Two Spirited Quickees...Imagination closing

[JenniferS]

You didn't click my link.

Sorry, I didn't realize it was a link. My bad.
I thought you were mocking my use of the word "off-colour" or correcting my Canadian spelling.

P.S. I got burnt clicking a first-time poster's link earlier this week. Got directed to a mature content site.

 

[Bryner84]

There is NO reason you cannot have BOTH, Kidlets love Nemo, Personally I find Dory far more annoying but you could have the Nemo ride as it exists now, And 'Undersea Adventure with James Cameron' as a separate entrance which perhaps could take some of the show elements from the old Seabase Alpha, I'd pay real money to avoid the Nemo show and just go straight to the aquarium and other marine habitats. Make the turn into the 'Undersea Adventure' and option for the Nemo Guests.

This way you have two distinct but related attractions both sharing common infrastructure.

I think that is the way to move forward with the park. Allow these "guest pleasers" like Nemo to coexist with high quality attractions that are true to the mission statement. Maybe Nemo draws someone to the pavilion, but why not also have a nearby attraction with more educational merit? Allow people the chance to seek out higher forms of entertainment and they may surprise you. Assume the best, but also acknowledge the need for simple pleasures. Sure, conceptual purity would be nice, but I think that at this point a mix would be profitable and please both crowds.

 

[ford91exploder]

Agreed, no company will go just for the sake of going. However, if there's gold in them there hills, then I think we may see some privately invested trips to Mars. Or anywhere else the "gold rush" may lead.

There are already 300,000 people signed up to volunteer for the send em to mars and let em stay there forever mission,

 

[ford91exploder]

You need a mix. The inventions and advancement in science that have benefited the planet have vastly outweighed the dollars spent on NASA (there was an actual story about this recently and the rate of return has been astronomical) and a good mix between private and public money would work best. Imagine the innovations and science that had a private corporation funded all of the work would be held tightly by that entity only, but having the government funded components, it allows science and technology to not be owned by a tiny cabal only interested in making the most money.

However, companies like SpaceX are proving that you can launch rockets and dispatch satellites along with bringing cargo to the space station at far lower price than NASA could ever do. A combination would be excellent. What's revealed in polls aren't a science many of times and if people knew what the benefits and what they interact with in their daily lives was because of the space program, many would most likely have a different opinion.

Recall the Internet was a government program designed to create a network which could survive a nuclear war and the Internet was known as the ARPAnet. Government funding of BASIC research is a GOOD thing. Picking winners and losers by funding APPLIED research a bad thing.

 

[CDavid]

There are already 300,000 people signed up to volunteer for the send em to mars and let em stay there forever mission,

Yes, there's that and the mission to send a married couple on a Mars fly-by, but I'll stand on my head if either ever gets off the ground. In cooperation with NASA, though, and its access to the treasury and existing (trained) astronauts and infrastructure they could serve as contractractors for a (taxpayer funded) NASA mission. Things tend to cost astronomical sums and take a decade to develop with NASA* (and Disney. Hey, an on topic connection) when there are viable proposals to do it cheaper and faster (like Universal!). Indeed, wasn't there a proposal by a private firm to complete ARES I for in 2-3 years for something like 10-12 billion?

 

[ford91exploder]

Yes, there's that and the mission to send a married couple on a Mars fly-by, but I'll stand on my head if either ever gets off the ground. In cooperation with NASA, though, and its access to the treasury and existing (trained) astronauts and infrastructure they could serve as contractractors for a (taxpayer funded) NASA mission. Things tend to cost astronomical sums and take a decade to develop with NASA* (and Disney. Hey, an on topic connection) when there are viable proposals to do it cheaper and faster (like Universal!). Indeed, wasn't there a proposal by a private firm to complete ARES I for in 2-3 years for something like 10-12 billion?

There was it was ULA (guys who actually DID the shuttle launches, ULA also wanted to take over shuttle program) but the current administration said NO to both proposals.

 

[ford91exploder]

Evolving from what was into something that still held on to the original "vision" while grasping "new" ideas and concepts would've been great. I think one way to handle the problem of things becoming "dated" is exploring things that are still, wether theoretical or practical/impractical, a LONG ways off in the future. Interstellar travel, faster than light travel, theories surrounding black holes, the possibility of alien life and what that may look like, worm holes, the blend of theory and imagination as it pushes our understanding of technology. Keep the science grounded, but explore the possibilities. And no Iron Man.

