Poor Mission: Space

[acishere]

I never noticed a smell when I rode M:S. And I only ride the orange side (Might as well go big). There are many rides at Disney that can induce motion sickness and therefore can result in a protein spill. By your logic wouldn't we have to get rid of them too?

 

[Chef Mickey]

There is no smell and if there was, it was just a one off type thing. No reason to tear it down.

Mission Space died a little when they had to waste half the ride with "Green Team."

I think the attraction is well themed and pretty cool. An update would do some good, but I think they could utilize the same ride system. The movie could be updated and the entire thing could be re-imagined with a new mission and different, perhaps somewhat less intense motion simulations.

I find it quite tame, even when it was a full 3G (I believe) experience. It's sad it has been dumbed down so much and that's really what makes it less than it was. As usual, Disney has kept the current video too long and wasted an innovative ride system and themed area.

Updating it would do a lot of good.

 

[Chef Mickey]

Now I'm fired up...

Not updating Mission: Space is yet another example of lazy park management by Disney.

It's not that the ride is bad...it's awesome. Look at the outside...it looks so nice. It has a ton of theming and detail.

The only problem is Disney, as usual, lets stuff get too long in the tooth. Then they'll just take it all away and build something else. They seriously could spend a quarter of the money and utilize the current ride system to develop a new badass "MISSION: HYPERSPACE" or whatever.

Please, don't take it away.

 

[ScoutN]

I would ride M:S over that overblown car commercial of a ride any day of the year, week, month, century, etc. Hands down is the most immersive surreal launch experience available to the public anywhere. Great queue to show off history and space technology and actually learn something; I understand that many are turned off to learning in 2014, though.

Never have a smelt vomit or seen anyone vomit on that ride, RnR on the other hand I have seen many puke their guts out afterwards. M:S > all.

 

[Bairstow]

Never smelled vomit there.
Never vomited myself either, though I did try looking to the right during a ride on Orange Team once. I didn't become sick, but I did feel like crap for half an hour afterwards- sort of like a bad hangover minus the stomach problems...

Anyway, Mission Space is lame and probably always will be. The ride has two unfixable problems:

1. The hardware never did and never could produce actual "weightlessness" as claimed and truly high G-forces are unsuitable for most guest experiences.

2. The alleged "interactive" elements are not only lies, but also impossible due to the ride hardware; there's no way for guest actions to effect the physical ride experience. You can't very well spin up or even turn one pod on the centrifuge without doing the same to the others. All but the youngest children will see through the sham interactivity immediately and get a bad taste in their mouths, and not in the way @PeterAlt is expecting.

 

[stevehousse]

There are quite a few warnings. Could vision have been impaired by margaritas?

This was before they offered the green version and it had just opened and if the signs ha said anything about spinning, I wouldn't have gone on!

 

[Goofyernmost]

Anyway, Mission Space is lame and probably always will be. The ride has two unfixable problems:

1. The hardware never did and never could produce actual "weightlessness" as claimed and truly high G-forces are unsuitable for most guest experiences.

2. The alleged "interactive" elements are not only lies, but also impossible due to the ride hardware; there's no way for guest actions to effect the physical ride experience. You can't very well spin up or even turn one pod on the centrifuge without doing the same to the others. All but the youngest children will see through the sham interactivity immediately and get a bad taste in their mouths, and not in the way @PeterAlt is expecting.

It's a theme park ride. How can anyone expect to be singularly in control of an attached module with others on board. What they did do was a good job of allowing you to have the illusion of making a difference. If you push the buttons when told, there is a reaction, pre-programed yes, but it is the best that can be done under the restrictions of the ride itself. Weightlessness, actual? When you are only a few inches above the planet with gravity? Again, an illusion, but, indeed a tough one to simulate. The orange side has a much better chance of creating that illusion then the green side, but, your imagination has to join forces with the story in order to have that illusion even slightly work.

This was before they offered the green version and it had just opened and if the signs ha said anything about spinning, I wouldn't have gone on!

I believe it did say that, in many locations. You must have missed it. If nothing else it did state not only at the ride but in the promotion that it was a centrifuge. Centrifuge and spin are almost exactly the same word.

 

[ChrisFL]

There is no smell and if there was, it was just a one off type thing. No reason to tear it down.

Mission Space died a little when they had to waste half the ride with "Green Team."

I think the attraction is well themed and pretty cool. An update would do some good, but I think they could utilize the same ride system. The movie could be updated and the entire thing could be re-imagined with a new mission and different, perhaps somewhat less intense motion simulations.

