When is Spaceship Earth Supposed to Be Replaced?

[erasure fan1]

Let me start by saying I love spaceship earth. I don’t think they need to change it, but I do think it needs a MAJOR update. Like most have said it’s the end ¼ of the ride that’s out dated. If Disney would keep the older rides up to date people just might want to go and see whats new. Spaceship earth no longer represents the “future”. I know people hate to see them change a “classic” ride but if they don’t get updated enough they lose their relevancy. I hope they do make some changes but I also hope they keep the core of the ride the same.

 

[Pongo]

I agree with the others. It's only the end that really needs to be altered. The rest of it is about the past, and it's pretty hard for the past to be outdated. If that made any sense.

 

[raven]

Actually creating some light effects like MK Cinderelas Castle es cheaper than replacing the tiles, the just need some "Pani" Proyectors and some "Talaria" Proyectors and they can place whatever they want in the surface of the globe. Even the same light as the Castle and it will change colors

Oh I know it would be cheaper, but I'm just saying that they aren't cheap lights to begin with. Especially those projectors needing a very high output. As it is already, SSE has very huge lighting fixtures to just light up it's surface at night. I simply love the color at night as it is now and would hate to see it become something different...except maybe change colors like the castle for maybe the 25th Aniv. :wave:

 

[HBKNEWMAN]

When I think of EPCOT, I think back to when I first went there. I remember the big shiny ball as I called it, World of motion, JII, and Horizons. I remember hating the energy one. I still recall going upstairs in JII to paint on Figment's face, lol. Now, I haven't been there since 1996, but it pains me to just see some of the pics of my once favorite park. To know that JII was canged TWICE! Horizons and WOM are gone. The Land is changed, and the Wonders of Life if sesonal. My favorite park is gone. Now all of the talk about SSE changing. I don't care if the ride changes, because it can't be any worse than JIYI. I always thought that EPCOT was too small. But I never thought the day would come when we would lose so much of something that was special. MK added on and MGM did too. Hell we were treated to AK. So why couldn't Disney just add to EPCOT insted of taking away. I can take my daughter to MK and she can still ride IASW, Peter Pan, Dumbo, everything I liked in MK, except for Mr. TOAD (DAMN SILLY OLD BEAR!), but she can't ride the ORIGINAL FIGMENT! Epcot wasn't the best, but I miss more there than anywhere else. Sorry for my rant. Oh yeah, lose the damn wand. I haven't seen it in person, but give me something DISNEY!

 

[RedGear]

It will not be replaced as it is the Icon of the park. It may get a rehab, but the sphere will remain. Hopefully without the wand.

Also, I could be wrong, but I doubt they would start a rehab during the 50 year celebration.

I hope they wouldn't do a rehab during the celebration either! I would hope they would wait for a while before they started any work again.

 

[skipperg]

Shows displayed on Spaceship Earth

Disney has tested displaying slide shows on Spaceship Earth. They displayed patriotic photos of America on the 4th of July last year.

The following link is to some that I took.

http://homepage.mac.com/gudac/Walt_Disney_World/PhotoAlbum102.html


Joe

 

[CSUFSteve]

Here, here!

They should not do anything with this attraction. Spaceship Earth is one of my fav's. I can see some MINOR rehabs within the attraction...some updates maybe...but the general attraction should stay the same.. There aren't too many CLASSIC Disney attractions left. We need more dark rides, since they took most of em away!

I just joined this site as a "Passholder" and have been browsing through the old E.P.C.O.T. Center attraction clips. Man, what memories! I had forgotten how much I missed some of those old attractions. While I'm realistic enough to understand the business need to march forward and satisfy the masses, it also makes me sad to see Epcot watered down. One of my favorite things about Disney had been the educational aspects of the attractions. My interest in technology stems from Disney, my interest in history stems from Disney... EPCOT Center had so much great information, at least as a starting to point to make you curious to know more. But no one wants to be curious anymore, they want to be thrilled. It's a sad reality. The character of Epcot, mostly Future World, has changed. SE is one of the last remnants.

I wholeheartedly agree that it's still a relevant attraction, but one thing I've never understood is why SE has to settle for outdated Audio-Animatronic figures. It drives me nuts how robotic they are compared to the A3 figures all over Disneyland Paris and even most attractions at Disneyland. Replace the dam_ figures for cryin' out loud! Other than that, yes, I agree with everyone else who feels the ride could be improved post-history-lesson phase. And while I love Jeremy Irons' voice, I also miss Walter Cronkite. Decisions, decisions.

Bottom line is I'm nostalgic for the old flavor of EPCOT. I miss the WorldKey stuff and think a modern implementation of it would be better than anything they ever did in "Global Neighborhood". I don't miss CommuniCore but don't like Innoventions either. It's an awkward piece of land(s) to do something with, though. And while the flavor of EPCOT seems to have changed, it's been a long time since I've felt such a resurgence of interest from Mr. Average Guest in Epcot. Future World has a pulse it hasn't had in a long time. People seem to be turned on to Epcot again and overall that's probably good.

Steve
[still bitter that WDW gets more attractions than DLR and it's *our* friggin' 50th birthday]

 

[Tim G]

When is Spaceship Earth Supposed to Be Replaced?
I heard rumors two years ago that it will be replaced by 2006? Is this true? Thanks.

Replaced?? in what way?? The whole sphere?? or the inside...

