Brer Panther
Well-Known Member
Okay, here's my submission...
However, the mention of Stitch put an idea in the Imagineers' minds - to quote that one pigeon from Bolt, audiences love aliens. An attraction featuring a cast of aliens had the potential to be a lot of fun. Then somebody else admitted that they missed when EPCOT had more "whimsical" attractions like Journey Into Imagination and World of Motion. Many of the other Imagineers agreed, and thus the decision was made to have the attraction be a family-friendly dark ride in the style of those early, "whimsical" attractions that have since been removed from EPCOT. Immediately, the Imagineers got to work, sketching up ideas for gags involving aliens and researching the solar system.
Iger and Chapek were initially hesitant to greenlight the attraction since it wasn't based on an IP. The Imagineers managed to convince them to do it by bringing up two things - EPCOT didn't have enough kid-friendly attractions (most of the attractions there were either thrill rides or slow-moving educational rides like Spaceship Earth and Living With the Land that Iger and Chapek shrugged off as "boring") and the attraction would feature lots of cartoony aliens that could easily be made into plushes... resulting in large merchandise sales. Upon hearing the second one, Chapek immediately agreed to let the attraction get built.
Sources tell me that the upcoming attraction, to be called "Galaxy Odyssey: Tour the Universe", will open "once construction has been completed". At the moment, Disney's construction crew is in the process of bulldozing Mission: Space's incredible exterior (an Imagineer has told me that they wanted to keep the exterior for Galaxy Odyssey, but they didn't think it would fit the new attraction very well). Where it once stood, guests will find a futuristic-looking space station. Colorful signs outside will invite guests to "EXPLORE THE SOLAR SYSTEM!" and "SEE THE OTHER SEVEN PLANETS!".
Inside, guests will meet Tom Morrow (a reference to the Flight to the Moon character), an advanced audio-animatronic figure and the head of the Outer Space Exploration Corporation (O.S.E.C. for short). He tells us that, for the first time, normal civilians - as in, people without astronaut training - will get to explore outer space. We won't even need helmets or oxygen tanks. Apparently, the Imagineers tried to think of an explanation for how the riders would still be able to breathe (as they knew somebody would question that), but they couldn't think of one. Then one Imagineer said, "Well, Space Mountain never explained it, so..."
In the load area, guests climb aboard spacecrafts. Concept art for the spacecrafts I was shown resembled a cross between the ride vehicles from Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin and the rockets from Astro Orbitor. The attraction will be a rail-suspended dark ride, with the track above the ride vehicles, a la Peter Pan's Flight to better simulate the spacecraft's floating through the stars. Each spacecraft will fit four people (two rows of two).
Once aboard the spacecraft, riders will hear Tom Morrow say, "Ten... nine... eight... seven... six... five... for... three... two... one... ignition!" Suddenly, you "blast off" through the clouds, eventually finding yourself in a field of stars. An Easter Egg to keep an eye out for in this scene is a constellation of Horizons' iconic Robot Butler.
Eventually, the spacecraft approaches the planet Mercury. Upon landing, riders find themselves at the entrance to - oddly enough - a mine. Our curiosity peaked, we head inside and discover goofy-looking alien miners, chipping away at the walls of the mine with pickaxes. What are they mining for? Why, Mercury, of course!
The next planet riders visit is Venus. Like Mercury, Venus is inhabited by aliens - all of whom are very attractive, blue-skinned women, with not a single man in sight (a reference to that old "men are from Mars, women are from Venus" expression). Since Venus is actually hotter than Mercury despite being further from the sun, the room is heated. The Venusians use the high temperature as an excuse to get a nice tan.
Next, it's off to Mars. Since Mars is the RED planet, naturally, the entire room is colored red. Mars' inhabitants are your typical cartoon aliens - green skin, large foreheads, big black eyes. Like Earthlings, they have their own space program, and many martians in astronaut suits can be seen climbing aboard a rocket ship. Their mission: to land in Roswell, New Mexico!
The aliens in the "Mars" section of the attraction should look very much like this.
Jupiter is our next stop. Since it's the fastest-spinning planet in the solar system, the entire room seems to rotate as we glide through. The aliens that live on Jupiter seem to be constantly dizzy, all of the spinning has caused them to go mad. As a reference to Alice in Wonderland, one alien wears a hat identical to the Mad Hatter's.