I find it quite tame, even when it was a full 3G (I believe) experience. It's sad it has been dumbed down so much and that's really what makes it less than it was. As usual, Disney has kept the current video too long and wasted an innovative ride system and themed area.

Updating it would do a lot of good.

I'm of the opposite opinion, the adding of the Green side SAVED the ride, because it allowed a lot more people to experience it without being sick or dying. As it stood, with word of mouth and bad publicity, it was losing popularity very quickly. Even now the wait times are miniscule compared to Test Track and Soarin' (capacity differences taken into account.)

I'm still not a fan of it...the concept is great, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired.

Here's what they should have done:

• Made a different type of ride system, but since that's a bit of a stretch....made the "green" side available from the beginning.
• Have different missions you can take part in, not just Mars
• Have the ability to push those buttons in the cockpit and actually SEE something happen...there's a lot of cool switches and buttons, but none of them do anything.
• Improve the exit area with something else, not just for little kids.

 

[frontman]

I think mission space is a fantastic ride... but I rarely ride it due to being claustrophobic. Rode it once when it first opened and was blown away by how amazing and unique the ride is. I took my daughter on the green side a couple years back and had a full on panic attack once they closed me in the pod... I kept it together for my daughters sake... thank goodness it's relatively short (and thank u xanax!). Were it not for being locked up in a tight space it would probably be one of my favorites in all wdw. I just wish it was part of a larger pavilion/land with another attraction or so. That whole side of future world is severely lacking in attractions, restaurants, etc. There are no complete pavilions over there...

what is this Bradbury plan you speak of....?

 

[BEARSHOUSE4]

I just returned from a week at WDW. I took my 9 yr old daughter on the Orange side, and she LOVED it. No ill effects....I then got right back on it with my 5 yr old daughter (her first ride) on the Green side. She also loved it and did not feel any ill effects. I will say, riding twice back to back on different teams, I felt a little weird afterwards, but nothing to puke over.....Love the ride!

 

[Bairstow]

It's a theme park ride. How can anyone expect to be singularly in control of an attached module with others on board.

Well, probably because they tell you you're in control. Over and over again.
Once you take a look at the ride hardware you realize the impossibility of doing this, but the average guest isn't going to figure that out. What the average guest WILL notice is that they spend most of the preshow and a lot of the ride telling you it is possible for guest actions to influence... something. This is going to be really disappointing to your typical video game playing kid. Few things are more frustrating than being told that an experience is interactive when it's not. Imagine going on Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger spin and figuring out after a couple seconds that the guns don't actually do anything. How many times are you going to want to ride that.

What they did do was a good job of allowing you to have the illusion of making a difference. If you push the buttons when told, there is a reaction, pre-programed yes, but it is the best that can be done under the restrictions of the ride itself.

I disagree. If they were limited to audio/visual queues of success or failure based on guest input they should have made this happen instead of doing nothing. So, not only is the alleged interactivity a sham, they were too lazy to implement any kind of workaround.

Weightlessness, actual? When you are only a few inches above the planet with gravity? Again, an illusion, but, indeed a tough one to simulate. The orange side has a much better chance of creating that illusion then the green side, but, your imagination has to join forces with the story in order to have that illusion even slightly work.

That's all well and good, but if the ride hardware is so fundamentally limited maybe they shouldn't have sunk $100 million dollars into an attraction based on it.

 

[Hakunamatata]

This was before they offered the green version and it had just opened and if the signs ha said anything about spinning, I wouldn't have gone on!

Not only did they have signs, I'm pretty sure the pre ride video included info as well.

 

[Chef Mickey]

I'm of the opposite opinion, the adding of the Green side SAVED the ride, because it allowed a lot more people to experience it without being sick or dying. As it stood, with word of mouth and bad publicity, it was losing popularity very quickly. Even now the wait times are miniscule compared to Test Track and Soarin' (capacity differences taken into account.)

I'm still not a fan of it...the concept is great, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired.

Here's what they should have done:

• Made a different type of ride system, but since that's a bit of a stretch....made the "green" side available from the beginning.
• Have different missions you can take part in, not just Mars
• Have the ability to push those buttons in the cockpit and actually SEE something happen...there's a lot of cool switches and buttons, but none of them do anything.
• Improve the exit area with something else, not just for little kids.

I don't disagree that the green side is good for some riders, but it's not the essence of the ride and certainly doesn't take advantage of its original intent. This was a revolutionary type ride when it came out and can still be improved with some updates including some of the suggestions like button pushing you mentioned.