 

[Hammer1310]

Ouch...Please no....

Horizons, WoM, yeah we know the drill. I love and miss all of the ex-attractions and would love nothing more than to see a return to "dark rides" but I think we are in the minority. I think our beloved dark rides and old school animatronics are a thing of the past. Unfortunately, in ten or twenty years I think all the dark rides except the ones they can't get rid of (HM, PotC) will be gone. The Fantasyland area will have been updated by then and they'll finally take away the slow little kids' rides we love there too. The new ones will be smoother and more colorful (like Universal's "Cat in the Hat" ride) but the magic will slowly fade away as the old friends dissapear.

Horizons and WoM had something that none of the newer rides have; CHARACTER. While I love riding MS and TT they are basically gimmick rides. They're "one trick ponies". I'll admit, especially in the case of Mission Space, it's a great trick. But in the end it's still just one trick. Dark rides are great, long journeys with great stories. The new rides have to use the pre-show to pad the experience, rather than to accentuate it. They have a 5 min ride with 15 min of pre-show where it used to be quite the opposite.

Spaceship Earth is the last bastion of DR left in Epcot and should be left alone....period. No big refab, rehab or any-ab. I miss the old audio cues but the ride is, at least, still intact. A refurb might bring on the kind of changes we saw with Figment so I despise that idea.

These parks are for everyone and they should remain that way. Not just for the fans of the newest films or the oldest (yeah, me) but for all. I just hope more rides aren't sacrificed in the name of CG characters and cheap thrills. If so then we have been spoiled. We were used to much, much better.

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

Bring on the refurbishments but don't change the format

 

[marni1971]

This topic has been covered recently in depth - do a thread search for some great discussions...

Time Racers - dead
Probably not a total gutting of SSE
Possibly longer ride into old Global Neighborhood
Probably no external tracks

The original SSE lighting system had colour change in it; it would be great to bring it back!

Projection onto the surface was done as far back as 1988 (Illuminations) alaong with the more recent test projections

The alucobond tiles are designed to be self cleaning, obviously a few do need some TLC!

And please don`t call it a ball...

 

[ImaginerFigment]

Time Racers - dead

What wqas that was that the talking skateboard?

And are you sure Walter Cronckite narrated that seems odd that he would narrate that.

 

[Fantasmic!329]

What wqas that was that the talking skateboard?

And are you sure Walter Cronckite narrated that seems odd that he would narrate that.

Walter Cronkite did narrate SSE at one time.

Time Racers was one idea of what to refurbish SSE into.

 

[marni1971]

Imagineerfigment; welcome to the boards. I am sure:
Vic Perrin narrated Spaceship Earth from October 1st 1982 to May 25th 1986
Walter Cronkite Narrated Spaceship Earth from May 29th 1986 to 15th August 1994
The Jeremy Irons version opened November 23rd 1994

Time Racers was a planned post show for a revamped Spaceship Earth (at one time, in the quagmire that was Project Gemini, it was refered to as the actual ride replacement for the Omnimover inside the Geosphere)

 

[Dayma]

As long as the do what they did with IASW a refurb for SSE would be welcome IMO. The key is to respect the ride and only spruce it up a little.

 

[worldshwcasefan]

It's oldness is what makes it a classic Is there refurb job scheduled in the future ?

 

[Laura]

I know that SE's future is up in the air, but if they remove that ride then that's one less ride my 2 year old can go on, and there aren't that many at epcot to begin with.

The only rides I can think of that a 2 year old cannot go on are Test Track, Mission Space, and Soarin.

I hope they will leave Spaceship Earth alone. It's one of the only fun and educational rides left.

 

[Splashman]

Spaceship Earth may get a refurbishment but will not be replaced. SSE can not be replaced without knocking the whole geodesic sphere down because the attraction is built into the support structure of the sphere. While the sphere will never come down I hope the wand is removed.

 

[Sir Hiss527]

To be honest, I really don't care what they do with SSE. As long as the keep the ball, and the sign on top. I believe it should get a rehab just like IASW. I just feel that this attraction needs some sprucing up to do..Don't get me wrong this was Walt's vision of the future, and deserves to stay around.

 

[I.M.Fearless]

Well, SSE could use some minor refurbishment, but nothing serious. The main part of the ride could stay mostly the same, except maybe newer AA's an' stuff. The end should be updated, however: everything from the two kids talking online and forward. It would be kinda nice to hear Tomorrow's Child on there again. And they should do some minor cleansing on the outside, like removing the wand and cleaning off all 11520 panels. (yes I counted ) And definitely get SOMETHING GOOD in the old Global Neighborhood area. But other than all that, SSE really shouldn't change.

As for the rest of the park.... Something almost universal on here is people complaining about the newer attractions at EPCOT. There's something that not many people on here realize; not too many people actually cared for the old attractions! I have a few old "unofficial" tour books that give rather low ratings for attractions like Horizons, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Alien Encounter, and yes, even the original Journey Into Imagination! People who were just coming for one vacation rated these attractions low because they simply didn't care for them. The large majority of visitors to any Disney park is first-time guests, not total afficionados who complain about new attractions. In fact, I've found books that rate Stitch's Great Escape MUCH higher than Alien Encounter! Furthermore, I know for a fact that not ALL change is bad; just look at how many of you seem to enjoy the recent changes to the Living Seas, especially Turtle Talk.