Here's an article from Orlando Sentinel (much better than the last) which has some more info: (sorry if it has already been posted).
By Robert Johnson | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted April 23, 2003
The Walt Disney Co. delivered an upbeat signal to its Central Florida theme parks on Tuesday, unveiling plans to build a new thrill ride and open other attractions aimed at drawing back tourists who have stayed away amid economic woes and fears of terrorism.
The new attractions -- a Mount Everest-themed ride at Animal Kingdom and the much-anticipated Mission: Space at Epcot -- represent a return to the company's go-go days in of the 1990s, called "The Disney Decade" by Michael Eisner, Disney's chief executive in Burbank, Calif.
Further, the projects are a sign of the company's confidence that the Walt Disney World resort is rebounding from the slowdown that began to erode the travel industry even before Sept. 11, 2001.
Many of the more recent improvements to Central Florida's four Disney theme parks have been relatively minor, such as the midway carnival-style rides at Animal Kingdom and the One Man's Dream museum-type display of Walt Disney artifacts at Disney-MGM Studios.
When Mission: Space opens -- later this year, Disney World President Al Weiss announced Tuesday -- it will be the biggest and most elaborate ride to open in any of Walt Disney World's parks since 1999, when Test Track opened at Epcot and Rock 'n' Roller Coaster debuted at MGM Studios.
Weiss also signaled confidence in the parks' performance by announcing that on Tuesday the company started accepting reservations for the long-delayed Pop Century resort. About half of its 5,700 rooms will open Dec. 14, he said.
Weiss delivered his comments to a crowd of about 100 journalists attending a fifth-anniversary celebration of Animal Kingdom, Disney's newest Central Florida park.
Mountain will rise 200 feet
As fake snow swirled about him, Weiss, dressed in a parka, released details on the Mount Everest-themed ride. It will be called Expedition Everest and occupy a man-made Himalayan Mountain 200 feet tall.
In calling the ride "our newest and largest mountain," Weiss vowed it would surpass the size -- and implicitly the thrills -- of Magic Kingdom's popular Splash Mountain and the body slides of the giant faux peaks at Blizzard Beach.
One of the Expedition's creators, Disney Imagineer Joe Rohde, said it could open as soon as fall 2005, although the official target is early 2006.
Later, standing on another stage at Epcot, Weiss gave a preview of that park's NASA-inspired Mission: Space and set Aug. 15 as its "soft opening" -- meaning the attraction, which one Disney executive described privately as an "intense motion simulator" ride, may be closed at times until the grand opening, now scheduled for October.
And in the shorter term, before either new ride opens, Weiss said in an interview, he's optimistic about Disney World's fortunes. "We expect a good, solid summer," he said. "Not great, but good."
The travel industry's rebound from Sept. 11's terrorist attacks is under way, Weiss said. "I don't think you'll see a hockey-stick recovery trend, but a gradual ramp-up," he said.
Weiss said the quick end to the war in Iraq is a major factor, coming in plenty of time for travelers to make summer plans with one less worry, but he emphasized there are other issues on the minds of vacationers: "The recession and the stock market are issues, too."
Weiss predicted that Expedition Everest willbe a "dynamite hit" and give visitors "another reason to come and to return" to Animal Kingdom, where attendance has been slumping annually since 1999, its first full year of operation.
Of Mission: Space, Weiss said, "The combination of creative and entertainment magic of Disney and the technology of Hewlett-Packard [the ride's co-creator and sponsor] will create an experience that our guests can get nowhere else in the world."
Although Disney management traditionally doesn't comment on the cost of attractions, theme-park consultants have estimated the expense to build Mission: Space and Expedition Everest at more than $100 million each.
'New rides . . . new identity'
The Expedition Everest ride should help Disney World appeal to a market it craves but doesn't usually reach: teenage and preteen youth, especially boys.
Some theme park consultants say that group often considers Disney's parks too tame. Dennis Spiegel, president of International Theme Park Services in Cincinnati, said, "New rides can give your park a new identity."
Rohde, who headed the Disney creative team on the Expedition Everest project, said the ride will be a "fast, freezing" adventure. Although the coaster's top speed will be a relatively modest 55 mph, he said, the thrills will come when riders "fall fast in the darkness and the cold."
The ride's theme "story" involves the folklore of the legendary yeti, or abominable snowman. Guests will ride an old mountain railway from the foot of Mount Everest's icy canyons for a "face-to-muzzle" showdown with the creature.
Epcot's Mission: Space ride will put four riders at a time in a space craft for what Sue Bryan, a Disney Imagineer on the attraction's creative team, said will be a "pulse-racing liftoff that takes you to the sensations of traveling through outer space on a mission to Mars."
Weiss said, "Let me tell you that I have ridden Mission: Space and it is nothing short of phenomenal."
Bryan said that some test riders have emerged from the ride to ask whether they left the building that contains the attraction. For the record, they don't.
