Posting and WISH I WAS THERE!!
Here's the info from the ThemeParkAve.com site...I have some friends there staying at the Boardwalk...got to call them so I can get a first hand report...bummer living in Atlanta...to far for a day trip
I got an Instant Message from a friend at 8:30 tonight saying that SSE was open. I jumped into my car and sped over to Epcot. The wall wasn't down but they had a portion of it opened to allow guests in.
- The signs going in are brand spanking new, and they change colors.
- The vehicles now have screens on them.
- Going up it looks brand new. No crappy projections on the left side anymore. Near the top of the lift your screen will point you in the direction of a camera and tell you to show your face and smile. You'll see yourself on the screen next to the camera. Once your picture is taken the screen on your vehicles stays off until the end of the attraction.
- Judi Dench is the new narrator.
- Once at the top of the hill the projections of the caveman and mammoth are gone, but brand new projections of a caveman fighting a mammoth are now there.
- They “cave-peeps” look almost exactly the same except for the leader moves much more fluidly.
- The pharaoh's seen looks identical aside from his new crown.
- The first real noticeable difference after that is the Shakespearean actors are gone. There is now a Greek teacher with four pupils sitting down in front of him.
- The "Berries and Creme" guys that were sitting on the step near the statue are gone and the statue is totally different and is now covering her .
- The paper boy is moved and facing an empty wall for some reason. It was very odd looking and I'm not sure it will even stay there. He also has a new voice.
- The clip of Snow White is gone and there is now a full fledge theater with silhouettes of people sitting in front of the screen where the old black and white movie was shown. The family that was watching Walt Disney now has an elaborate living room and are watching the moon walk.
- Directly after, where the Japanese girl and the boy were talking over the internet is now an elaborate computer room.
- After that, there is a new garage scene -- complete with mailbox and car outside. It actually looks very, very, very haunted house-ish (think PsychoScareapy - Home For The Holidays) as you approach it. Inside is a guy sitting on a computer and we are told people started working to bring computers into our very own homes.
- The following scene -- with all the pretty lights before you see earth -- is now a matrix.
- Once you start your descent backwards the video screens turn back on and you answer a series of questions on the touch screen. "Where do you live?", "When on vacation do you worry more about your home or pets?", "Are you a planner or do you like to wing it.", etc.
- Everything from the entire descent of the ride is now stripped out and gone. In place are a bunch of trippy lights. Your attention is turned to the video screens where you see a video that’s based on your answers. I looked around and everyone around us had a different video.
All the costumes and sets look amazing. A lot of the animatronics move fantastic now and look much more lifelike. I'm not sure how much I like Judi Dench as the narrator. It has a very different tone and her narration style is very different than Jeremy Irons.
We actually broke down on the ride in front of burning Rome for about five minutes and were afraid we would be evac'd. Thankfully we weren't. It seems like the track didn't even get touched. It's still as bumpy as ever.
I was a little disappointed with the descent since it was 100% totally on screens. We also never saw anything with out picture, which is expected since its only soft openings. Overall it was a nice update to a classic attraction and once everything is up and running it will be a major success.