SPACE MOUNTAIN- I assure you, we are SOFT re-OPEN!!!

krankenstein

krankenstein

Well-Known Member
mickey2008.1 said:
So far it all looks pretty good. what i dont understand from a few posters, is other than on board audio, how would you want TDO to actually change the ride? No one likes DLs version. And WDWS is to rough, but the layout is great. Now its supposedly smoother, until i ride it and find out. This is not about preshow or post show, just the actual ride, which is very exciting.
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I already posted what I would like:

krankenstein said:
The audio was not the make or break thing with me. I would've settled for some actual physical props in the ride. That would've improved the experience greatly, IMO. A new reentry tunnel and a silent lift hill would've also raised my opinion of the ride.

Sue me for wanting to see a real astroid or two, maybe a planet here and there and a spiral galaxy. :shrug:
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krankenstein

krankenstein

Well-Known Member
Matpez said:
My favorite update: Check Invisible Oxygen Dome!

http://twitpic.com/pjaly

And yeah, in 7 months the noticeable changes are video games and some quick post show work. (And the new launch tunnel audio and effect with a photo)
Did they do more than that, probably. Can't tell though. Coaster like "wild mouse" types are rough. Was in April, is now. Maybe slightly better in parts, but still just "wild mouse" jerky.

And Photopass IS NOT available for the on-ride photos.
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I saw that when you posted it on twitter. It's a very nice touch. :D
 
Captain Hank

Captain Hank

Well-Known Member
Got to ride at about 4:30 or so this afternoon. When I got there, the line extended outside to just a bit past the Fastpass Distribution area, with a Standby wait of 45 minutes. Before I go any further, let me state that this represents my personal opinion, so on and so forth.

The Queue
  • We still have a ball pit! Woo-hoo! (one completely random little detail that I'm glad was kept)
  • I like the new "Startport Seven Five" graphics packages, including the big departure board at the very front (with previously-posted great references to other Space Mountains worldwide) and the new star charts further on down the queue.
  • Overall, the queue was lit better.
  • I wasn't able to try the game. It appeared to be functioning while I was in an earlier part of the queue, but by the time I got to the game itself, it was stuck on the "Please Proceed to Final Boarding" screen.
  • Music and other effects remain intact from the prior version. The Pepper's Ghost effects opposite the game screens seemed to be a bit brighter and clearer.
  • The safety video is exactly the same as before, but on a single screen instead of four.
  • Load area looks very, very nice (and a bit groovy). The windows on the control tower have been completely blacked out. The floor is sparkly, which is a bit weird (has Space Mountain become a vampire? :) ) The projections and stars above the load area looked very nice, with the odd eccentricity of the stars being purple. Like the rest of the queue, this are is lit much better than previously.
  • I rode Alpha side, which involved being sent down a back hallway, which was kind of weird. This area of the queue was also very hot, to the point of being uncomfortable--in fact the whole load area seemed to be quite warm. I guess we lost a significant amount of ventilation when the load station was enclosed.
  • There were signs pointing to an "Alpha Lounge." Anyone know what that is?
  • The air gates are uber-cool looking, and the load platform has been re-done well with Star Trek-y control consoles. The flashing panels opposite from the load gates now say things like "securing cargo" and "verifying invisible oxygen shield."

The Ride
  • The rockets themselves have been re-done somewhat, with nicer padding and a neat paint job. Sadly, they no longer glow at all.
  • The new launch tunnel effect is nice, though it was tough to see, as I was in the rearmost seat of the rocket. The launch sound effect is much easier on the ears, as well. The photo is taken as you turn the corner from the launch tunnel, which resulted in some very odd-looking pictures.
  • The lift is still very noisy, possibly louder than before. The new astronauts look nice, and I'm pretty sure that there are new (non-moving) figures inside of the Mission Control windows.
  • From here on in, very little has changed, except for it being significantly darker and a bit smoother. I'm kind of bummed that they didn't alter the large, spinning galaxy projection about halfway through Alpha--it really ruins the effect when you can see the shadow of the rocket and its riders in front of the galaxy.
  • There are now some very noticeable infra red cameras during the final turns after the re-entry tunnel (which I swear is just a little bit different during the first part of the tunnel--more flashy, I think).
  • Unload has changed very little, outside of new carpet and the photo viewing station.

Post-Show
  • I like the new graphics package here, as well.
  • LOVED the Mesa Verde reference!
  • The main scenes of the post-show were okay, though I didn't see any animation from the figures. The flat screen monitors were okay, as well (and the style on those reminded me of the SSE descent)
  • The final scene of the post-show was very reminiscent of Horizons, and I liked the little SSE model in the back.
  • The gift shop/arcade was open, and doesn't seem to have changed much (though the floor might be different--did it used to have the large gear pattern, like the Tomorrowland main bridge?). I didn't see the shirt mentioned earlier in the thread, and in fact, saw no Space Mountain merchandise, outside of the "ID Cards."

