Loop Holes in Mission: SPACE

[The Empress Lilly]

Mission: Space is supposed to be an E-ticket. To that standard, it shouldn't be "right there in with the rest of Epcot" in terms of wait times. Whether it actually has a wait, be it 10, 15, 25 minutes is irrelevant. To say that it rarely has a wait compared to that of TT and Soarin (the other E-tickets) is factually accurate.

But wait times isn't the sole, or even best, measure of popularity. That is rider count. This number being safely guarded, the next best thing is capacity. M:S, to its credit, has a decent 1600 guests per hour. As compared to Test Track's 1200. So if 1600 people every hour want to do the FW East Thrill Combo, then M:S will have a permanent 'no wait' status, and TT a line that will soon stretch to SSE. TT's queue adds 400 people, twenty minutes waiting time, per hour. TT would give the impression of being much more popular, despite both rides being equally in demand.

Then add in the curious factor that lines beget lines at Disney. The longer the lines, the more people want to ride. Herd animals we are - 'if they are all standing in line, it must be pretty good'. People covet the smaller capacity ride out of sheer scarcity of supply, long wait times creating an impression of desireability.


As goes without saying, EPCOT Center was superior in this respect too. Horizons alone had an hourly capacity as large as....M:S and Test Track combined!

 

[The Empress Lilly]

I also feel that the only thing that throws people off about whether or not you "actually" went to Mars is that Gary Sinese says "Welcome to Mars! ... and welcome to the astronaut force!" at the end of the ride. What he's really saying is "congratulations, you made it to Mars in the training simulation."

"Señoras y señores, welcome back to the Plaza's 'Pirate Simulator'. We hope you enjoyed our training mission to the fake town with pirate dolls, and hope you can put to good use the knowledge gained in an actual Pirate attack."

 

[Cosmic Commando]

But wait times isn't the sole, or even best, measure of popularity. That is rider count. This number being safely guarded, the next best thing is capacity. M:S, to its credit, has a decent 1600 guests per hour. As compared to Test Track's 1200.

Does TT really only get 1200 per hour? Al Lutz says Radiator Springs Racers moves 1750 per hour.

 

[flynnibus]

You can pick up toggle switches for a couple bucks at Home Depot. It's actually hooking them to stuff that costs $$$.

Point me to another major theme park ride with a cabin like M:S's where you can actually touch, switch, play, and actually interact with. I know you all say 'I wish it did more..' - look at an actual comparison of what most ride vehicles look like and look at M:S again

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Does TT really only get 1200 per hour? Al Lutz says Radiator Springs Racers moves 1750 per hour.

RSR is more like TT2.0?

I did a quick Google search just now. I guess the best estimate for TT is 1300-1500. For reasons of reliability, ops doesn't like to have too many cars dispatched at once, so TT operates closer to 1300 most of the time.
Maybe an expert will come around to give us definite numbers.

As for the ride counts, I consulted with some folks and turns out it's between 1300-a lil more than 1500. Reason I say between those numbers is because it depends on how many cars are on the Track at any one time. You can have up to a maximum of 27 out of 35 cars if need be; however, Ops likes to keep it running at between 20-25. If it's 25 and higher, the more increased chance you'll have of cascading, so for show purposes, it's good to be kept between 20-25.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Point me to another major theme park ride with a cabin like M:S's where you can actually touch, switch, play, and actually interact with. I know you all say 'I wish it did more..' - look at an actual comparison of what most ride vehicles look like and look at M:S again

In a way, M:S might be a victim of its own succes here. M:S does add all sorts of buttons and flicks and sticks to the ride vehicle. But as none of these actually do anything, the passivity of sitting in a ride vehicle is ultimately more pronounced than by sitting in a passive log or doombuggie with no buttons at all.

Add a steering wheel to a doombuggie, and suddenly riders will complain they have no actual control over their buggie. Just a poitnless steering wheel. Whereas before, nobody ever cared for, or thought about, steering their doombuggie left or right.

Weird, really. Maybe the law of unforeseen consequences. M:S works harder, provides a more intricate ride vehicle than most others, but ends up feeling more passive because of it.

(I don't mean to nitpick here, I'm just on my quest of trying to understand why Disney parks work like they do, or even why they don't)

 

[Goofyernmost]

Mission: Space is supposed to be an E-ticket. To that standard, it shouldn't be "right there in with the rest of Epcot" in terms of wait times. Whether it actually has a wait, be it 10, 15, 25 minutes is irrelevant. To say that it rarely has a wait compared to that of TT and Soarin (the other E-tickets) is factually accurate. And that was the whole point of saying Mission:Space rarely has a wait. As you said, where else are you going to ride a centrifuge? Don't you think something that unique would attract longer lines?

Whether it has long waits on a holiday is also irrelevant, because basically everything has a long wait on those days. Heck, even in your photo, Malestrom and the Epcot Character Spot both had longer waits than Mission: Space Green Team.

