Is the Space Mountain refurb official or speculation?

[pax_65]

I see. But after all that, I still think if they were to gut SM, the next gutting should be of POTC and probably HM, to make it more like the movies. Regardless if they are rides the whole family could ride or not, the whole family could ride a new version of POTC that features all the pirates from the movie, so just get rid of all thats in there now after the redo of SM. Maybe even Thunder Mountain as far as the MK is concerned.

You've lost me. You are either 1) Not responding to my point that a serious thrill ride is a different animal from a family immersive ride and continuing with your sarcastic rant or 2) Seriously advocating the destruction of classic Disney rides.

I'm assuming it's option #1.

Why bring in the whole thing about movies? They aren't refurbing SM to make it more like a movie. (Hopefully) they are refurbing it to make it more true to its original role in the park - to provide serious thrills and excitement. Surely you have to agree the current SM does not accomplish this goal.

It ALMOST reminds me of another debate I had on these boards with someone who said World of Motion should never have been turned into Test Track. To me this is ridiculous as Test Track is a far superior ride. In that case the decision was made that Epcot needed more thrills, so World of Motion was turned into a thrill ride.

What's different in this case is that SM is ALREADY a thrill ride. (At least it's supposed to be!) So I can't understand why anyone would object to making the ride more "thrilling" as this is consistent with what the ride is supposed to be.

PS. I leave for WDW in 18 days!

 

[jt04]

Why is it impossible? Because of the size of the building? Personally I'd love to see properly done inversions as I think they would add to the excitement of the ride. Either loops or corkscrews.

Inversions would really limit those who are able or willing to enjoy the ride. The MK is geared more towards families and so a non-inverting coaster is more in line with what the MK should offer. But you are not out of luck. You described RnRC perfectly and you can ride it as often as you want.

By the way it is not the track that uses up so much space it is the support structure of an inverting coaster which the building was not designed for. They would either have to put up a new building that connected to the current building or tear the whole thing down and start from scratch. Neither of those options seem to be being considered. I am still hoping for a longer single track non-inverting coaster but only time will tell (or Jim Hill) Kidding

 

[PhilharMagician]

WDW has had the following major refurbishments recently:
Pirates of the Caribbean
it's a small world
Haunted Mansion
el Rio Del Tiempo
Spaceship Earth

Minor refurbishments
Splash Mountain
Thunder Mountain
Rock 'n Roller Coaster

Upcoming refurbishments
Jungle Cruise
Space Mountain
Star Tours
Imagination
Possible the Great Movie Ride

I though JC refurb was cancelled. Got a spit and polish and the total refurb plans were mothballed until further notice? :shrug:

 

[pax_65]

Inversions would really limit those who are able or willing to enjoy the ride. The MK is geared more towards families and so a non-inverting coaster is more in line with what the MK should offer.

Yeah, I can see your point. I'm ok with it either way. Inversions aren't exactly innovative today anyway. You can do a lot with theming, darkness, sound, etc. to make the ride thrilling and fun.

Question - do any other SMs feature inversions?

How about accelerated launches? I'd really like to see an accelerated launch up a steep hill to simulate spaceship launch.

Grandma might choose not to ride that either! LOL... :hurl:

 

[jt04]

I though JC refurb was cancelled. Got a spit and polish and the total refurb plans were mothballed until further notice? :shrug:

It is still scheduled for a maintenance refurb last I heard but any major changes appear to have been canceled since the movie is on hold.

Of course sooner or later it will need a major rehab as it is pushing 40 and I understand it leaks into service areas. If they had any sense though they would move the concept to AK and tear out the MK version. Then they would have room for the original IJ attraction that was planned for DL or something else (fire mountain ?).

 

[jt04]

Yeah, I can see your point. I'm ok with it either way. Inversions aren't exactly innovative today anyway. You can do a lot with theming, darkness, sound, etc. to make the ride thrilling and fun.

Question - do any other SMs feature inversions?

How about accelerated launches? I'd really like to see an accelerated launch up a steep hill to simulate spaceship launch.

Grandma might choose not to ride that either! LOL... :hurl:

Paris is launched and has inversions. RnRC is a clone I think. I do believe the new version will be launched (if they go with a single track) simply because it moves more people through (and it fits the "space" theme) but there is nothing that says it has to be an extreme launch like Hulk or RnRC. It could be more tame and with a countdown. Very fun.

 

[Lee]

Question - do any other SMs feature inversions?
How about accelerated launches?

Yes to both...in Paris.
http://www.rcdb.com/ig959.htm

 

[Lee]

Paris is launched and has inversions. RnRC is a clone I think. .

Not a clone at all. Nothing similar about the rides except for both having a launch and inversions.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Lee,
Thanks for all the info.

I believe several "Space Mountain Rehab" threads ago, it was mentioned that the space required for a loop did exist inside the current Space Mountain building, but it would be a pretty tight fit if there was no launch. It might have even been the case where a typical gravity coaster couldn't create enough speed inside the current building for a loop, my memory might be a little fuzzy.

 

[Absimilliard]

Space Mountain at DLP got 3 inversions: a sidewinder ( http://www.rcdb.com/ig1234.htm?picture=16 ,half loop followed by a half corkscrew), corkscrew ( http://www.rcdb.com/ig145.htm?picture=2 ) and the now unique "Tongue" ( http://www.rcdb.com/ig112.htm?picture=4 ) .

The layout is very simple actually. After the launch, the ride does a full circle around the side of the mountain, before dropping down to the floor for the sidewinder. A 270 degrees upward turn bring the train into the block brake. Turn to the right, again following the wall. The drop under the waiting line stairway brings the train into the corkscrew and an elevated right turn, over the waiting line, brings the train to the B lift. Drop to the right, tight 180 degrees turn, small hill and then the cutback. After the cutback, the train dives into a trench for a 360 degrees helix and then it goes up into the final brakes.

