Well I went back and looked at my video of being evacuated in 180top.
From watching it and remembering a few key things....there is nothing thats going to happen in the planeterium or the space station scene. It's done.
The gas clouds and lightning effect are all there amongst the stars so that isn't going anywhere.
Now imagine you are going backwards. On your right would be the fiber optic city......but on your left.....the entire way down the left hand wall which has the evacuation path next to it....is indeed finished. It is black painted, tighly fabric draped...and even padded in certain areas for sound and lighting.
This was was never used if memory serves me correct in the 1994 rehab.
What does interest me is that the entire peppers ghost effect i.e. people talking on videophones all the way to the fiber optic city is....if you could imagine....curtain panels....:lookaroun
What I mean is each curtain is like a rectangle...and it is stretched beyond belief to the max...and is stapled to another rectangle proportioned curtain. These curtains are VERY close to the time machine vehicles. They COVER over what ever is behind them. Whether that be the old 1994 scenes or something new....but this whole area...people talking on video phones to fiber optic city clearly has something temporary about it.
Now the chicken wire you people speak of...thats the 1994 overhang canopy. It runs from the model of SSE....which is nothing more than an empty alcove...and the canopy runs into a wall and stops there.
The reason why you can see the chicken wire is due to the touch screens light....but even in earlier rides of SSE i.e. 2006 I was looking around the descent and could see the chicken wire and black curtains in certain spots.
The chicken wire canopy from reviewing my video only has the thick neon tubes that were pink and green and traveled all the way down the ceiling to the very end where they met the AT&T connects you anytime anywhere sign.
The fiber optic lights from 1994 might still be attached to the canopy...but they aren't in motion...but there is still white lights attached to them. Whether this is a 2007 edition of white lights, I don't know.
I do know that the model of SSE does not have the model there...but the fiber optic lights in that area from 1994 are still working. :brick:
The very last corridor of the descent which used to have the projections of facts and figures and the imfamous peg board walls from 1982-1994....which the blue grid pays tribute to.....this area since 1994 continues to be gutted and gone with nothing but black curtains still used since 1994.
The ceiling however has black star curtains hanging from it. This is where some possible 1994 fiber optic effects may still be covered up. The walls however...left and right side have no star effects.
Hopefully the descenet...with whatever happens to it will be have a more fluid set of effects. These random areas of stars on this side and stars on that side but no stars in certain places is very haphazard.
P.S. I don't mind the Judi Dench narration....the original Vic Perrin Version was overly dramatic, and scientific, so many of you say you want Walter Cronkite back.....have you actually listened to his narration recently....the old man is in monotone.....he probably was reading the script and said "behold, the majesty of the sistine ceiling" and wondered to himself "how many more lines do I have to keep reading..."
While I think Jeremy Irons did the best version because it was a nice combination of science and facts, but had a great touch of drama and inspiration, Patrick Stewart would have been a good choice, but not if he were reading the script Dame Judi does.
You people say SSE should be like a story...well some stories need to be factual.
If one learns something at Epcot and can take it home with them...then SSE version 4 still does it.
Dame Judi is like our mentor or instructor. There even is a motherly or grandmotherly type approach to her narration, but it really feels like she's talking to us! :sohappy:
There were many times...especially by riding it in 2006 that I became bored with Irons narration and began looking at other things of interest in SSE...I began to fell seperated from him and his narration.
The music is nice, positive, upbeat. The only problem is is that it is forgettable. Tomorrow's child or even the 1994 musical ending could not work now because it would be hard to stare and concentrate at your screen...will honestly I think people just stare at themselves and don
t even bother wondering what the narrator is saying about their future because they are too busy laughing.
The track isn't the problem, and we know why the vehicles bump/jitter when they do, but it is still much better than what it used to be. The only problem areas are the sharp angles in the ascent and descent tunnel.
The ascent is amazing though! They kept the star ceiling...original from 1982...they have two new flat screens and speakers to acompany the star ceiling..there is new graphics and even closed captioning. The only complaint is that the random nightvision camera is still there and the lights in the load room don't work on the wall.
The mini camera room floating in space is cool. It draws you in and allows you to study it and anticipate it. It sits right at the bend in the ascent tunnel so that the rest of the tunnel gets darker and darker and so mysterious...it was great. It evokes the older ascent of years past...minus the fog machine...but it is a great entrance into the ride.
My only complaints were:
the cast members uniforms were meh....
the lights in the load weren't working
the random nightvision monitor is still there at the beginning of the tunnel
you can see the mechanics of the ascent tunnel in the area around the take your picture spot because of lighting
the audio was loud
the music, while nice, is forgettable
there is nothing great about the matrix tunnel...it has numerous light leaks, visible mechanics, and doesn't even cover the whole screen
180top is still a dismal planeterium with no proposed moon colony, or elaborate space station, which to this day, has never gotten past the fake moonrock cutouts.
The descent doesn't have alot going on in there..hopefully atleast for now
While the touch screens are nice..the paste your head/ animation is heavily seperated from the rest of the ride...and is nothing more than a pop culture fad. I see the touch screens being around through Siemens sponsorship..but this effect changing in a matter of years.