The aliens on Jupiter will look similar to this.
Saturn, according to the Imagineers I spoke with, is going to include a scene where the spacecrafts seemingly slide down the planet's iconic rings. When Chapek found out that Saturn was made of gas, he encouraged the Imagineers to include lots of fart-based humor into this scene (his exact words were "People think farting is funny, right?"). The aliens seen on Saturn resemble stinkbugs, with furry skunk-like tails, guzzling down cans of baked beans like soda. I would recommend that riders bring nose plugs.
Then it's off to Uranus, also known as "the sideways planet" because it rotates on its side. Inspired by the "upside-down house" sequence in another EPCOT attraction, Journey Into Imagination With Figment, the entire room appears to be sideways. Not only that, but since Uranus is nearly four times larger than Earth, the aliens are all gigantic. I have no idea how the Imagineers plan on pulling this scene off - they simply told me, "It'll be really, really cool."
The ride culminates in a visit to Neptune, the coldest planet in the solar system. The planet is covered with ice, and its residents are clad in winter clothing. Since Neptune shares its name with the mythical god of the sea, the aliens bear a striking resemblance to sea creatures. Two can be seen building a snowman in King Neptune's likeness.
After that, the spacecrafts land back on Earth and guests disembark into - what else - a gift shop, O.S.E.C. Outpost. Here guests will be able to get their hands on plushes, t-shirts, pins, and more merchandise featuring the ride's cast of outrageous aliens.
The Imagineers have high hopes for Galaxy Odyssey. "We're hoping that it will bring a bit of whimsy back to EPCOT," one of them told me. "It'll give younger guests something to do if they don't make the height requirement for Test Track." The attraction certainly sounds like a lot of fun to ME. If nothing else, maybe if it's successful we might get more "original" attractions not based on IPs, the kind that we haven't gotten since Expedition Everest. We'll just have to wait and see.
Galaxy Odyssey: Tour the Universe
When ordered to create a new space-themed attraction for EPCOT to replace Mission: Space, Imagineers were stumped. Many ideas were tossed around - one Imagineer suggested a WALL-E attraction, but Iger and Chapek shot it down on the grounds that it wasn't a popular enough movie. Chapek suggested something Star Wars-themed, but the Imagineers talked him out of it as there were already a lot of Star Wars attractions in Disney's Hollywood Studios. After three hours of spitballing ideas, somebody suggested a Stitch attraction. Somebody else replied, "We tried that, and it was a disaster."However, the mention of Stitch put an idea in the Imagineers' minds - to quote that one pigeon from Bolt, audiences love aliens. An attraction featuring a cast of aliens had the potential to be a lot of fun. Then somebody else admitted that they missed when EPCOT had more "whimsical" attractions like Journey Into Imagination and World of Motion. Many of the other Imagineers agreed, and thus the decision was made to have the attraction be a family-friendly dark ride in the style of those early, "whimsical" attractions that have since been removed from EPCOT. Immediately, the Imagineers got to work, sketching up ideas for gags involving aliens and researching the solar system.
Iger and Chapek were initially hesitant to greenlight the attraction since it wasn't based on an IP. The Imagineers managed to convince them to do it by bringing up two things - EPCOT didn't have enough kid-friendly attractions (most of the attractions there were either thrill rides or slow-moving educational rides like Spaceship Earth and Living With the Land that Iger and Chapek shrugged off as "boring") and the attraction would feature lots of cartoony aliens that could easily be made into plushes... resulting in large merchandise sales. Upon hearing the second one, Chapek immediately agreed to let the attraction get built.
Sources tell me that the upcoming attraction, to be called "Galaxy Odyssey: Tour the Universe", will open "once construction has been completed". At the moment, Disney's construction crew is in the process of bulldozing Mission: Space's incredible exterior (an Imagineer has told me that they wanted to keep the exterior for Galaxy Odyssey, but they didn't think it would fit the new attraction very well). Where it once stood, guests will find a futuristic-looking space station. Colorful signs outside will invite guests to "EXPLORE THE SOLAR SYSTEM!" and "SEE THE OTHER SEVEN PLANETS!".
Inside, guests will meet Tom Morrow (a reference to the Flight to the Moon character), an advanced audio-animatronic figure and the head of the Outer Space Exploration Corporation (O.S.E.C. for short). He tells us that, for the first time, normal civilians - as in, people without astronaut training - will get to explore outer space. We won't even need helmets or oxygen tanks. Apparently, the Imagineers tried to think of an explanation for how the riders would still be able to breathe (as they knew somebody would question that), but they couldn't think of one. Then one Imagineer said, "Well, Space Mountain never explained it, so..."
In the load area, guests climb aboard spacecrafts. Concept art for the spacecrafts I was shown resembled a cross between the ride vehicles from Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin and the rockets from Astro Orbitor. The attraction will be a rail-suspended dark ride, with the track above the ride vehicles, a la Peter Pan's Flight to better simulate the spacecraft's floating through the stars. Each spacecraft will fit four people (two rows of two).
Once aboard the spacecraft, riders will hear Tom Morrow say, "Ten... nine... eight... seven... six... five... for... three... two... one... ignition!" Suddenly, you "blast off" through the clouds, eventually finding yourself in a field of stars. An Easter Egg to keep an eye out for in this scene is a constellation of Horizons' iconic Robot Butler.
Eventually, the spacecraft approaches the planet Mercury. Upon landing, riders find themselves at the entrance to - oddly enough - a mine. Our curiosity peaked, we head inside and discover goofy-looking alien miners, chipping away at the walls of the mine with pickaxes. What are they mining for? Why, Mercury, of course!
The next planet riders visit is Venus. Like Mercury, Venus is inhabited by aliens - all of whom are very attractive, blue-skinned women, with not a single man in sight (a reference to that old "men are from Mars, women are from Venus" expression). Since Venus is actually hotter than Mercury despite being further from the sun, the room is heated. The Venusians use the high temperature as an excuse to get a nice tan.
Next, it's off to Mars. Since Mars is the RED planet, naturally, the entire room is colored red. Mars' inhabitants are your typical cartoon aliens - green skin, large foreheads, big black eyes. Like Earthlings, they have their own space program, and many martians in astronaut suits can be seen climbing aboard a rocket ship. Their mission: to land in Roswell, New Mexico!
The aliens in the "Mars" section of the attraction should look very much like this.
Jupiter is our next stop. Since it's the fastest-spinning planet in the solar system, the entire room seems to rotate as we glide through. The aliens that live on Jupiter seem to be constantly dizzy, all of the spinning has caused them to go mad. As a reference to Alice in Wonderland, one alien wears a hat identical to the Mad Hatter's.
The aliens on Jupiter will look similar to this.
Saturn, according to the Imagineers I spoke with, is going to include a scene where the spacecrafts seemingly slide down the planet's iconic rings. When Chapek found out that Saturn was made of gas, he encouraged the Imagineers to include lots of fart-based humor into this scene (his exact words were "People think farting is funny, right?"). The aliens seen on Saturn resemble stinkbugs, with furry skunk-like tails, guzzling down cans of baked beans like soda. I would recommend that riders bring nose plugs.
Then it's off to Uranus, also known as "the sideways planet" because it rotates on its side. Inspired by the "upside-down house" sequence in another EPCOT attraction, Journey Into Imagination With Figment, the entire room appears to be sideways. Not only that, but since Uranus is nearly four times larger than Earth, the aliens are all gigantic. I have no idea how the Imagineers plan on pulling this scene off - they simply told me, "It'll be really, really cool."
The ride culminates in a visit to Neptune, the coldest planet in the solar system. The planet is covered with ice, and its residents are clad in winter clothing. Since Neptune shares its name with the mythical god of the sea, the aliens bear a striking resemblance to sea creatures. Two can be seen building a snowman in King Neptune's likeness.
After that, the spacecrafts land back on Earth and guests disembark into - what else - a gift shop, O.S.E.C. Outpost. Here guests will be able to get their hands on plushes, t-shirts, pins, and more merchandise featuring the ride's cast of outrageous aliens.
The Imagineers have high hopes for Galaxy Odyssey. "We're hoping that it will bring a bit of whimsy back to EPCOT," one of them told me. "It'll give younger guests something to do if they don't make the height requirement for Test Track." The attraction certainly sounds like a lot of fun to ME. If nothing else, maybe if it's successful we might get more "original" attractions not based on IPs, the kind that we haven't gotten since Expedition Everest. We'll just have to wait and see.
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