News Spaceship Earth Refurb - 2 Year Closure

[mikejs78]

What was it about?

What do you think it is about? Other than showing you and your seat mate skiing and living in or out of the city?

"Travel through time and explore the remarkable history of human communication from the Stone Age to the computer age."

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/attractions/epcot/spaceship-earth/

Except the current script doesn't talk about that. The post-2007 script talks mainly about "inventing the future" and completely deemphasizes communication.

Take the Cronkite intro:

For eons, our planet has drifted as a spaceship through the universe. And for a brief moment, we have been its passengers. Yet in that time, we've made tremendous progress in our ability to record and share knowledge. So, lets journey back 40,000 years to the dawn of recorded history. We'll trace the path of communications from its earliest beginnings to the promise of the future.

And the Irons intro:

Like a grand and miraculous spaceship, our planet has sailed through the universe of time. And for a brief moment, we have been among its many passengers. From the very beginning, we have always sought to reach out to one another ... to bridge the gaps between us ... to communicate.

Both mention communication as a theme. Now look at the current intro:

Like a grand and miraculous spaceship, our planet has sailed through the universe of time; and for a brief moment we have been among it’s passengers. But where are we going? And what kind of future will we discover there? Surprisingly, the answers lie in our past. Since the dawn of recorded history, we’ve been inventing the future one step at a time. So let’s travel back in time together. I’ll show you how our ancestors created the world we know today, and then it will be your turn to create the world of tomorrow

No mention of communication. And while communication is part of the current version, it's one of several things they talk about as part of an "inventing the future" narrative.

 

[MisterPenguin]

What was it about?

15 minutes.

 

[britain]

What do you think it is about? Other than showing you and your seat mate skiing and living in or out of the city?

"Travel through time and explore the remarkable history of human communication from the Stone Age to the computer age."

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/attractions/epcot/spaceship-earth/

It's funny that Disney wrote that because the last time SSE was revised they specifically said that the attraction was transitioned from history of communications (which AT&T wanted) to more broadly, the history of technology (thanks Siemens).

Seems like Disney's left hand didn't know what their right hand was doing there with that marketing copy.

 

[DCLcruiser]

15 minutes.

That just made my day. Thank you.

 

[KikoKea]

I'm hoping Rome is still burning and they add another scent machine.

Updating the scenes, the dome, and descent is good, as long as Disney doesn't cheap out. It's the park flagship, so let's hope they do it right.

 

[wedenterprises]

Proposition:

The new 'Storytelling' theme is closer in spirit to the original SSE theme of 'Communications' than the current 'Technological Innovations' theme.

I love the tighter focus. I assume they will include technology as part of how we share and consume stories now and into the future.

I can also imagine it ending with a "what's your story going to be?" type of question. This works better than "technology will happen to you soon so you'd better adjust." or even worse; "this is what your life is gonna look like because you chose from a menu of options."

 

[DCLcruiser]

Except the current script doesn't talk about that. The post-2007 script talks mainly about "inventing the future" and completely deemphasizes communication.

Take the Cronkite intro:



And the Irons intro:



Both mention communication as a theme. Now look at the current intro:




No mention of communication. And while communication is part of the current version, it's one of several things they talk about as part of an "inventing the future" narrative.

I just got chills reading each passage. A flashback from my many different times riding SSE.

It's funny that Disney wrote that because the last time SSE was revised they specifically said that the attraction was transitioned from history of communications (which AT&T wanted) to more broadly, the history of technology (thanks Siemens).

Seems like Disney's left hand didn't know what their right hand was doing there with that marketing copy.

Another quote from the site brings it all together... "Witness the landmark moments of amazing innovation that made today’s spectacular communications technology possible."

 

[ChrisFL]

I think the best idea is to have a choice of narration depending on if you want a more mature narration or a child-friendly one.

If most of the scenes are staying in place, my guess is they're going to re-do the track during the downtime?

 

[DCLcruiser]

I think the best idea is to have a choice of narration depending on if you want a more mature narration or a child-friendly one.

If most of the scenes are staying in place, my guess is they're going to re-do the track during the downtime?

Maybe on the decent you can select from the touchscreen which scene you would like to see/hear again? ....Horizons was sure fun as a kid.

 

[KevinPage]

I tend to loathe rides where I have to “do something”. Maybe I’m old school but I want to sit back and be entertained, especially on a dark ride.

 

[TeriofTerror]

From all the insiders, should be closed by then,.

I have FPs for Oct 2, so I'm hoping that Oct 1 date may not be entirely accurate.

 

[ChrisFL]

I think for special events they should swap the direction of the SSE cars, so you're going backwards on the ascent and forward on the descent

 

[mag2073]

Uh oh. If true, that cannot be good.

EDIT: Okay. Thinking about it, that makes very little sense. Why would they close the park's centerpiece during WDW's 50th Celebration? I suspect (hope) that He Who Must Not Be Named is mistaken.

I have to agree with you on this. It doesn't make sense that it would be closed for the 50th Anniversary. Also, I am really not liking the idea of updating the ride at all.

 

[CastAStone]

I have to agree with you on this. It doesn't make sense that it would be closed for the 50th Anniversary. Also, I am really not liking the idea of updating the ride at all.

They wouldn’t have announced it if it wasn’t staring for 2 years.

 

[sedati]

Where could storytelling take us?

The whole descent could be Horizons in miniature, at least the first and third acts.

Looking back at tomorrow could show all the stories we came up with about our future- from Jules Verne to the far-out fifties.

Followed by the finale:
"Today, with what we know and what we're learning to do, we really can bring our dreams (stories) to life. It takes a lot of work, but the truth is, if we can dream it, we can do it."

Wishful thinking, but I don't think it's too much of a stretch.

(And honestly, if you start the ride at the big bang and stories of creation and the prehistoric world you'll have ressurected the best parts of UOE and made this the true Epcot Mission Statement ride of my dreams.)

 

[JenniferS]

Not as much as I could have been. I found out about the redressed scenes a few weeks back.

I don’t know a lot about this. I understand the light thingy is more like a new host as opposed to an IP infusion.

It could even be I/O

Sorry, I’m out of the loop methinks. What does “I/O” mean, please and thank you?

 

[sedati]

Sorry, I’m out of the loop methinks. What does “I/O” mean, please and thank you?

I believe Martin is giving a shout out to the long-gone EPCOT Center attraction in Communicore, "Backstage Magic."
I/O appears at 34:00 (or watch the whole thing, Martin's Vids are a treasure)

 

[JenniferS]

I believe Martin is giving a shout out to the long-gone EPCOT Center attraction in Communicore, "Backstage Magic."
I/O appears at 34:00 (or watch the whole thing, Martin's Vids are a treasure)

Thank you.

 

[RoysCabin]

I tend to loathe rides where I have to “do something”. Maybe I’m old school but I want to sit back and be entertained, especially on a dark ride.

Kind of goes along with rides that decide they need narratives to explain why you're there, most often revolving around the usual "you're doing X, but SOMETHING GOES WRONG(!!!)" angle, or the "help us find <insert character here>!" one. Like, Dinosaur is a fun ride, but the idea that the scientist, Seeker, needs a car full of tourists to go back in time to find the Iguanodon when the car is, y'know, controlled by remote and not by a driver, kind of hurts what they're going for.

Many, many classic attractions made the riders a focal point on some level; the original Fantasyland dark rides revolved around you playing the role of a film's protagonist (e.g. you ARE Snow White, Mr. Toad, Alice, etc.), the Haunted Mansion has you as a tour guest, and rides like Horizons and Imagination 1.0 acknowledged you were there, but that's different from the direction things started to go in circa the mid 90s or so, when the feeling was that riders wanted to be active participants in what was happening...which I'm not quite sure is really the case, though I don't claim to have any data one way or the other on that.

 

[tirian]

Maybe talk about how Greek myths inspired Roman's own mythology? (By way of conquering).

The Greeks will probably be acting out theater again.