Back in 1982, when EPCOT first opened, Cast Members had to physically move the time machine vehicles of Spaceship Earth backwards during the descension to earth!
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Spaceship Earth: Hard to believe!
- Thread starter General Grizz
- Start date
I rode SE several times the first year it was open and don't remember this at all. I could be wrong though. But you would think that the technology already existed for this type of movement already in other dark ride attractions at WDW, Haunted Mansion and Take Flight comes to mind. Wonder why they wouldn't have put the same feature in SE.
MonorailGreen
New Member
Wow!! That is new information for me. I am surprised that it used to be that way. I mean, Spaceship Earth isn't that old now!! Thanks for the tidbit =)
colliera
Member
SE car lock ups
During the first few weeks of operation SE cars had the bad habit of locking in place due to the twist in the track. This unexpected torque for a fully loaded train would cause the entire train to freeze in place.
Back then I was in broadcast radio and 6 months after EPCOT's opening had the chance to interview one of the Disney PR reps. When I asked about the frequent early breakdowns he attributed it to not enough "play" in the linkage between the cars. According to him all it took was a 25 cent piece of plastic added to the linkage to ease the strain.
During the first few weeks of operation SE cars had the bad habit of locking in place due to the twist in the track. This unexpected torque for a fully loaded train would cause the entire train to freeze in place.
Back then I was in broadcast radio and 6 months after EPCOT's opening had the chance to interview one of the Disney PR reps. When I asked about the frequent early breakdowns he attributed it to not enough "play" in the linkage between the cars. According to him all it took was a 25 cent piece of plastic added to the linkage to ease the strain.
TinkerBell9988
Well-Known Member
Now that's interesting! 
I thought the system was the same since the opening of the attraction.
I thought the system was the same since the opening of the attraction.
BRER STITCH
Well-Known Member
Another thing most people don't know is that the ride is still powered by Cast Members walking on a big Hamster Wheel below the attraction....
:lookaroun
:lookaroun
Originally posted by TinkerBell9988
Now that's interesting!
I believe the system was changed once to include those triangular boxes that pop up after every four cars. I am not too sure where I read it. Any information would be helpful!
DisneyDoll45
New Member
A couple of years ago like 2001 my family got stuck on spaceship earth for an hour back wards.
ImagineerFan04
New Member
Re: Re: Re: Re: Spaceship Earth: Hard to believe!
that's how it should be. As long as no one get killed or hurt.
Originally posted by raven
Understandable. I guess they didn't believe in shutting down an attraction back then for technical difficulties.
that's how it should be. As long as no one get killed or hurt.
How would leaving guests on a ride for 45-60 minutes ever be acceptable? That's a valuable chunk of someone's vacation. I would get antsy if I even had to sit there for more than 10 minutes because I'm sure it would seem much longer. If they couldn't get it moving within 15-20, shouldn't they go ahead and let people out? I can't see that having people walk off would be that much worse, considering the ride already had technical difficulties. I'm in the hospitality industry, so I know that whatever can go wrong will, so if you have to inconvenience someone, I would rather it not have to do with your time. I know Epcot doesn't have a 3:00 parade, but suppose it was in a park that did and that was going to be the guest's only opportunity to see it. I'd be really annoyed.
Better safe than sorry.Raven, I totally agree that safety comes first, but my point was that if they couldn't get a ride running in, say, 20 minutes, and it was safe, then why shouldn't they go ahead and get everyone off rather than having them waiting for an hour. Vacation time is very valuable. That's all.