Spaceship in Spaceship Earth

[marni1971]

I came across this old SSE Construction pic and realised it shows really well how much space there is in 180top above the track (remember 180top is approx 1/3 of the Geosphere) - and also shows how much room there is on the roof of the `ceiling` from the level below. The red square on the left is staircase 11, the center red shaft is staircase 5, and the red square on the right is either staircase 10 or elevator #1. The white line is the ride path.

 

[joel_maxwell]

isnt it interesting all the plates that continue around. at first glance, you would think that the track goes all the way up to that, put i suppose that is for the accent before the mirror globe area to have a ceiling.

 

[Slowjack]

Yea that was before Disney got cheap. I always wondered why nobody noticed how once you start the part of the ride that was changed in 1994 all you see is essentially manaquins and lame christmas light style stuff. The old ending flowed with the rest of the ride using AA charecters. That was an early indicator that budget-cuts and doing things on the cheap were the way of the land.

Is that true? I recall lots of video screens on the way down originally, but no AA figures. I don't see how they could even fit AA in there, since my understanding is each AA needs a lot of space for the hardware. But maybe I'm remembering wrong?

 

[joel_maxwell]

Is that true? I recall lots of video screens on the way down originally, but no AA figures. I don't see how they could even fit AA in there, since my understanding is each AA needs a lot of space for the hardware. But maybe I'm remembering wrong?

are you refering to the girl in the window? if so, martin recalls from video proof (not sure what the final result of this is) that she might be waving. i dont think this action would require too much. but im not expert.

hey, never seen you on the boards before.... wonder if i seen you around Bham. :wave:

 

[Vernonpush]

isnt it interesting all the plates that continue around. at first glance, you would think that the track goes all the way up to that, put i suppose that is for the accent before the mirror globe area to have a ceiling.

I think that the plates are the "ceiling" for the "light tunnel" before the 180.

 

[joel_maxwell]

I think that the plates are the "ceiling" for the "light tunnel" before the 180.

hmmm, we will let the master clear this up.

 

[marni1971]

Is that true? I recall lots of video screens on the way down originally, but no AA figures. I don't see how they could even fit AA in there, since my understanding is each AA needs a lot of space for the hardware. But maybe I'm remembering wrong?

I think Enigma is reffering to the ascent. not the descent. The AA in the window was the last figure in the original attraction; after her it was all downhill with smoke and mirrors (pun intended )

are you refering to the girl in the window? if so, martin recalls from video proof (not sure what the final result of this is) that she might be waving:

Yep; she definately waves. It`s a great gesture too - her wrist moves up and down, stops, and then waves side to side.

The `plates` are the roof from the level below; where the ascent tunnel opens out into 180top the `plate` stopped in favour of just a boxed in tunnel wrapping around the back of the elevator shaft. Hopefully a lot of this will be cleared up in the video, which I`ve nearly finished. Speaking of which, I`m now pretty convinced the beams of light in the TChild scenes I mentioned earlier were indeed lasers. One colour (the typical green/blue of a single colour beam) with bright spots where they are emmited from. Varying levels of intensity down the beams as they hit dust and smoke. And varying levels of visibility in the 5 videos I`ve now watched, as in real life. The worst is my own; you can see the beams eminate from a bright spot in the walls, but can`t see the actual beams themselves - typical of clean air with nothing for the beam to shine through. Who`d have thought it!

Long live the thread

 

[mayoki]

I came across this old SSE Construction pic and realised it shows really well how much space there is in 180top above the track (remember 180top is approx 1/3 of the Geosphere) - and also shows how much room there is on the roof of the `ceiling` from the level below. The red square on the left is staircase 11, the center red shaft is staircase 5, and the red square on the right is either staircase 10 or elevator #1. The white line is the ride path.

Wow, that is amazing how much "space" there is above the descent tunnel. Storage? Wasted Space? In the hundreds of pictures in this thread, I dont recall any of that area, or a mention of what might be up there.

