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SSE Reviews
- Thread starter epcotpalms
- Start date
I`ve been chasing this up and have word from 2 sources it ain`t anywhere near complete yet. February is still the date to wait for - then see where things stand. Hopefully the only thing wrong by then will be soft opening for operational reasons and not show ready reasons.
mousermerf
Account Suspended
Marn, while i have heard that it is "not done," the main components are in place, and only tweaks to the video timing, the addition of the image, and the new areas of the post-show are to come - not new sets of scenery, which is really what it needs.
What else have you heard?
haveyoumetmark
Well-Known Member
I'll go look and see again, but what did it for me was how dramatic his movements were. It seemed like he was swinging around all over the place. His necklace could barely keep up! :lol: He was so enthusiastic and just... alive! I haven't been on Pirates in a bit, but I don't remember Sparrow's AA vividly, but his were pretty realistic as well. Actually if this teacher wasn't supposed to be ancient, he probably could've been on par with Sparrow.
Him.I agree with her. The new AA's are moving great and were REALLY well programmed. That should be noted, these are brand new auctoneer-grade A 1000's that move amazingly. They just have the old faces we know and love.
I know what you mean about the faces, they were nice to see. The caveman in the beginning was extremely fluid as opposed to before, even minor ones with their hands being the only moving parts were pretty awesome.
PeeplMoovr
Active Member
Got to ride it Saturday and just thought I'd chime in for no reason other than to say I'm also entirely underwhelmed and pretty disappointed. SSE has been my favorite WDW attraction for some time now. I can't say it is any longer.
The descent is just terrible and not even worthy of a nap. The animatronics do look very good and overall the first half of the ride is a big improvement - except for Judy Dench. While I generally like her acting and enjoy her voice, I thought it didn't fit this ride at all. Jeremy Irons really seemed like he had something important to say, or a story that should be told. Judy Dench does not. "Remember how easy it was to learn your ABCs?" Ugh.
Where I used to be inspired by the ride, how I'm just wondering where I can get a copy of the Irons narration that is true to the length of the ride for my ipod.
All-in-all I was hoping for so much more. If they did nothing to the old ride but add the computer scene and update the AAs like they did I would have been very, very happy.
I had pretty big hopes after the Pirates and HM refurbs, which I really liked. SSE seems to lack heart now. Unfortunately, I think they need to re-do the narration and the entire descent again. And the music doesn't approach the music from the Irons version or Tomorrow's Child.
The descent is just terrible and not even worthy of a nap. The animatronics do look very good and overall the first half of the ride is a big improvement - except for Judy Dench. While I generally like her acting and enjoy her voice, I thought it didn't fit this ride at all. Jeremy Irons really seemed like he had something important to say, or a story that should be told. Judy Dench does not. "Remember how easy it was to learn your ABCs?" Ugh.
Where I used to be inspired by the ride, how I'm just wondering where I can get a copy of the Irons narration that is true to the length of the ride for my ipod.
All-in-all I was hoping for so much more. If they did nothing to the old ride but add the computer scene and update the AAs like they did I would have been very, very happy.
I had pretty big hopes after the Pirates and HM refurbs, which I really liked. SSE seems to lack heart now. Unfortunately, I think they need to re-do the narration and the entire descent again. And the music doesn't approach the music from the Irons version or Tomorrow's Child.
haveyoumetmark
Well-Known Member
The descent isn't even a quarter finished, I'd like to think... did you see all of the tools and sheets lying around?Got to ride it Saturday and just thought I'd chime in for no reason other than to say I'm also entirely underwhelmed and pretty disappointed. SSE has been my favorite WDW attraction for some time now. I can't say it is any longer.
The descent is just terrible and not even worthy of a nap. The animatronics do look very good and overall the first half of the ride is a big improvement - except for Judy Dench. While I generally like her acting and enjoy her voice, I thought it didn't fit this ride at all. Jeremy Irons really seemed like he had something important to say, or a story that should be told. Judy Dench does not. "Remember how easy it was to learn your ABCs?" Ugh.
Where I used to be inspired by the ride, how I'm just wondering where I can get a copy of the Irons narration that is true to the length of the ride for my ipod.
All-in-all I was hoping for so much more. If they did nothing to the old ride but add the computer scene and update the AAs like they did I would have been very, very happy.
I had pretty big hopes after the Pirates and HM refurbs, which I really liked. SSE seems to lack heart now. Unfortunately, I think they need to re-do the narration and the entire descent again. And the music doesn't approach the music from the Irons version or Tomorrow's Child.
If the ride isn't finished why is it open for previews instead of being closed so that they can finish it? I would think they could easily test the touch screens after hours with cast. So if its in such a state of unreadiness why is it open to the general public? :shrug:
haveyoumetmark
Well-Known Member
I have no clue, but it was bad -- not the refurb so far, but just the readiness. Nowhere near show ready. All you have to do is sit on the left side of the vehicle and look down (the right side usually has stairs or pathways), you can find all sorts of little imagineer gems like wrappers, tools, etc. These bad boys were pretty frequent. Although large, open areas, like the renaissance area, were pretty clean. The matrix scene wasn't, it was guilty.
With that said, I'm happy they did the previews, I hadn't had my SSE fix in a while before last night.
