i understand that it has a great fanbase. i understand that it was the best of the "old Epcot". but no matter how many screams for justice, its still not going to come back

 

[Master Yoda]

Dude, I could do without any of that, especially the puking realism...

But, now that I think of it, I don't think there's a green mode for astronauts to take to mars... Or crashlanding testing on mars... Matter of fact, I don't think there's anything realistic about the ride except the take off. :animwink:

I have an idea, build Horizons 2.0, with the cool intro section of yesterday's visions of the future and end with a M:S simmulator style trip to a mars colony. Problem solved.

Horizons died for a reason....no one was riding it. H2.0 would be great for about 2 years but with out continuous upgrades....something TDO has never been willing to do.....it would become the same out of date walk on attraction H1.0 was at the end of its life.

 

[Krack]

was everyone REALLY "screaming" about it being gone?

Yes

was/ is it as BIG as Horizons was?

Yes

 

[Krack]

Any ideas?

Have Tokyo pay for it because that's the only way we're getting it.

 

[misterID]

Horizons died for a reason....no one was riding it. H2.0 would be great for about 2 years but with out continuous upgrades....something TDO has never been willing to do.....it would become the same out of date walk on attraction H1.0 was at the end of its life.

Horizons died because it lost its sponser and they stopped maintaining it so they didn't have to spend the money. It was going to be refurbed before the sponser left. I also heard from imagineers another reason for it closing and it had nothing to do with people not riding it... So lets not rewrite history. EPCOT as a whole was scoring badly, not just a single ride.

Every ride needs upgrades/updating. You're comparing an early 80's attraction to what the attraction could be now.

 

[Master Yoda]

Horizons died because it lost its sponser and they stopped maintaining it so they didn't have to spend the money. It was going to be refurbed before the sponser left. I also heard from imagineers another reason for it closing and it had nothing to do with people not riding it... So lets not rewrite history. EPCOT as a whole was scoring badly, not just a single ride.

Every ride needs upgrades/updating. You're comparing an early 80's attraction to what the attraction could be now.

Yes it was. The theme park customer base had changed. Guests wanted thrill rides and Epcot was horrible lacking in that department. Horizon was an expensive, outdated, sponserless attraction. When a sponsor came along that wanted a thrill ride and not the purposed space pavilion Disney did what it had to do.

I miss Horizons as much as the next fanboy. I just understand the reasons why it had to go.

 

[Evil Genius]

what it comes down to is that people didnt want to see Horizons go, and they couldve put the greatest attraction in the world there, but it wouldnt have made a difference

I don't think you can make that broad a generalization. While Horizons definately has a cult following, I doubt it they have put some mind blowing next gen dark ride in there that you would be getting as many folks balking.

Fact is, Mission:Space doesn't appeal to incredibly wide scope of guests. Smaller kids...larger adults...those with motion sickness issues...heck even the green side that's film only makes quite a few folks ill...I just don't see it as being very accessible.

Plus the re-rideability (is that a word?) from those I talk to is very low.

 

[kaos]

... another reason for it closing and it had nothing to do with people not riding it...

Horizons was closed for a variety of reasons. Low ridership was due to the fact that the ride was deemed "seasonal" once GE pulled their sponsorship. It remained in that state for a few years. The odd thing is, neither of these contributed to the ride being removed. TDC feverishly worked at acquiring a new sponsor, but while that was happening, a freak natural occurance caused the ride building to be termed as condemned and that was it. As is common in Florida, a sinkhole developed near (not under as many would think) the service road by the Horizons building. Given that sinkholes are caused by the high water table in Florida coupled with ground shifting and settling, the weight of the building most likely displaced water and saturated the grounds around the building causing the sinkhole. The only solution? Backfill the sinkhole and reinforce the foundation. The problem? The area that needed to be reinforced to stop the spread of the sinkhole was directly under the ride building. I need a citation to this, but I beleive the building was settling into the soft Florida ground about 1.5 inches a year. That's about 1 and a half feet INTO the soft water table. Clearly, the foundations were not set deep enough into the more solid bedrock. BUT- This is the main reason that the ride was closed and the building demo'd. There are plenty of sponsorless attractions that are maintained and still presented, even without a sponsor.