As fun as Soarin is, I don't really get inspired after riding. For some reason though, I have a strong desire to buy oranges.

One of the best exhibits in EPCOT in recent times was the energy efficient house, with a combination of Solar, Geothermal, Grid and Generator power - The house was possible to build but it was more a showcase of what could be done, I took some of the ideas from the energy management system and used them on RV as a test where depending on time of day and load I could run from Batteries/Genset/Grid, Yes I've got 1KW of panels on the RV.

 

[Wikkler]

The attractions themselves don't tie together nearly as well as they used to. The symbols for the rides used to kinda give one an idea...but now we have:Air Conditioned Nap starring 90's Ellen DeGeneres, Tron: Chevy Legacy, That Ride That Kills People, Ride Pluggin' Over California, Oh S*** Nemo's Lost again, and finally...warmed over Michael Jackson with some ride half-way pertaining to Monte Python and bad CGI storylines...

What about JibJab's History Lesson, Mexican Bar, Norwegian Bar, Chinese Bar, German Bar, Italian Bar, American Bar, Japanese Bar, Moroccan Bar, French Bar, British Bar, and Canadian Bar?

 

[Wikkler]

Future world is becoming extinct world. So much unutilizied space.

You want the only pavillion open to be... Energy?

 

[Wikkler]

I don't know what or should be put in there to appeal to all the masses. IMO.

Princesses. Mickey. It's Disney after all, we don't come here to be edumacated!

 

[BobConnor]

If they do Imagination over again:
Do any of you think they will have that turntable? Maybe divide it into 2 or 3 rather than 5 to not have so much expense? Or should it all be done on a preshow? Meanwhile, is it the turntable that makes it so difficult to reuse the building?

Meanwhile what would you think of a figment ride or show, something like maybe "Figment's House" without the skunk smell, have it in magic kingdom to replace that Stitch ride that smells so bad?

 

[Zweiland]

If they do Imagination over again:
Do any of you think they will have that turntable? Maybe divide it into 2 or 3 rather than 5 to not have so much expense? Or should it all be done on a preshow? Meanwhile, is it the turntable that makes it so difficult to reuse the building?

Meanwhile what would you think of a figment ride or show, something like maybe "Figment's House" without the skunk smell, have it in magic kingdom to replace that Stitch ride that smells so bad?

According to imagineeringdisney.com, the turntable was welded in place once it stopped being used. That is one of the difficulties of reusing the pavilion.

I would love to see the turntable make a return, but I don't know how practical it would be. The area where the turntable once was is the current loading area. They would have to reconfigure the ride all over again.

 

[Goofyernmost]

If they do Imagination over again:
Do any of you think they will have that turntable? Maybe divide it into 2 or 3 rather than 5 to not have so much expense? Or should it all be done on a preshow? Meanwhile, is it the turntable that makes it so difficult to reuse the building?

Meanwhile what would you think of a figment ride or show, something like maybe "Figment's House" without the skunk smell, have it in magic kingdom to replace that Stitch ride that smells so bad?

According to imagineeringdisney.com, the turntable was welded in place once it stopped being used. That is one of the difficulties of reusing the pavilion.

I would love to see the turntable make a return, but I don't know how practical it would be. The area where the turntable once was is the current loading area. They would have to reconfigure the ride all over again.

Ah, y'all is just talkin crazy talk now! Seriously, the turntable was a operational nightmare, it will never return. It's nice to dream though!

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

Sadly i'm sure the turn table will never return. That was the part that made them want to close the ride in the first place (operational costs and syncing problems I gather). And as stated above, likely in a state where it wouldn't be useable anymore unless they built it from scratch again.

It's a shame because it was one of the coolest things ever. It felt like some crazy sort of "pre show" like you see in many other rides but like nothing else. They probably could rebuild it with modern tech and make it work fine if they wanted to spend the cash to do so, but they're hardly going to put that effort in.

 

[Admiral01]

Sadly i'm sure the turn table will never return. That was the part that made them want to close the ride in the first place (operational costs and syncing problems I gather). And as stated above, likely in a state where it wouldn't be useable anymore unless they built it from scratch again.

It's a shame because it was one of the coolest things ever. It felt like some crazy sort of "pre show" like you see in many other rides but like nothing else. They probably could rebuild it with modern tech and make it work fine if they wanted to spend the cash to do so, but they're hardly going to put that effort in.

