... but everything I heard was that Siemens was very unhappy with the descent and went to Disney and basically said 'we're spending millions to be a sponsor here and this isn't acceptable' so Disney was coughing up the money.
Apparently that was true, up to a point. They did add stuff to the descent (more triangles, lighting, improved animation) for quite a while. It seems now that Disney feels that it is at a point that they don't need to continue the work, as the effort and money (what little it was) will be better used elsewhere in FW. Enough work has been done that when some extra money does shake loose, SSE could be finished rather easily.
Either way, it sounds absurd to think either party spent however much they have tinkering in there behind curtains and under darkness only to say 'nah, let's just leave it and we can get back to it in six months or 2011 or 2014 or never.
I thought so, too. But it seems that when Cockrell decided to move on other things, SSE was an easy target to shut down. After all, they declared it "finished", and other than folks like us, nobody knows anything is missing.
How was the trip? You doing an observations thread?
The trip? Wet. Endlessly wet.
I don't tend to do observation threads or trip reports, so I'll just toss the odd comments into established threads...even going off topic, like this:
SM- Enough porta-johns on site to handle an army.
EE - No steam. Disco yeti. No blowing snow. Just sad.
Imag - Ride got off sync near the smell area. Effects, audio and vehicles not in sync at all. Smell was there before the vehicles, and the audio never really kicked in. Needs help...no, needs demolition.
PoTC - Audio was lower than usual. Couldn't make out what Jack was saying at all.
Manta - Phenomenal. Top notch theme, exterior appearance, queue and ride.
Best coaster in Orlando...at least for the next six weeks or so...maybe longer.