Personal Opinion Alert:
Overall, I thought the refurb was okay. Not fantastic, but okay. What they changed, they did well. I just wish that more was done with the ride itself.
 
hpyhnt 1000

hpyhnt 1000

Well-Known Member
Invisible oxygen dome..? Okay... :veryconfu :lol: That one will need some time to grow on me.

As for the video, I'm liking the effect at the end of the blue entry tunnel; that looked really cool! As for the audio, nice to see they updated that. :D

And I must say, I really like that they kept the old Flight Safety announcements; they define SM for me for some reason. :eek:
 
K

Kuhio

Well-Known Member
Skyway said:
Of course, the DL SM was a different beast because their track was unsafe, damaged, and had to be replaced.

As I've said many times before, if you bought a strong, well-built, structurally-sound house with 70's carpet, would you spend a fortune tearing down the entire home and rebuilding it from scratch, even though there was nothing wrong with it other than being outdated? No. You'd rip out the carpet and repaint the walls. It was obviously not necessary to rip out WDW's (not one but TWO) coaster tracks, and rebuild them from scratch. How is that fiscally responsible? You wouldn't do it in your own home, so why should they?
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Well said.

Moreover, just because you might think the home remodel was a failure because it failed to include a built-in audio system like that of your neighbor's much smaller, more poorly-designed house, doesn't mean there aren't just as many people who would prefer to simply enjoy the comfort of their strong, well-built, structurally-sound house in blissful silence.
 
Mr.EPCOT

Mr.EPCOT

Active Member
Original Poster
Going up the lift hill...
4103955033_57cd6e4275_b.jpg
 
HMF

HMF

Well-Known Member
TURKEY said:
After 9 pages of posts (for me with 30 or 60 per page), most people seem to love the pre and post shows and what was done there. I'm included.


So far, no one's really said anything about the actual ride portion itself other than it's darker.


Does this some it up?


While I'm glad that so much went into the pre/post shows, I wish a bit more would have gone to the actual ride portion.


I'll judge for myself next week.
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Let me sum it up like this, Cool' meh' Cool' Cool' Cool' Cool' Oh my god nothing has changed Disneyland's is still better' Cool.
 
EpcotServo

EpcotServo

Well-Known Member
"Invisible Oxygen Dome"

Perhaps the most unneeded writing in a Disney Attraction Ever, and must've been approved by the guy who thought "YES! Spell 75 out Seven Five! PERFECT!"

:lol:

Seriously funny. I'd hope in the future they would at least come up with a better and cooler way to say "Invisible Oxygen Dome" than literally just saying "Invisible Oxygen Dome".

All I can think of is Bender saying it..."Checking Invisible Oxygen DomeThingie...Or whatever."

:lol:
 
EPCOT Explorer

EPCOT Explorer

New Member
Brian_B said:
To 74 & the rest of the whiners responding in this thread:

I've been on Disneyland's SM quite often now, being a new resident of southern california (go annual pass!). While I do love and appreciate the on-board audio and lift tunnel, I don't really understand why it's so monumentally important that these two things be included for you whiners to be happy.

I actually love the silence in the WDW ride, because space itself is a vacuum. To me, the music in Disneyland strays way too far in the whole "Telling us how to feel" category, rather than adding to the story of the ride. With the exception of Ghost Galaxy, the music doesn't say anything other than "Woooeee we're in space!" Yeah, I got that. The pitch blackness, stars everywhere, space-station themed queue, and fact that I'm sitting in a freaking rocket ship in TOMORROWLAND sold the story there. Cheesy synth music doesn't add anything to said storyline; all it does is force something on you. Ghost Galaxy, of course, is markedly different, but that's not the point.

So to me, the only thing that would have made the whiners happy here would have been at the very least on-board audio, a neat but ultimately unnecessary feature, a re-entry tunnel change (even though I love it and never saw anything wrong with it, fine, I'll hand that one to you), and a "smoother ride".

What this equates to is that you wanted them to basically remove EVERYTHING inside the mountain, and design and build what amounts to a completely different roller coaster, since the current system has no way of physically supporting the added weight of an on-board audio system (no, I don't have the data to back that up, but think about it - these systems are designed very specifically to the finest detail by people with engineering degrees, to be able to handle a finite amount of weight - quit emailing me). You wanted this done during the single worst economic crisis in this country since the great depression. Oookay. I know you can't please everybody, but yikes.

Another lapse in logic: We knew we weren't going to get an entirely new ride. So why are you people acting so surprised?

You guys are like spoiled kids on christmas, throwing their presents against the wall and screaming about how they didn't get that 21-speed bike...and of course, it's soooo easy to make a caricatured scapegoat out of TDO. No, I'm not saying they're saints or anything, but I find it way too convenient to direct tantrums at what amounts to a snidley whiplash-style cartoon villain. I can just see them now, with their monocles and black top hats, twirling their mustaches, and POURING over this thread as though their lives depended on it...