In case you're wondering, I was a DLP Space Mountain cast member before and so got tons of rides with the lights on and also had to run in the mountain every day.

 

[Lee]

I believe several "Space Mountain Rehab" threads ago, it was mentioned that the space required for a loop did exist inside the current Space Mountain building, but it would be a pretty tight fit if there was no launch.

You're right. There actually is room for a loop (and naturally other, lower inversions) in the mountain building. The trick is getting the trains going fast enough to make it through a decent size loop. Basically, without a launch, they would need to climb up near the top, then proceed directly into the inversion like in DLP, where it takes all the momentum from the curving drop from the top to get through the sidewinder.

Not really a super-tight fit (The building at DLP is smaller than WDW's), but you could forget about having two tracks.

 

[dhoywdw20x]

A New Version

I say they gut space mountain then keep the same idea with two ride tracks, but a have a launching system for one and a chain lift for the other, but both go off one load station, so you never know which track you might get until the last second, the launch one could do loops while the lift one relfects upon space mountains of the past, it could be a double whammy win win for nostalgia and speed!!

 

[Absimilliard]

Actually Lee, the ride does not proceed directly from the curving drop to the sidewinder. After the launch, it does the curving drop, does a full circle around the mountain before diving down to the floor for the sidewinder. Actually, without the full circle, the train would go TOO FAST through the sidewinder as right now, the speed is just perfect. No hangtime and some good intensity. The sidewinder could not be any taller, as it almost reach the roof right now. To give you an idea of where it is, when you enter the mountain from the stand by waiting line, it is 10-15 feet forward, on the right.

 

[Lee]

You 're right, of course. There is a substantial amount of track between the top and the sidewinder.
It surves kind of a dual purpose. Without that curve around the mountain, they couldn't fit the inversion in, and without the curve around, they would indeed be going too fast. It's really a great design.
If anyone who hasn't seen it would like to, this is a nice little video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRJ2oSamSjI

 

[imagineer boy]

My only concern about this is that if you show things you have to have light. And if you have too much light you can see the track, which destroys the feeling of rocketing through space. (As someone mentioned, one of the problems with WDW Space Mountain now.) You could paint the objects in that "glow-in-the-dark" paint that RnRC uses but that kind of creates a whole different feel as far as the theme goes.

That's the thing with DLP's space mountain is that it has asteroids that are black lit and they look great. Plus they emit smoke and fiber optic sparks. So, I'd like to see WDW get somthing similar.

 

[ToTBellHop]

That's the thing with DLP's space mountain is that it has asteroids that are black lit and they look great. Plus they emit smoke and fiber optic sparks. So, I'd like to see WDW get somthing similar.

However, Disneyland's version has an asteroid at the top that (as far as I know) has never been illuminated. I would imagine the DL version is even darker than the DLP version. Black light is still light...

 

[Enigma]

For those of you saying that Disneyland has been updated while our Magic Kingdom hasn't been, look at the shape Disneyland was in before the 50th anniversary. They refurbed quite a bit for the 50th. We're starting to see that at the Magic Kingdom/WDW, it's just that these things take time.

WDW has had the following major refurbishments recently:
Pirates of the Caribbean
it's a small world
Haunted Mansion
el Rio Del Tiempo
Spaceship Earth

Minor refurbishments
Splash Mountain
Thunder Mountain
Rock 'n Roller Coaster

Upcoming refurbishments
Jungle Cruise
Space Mountain
Star Tours
Imagination
Possible the Great Movie Ride

That's a pretty substantial list, the biggest difference for me is that Disneyland has already had their Space Mountain update, where as WDW is waiting until 09 for their refurbishment.

Unfortuantly the SSE, Pirates, and el rio refurbishments were nothing to write home about and in the case of SSE and El rio were quite poor.

IASW got a good refurb (Thank God we didn't get cartoon cash-ins stuffed into the ride) but there were some things in the ride where they got lazy (such as not closing up the ceiling in some of the rooms). I was impressed with the Haunted Mansion and Big Thunder refurbs especially since they unfortuantly had such little time to work with. So they give me some hope.

I just wish all imagineering projects had to get run by the top guys like Joe Rhode, John Lasseter, and Tony Baxter before getting greenlit. Similar to how all the animated movies have to get run by the brain trust of top animators and directors. Just so that we don't wind up with trivial and unnecessary cartoon tie-ins and lame "interactive" elements that do very little to spice up the ride. The budget for those things could be put to better use implementing better special effects and more sophisticated AA's and richer themeing.

 

[DisneyExplorer]

Thanks, Lee, for the video of Space Mountain in Paris. Oh how I'd love to see WDW's get a makeover like the Paris version!

 

[tirian]

WDI has been kicking this refurb around since DL's reopened in 2005. At one point, a DL rocket ship was sitting behind WDW's mountain for weeks. (I was told that the rocket was used to test dual seating, but I highly doubt this. I don't even think the tracks are the same width.)

The general idea is that WDW's Space Mt. will be the best again (not including Paris'). Guests are anxious about this refurb: the SSE one has left some people with a bad taste in their mouths, but the HM refurb easily trumps every other HM on earth (again, not including Paris').

My only advice for now is to ignore the Internet bloggers that claim DL gets all the attention and WDW is left to rot. That's a lie. Expect a fantastic Space Mt. refurb.

 

[scottnj1966]

It is official with disney administration but no word to the public.
We know people that have seen the plans.

And no they wont let me see them.
Legal reasons.