 

[marni1971]

Wow, that is amazing how much "space" there is above the descent tunnel. Storage? Wasted Space? In the hundreds of pictures in this thread, I dont recall any of that area, or a mention of what might be up there.

Probably because there arn`t any

The deck above the top ride path (115-140ft level) is mainly the projection deck; the earth projectors and starfield projector are up there. The starfield projector by it`s very nature needs an unobstructed view of the entire dome. I`d imagine very little is stored up there for this reason (and why the 115ft level looks like a storeroom) - interesting tidbit; the interior roof of 180top was so big a normal planetarium projector was too small, so WED had to design their own. It`s unique.

 

[Figment82]

I might not be thinking of the same thing you are discussing, but the plates that keep going up were meant to be the ride path. The cars were going to keep cycling up one more rotation, but they realized the weight would be too much for the structure, especially with it arching over the descent ramp. Before you head back down the descent, you can see where the track was supposed to keep going.

If I'm discussing things that were already well-known, then I apologize.

 

[marni1971]

I might not be thinking of the same thing you are discussing, but the plates that keep going up were meant to be the ride path. The cars were going to keep cycling up one more rotation, but they realized the weight would be too much for the structure, especially with it arching over the descent ramp. Before you head back down the descent, you can see where the track was supposed to keep going.

If I'm discussing things that were already well-known, then I apologize.

Ah - we were at cross purposes. You mean the longer track. Apparently there are fixtures up in 180 top as you say, though nothing appears on any plan, photo or blueprint to suggest it. If it ever was viable, it was cancelled well before construction.

 

[joel_maxwell]

Ah - we were at cross purposes. You mean the longer track. Apparently there are fixtures up in 180 top as you say, though nothing appears on any plan, photo or blueprint to suggest it. If it ever was viable, it was cancelled well before construction.

i agree... but what would you give to go back and be a fly on the wall in those initial meetings and towards the final design stages to see what could have been and what thankfully they didnt do.

 

[Figment82]

The grommets are in place on the floor to handle the track, so it was still in plans during actual construction (and are still visible to this day). I guess the idea went away fairly quickly into production once they found it wasn't feasile.

 

[marni1971]

Ermm.. what I`m saying is it dosn`t show in any blueprints from early 1980 on.... this could remain a mystery

 

[Captain Hank]

Ermm.. what I`m saying is it dosn`t show in any blueprints from early 1980 on.... this could remain a mystery

Very interesting. The grommits are definately there (I nearly tripped on a few). I wonder why they're not on any blueprints.

 

[joel_maxwell]

Very interesting. The grommits are definately there (I nearly tripped on a few). I wonder why they're not on any blueprints.

do we have a picture documenting said grommits? are these the ones that are seen past staircase 11 then past 5? after 43 pages.... im not scrolling through to find the image :lol:

hypothetically, if the track was supposed to wrap around one time before the descent.... i wonder if it would have been on the "floor" area of 180 top as we have seen in pictures?

 

[Mr.EPCOT]

I say we just have the gentleman from atommobiles.com recreate Spaceship Earth with Tomorrow's Child for us!

 

[marni1971]

I say we just have the gentleman from atommobiles.com recreate Spaceship Earth with Tomorrow's Child for us!

There is a non-CG recreation on it`s way :wave:

 

[JEDIsney]

I haven't read this thread in a while, and I don't know what's been discussed here recently, but I found this picture and I thought it might be possible that it was from Spaceship Earth. The woman who took the picture said she took it in Epcot in 1987. Could this be part of the spaceship from Spaceship Earth, Marni?

 

[joel_maxwell]

I haven't read this thread in a while, and I don't know what's been discussed here recently, but I found this picture and I thought it might be possible that it was from Spaceship Earth. The woman who took the picture said she took it in Epcot in 1987. Could this be part of the spaceship from Spaceship Earth, Marni?

:lookaroun

where in the blanky blank was this in Epcot? if it is an obvious answer.... 1987 sure is getting farther and farther away and the memory is surely fading. lol