Yeah, right. Half of them probably think the internet is a tool used for catching trout. You ever think that maybe the reason they couldn't redo space mountain was because, oh, I don't know, a lack of time and money?
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I hope you realize that half of this is your opinion, too. So that kinda discounts the whole notion that we are whining and everything.:wave:

Now then...

Regardless of this being a economic crisis, Disney is still turning a profit. And a a large one at that. Seeing that they are doing this, and that they are investing in other ares...Why not here?! The ride is stuck in 1975. Why not fix it, update it, make it a new experience? Market that, make more money....Like GLENDALE planned, but Orlando (management) killed. And why did they kill it, when they have the money? Fear of closing a ride (Can't ruin those entitlementers and their perfect vacation, can we?), and greed, because there have been rumblings that all these slashed budgets end up in their paychecks. Wrong. That isn't turning a profit...That's fabricating one.

Not surprised....Angry that the Walt Disney Corporation no longer has the standards that it once did.

Which brings us to our next little point..."Acting like spoiled children"? Really? The only reason there is so much angst over this, is because we expect better out of them because we have SEEN them do better. DISNEY MEANS QUALITY....and this isn't it. This is dissonant with what they say they are based on past actions. This is not what they are fully capable of. This isn't their potential.

They have, they can, and they hopefully will do better.

If they don't...? I could see much changing for Disney.
 
mickey2008.1

mickey2008.1

Well-Known Member
ChrisFL said:
huh?? I love DL's version, TRACK and all, not just music and effects
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for you and krankenstein

These are minor things in the overall picture, what i said was that how can you change the ride? Most people on this site say the layout of the track itself, meaning the ride, is blah at DL. And where have we heard anything about asteroids in these posts?
 
HMF

HMF

Well-Known Member
Exprcoofto said:
You make it sound like everyone is drooling over this, which is false because there are several people here that aren't pleased. I'm happy with what Imagineering did with what they were allowed, but I'm not happy because it could've been 100x better. Updates to the queue and post show are all good, but what about the middle chunk - the actual ride? Let's hope more changes come to SM in future years, but I'm thinking it might not happen unless we see some series changes with TDO, which is also unlikely.
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He was not talking about everyone.
 
EPCOT Explorer

EPCOT Explorer

New Member
EpcotServo said:
"Invisible Oxygen Dome"

Perhaps the most unneeded writing in a Disney Attraction Ever, and must've been approved by the guy who thought "YES! Spell 75 out Seven Five! PERFECT!"

:lol:

Seriously funny. I'd hope in the future they would at least come up with a better and cooler way to say "Invisible Oxygen Dome" than literally just saying "Invisible Oxygen Dome".

All I can think of is Bender saying it..."Checking Invisible Oxygen DomeThingie...Or whatever."

:lol:
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I love it! :lol: Think it's kinda kitschy, but it explains something we needed to know.:ROFLOL:
GenerationX said:
Who here is in a position to define "what a WDW experience is supposed to be"? This is the primary flaw in your arguments. YOU have an expectation, YOU have a standard for this-or-that. Your expectations don't necessarily match that of other people or current TDO management. Others may view your expectations as unnecessarily high, unrealistic, and/or overly focused on things that don't really matter.

I'm willing to give you a lot of your other points. Yes, there have been cuts of "little things". Yes, the Space Mountain refurb does not appear to have significantly improved the guest experience.

However, people still enjoy and are entertained by WDW. It's not because they're stupid ("dumbed down") or toadies for TDO, but because there is still very much about the World that is entertaining. If the average guest perceives a reduction in value of a WDW trip (because it is "stale", perhaps), that guest may not return soon or at all. However, if the average guest doesn't notice or care about the "lesser" product (or considers the product improved), they will continue to return. Expectations for a WDW trip are subjective, and people have wildly varying tastes in entertainment. You seem to think that your subjective "higher" expectations for WDW are somehow better than other people's expectations, because they are aligned with the TDO of the past. Your expectations are just different from others.

The current TDO management runs the business in a way that you don't like. Their priorities don't match yours the same way that previous TDO management's did. That's a shame. If there are enough people like you, WDW's profits will go down and management will likely change their course. That's for them to decide. You can rail all you want about "wal-marting", but focusing money and attention on what a company thinks will be profitable is their prerogative.
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WE have that expectation becuase DISNEY put it there. They raised the bar, they did amazing things. The less they do, they more generic their product is made, the gap in the expectations increases. It's not our fault for expecting great things out pof a great company, is it? This company has a legacy. I suggest that they check with it, and look to act upon it, before it's forgotten. A SM stuck in 1975 does not help that.



magicmaya said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4NIePOhN3c

LOVE THE NEW ENTRY TUNNEL AUDIO!!!

THE NEW EFFECT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL IS SOOO AMAZING!!! :sohappy::sohappy::sohappy:
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Yes, I saw that....Is it that flash thing?


Hope that there are more of them, hiding.
 

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