Two Spirited Quickees...Imagination closing

[CDavid]

well...they need to sell tickets...and people visit WDW and often spend thousands on a vacation....all that discovery and fascination you mention... yeah that can be found at my local museum of science for a lot less. sorry if i want real rides and attractions for a few Gs.
with that said theres still a place for education and story telling but the raw learn only types of attractions that once dominated epcot center are a very expensive science museum.

Please tell me where your local science museum is which features rides about communications, future living, transportation, and energy on the epic scale once presented in Epcot, because I'd really like to come ride them. I'm also not aware of any "learn only types of attractions" in Epcot Center. The whole point was an utterly enjoyable, fascinating exploration of seemingly mundane subjects which were so enjoyable and emotionally thrilling you didn't realize you were learning. There is a saying that learning can be fun, and it is very true, even if usually it isn't. But it is also why the original Epcot was so awe inspiring.

Of course, nobody outside Disney has ever done anything remotely like the Future World that we once knew, and millions of guests eagerly bought tickets and lined up. Probably wasn't a thrill freaks favorite park, but it never will be. While it is desirable to have something for everyone, it need not have destroyed the character and foundation upon which the park was built. To call Epcot "a very expensive science museum" is like calling the Magic Kingdom a (permanent) roadside carnival.

Further, theme park attractions - at least in Disney parks - should not (and mostly don't) revolve around the ride experience itself. It isn't that there is a place for storytelling - but rather that the story (not necessarily storyline) is central to the attraction experience; The ride is merely the vehicle used to convey guests through the story or experience.

The greatest crime committed by Mission:Space, however, was that it largely omits the grandeur and awe inspiring experience of space and instead presents the physical sensations of spaceflight that make you want to puke. This was previously, if crudely, done by Mission to Mars and Space Mountain - physical ride experiences (not theme or indoor setting) not radically different from roller coasters around the world.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

Personally, it wasn't Eric Idle but an incredibly poor script he was handed ... similar to how poor Dame Judi Dench is treated by the fan community - she has the right voice for SSE ... but again a poor script was given to her to read.

The script for SSE is so in step with modern documentaries you'd see from the BBC or History Channel or the like... it astounds me that there's so much fanboy rage for it. I think people decide they hate the ride because of the descent and then nitpick anything else they possibly can. The sets and animatronics on the first half of the ride are basically flawless, so they go to the script and the narrator.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Ban?

No, because in many ways it is absolutely true. The absence of Horizons has done more to fortify the "greatness" of Horizons then it's actual existence did. Personally, I liked Horizon, but, I didn't ride it every trip, as apparently most also didn't. It quickly became dull (if the highlight of memory for most people is the fact that you could smell oranges, that says it all). It was creative and well done. I always thought the ending was lame. Never did care for it much even though I understood its purpose, it just wasn't convincing. (and we now complain about the quality of Soarin's film) The ending was an exciting technology, however, it wasn't done as well as I think it could have been.

In short, if Horizon's were still operational, it would be playing to a near empty house, like it was before it was ended. When it was new and different and seemed technologically cutting edge, it was seen by many. It just didn't age well.

I totally agree with the awesomeness of Mission: Space. I have ridden both the Orange and the Green. Orange has that little extra that adds more realism to it, but even the Green is very enjoyable. It got a very bad rap in the beginning and a thesis could be written on the power of suggestion, when it came to people getting motion sickness. One of the oldest rides in Disney's history is fourteen times more vomit inducing then MS. I am, of course, referring to the Tea Cups. The difference is people that have ridden the Tea Cups can see what it does and make the determination that if they are in anyway susceptible to motion sickness, they didn't ride it, you don't see what is ahead on MS and on top of that it got some really bad press and exaggerated fear coverage. At this point it hasn't completely recovered yet. I do see more people going on it now then in the beginning, so the memory must be fading or is being ridden by people that have never heard the early history.

 

[JenniferS]

The script for SSE is so in step with modern documentaries you'd see from the BBC or History Channel or the like... it astounds me that there's so much fanboy rage for it. I think people decide they hate the ride because of the descent and then nitpick anything else they possibly can. The sets and animatronics on the first half of the ride are basically flawless, so they go to the script and the narrator.

I love SSE. I absolutely agree that the sets and animatronics (throughout MOST of the ride) are flawless.

I DON'T hate the descent.

I DON'T hate Judi Dench.