 

[Krack]

Horizons was closed for a variety of reasons. Low ridership was due to the fact that the ride was deemed "seasonal" once GE pulled their sponsorship. It remained in that state for a few years. The odd thing is, neither of these contributed to the ride being removed. TDC feverishly worked at acquiring a new sponsor, but while that was happening, a freak natural occurance caused the ride building to be termed as condemned and that was it. As is common in Florida, a sinkhole developed near (not under as many would think) the service road by the Horizons building. Given that sinkholes are caused by the high water table in Florida coupled with ground shifting and settling, the weight of the building most likely displaced water and saturated the grounds around the building causing the sinkhole. The only solution? Backfill the sinkhole and reinforce the foundation. The problem? The area that needed to be reinforced to stop the spread of the sinkhole was directly under the ride building. I need a citation to this, but I beleive the building was settling into the soft Florida ground about 1.5 inches a year. That's about 1 and a half feet INTO the soft water table. Clearly, the foundations were not set deep enough into the more solid bedrock. BUT- This is the main reason that the ride was closed and the building demo'd. There are plenty of sponsorless attractions that are maintained and still presented, even without a sponsor.

The story about the sinkhole is an urban legend, it has been debunked many times. Horizons was destroyed because the new sponsor didn't want it.

 

[kaos]

I don't think you can make that broad a generalization. While Horizons definately has a cult following, I doubt it they have put some mind blowing next gen dark ride in there that you would be getting as many folks balking.

Fact is, Mission:Space doesn't appeal to incredibly wide scope of guests. Smaller kids...larger adults...those with motion sickness issues...heck even the green side that's film only makes quite a few folks ill...I just don't see it as being very accessible.

Plus the re-rideability (is that a word?) from those I talk to is very low.

M:S is only part of what the original pavillion was supposed to contain- the problem? See my previous post- the ground in that area could not contain a larger building due to the shifting water table. Try as WDI did, they had an issue with that portion of the park. Remember, Horizons was moved to Phase 2 only AFTER engineers discovered that they would need to reinforce and stabalize the ground. Horizons was supposed to be a Phase 1 attraction.

 

[Evil Genius]

M:S is only part of what the original pavillion was supposed to contain- the problem? See my previous post- the ground in that area could not contain a larger building due to the shifting water table. Try as WDI did, they had an issue with that portion of the park. Remember, Horizons was moved to Phase 2 only AFTER engineers discovered that they would need to reinforce and stabalize the ground. Horizons was supposed to be a Phase 1 attraction.

I know M:S was supposed to be a pavillion with a much broader scope. But that's not what we got.

 

[Jeters_Boy]

Whoa. Did they leave the projectors running? I think that would have made me ill.

Yes, everything we could see was running as normal, except the carts. It was the longest I've been stuck on a WDW ride. I was 17 at the time. We started to get delirious, and my dad started yelling out for Ellen to save us because we had just been on Universe of Energy. He thought it was funny, and so did we, at first. Then 20 minutes turned into 40 which turned into...

Horizons closed for good a month later.

 

[kaos]

Yes, everything we could see was running as normal, except the carts. It was the longest I've been stuck on a WDW ride. I was 17 at the time. We started to get delirious, and my dad started yelling out for Ellen to save us because we had just been on Universe of Energy. He thought it was funny, and so did we, at first. Then 20 minutes turned into 40 which turned into...

Horizons closed for good a month later.

I was going to say that 2 hours and 17 are not necassarily a bad thing... depends who you are stuck with... Why didn't you get removed from the vehicle if the downtime was that long? I don't remember, but I'm pretty sure there was a walkway and safety rail there for guest evac...