Paris` SM:M2 is indeed a totally different experience; it`s like comparing WDW PotC to DLCs - the name is the same, but the experience is familiar yet new.
When SM Mission one opened in June 1995 at DLP it had quite a few firsts - first rollercoaster onboard insync audio (prototype was installed on DLPs Casey Jr in 1993 and developed into Soundtracker for RnRC at MGM), first Disney attraction with multiple inversions, first inclined catapult launch (did and still does use an aircraft carrier style puck on a cable)
Mission 2 upped the ante to the next level. As part of the combined R&D for California, Hong Kong and Paris the interior visual effects were overhauled - projected video is used in several places - the supernova explosion was developed for Paris but also used in Anaheim. Paris also has planet and meteor projections projected onto irregular shaped / circular screens. A very good use of projection in Paris is the Comet Chase - a comet, with tail, is projected onto a flat surface. As you approach it (and overtake it) the image changes to give the impression it is a solid, 3D object. All this happens in a second, though! Paris also has an immense starfield projection system - before the gauntlet run the building seems full of pinpricks of light moving around. A couple of 1995 effects were held over in the rehab - the launch itself (although instead of the original launch from a third of the way up the cannon you now launch from the base), the meteor shower is still there (more realistic now) with the meteor the track actually passes through the middle of, and the Electro de Veloceter still exists, complete with burst animation sparks and EL pannel effects as the ultimate braking zone machine.
Regarding audio, for those who have only ridden RnRC the Space Mountain(s) audio track is a definate improvement over simply playing music. Anaheims seems well paced to match the ride, but Paris is the big one - again - to match the backstory of a journey to an exploding sun. Mission One was executed in ther same way for it`s journey to the moon. The score is like a film soundtrack - with tempo, style and pitch matching what is happening at that part of the ride. Each section of music is separate, with overlapping ends, and the STC figures out where in the ride the vehicle is and plays the appropiate section - without missing a single beat. To the guest it is one single piece of well syncronised music. The launch plays on que, climaxing with the entry into the mountain at the top of the cannon. As the cars slow, so does the music. You pass through the meteor and the music hangs, before speeding up again as you drop. A huge climax plays as you reach the 2nd lift hill and watch (and feel) the Supernova explode, then picks up pace again as the blast knocks you off course and into the canyon. As you fly through the neon tunnel the music gets faster and faster until it ends as you hit the final brake zone. The ride would be much less an experience with no audio.
Whilst I doubt Florida would alter this much, a lot of the effects could be installed to plus the attraction. I`ve mentioned before WDI were at DLCs reopening looking at the overlay with a mind as to what would work in Orlando, and Tokyo`s SM will close this October for an 8 month rehab. The original will need changing even moreso after this.
