Rumor Siemens is going to end their sponsorship with the parks - Spaceship Earth and IllumiNations

gustaftp

gustaftp

Well-Known Member
Goofyernmost said:
I don't want to sound insulting, but, just like Sounds Dangerous, it seems to me the that general public just doesn't get the purpose or the message. The screens are an example of current communication technology. Had that been first introduced in 1982 everyones jaw would still be wide open from the revolutionary thing that was happening. You are riding in a familiar train type vehicle. At the beginning you go up an incline and a picture is taken. You continue the ride and there on the end your face shows up on an individual screen and is later displayed on a huge screen after you exit the ride all timed to be right where you are at the time. We have become so jaded with technology that we cannot see just how great that event was and how, when it came to communication it was a pretty recent development. 15 years before that wouldn't have been even remotely possible. However, instead of thinking man that is cool, (even if corny) we are upset because a few projected scenes, technology dating back years and years, is considered something special, but, that part, which was anything but inexpensive is considered a cheap substitute. I believe Martin when he says that there were other things that were left out, for whatever reason they had, but, something that doesn't exist is no more impressive then a technology that does. Yet, we can't see past that. It's like saying.... if only I had been born rich instead of incredibly good looking.

The same thing applied to Sounds Dangerous. We went to an attraction whose purpose was to emphasize sound effects. Remember the sound effects show, previously. Or maybe that was the problem. It was a very daring attempt. A movie starts and gives you an image that you are watching. Then after all the basics have been covered you lose the visual and the rest of the story is told completely through sound. The story actually works, we can visualize in our minds everything that is happening because of the sounds that we are hearing. Nope... completely missed by the public. Why did the show half a movie and then stop it... how lame. I didn't want to hear it I wanted to see it. My, my didn't we just go to a sound effects show more graphic then any other one ever shown. Guess not!

Another that was lesser was the objection to Test Track early on. No real story, just a ride... big deal. Never once taking into consideration that the focus of the attraction was the car. You allowed yourself to ride in a car that didn't have a driver. It was completely controlled by a computer. It went fast, it went slow. it slammed on the brakes, all with no driver. You didn't think that there was a person in a booth making each car do those things by remote control did you. Yet, no one was seeing the technology that enabled that machine to reach speeds of 64 miles per hours with no one at the wheel (there was no wheel, that was the only thing done mechanically by the slot in the floor steering the vehicle) and no one died or went zooming off the track into a deadly pile of scrap plastic and people. The car was the attraction.

It just seems to me that we are so overloaded with technology that we fail to see the obvious unless someone is whispering in our ear telling us what is impressive. Perhaps Disney should just go back to standard omni-mover attraction with simple age old illusions, like Peppers Ghost. The rest seems to be wasted on us. That is how I see it, others may not. Doesn't matter... I was able to enjoy the "dumb" screens, the sounds that told the story and the machine operating without a human at the wheel. That is all that I needed.
Click to expand...

The thing is, they need to explain it. When it isn't explained, it goes over people's heads. I mean, how many people look at the UoE building and understood that the angle, direction, and solar panel on the roof communicate that this was about energy? How many people will understand how cool the underlying technology of Test Track is if it is not explained that these are computer-controlled cars?

I am a tour guide for the cathedral in my town. I point out many significant symbolic elements that are used throughout the building's architecture and artwork, because otherwise people simply do not understand what they mean, or simply do not think much about the underlying meaning.

As far as touch screens at the end, I fully see how earth-shattering that was in 1982. They used to have the WorldKey touch screens at the end of the ride. These days, that is simply something we take for granted, because nearly everyone has a touchscreen in their pockets. So, while it has been refined, it no longer has that "wow" it would've in 1982.
 
