CDavid
Well-Known Member
Uh, not really. Thing likes skype and live streams make most of the old finale dated. If they left it completely the same the AAs at the end would look terrible compared to the rest of the AAs which were upgraded. People would be complaining that they left the "future" scenes in the 90's like COP. Besides SSE's finale from 1982- 1994 was pretty much screens and lights during the descent, wasn't it? I'm not saying it's perfect but its better than leaving a relic of the past to what's supposed to be the future, IMHO.
The previous version of the Spaceship Earth descent did depict the future of communications, complete with depictions of real-time ("streaming") video; Please explain how "Thing likes skype and live streams make most of the old finale dated"? I can't immediately recall any scene(s) which would have required more than token (or not any) alterations to remain relevant to 2014 "cutting-edge" communications technology. Further, the descent relied primarily (and very effectively) on projections, simple models, lighting effects, and a driving musical score - there was limited use of actual sets, let alone AA figures. In any event, Disney has hardly been relunctant to the continued use of obsolete AA figures at many other Walt Disney World attractions, even when it shows; What would be so different here?
And what does the 1994 version of the ride have to do with anything? Had the descent been left largely unchanged, it would have been the pre-Siemens version.
Regardless, none of this has anything whatsoever to do with the fact they botched the refurbishment of the Spaceship Earth descent in the current version. Nobody is saying the previous attraction finale was the pinnacle of Disney theme park achievement and a classic which should never be altered (though it was well done), but merely that it was far superior to what we have currently - largely barren darkness where we get to watch a silly Flash video of ourselves (once technology advances to the point we can watch Flash videos at home on our computers, this too will become irrelevant...).
Yup, it is amazing how some conveniently forget how many "screens" that Disney has used over the years. The entire "Mission to Mars" ride there when it first opened up in 1972 relied primarily on screens for the entire attraction except the preshow.
That's hardly the same thing as the little screens in your Spaceship Earth ride vehicle, for one thing, but regardless nobody is suggesting that the use of screens (projections, etc.) is inherently evil. The problem rises when they are used as a cheaper substitute, or are just plain overused, to a large or complete exclusion of sets, models, figures, and other forms of media.
Some people may like it for the nostalgia, but you don't pay $100 to get into a Disney park for nostalgia
Actually, nostalgia is exactly what gets millions of people into Walt Disney World theme parks every year.