By Robert Johnson | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted April 23, 2003
The Walt Disney Co. delivered an upbeat signal to its Central Florida theme parks on Tuesday, unveiling plans to build a new thrill ride and open other attractions aimed at drawing back tourists who have stayed away amid economic woes and fears of terrorism.
The new attractions -- a Mount Everest-themed ride at Animal Kingdom and the much-anticipated Mission: Space at Epcot -- represent a return to the company's go-go days in of the 1990s, called "The Disney Decade" by Michael Eisner, Disney's chief executive in Burbank, Calif.
Further, the projects are a sign of the company's confidence that the Walt Disney World resort is rebounding from the slowdown that began to erode the travel industry even before Sept. 11, 2001.
Many of the more recent improvements to Central Florida's four Disney theme parks have been relatively minor, such as the midway carnival-style rides at Animal Kingdom and the One Man's Dream museum-type display of Walt Disney artifacts at Disney-MGM Studios.
When Mission: Space opens -- later this year, Disney World President Al Weiss announced Tuesday -- it will be the biggest and most elaborate ride to open in any of Walt Disney World's parks since 1999, when Test Track opened at Epcot and Rock 'n' Roller Coaster debuted at MGM Studios.
Weiss also signaled confidence in the parks' performance by announcing that on Tuesday the company started accepting reservations for the long-delayed Pop Century resort. About half of its 5,700 rooms will open Dec. 14, he said.
Weiss delivered his comments to a crowd of about 100 journalists attending a fifth-anniversary celebration of Animal Kingdom, Disney's newest Central Florida park.
Mountain will rise 200 feet
As fake snow swirled about him, Weiss, dressed in a parka, released details on the Mount Everest-themed ride. It will be called Expedition Everest and occupy a man-made Himalayan Mountain 200 feet tall.
In calling the ride "our newest and largest mountain," Weiss vowed it would surpass the size -- and implicitly the thrills -- of Magic Kingdom's popular Splash Mountain and the body slides of the giant faux peaks at Blizzard Beach.
One of the Expedition's creators, Disney Imagineer Joe Rohde, said it could open as soon as fall 2005, although the official target is early 2006.
Later, standing on another stage at Epcot, Weiss gave a preview of that park's NASA-inspired Mission: Space and set Aug. 15 as its "soft opening" -- meaning the attraction, which one Disney executive described privately as an "intense motion simulator" ride, may be closed at times until the grand opening, now scheduled for October.
And in the shorter term, before either new ride opens, Weiss said in an interview, he's optimistic about Disney World's fortunes. "We expect a good, solid summer," he said. "Not great, but good."
The travel industry's rebound from Sept. 11's terrorist attacks is under way, Weiss said. "I don't think you'll see a hockey-stick recovery trend, but a gradual ramp-up," he said.
Weiss said the quick end to the war in Iraq is a major factor, coming in plenty of time for travelers to make summer plans with one less worry, but he emphasized there are other issues on the minds of vacationers: "The recession and the stock market are issues, too."
Weiss predicted that Expedition Everest willbe a "dynamite hit" and give visitors "another reason to come and to return" to Animal Kingdom, where attendance has been slumping annually since 1999, its first full year of operation.
Of Mission: Space, Weiss said, "The combination of creative and entertainment magic of Disney and the technology of Hewlett-Packard [the ride's co-creator and sponsor] will create an experience that our guests can get nowhere else in the world."
Although Disney management traditionally doesn't comment on the cost of attractions, theme-park consultants have estimated the expense to build Mission: Space and Expedition Everest at more than $100 million each.
'New rides . . . new identity'
The Expedition Everest ride should help Disney World appeal to a market it craves but doesn't usually reach: teenage and preteen youth, especially boys.
Some theme park consultants say that group often considers Disney's parks too tame. Dennis Spiegel, president of International Theme Park Services in Cincinnati, said, "New rides can give your park a new identity."
Rohde, who headed the Disney creative team on the Expedition Everest project, said the ride will be a "fast, freezing" adventure. Although the coaster's top speed will be a relatively modest 55 mph, he said, the thrills will come when riders "fall fast in the darkness and the cold."
The ride's theme "story" involves the folklore of the legendary yeti, or abominable snowman. Guests will ride an old mountain railway from the foot of Mount Everest's icy canyons for a "face-to-muzzle" showdown with the creature.
Epcot's Mission: Space ride will put four riders at a time in a space craft for what Sue Bryan, a Disney Imagineer on the attraction's creative team, said will be a "pulse-racing liftoff that takes you to the sensations of traveling through outer space on a mission to Mars."
Weiss said, "Let me tell you that I have ridden Mission: Space and it is nothing short of phenomenal."
Bryan said that some test riders have emerged from the ride to ask whether they left the building that contains the attraction. For the record, they don't.