If they improve the descent tunnel by the time the ride officialy opens we will sing Disney's praise but right now we have to look at the product that is being presented to us at this point in time. There are problems with it and by complaining we are letting the company know there are problems with it in the hopes that they will fix these issues for our future enjoyment.
Park Ops wanted its capacity (WoL dosn`t figure anymore) - against WDIs wishes. Same happened with PotC. And remember the 1996 UoE fiasco?
CaptainMichael
Well-Known Member
The best way to offer constructive criticism is to approach WDI representatives in Project Tomorrow...don't wait for them to come to you.
And while you do that, I'll be riding SSE
And while you do that, I'll be riding SSE
haveyoumetmark
Well-Known Member
Are you sure or making an educated guess? Could very well be the case, but when I was there yesterday, the crowds were extremely light.
I ran past them in an attempt to ride it again. I got three rides last night and they were amazing from all aspects. As much as I didn't enjoy the tools and stuff, it was intriguing to see a work in progress. The finished updates were astonishing, animatronics and the like. I've noticed that you have been defending SSE left and right. Just saying that I agree with you, it's really, really cool.The best way to offer constructive criticism is to approach WDI representatives in Project Tomorrow...don't wait for them to come to you.
And while you do that, I'll be riding SSE
coasterphil
Well-Known Member
You got 3 rides last night? The CMs up front said without a doubt there were not going to open the attraction at all that evening around 5:00. You'd think as a CM myself I'd know better than to listen to one of them, but I did and went home.
haveyoumetmark
Well-Known Member
You got 3 rides last night? The CMs up front said without a doubt there were not going to open the attraction at all that evening around 5:00. You'd think as a CM myself I'd know better than to listen to one of them, but I did and went home.
Two rides last night, one yesterday morning. I noticed it was open a little after noon and then around 8 in the evening. I didn't even wait in line, just walked over to check from the Land and once from Canada. 3/4 times it was open.
RWilliams
Premium Member
You got 3 rides last night? The CMs up front said without a doubt there were not going to open the attraction at all that evening around 5:00. You'd think as a CM myself I'd know better than to listen to one of them, but I did and went home.
I rode last night too, around 7ish.
I still maintain that this "sneak preview" was done because someone knew all along how bad this ending was going to mess up, what otherwise IS a great rehab to the ride.
Therefore, they let the shoe drop now. While there is still time to fix it.
Only time will tell now, but lets see if our local sources can firm things up a bit for us in the next week or so. There should be some little tidebits slipping out soon enough.
Therefore, they let the shoe drop now. While there is still time to fix it.
Only time will tell now, but lets see if our local sources can firm things up a bit for us in the next week or so. There should be some little tidebits slipping out soon enough.
wickedfan07
Member
This may not be the place to ask this...but what exactly happened? I know the last refurb was in 1996, but I never knew about any problems associated with it.
Has SSE opened tonight? I could understand the ride opening over the weekend...the work crews were gone. Maybe there were so many tools lying around because the work crews didn't even know the ride was opening for previews this weekend? Like thelazer said above me, maybe someone with power pulled this preview now so that the bad comments about the ending came out now rather than when it really mattered. It wouldn't surprise me if the ride didn't open today...after all, its Monday and the work crews should be back in there. This was probably a one weekend deal, and we probably won't see the inside of SSE until the second week of February. I know Epcot needs the capacity for Christmas, but its just not ready, and someone at Epcot MUST have the guts to say no to opening an unfinished attraction for the holiday week.
Captain Hank
Well-Known Member
UOE was opened, half-refurbished. I believe it was a problem of the new films not being ready for the planned opening date, so the attraction re-opened as the original version of Universe of Energy, but built around the Ellen's Energy Adventure infrastructure. The old pre-show video was projected onto the static Ellen screens, as opposed to the old Radok screens, and the Ellen animatronic was hidden behind a giant fake rock.
After everything was in order, the ride closed again, and the refurbishment was completed.
Horizons1
Well-Known Member
Management wanted UoE due to summer crowds, so the original UoE came back from the dead. Because the building had been retrofitted with all the new screens, speakers, updated and refurbished AAs, the orginal show didn't run in its original form.
The rotating Radok screens were ripped out, since there was no need for them in Ellen. So the original preshow, that had been designed specifically for the screens, ran on the flat screens there now.
The mirrors that lined the walls in the main theater had been ripped off the walls since there was, once again, no need for them in Ellen. The original finale lost a lot of its luster due to this, because the mirrors gave the effect that the screens wrapped entirely around you. But now, you just had the three screens in front of you.
Entering theater 3?, the spiel was updated to mention 1996.
Ellen had already been placed in the diorama, she was hidden behind a rock so guests wouldn't see her.
There might be some other things too, I'm not sure. But anyways, the original ran till the end of the summer when it finally closed for its second, and last, time. Then Ellen came along just in time for WDW's 25th.
wickedfan07
Member
Wow...that sounds like a fiasco. I really hope they don't decide to repeat history and pull SSE out of closure half-baked. (Maybe this will show Disney they should also throw some money over into Wonders. If they whole park suffers for ONE attraction being down (even if it is a naturally high-capacity ride), the park needs more attractions!)