Tom Morrow

Tom Morrow

Well-Known Member
Goofyernmost said:
I don't want to sound insulting, but, just like Sounds Dangerous, it seems to me the that general public just doesn't get the purpose or the message. The screens are an example of current communication technology. Had that been first introduced in 1982 everyones jaw would still be wide open from the revolutionary thing that was happening. You are riding in a familiar train type vehicle. At the beginning you go up an incline and a picture is taken. You continue the ride and there on the end your face shows up on an individual screen and is later displayed on a huge screen after you exit the ride all timed to be right where you are at the time. We have become so jaded with technology that we cannot see just how great that event was and how, when it came to communication it was a pretty recent development. 15 years before that wouldn't have been even remotely possible. However, instead of thinking man that is cool, (even if corny) we are upset because a few projected scenes, technology dating back years and years, is considered something special, but, that part, which was anything but inexpensive is considered a cheap substitute. I believe Martin when he says that there were other things that were left out, for whatever reason they had, but, something that doesn't exist is no more impressive then a technology that does. Yet, we can't see past that. It's like saying.... if only I had been born rich instead of incredibly good looking.
Click to expand...
The theme of current Spaceship Earth is not about the history of communication like before though, just innovations. If they were trying to make a statement with the screens about current communication technology, then they would have made it more apparent, not simply use them to show you a terrible flash cartoon that was most definitely intended to be a post-show kiosk exhibit.

In the long list of head-scratching and short-sighted decisions made by TDO, the current SSE descent is easily near the top.
 
Goofyernmost

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
Sorry that you folks missed out on the message. I didn't and in spite of an iffy opinion of the downward display since day one. I found that the current one was far more relevant to modern technology in communications than anything that proceeded it. There used to be an old saying that was (not literally) You go to your church, I'll go to mine. Maybe I just enjoy new and creative. It may be true and that is what I said, that the purposes were missed by many, that was my point. I'm just happy, I didn't miss it. It made it all a lot more fun.
 
smile

smile

Well-Known Member
Goofyernmost said:
Maybe I just enjoy new and creative.
Click to expand...

and yet you find worth in its virtual antithesis

consider yourself blessed to have received the message, oh great seer, but your perspective is blasphemous to my partisan brothers and sisters who believe current decent was neither the day it opened or at any time during the three thousand, six hundred seventy-nine days since

but, who cares on that...
question is, what now?
 
Last edited:
t3techcom18

t3techcom18

Well-Known Member
RSoxNo1 said:
I've heard a loud banging noise while riding that I assumed was the actual ride system. Are you suggesting it was computer related?
Click to expand...

To be completely honest, I'd have to hear the noise in question to know exactly what it is. Just like a car, it has a load of noises for each thing or issue and sometimes, you can figure it out just by listening.
 
trainplane3

trainplane3

Well-Known Member
t3techcom18 said:
To be completely honest, I'd have to hear the noise in question to know exactly what it is. Just like a car, it has a load of noises for each thing or issue and sometimes, you can figure it out just by listening.
Click to expand...
I think I've heard what he's talking about. It's kind of like a subtle "boom-boom" as you stroll along. Kind of like a speed bump. Not super loud but you can hear it if you're as easily distracted as I am.
 
mikejs78

mikejs78

Premium Member
Goofyernmost said:
Sorry that you folks missed out on the message. I didn't and in spite of an iffy opinion of the downward display since day one. I found that the current one was far more relevant to modern technology in communications than anything that proceeded it. There used to be an old saying that was (not literally) You go to your church, I'll go to mine. Maybe I just enjoy new and creative. It may be true and that is what I said, that the purposes were missed by many, that was my point. I'm just happy, I didn't miss it. It made it all a lot more fun.
Click to expand...
I don't necessarily mind the idea of the screens or the interactive element - I just think it was poorly executed and the scope of it way to small - it wasn't a grand vision like the previous descents had. To me the problem isn't the use of the technology, it's the lack of an inspiring story to attach on to - which is what made the previous descents so compelling.
 
Tom Morrow

Tom Morrow

Well-Known Member
Goofyernmost said:
Sorry that you folks missed out on the message. I didn't and in spite of an iffy opinion of the downward display since day one. I found that the current one was far more relevant to modern technology in communications than anything that proceeded it. There used to be an old saying that was (not literally) You go to your church, I'll go to mine. Maybe I just enjoy new and creative. It may be true and that is what I said, that the purposes were missed by many, that was my point. I'm just happy, I didn't miss it. It made it all a lot more fun.
Click to expand...
Can you explain the supposed connection between the mounted screens and the narrative of the ride? Because I think you are seeing a message where there is none. It wasn't even new and creative tech in 2007. Touch screens had already been around for decades. Smartphones were literally just emerging at the debut of this SSE version so it was not a statement on how in a few years we would all have little touch screen computers in our pockets. Image capture and the tech used in the cartoon had been online for a few years.