I think the short lines stem from the initial word that the ride was "too intense." Many people rode unaware of the likelyhood of motion sickness and were shocked by the intense G-force. That, coupled with the tragic deaths, are the reasons why I feel the lines are rarely long. Now, I personally love the attraction. The lift-off portion just never gets old. And really I shouldn't be complaining. Short lines means I can just experience one of my favorite attractions faster! Simple as that.

Mission Space is a continuing victim of the problems and deaths that happened in the early days of it. G-forces are real and people didn't take it seriously, and some died or got very sick. That was all you heard about or read about just after it opened. For the longest time it was almost deserted. People were afraid to ride it. What if I have a hidden problem and this ride kills me? That has faded a bit and the start up of the green side helped to get it going again, but if those incidents hadn't happened in the beginning it would probably have the same crowd problems as the other two.

It is, in my mind, an awesome ride. If you push the buttons at the time they say and if you allow your ability to play the game to kick in, your actions do indeed create a perceived reaction. It's just plain fun. It doesn't last long but I defy someone to tell me where you get a matching experience anywhere.

 

[Texas84]

I never understood the hate for Mission: Space. Unlike, say, Soarin', Mission: Space has all the ingredients of a proper, modern Disney E-Ticket. An actual story, a fictional setting with a fictional institution, in this case, the ISTC.

I also feel that the only thing that throws people off about whether or not you "actually" went to Mars is that Gary Sinese says "Welcome to Mars! ... and welcome to the astronaut force!" at the end of the ride. What he's really saying is "congratulations, you made it to Mars in the training simulation." Both pre-show videos state multiple times that you are doing a flight training simulation to prepare for the first manned mission to Mars. The second video specifically states that, in this simulation, robotic teams have already established your landing site. The ride system and capsules are not "themed" because you are not "actually" getting in to a rocket.

There really aren't any "loopholes".

Well, again, when it opened they didn't use the 'simulation' word. It was "You're really going to freaking Mars and if yer skeered git out now!" I guess that was scaring people and they decided to tone it down. That explains the ending. They didn't change the ride dialogue to match the new pre-show. Easy to change the pre-show. Not so much for the ride. Why would you simulate going over a cliff?

 

[Tom Morrow]

I think we need video of the opening version to verify that. They've added additional warnings but I don't think it was ever not specifically a training simulation.

Also, Test Track dispatches a car just over every 12 seconds. That puts it at being capable of about almost 1800 people an hour. RSR has almost the exact same station and dispatch set-up, just with an added wheelchair station.

 

[Enchantâmes]

I am so glad my little thread was such a success I should do this more often.

 

[wiigirl]

You can pick up toggle switches for a couple bucks at Home Depot. It's actually hooking them to stuff that costs $$$.

Lol....theres an idea!!

 

[Avenger117]

Off-Topic: The Mission: Space preshow is one of my favorite moments in a Disney attraction. People love to talk about immersion on this site. I realize it's very theatrical, but I can't help feeling like an astronaut because the lighting, the actors in the briefing video, and the music brilliantly induce a sense of adventure. I know that Mission: Space gets a lot of flak on this site, but it's one of my favorite attractions in WDW.

I am a big fan of it too. I think sometimes you have to love space and have wanted to be an astronaut when you were a kid to like it. I have never understood why its so disliked though.

 

[Enchantâmes]

I think the conclusion here is the ride is a waste of space and all those who oppose this truth are people who enjoy 2 and half men.

 

[janoimagine]

I think they should tear down the whole thing and try putting some actual effort into creating a good attraction but that's just me.

What you need to realize is what we got was only 1/3 of the entire concepted attraction ... you can thank budget cuts and suits for that.

 

[I_heart_Tigger]

I ignored the obvious trolling on here but managed to see a couple of posts by people who said they "had" to push the buttons. Please tell me I'm not the only one who reaches over to an empty seat when only 2 people are in your shuttle and pushes those buttons, too.

 

[Enchantâmes]

I ignored the obvious trolling on here but managed to see a couple of posts by people who said they "had" to push the buttons. Please tell me I'm not the only one who reaches over to an empty seat when only 2 people are in your shuttle and pushes those buttons, too.

Well you are no fun.

 

[I_heart_Tigger]

Well you are no fun.

Why! Because I like to push other peoples buttons?

 

[Goofyernmost]

I ignored the obvious trolling on here but managed to see a couple of posts by people who said they "had" to push the buttons. Please tell me I'm not the only one who reaches over to an empty seat when only 2 people are in your shuttle and pushes those buttons, too.

No you are the only one!

 

[The Empress Lilly]

I ignored the obvious trolling on here but managed to see a couple of posts by people who said they "had" to push the buttons. Please tell me I'm not the only one who reaches over to an empty seat when only 2 people are in your shuttle and pushes those buttons, too.

I did M:S one night, it was late, I wanted one more ride, so I ran over on my own.
The ride was nearly empty, I ended up riding with some unknown kid. About ten or eleven. Bless the lad, he was totally into it. Just the two of us in the cabin. We totally divided tasks between us and had that thing under control. We didn't miss any assignment, including several of our own that we made up. What a blast!

 

[Tom Morrow]

I think the conclusion here is the ride is a waste of space and all those who oppose this truth are people who enjoy 2 and half men.

What?! The audacity!!