I am not nit-picking when I say that I absolutely HATE large parts of the script.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Same goes for something like COP. Past its prime, but some people would riot if it closed down. I might even grab a pitch fork and join them

To be fair, there is a difference. The majority of the objection to CoP is due to it's connection with Walt Disney and it's place there as an historical show. Horizons to some is historical but it isn't directly Walt Disney connected.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

I love SSE. I absolutely agree that the sets and animatronics (throughout MOST of the ride) are flawless.

I DON'T hate the descent.

I DON'T hate Judi Dench.

I am not nit-picking when I say that I absolutely HATE large parts of the script.

Fair enough. I just don't get it. It sounds like so many other things I've heard.

 

[Wikkler]

No one really expects to go to disney for thrill rides. It was never a high intensity park. Theres no Kingda Ka or super dooper flying upsidown suspended 4-d hypercoasters. Its hard for me to fathom people wanting just to bounce around for a few mins while playing video games and be totally satisfied. These arent even real high thrill rides. Test track can be done on a highway (and we all did it since its not that fast) Mission space is just a Gravatron from any local fairground with a challenger center built in, and soarin isnt even a thrill ride.

THAT BEING SAID, there is no reason they can't do both. I mean this in two different ways.
1. A ride itself can be both thrilling and wonderful. As a child Space mountain was this. In my mind New Test Track is this although many people will disagree (sorry guys the old one was kinda boring to me and i wanted to punch the guy narrating it in the face god he was annoying lol) but seriously it can be done.

Like I said a lot before, Mission space Irks me because its not really an expirience. your only training the whole time even in the story line. Its like Ride: the Ride! Its a simulation of a simulation. I don't know about you but theres nothing fun about TRAINING for a mission you never get to do! what a let down! I thought there would be more afterwards lol. I can go into this more but I'll write a review instead.

2. Thrill rides and dark rides can share the park. I liked body wars (I don't care if anyone says its icky I loved it), and It worked with the other rides. Assuming they will put in well themed rides and not just paint a rollercoaster blue and black and say SEE LOOK TRON THE RIDE!!, It can happen. They don't have to replace EVERYTHING. There is really only one or two rides they haven't totally changed. Maelstrom and Livin'. But who knows maybe in the future we'll have Boat! starring Regis Filbin and an abandoned maelstrom turned into a break area for cms.

If they really wanted to satisfy fans they wouldn'ta changed imagination in the first place. and yes they were directly the cause for its drop in popularity by rerouting the line. Guest flow has a LOT to do with how people go to a park, and people with limited time tend to ignore things that aren't displayed prominantly, and when they re-routed imagination they got their excuse to stick it to baxter. The ride was number 2 in popularity for epcot right before they did that. (second to SSE). Afterwards it dropped to I think number seven or so. That should have been one of the ones that stayed. Ironically I'd think Universe of Energy would be the perfect candidate to replace with a thrill ride. Energy, fast thrills and dated when they opened Countdown to ext...Dinosaur. Imagination like Small world, like pirates, like the haunted mansion, could have stood as a staple ride for a long time, something that epcot sadly lacks.

As for catering to crowds, disney used to make something totally new on the whim that people would like it. They werent afraid to take risks. Anything great in this world has risk. Everything mediocre is a safety blanket route, their cutting corners. As I said above, Thrill rides dont have to look cheap short and cut down. They can have wonder too. This stuff just aint it. And according to what I've read and seen in the past four years, Epcots attendance is not improving significantly. In fact at the turn of the millenium it slumped. and it was relatively poor compared to the early 90s for all of the grand openings of these thrill rides.

Maybe I'm a product of my generation, but I actually wanted to learn about things and have fun at the same time. Museums just never made it come alive like epcot did.

Yeah but kids are told Disney is a great theme park by their parents and unfortunately to the modern generation that means

Yep. There are actually people who think a theme park means: "that place with the rollercoasters"...

 

[Wikkler]

2 pavillions down, 18 to go.

 

[CDavid]

It sounds like so many other things I've heard.

That may be the problem. Spaceship Earth isn't supposed to be a History Channel documentary.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

That may be the problem. Spaceship Earth isn't supposed to be a History Channel documentary.

But that part of the ride pretty much has always been a history lesson with animatronics.

 

[space42]

To be fair, there is a difference. The majority of the objection to CoP is due to it's connection with Walt Disney and it's place there as an historical show. Horizons to some is historical but it isn't directly Walt Disney connected.