 

[Bairstow]

I don't disagree that the green side is good for some riders, but it's not the essence of the ride and certainly doesn't take advantage of its original intent. This was a revolutionary type ride when it came out and can still be improved with some updates including some of the suggestions like button pushing you mentioned.

I think "revolutionary" is a bit of a stretch (unless you were being literal).

Mission:Space might have been acceptable if it was in the post-show of a better attraction.
In fact, the more I think about it, that's exactly what it feels like.

 

[surfsupdon]

You should have seen this board when MS was in construction, testing, and opening phases. Dozens and dozens of usernamaes popped up with "ISTC, MS, MissionSpace, Space, etc" and all praised the ride for being "the first true F-ticket ride." Talking about the "mounting suspense" as you went room to room by preshow, and how elaborate the post show was. I remember being amazed at these descriptions.

It's not an F-ticket. Especially when you empty out into a centrifuge and down a long, white walled, carpeted hallway.

It's a fun ride, yes, and I will always ride the intense side, but I do smirk when I compare the comments from now to then.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Well, probably because they tell you you're in control. Over and over again.
Once you take a look at the ride hardware you realize the impossibility of doing this, but the average guest isn't going to figure that out. What the average guest WILL notice is that they spend most of the preshow and a lot of the ride telling you it is possible for guest actions to influence... something. This is going to be really disappointing to your typical video game playing kid. Few things are more frustrating than being told that an experience is interactive when it's not. Imagine going on Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger spin and figuring out after a couple seconds that the guns don't actually do anything. How many times are you going to want to ride that.

I disagree. If they were limited to audio/visual queues of success or failure based on guest input they should have made this happen instead of doing nothing. So, not only is the alleged interactivity a sham, they were too lazy to implement any kind of workaround.

That's all well and good, but if the ride hardware is so fundamentally limited maybe they shouldn't have sunk $100 million dollars into an attraction based on it.

I think you are asking a bit too much from a theme park ride. How exactly would that be accomplished?

 

[Bairstow]

I think you are asking a bit too much from a theme park ride. How exactly would that be accomplished?

1. If guest input can't change the attraction experience, don't tell them it will.

2. If guest input can't influence the motion of the attraction, allow it to change the audio/visual component.
Horizons figured out a way to do this 31 years ago.
In Mission:Space's case, each successful or failed input should change the movie the guests are watching on the screen. Use branching storylines. Star Tours 2 does this in the parks currently but the technology to make this work and work reliably is at least as old as the laser-disc.

 

[Goofyernmost]

1. If guest input can't change the attraction experience, don't tell them it will.

2. If guest input can't influence the motion of the attraction, allow it to change the audio/visual component.
Horizons figured out a way to do this 31 years ago.
In Mission:Space's case, each succcessful or failed input should change the movie the guests are watching on the screen. Use branching storylines. Star Tours 2 does this in the parks currently but the technology to make this work is at least as old as the laserdisc.

I heard it a number of times, but, never once did I not understand what was meant by it. Does everything have to be spelled out letter by letter.

There may be a system someplace to make a tailored experience for individuals, but you will notice that there are 3 other seats in that module. The absolute lamest part of Horizons was the ending. So you could pick your ending, how satisfying was that? How much control other that choice did you have? Did the outcome ever change? Which one of you gets to negatively or positively control the outcome? Common sense must be applied here. Mission: Space was designed and planned to be what it is. You do, if you want participate and you use your imagination to involve yourself in the ride. There is no other way other then shooting the module actually into outer space to do it differently. Star Tours makes the decision about what you experience, you don't.

This really is a non-issue and I don't intend to continue it anymore.

 

[mikeymouse]

I was just on M:S and didn't smell any vomit. I was pretty disappointed I wasn't able to ride. The console came back and once it hit my belly, it would reverse. They couldn't get it to secure, so I couldn't ride. Guess I gotta lose some weight before my next trip!!

 

[Chef Mickey]

I think "revolutionary" is a bit of a stretch (unless you were being literal).

Mission:Space might have been acceptable if it was in the post-show of a better attraction.
In fact, the more I think about it, that's exactly what it feels like.

I think you are not giving it the credit it deserves...it may not be revolutionary anymore, but it's a pretty amazing attraction that's over 10 years old. It does need an update but it was so intense, it had to be scaled back. The ride was and is still pretty damn cool. It has a great first timer build up.