Exactly. One of the things that made EPCOT Center cool was the ride systems themselves. UoE's solar powered moving theaters, JII's turntable, Horizons' sideways omnimover, WoM's leveling omnimover system... They all helped make the technological wonders in the park really noticeable. In this same thought, Test Track and Mission:SPACE really are amazing attractions. The high speed vehicles on TT and the centrifuge simulators on MS are really marvelous. MS just has the downside of being a sort of ho-hum attraction using a simulator to simulate a simulator...but really experience 2.5 Gs. The buildings themselves were (and mostly still are) incredible pieces of architecture too. Unlike the MK's facade with building hidden, EPCOT's buildings were beautiful and meant to be seen. So cool in my opinion.

I cannot believe from an engineering, programming, and operational standpoint that the original JII couldn't be rebuilt using modern technology that would improve the ride, lower the cost, and deliver a superior attraction that is like the original but better.

 

[Seabasealpha1]

What about JibJab's History Lesson, Mexican Bar, Norwegian Bar, Chinese Bar, German Bar, Italian Bar, American Bar, Japanese Bar, Moroccan Bar, French Bar, British Bar, and Canadian Bar?

Well, yeah...I forgot about those...I typically know those by the name Epcot Showplace 5. Five screens...five different movies...all of 2 attractions and guess what? BOTH boat rides...score! Now if they'd just put out a few "Big Game Hunter" machines there'd be plenty to do between movies...

Wonder how long until AMC buys those out too?

 

[PeterAlt]

You know Imagination was originally supposed to have indoor roller-coaster elements, which is why it has two floors. Maybe the next recreation of it could go back to that original design?

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

The turntable was a truly ingenious innovation of this type of ride. To this day I am STILL impressed by the creativity behind the scene and how it worked. I've said it before on this site, but Imagination 1.0 would have held up remarkable well today. While I adored all the classic Future World rides and prefer them to what is there now, I at least realize they would have needed to be updated. Imagination didn't need much updating, I think it still would have been just as awesome as ever with just some general tech upgrades and minor plussing here and there.

I'm not saying Horizons or World of Motion deserved to be scrapped (they didn't), but unlike Imagination they needed a Spaceship Earth '94 caliber update (Horizons was apparently going to get one before they went with Mission Space).

You know Imagination was originally supposed to have indoor roller-coaster elements, which is why it has two floors. Maybe the next recreation of it could go back to that original design?

Depends on the level of thrills. I wouldn't want them to go overboard with that, I think something calmer would be preferrable. Though I never heard of the plan to introduce coaster elements. It would be very awesome if they could come up with an idea for the ride to incorporate both floors into the ride, perhaps having the vehicles themselves weave up the old spiral staircase that leads to a new Imageworks and have an optional unloading area there.

I wonder if this project is even still happening. Insiders have been pretty quiet about it lately and it worries me. It was said it was supposed to be closing early next year and I wonder if even that is still happening.

 

[PeterAlt]

Just rummaging through some old photos and found this from Imagination when it was still the old ride. A much younger me is in the pic (right).

 

[Figments Friend]

In other words, just like it used to be. Remember how Sea Base Alpha had that Atlas movie or that cute exploration robot voiced by Frank Welker?

My point.
The orignal Seas had the right balance back in the day, but i will admit it did need a refreshening towards the end of it's tenture.
Thus why we saw the Nemo characters slowly being introduced into the Pavilion, which was fine at first because they were not as intrusive or totally overpowering.

As much as i am not a fan of the Nemo characters, i could understand the desire to want to bring them into the Pavilion.
I remember when they first appeared in the sealife display areas upstairs...with the ray pool, jellyfish, and other smaller fish displays overlayed with a Nemo character theme. That was fine.
I have no real issue with that, as i know the kids enjoy this and it added some additional appeal.

The problem was the total oversaturation of the Pavilion with these characters.
Turtle Talk with Crush started this period...and finally with the complete overhaul of the Pavilion a few years ago.

I think Nemo and his friends can still be involved in the smaller sea life exhibits in a new re-imagining, but it would be nice to see the sea exploration/discovery aspects that were once present return in a new presentation.

Ditto for the Imagination Pavilion.
I know the original cannot ever return, and in all honesty as much as i adored it, it should remain in the past.
A return of the original's spirit, creativity, and ability to inspire and enpower is what is needed....not a recreation or attempted cloning of the original.