Mission Space/Mission To Mars/Horizons

[jedimaster1227]

I have lived in Orlando all of my life... my family from south Florida always comes up to go to Disney. After the Horizons ride was closed, the fence surrounding it had the teaser words: Mission To Mars... the ride was later renamed Mission Space. The same year that Horizon's destruction took place,a sci-fi movie called Mission To Mars... It was on two nights ago... the same actor that plays the ISTC training commander, also plays a mars astronaut in this movie. I was wondering if there was any connection between the two... another two evident reasons would be that the same spaceship that carries the astronauts to mars from the movie is used in a commercial for mission space, and the rotating gravity inducing wheel that is shown in the entrance to mission space, is part of the spaceship that takes the astronauts to mars.

If anyone knows anything please tell me.

 

[maxime29]

The actor's name is Gary Sinise. He's done a lot of stuff for Disney including being a narrator of the Candlelight Processional.

 

[se8472]

It was a disney film, you never know

 

[wdwdave09]

Mission Space actor

Gary Sinise was also in Apollo 13 (the movie, not the spacecraft). He played Ken Mattingly, the originally scheduled Command Module pilot, who was replaced by Jack Swigert because Mattingly was exposed to measles and doctors were afraid he would get sick in space.

Sinise has been in many Sci-Fi movies and is a big space buff like his friend, Tom Hanks. He's a natural fit to narrate the MS ride.

Hope this helps.

 

[Mission: SPACE]

Supposedly, in the early days of Mission: SPACE's history, it was supposed to tie in with the movie, but since the movie didn't do very well, the idea was scrapped.

 

[tigger248]

Supposedly, in the early days of Mission: SPACE's history, it was supposed to tie in with the movie, but since the movie didn't do very well, the idea was scrapped.

I knew there was a reason that I always called the ride Mission to Mars in its early days!

The movie was okay, but I understand why it flopped. I was forced to see it on a high school field trip. It had a really weak ending (if I recall correctly) and that was what really killed the movie.

 

[AndyP]

Gary Sinise was also in Apollo 13 (the movie, not the spacecraft). He played Ken Mattingly, the originally scheduled Command Module pilot, who was replaced by Jack Swigert because Mattingly was exposed to measles and doctors were afraid he would get sick in space.

Sinise has been in many Sci-Fi movies and is a big space buff like his friend, Tom Hanks. He's a natural fit to narrate the MS ride.

Hope this helps.

I think he's is perfect at M:S. Something about his voice that makes it seem real.

 

[Testtrack321]

I have lived in Orlando all of my life... my family from south Florida always comes up to go to Disney. After the Horizons ride was closed, the fence surrounding it had the teaser words: Mission To Mars... the ride was later renamed Mission Space. The same year that Horizon's destruction took place,a sci-fi movie called Mission To Mars... It was on two nights ago... the same actor that plays the ISTC training commander, also plays a mars astronaut in this movie. I was wondering if there was any connection between the two... another two evident reasons would be that the same spaceship that carries the astronauts to mars from the movie is used in a commercial for mission space, and the rotating gravity inducing wheel that is shown in the entrance to mission space, is part of the spaceship that takes the astronauts to mars.

If anyone knows anything please tell me.

The sign actually said "Watch this SPACE for a future announcment". It never said Mission to Mars or anything. At one point, as many have said, Disney was going to tie it in with Mission to Mars, but the movie flopped and it was removed before final approval.

 

[Indy95]

And before Pressler's budget cuts sliced the attraction in half...

 

[netenyahoo]

Pressler is evil! :fork:

 

[got2lovedisney]

It's weird that Disney would even entertain the idea of naming Mission: SPACE "Mission to Mars" considering there WAS a ride named Mission to Mars at the MK. For those of you who might now remember...it was where SGE is now. I started to watch the movie the other day and flipped to something more interesting (Cops, I think). It was pretty crappy.

 

[pfeigelm]

I do beleive that the spaceship you see hanging from the ceiling while on line is the ship from the Mars movie. Tie-In? or maybe just expedient (and cheap).

 

[Horizons1]

When Horizons first closed the wall around the building was almost solid black and in the middle of it, it said SPACE. You can see the pictures of that as well as the other variations of the wall at The Horizons Tragedy
As for the Spaceship hanging from the ceiling while your in the que, I believe they say that it is a model of the X-1 shuttle. The first shuttle type ISTC used. When you go on the attraction you ride in the X-2 shuttle.

 

[cocoabeach]

It's weird that Disney would even entertain the idea of naming Mission: SPACE "Mission to Mars" considering there WAS a ride named Mission to Mars at the MK. For those of you who might now remember...it was where SGE is now. I started to watch the movie the other day and flipped to something more interesting (Cops, I think). It was pretty crappy.

Yeah baby! Mission to Mars was the best ride! Ok, not the best but something anyway. I remember so well the old rocket that you climbed inside and then they would slowly lift the front of it and make you pretend that you were in a space rocket... the video quality was terrible.

 

[Tom]

Yeah baby! Mission to Mars was the best ride! Ok, not the best but something anyway. I remember so well the old rocket that you climbed inside and then they would slowly lift the front of it and make you pretend that you were in a space rocket... the video quality was terrible.

OMG, I know! I was 6 when i first "rode" Mission to Mars, and then again when i was 8, or so - after that it was gone. It was the WORST....ATTRACTION....EVER. You sat in a theater-in-the-round seating arrangement, very similar to SGE & AE. You looked down, like in a basketball court, toward a video on the floor, if I recall. It was absolutely awful, now that I look back - but I'm sure it was "hi-tech" for the time :lol:

 

[EpcoTim]

God I miss horizons

 

[Centrifugeer]

I do beleive that the spaceship you see hanging from the ceiling while on line is the ship from the Mars movie. Tie-In? or maybe just expedient (and cheap).

There is a model space ship (not the X-1 model, another one hanging over the queue line insside) that came from the movie Mission to Mars. As well, the gravity wheel was used to shoot some scenes in the movie. There was a definite intent to tie this attraction to the movie, initially. When the movie flopped that plan changed but it didn't stop them from giving the movie a small nod anyway by taking little bits and pieces from it, including Gary Sinise.

 

[ogryn]

Jim Hill wrote something once about how the ride is based on the film, but when the film bombed, the imagineers removed quite a few references, although some remain.

 

[matt88mph]

I was hoping for Mission:SPACE to be based on another lesser-known film,

ROCKETMAN!!!!!!

 

[HauntedPirate]

I still remember riding Mission To Mars, and the rumbling of the seats.... And I'll never forget that ride, or Horizons. MtM wasn't necessarily a classic, but it was entertaining to a space-loving kid. And Horizons.... I still love listening to the audio.