To me the only value added by the screens is the ability for riders to choose their language.
 
Last edited:
Goofyernmost

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
Tom Morrow said:
Can you explain the supposed connection between the mounted screens and the narrative of the ride? Because I think you are seeing a message where there is none. It wasn't even new and creative tech in 2007. Touch screens had already been around for decades. Smartphones were literally just emerging at the debut of this SSE version so it was not a statement on how in a few years we would all have little touch screen computers in our pockets. Image capture and the tech used in the cartoon had been online for a few years.

To me the only value added by the screens is the ability for riders to choose their language.
Click to expand...
If you don't see it, nothing I can say will convince you, so no I'm not going to explain how much computers and that technology affected communications. There are no hard wires attached to those screens, it finds us and it communicates with us personally. You don't see that, OK! To you it doesn't matter, but, it's there and all anyone has to do is not be so closed minded about change and see it. No explanation necessary. All you see are touch screens, I see a whole lot more.
 
Goofyernmost

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
mikejs78 said:
I don't necessarily mind the idea of the screens or the interactive element - I just think it was poorly executed and the scope of it way to small - it wasn't a grand vision like the previous descents had. To me the problem isn't the use of the technology, it's the lack of an inspiring story to attach on to - which is what made the previous descents so compelling.
Click to expand...
Please explain to me what was so damn compelling about the previous descents, because that was lost on me. I didn't hate it, but, it was never anything that I thought was great and couldn't wait to see again.
 
marni1971

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
Goofyernmost said:
Please explain to me what was so damn compelling about the previous descents, because that was lost on me. I didn't hate it, but, it was never anything that I thought was great and couldn't wait to see again.
Click to expand...
Like many things my friend, if you don’t get it you don’t get it. Nothing wrong with that. I don’t get Frozenstrom but many do. Many saw a grand, inspiring finale pre 2007 and some didn’t. Nothing wrong with that.

Perhaps a good analogy that’s been used before would be imagine ripping out the Haunted Mansions graveyard, putting some fairy lights in and having you look at a LCD screen onboard your omnimover instead.
 
Last edited:
Goofyernmost

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
marni1971 said:
Like many things my friend, if you don’t get it you don’t get it. Nothing wrong with that. I don’t get Frozenstrom but many do. Many saw a grand, inspiring finale pre 2007 and some didn’t. Nothing wrong with that.

Perhaps a good analogy that’s been used before would be imagine ripping out the Haunted Mansions graveyard, putting some fairy lights in and having you look at a LCD screen onboard your omnimover instead.
Click to expand...
And if that descent were even a little like the graveyard in HM I would be right on the bandwagon with you. But, it wasn't! Not a good analogy, Martin. The old descent wasn't even as good as the interactive stuff currently in the queue at HM. It was just a series of pictures depicting the uses of technology at the time. Those LCD screens took it a step further before the advent of the social media available today. Things like Snapchat, Instagram and even Facebook. It was a cartoon show of the future that had barely scratch the surface at the time it was put in there. I never said it was the best thing that they could have done in there, but, it was far more futuristic and impressive then what was there by the time the change was made. But, like you said, some see it for what it was and others don't. Such is life.
 
Goofyernmost

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
smile said:
why?

apprarently it just wasn't new and creative enough for you... move on, already
Click to expand...
OK, as long as you take your own advice. Seems to me if one is asked a question it shouldn't surprise any if there is an answer though. I was asked a question! (And it doesn't have to agree with your opinion to be valid) Even you just asked me why? Was that supposed to end it or did I not get that memo.
 
smile

smile

Well-Known Member
Goofyernmost said:
OK, as long as you take your own advice. Seems to me if one is asked a question it shouldn't surprise any if there is an answer though. I was asked a question! (And it doesn't have to agree with your opinion to be valid) Even you just asked me why? Was that supposed to end it or did I not get that memo.
Click to expand...

why are you asking him to explain to you what's so damn compelling when it was your idea for us to be happy in our respective churches?
...you know whatever the response, you're not changing your mind.

do as you say, but not as you do?

and he wasn't asking a question either, just merely giving his opinion and you jumped on him
- thought you were going to 'agree to disagree', but guess i was wrong
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom