Spaceship in Spaceship Earth

[TheEPCOTHistorian]

-Video chat boy (static)

Isn't video chat boy the figure laying next to the couch in the moon landing scene now?

 

[castlecake2.0]

About halfway down the descent, if you look up and to the left (about a minute after you see the spaceship, give or take), you can see one of the old dioramas from the 94 version that they never removed. This one depicts a row of people with a couple of them wearing graduation caps. It looks almost like a plywood cutout that was painted black. Supposedly many of the dioramas are still there, just hidden in the dark. I saw a few other cool things, like areas in the walls that were set in a few feet where scenes used to be, but this was the only actual diorama that I could spot. This was the first time I didn’t play the build your own future game so I could sit back and look for remnants, and it was WELL worth it. Very cool stuff.

I’m going to have to check it out, thanks!

 

[zipadee999]

Still waiting on someone to make a map of where everything used to be and where things can still be seen. This is one of those cases of an attraction that has changed so much that it’s hard to keep track of!

 

[CHOX]

Thanks to you guys I was able to see this last week. Even my wife managed to see it. Shockingly easy to see when you know where to look.

 

[Dragonman]

Isn't video chat boy the figure laying next to the couch in the moon landing scene now?

Forgot he was added to that scene but correct.

Still waiting on someone to make a map of where everything used to be and where things can still be seen. This is one of those cases of an attraction that has changed so much that it’s hard to keep track of!

@marni1971 ’s video series may help with that. The ride has mostly remained the same visually until after the cinema, then things have changed a lot.

The most obvious original remnant is the space station which can be seen in the room with endless blue lights if you look behind yourself during the descent. When you first see the earth projection there’s various cutouts of the scrapped moon surface painted black all around.

Further down the descent you’ll see remnants of the 1994 finale that have been covered with curtains including the graduation head cutouts along the ceiling. I don’t believe any of the actual figures are still there however and the cityscape was removed years ago.

 

[marni1971]

I don’t believe any of the actual figures are still there however and the cityscape was removed years ago.

They were still there a few years ago. Not sure about now.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Forgot he was added to that scene but correct.

@marni1971 ’s video series may help with that. The ride has mostly remained the same visually until after the cinema, then things have changed a lot.

The most obvious original remnant is the space station which can be seen in the room with endless blue lights if you look behind yourself during the descent. When you first see the earth projection there’s various cutouts of the scrapped moon surface painted black all around.

Further down the descent you’ll see remnants of the 1994 finale that have been covered with curtains including the graduation head cutouts along the ceiling. I don’t believe any of the actual figures are still there however and the cityscape was removed years ago.

Wait, the hanging lights part used to have stuff and they removed it to replace with the lights? Why on earth would they do that?

 

[Touchdown]

Wait, the hanging lights part used to have stuff and they removed it to replace with the lights? Why on earth would they do that?

Because it was a glorified ad for AT&T and touted the future where you could have video calls on your landline.

 

[Dragonman]

They were still there a few years ago. Not sure about now.

All I know is there was a ladder near one of them during a 2019 evacuation pic which makes me think that they were working on removing them:

 

[marni1971]

Because it was a glorified ad for AT&T and touted the future where you could have video calls on your landline.

Blue lights were added by Siemens. Video calls were 1994.

Prior to that it showcased telecommunications satellites and of course the space station.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Because it was a glorified ad for AT&T and touted the future where you could have video calls on your landline.

Which, if you do any kind of video calling on your cell phone while on your home wifi network, actually happens.

And AT&T wanted some advertising in the ride they were sponsoring? Stop the printing press! Wait...

 

[Touchdown]

Which, if you do any kind of video calling on your cell phone while on your home wifi network, actually happens.

And AT&T wanted some advertising in the ride they were sponsoring? Stop the printing press! Wait...

I’m not arguing it was wrong just that
1. Siemens didn’t want it once they took over
2. Even if that was the case it was horribly dated.

 

[HauntedPirate]

I’m not arguing it was wrong just that
1. Siemens didn’t want it once they took over
2. Even if that was the case it was horribly dated.

Oh, gotcha. It was certainly dated. Wouldn't have been terribly difficult to update, but sadly, Siemens went in a totally different direction that was (arguably) no better, and definitely weaker.

 

[marni1971]

I’m not arguing it was wrong just that
1. Siemens didn’t want it once they took over
2. Even if that was the case it was horribly dated.

AT&T removed the satellites 11 years before Siemens came along.

 

[Dragonman]

AT&T removed the satellites 11 years before Siemens came along.

It’s a shame they ran out of budget for a new version of the space station scene. Would’ve saved it from partial destruction/blackout.

 

[VicariousCorpse]

Can't remember if this was posted here, but this it's the clearest video I have seen of the blacked out station's location. It is at 12:00 in the video.

 

[vikescaper]

Can't remember if this was posted here, but this it's the clearest video I have seen of the blacked out station's location.

They should have aimed their camera at the ride and not their faces….just sayin’.

 

[HauntedPirate]

They should have aimed their camera at the ride and not their faces….just sayin’.

Kids these days...

 

[Dragonman]

Can't remember if this was posted here, but this it's the clearest video I have seen of the blacked out station's location. It is at 12:00 in the video.

Really shows how dusty and cluttered that area is now, hopefully it gets some love in the impending refurb. The black tarp on the floor used to be part of the scrapped moon surface.

 

[zipadee999]

What are the chances we see 180 top restored to its former glory in the refurb? The rumor I’ve heard is that the budget’s been cut from a full thematic overhaul to just a heavy refurb. What are the chances this could still include the top and the descent?

What frustrated me about the initial proposal was that the top of the ride and the descent are in dire need of attention while the ascent scenes just need a fresh coat of paint, but for some reason all sorts of money was supposed to be spent altering scenes on the ascent that don’t need it with no word on the second half of the ride.

Even if they don’t do a full overhaul of 180 top, they could at least paint the space station white and light window girl back up.