But Horizons was kind of a spiritual sequel to COP and it was such a ambitious attraction as well! Disney just doesn't build them like that any more.

The attraction contained TWO IMAX screens that the ride vehicles traveled through. This is part of the reason that Soran' really doesn't do anything for me. Horizons already did it better. Could it have used an update? Sure - It could have been updated just like SSE and been just as relevant. That ride had such an optimistic view of the future and its message was timeless.

As far as Imagination goes - put it out of its misery already. Figment has been lost since 1998 sadly and the current attraction just makes me upset so I no longer ride it. I don't have faith that the current Disney can do Imagination justice... sadly

 

[lazyboy97o]

Mission: Space is a bold attraction in the vein of Tower Of Terror and Expedition Everest. It's way better than Horizons ever was but I just can't put my finger on it; it lacks heart. It lacks emotional appeal. I don't know how everyone else feels but I simply can't connect to Mission: Space the way I do with some of WDW's best attractions.

I think it is again that issue of place versus non-place, and Mission: SPACE is a non-place. There is nothing genuinely special about it or the experience it claims to offer. Despite the name, including 'space" being in all caps, it is not about going to space. It is about pretending to go to space. Just like a fake studio park is about pretending to be where films are shot. Theme parks don't work when you are consciously pretending.

 

[danlb_2000]

If they are truly adding Imagination to the list of shuttered pavilions with no replacement immediately in the works it is downright laughable. I've been highly critical of recent actions by Disney, but I highly doubt they would be that short sighted.

If this does happen it will be interesting to see how the people who believe Disney can do no wrong will defend this choice.

 

[ScoutN]

I don't hear anybody complaining SSE is outdated. Or LwtL. Those two towering giants of FW, final vestiges of EPCOT Center.

Classic EPC

See LwtL in a very good place. With the bulk of it being plants there is not much to really be out of date other than the light up photos and show scenes looking like the 80s/90s bigtime. THIS is a ride that could be enhanced without doing too much.

 

[CDavid]

But that part of the ride pretty much has always been a history lesson with animatronics.

I get your point, and don't really mean to quibble, but Spaceship Earth (any segments) shouldn't strictly speaking be thought of as a history lesson (documentary), but rather a journey through history (experience). Unless you are interested in the subject, a documentary can be rather dry and dull, and that is not the tone you want in a theme park attraction. The History Channel isn't the standard the narration should be aiming for.

 

[Wikkler]

The History Channel isn't the standard the narration should be aiming for.

You're right, we don't want the narration to be aiming for rednecks doing dangerous jobs and conspiracy theories...

 

[CDavid]

You're right, we don't want the narration to be aiming at rednecks doing dangerous jobs and conspiracy theories...

What, nobody else wants an Ice Road Truckers attraction?

 

[Cosmic Commando]

You're right, we don't want the narration to be aiming at rednecks doing dangerous jobs and conspiracy theories...

Well, I haven't had cable in a long time, so I'm not talking about "Ancient Aliens" (which I think is History Channel?) or some such. I'm just referring to the modern, comedic tone that is very popular and well-liked nowadays. See: Terry Jones in the clip I posted above.

 

[englanddg]

Well, I haven't had cable in a long time, so I'm not talking about "Ancient Aliens" (which I think is History Channel?) or some such. I'm just referring to the modern, comedic tone that is very popular and well-liked nowadays. See: Terry Jones in the clip I posted above.

 

[GoofGoof]

Mission Space is a unique ride. There is nothing else like it in Orlando. The queue is one of my favorites - that wheel thing fascinates me. The outside of the ride is stunning and cool. The ride itself is a powerful experience, especially the first time. It's fun, too.

It makes some people sick. People with issues on spinny rides shouldn't ride it...or should ride the less spinny version (green?).

But I think it is one of Disney's better attractions and like it a lot.

This is why I don't kill them for building it. I think Disney took a shot at building something new and different from the rest of EPCOT. If they replaced Horizons with a new omnimover type attraction people would have complained that it was boring and not pushing the envelope on technology (see any thread on Little Mermaid). I do think that part of the motivation for building MS was due to the "thrill" park down the street. Whoever decided they needed to build thrill rides to compete with Universal missed the boat, but I do think Test Track was a nice upgrade, EE is pretty solid (even with disco Yeti) and ToT is one of the best rides at WDW so at least they got those right.