Spaceship Earth Revamp - Wonderful AND Woeful

[Polynesian Dweller]

Black cloth sounds unfinished to me as well. This was a soft opening when they often are just testing some things rather than having the ride ready to go. So hopefully more to come.

[x]

Rode twice yesterday as well and actually had an almost identical reaction as the OP.

First part is great, the second half (descent portion) is very dissapointing. I did notice what looked like some light effects that were not working so HOPEFULLY they aren't finished. I can watch a small monitor with crude graphics at home. The tech used to create your "custom" finale didn't impress me anymore than the old Horizons finale.

They need to add some kind of sets back to that portion. Everything was gone from the point where the kids were creating a "Rocket ship" and "dragonfly" on the big screen. That section used to have a lot of visual pop so hopefully they have big plans between now and Feb.

[SoaringEpcot]

My Parents went ot Epcot Friday while my wife and I went to MK with DS. It was not until we were watching the news on Saturday morning that they said Spaceship Earth was open. I asked my mom and dad if they saw people going on it but they said they just walked right by and did not even pay it any attention. I was there and did not get to ride. Now I will have to wait until next time, which we have not planned yet.

[lindique]

It was only open for about 1 1/2 hours. I just happened to luck out that I was in the right place at the right time. (About 10 AM - 11:30 AM). The walls were still up. They just opened one small gate on the right side of the building - if you happened to be passing by on the left side, you wouldn't have known it was opened.

[John]

Just heard from Ian who rode the ride minutes ago... he concurs. The second half of the ride was underwhelming...

Not good news folks.

[mrp4352]

I have to agree. The front half was fantastic - and I like the new narration. To me it had an overriding theme connecting everything together. Before it was just: this happened then, the other happened years later, and the third thing happened in 19xx...

For our ride in the afternoon (around 4:45 on Saturday), we ended up going down almost the entire length at the wheelchair loading speed. Which meant the video ran out about halfway through and we had a static screen saver to look at the rest of the ride down. Even just getting back the pretty lights just 'in case' the video doesn't last long enough would be nice.

Oh, and I'm glad someone told me that picture on our video was supposed to be a cartoon recreation of me... I never picked up on it.

[Bekka]

I'm heading down to WDW in January and hoping to have a chance to ride.

Though i'm a disney purist, i usually like to try and see where the imagineers are coming from, what they are trying to accomplish, and try to appreciate ride upgrades with that in mind.

From reading many reviews of the ride, it seems the screen aspect may be Horizons inspired?

Hm. Can't wait for the official opening. What I admire about the disney company is that they continue to pay attention to the parks. It would be disappointing to see things go stale, and never try something new.

On that note, does anyone else think the Epcot monorail station could use an upgrade? That view of the future is getting a little dated.

[PawleyPlatoon]

OK, let me get this straight. They cleaned up, tidied up and "updated" the first half of Spaceship Earth (MY ABSOLUTE MOST FAVORITEST EVER RIDE OF ALL TIME) and they stick a video screen in front of my face for the second half?????

This sounds horrible! I'm not a fancy, schmancy Imagineer but I'm more creative than this!

Is there anything we can do as consumers to improve this situation??

[Iluvpooh]

Wow- That ending is a bit lame. It does look like a "Jetson" Cartoon.

I hope and pray that it is unfinshed. My DH will be so mad if that is the final version!! He loved SSE and was upset when I told him about the refurb.

[cperry92380]

Even if the second half is a bust... can it be any worse (or less imaginative) than it was before... really...?!?!!?

[DizneyRox]

Even if the second half is a bust... can it be any worse (or less imaginative) than it was before... really...?!?!!?

Honestly, as much as I've been to WDW, up to the end I noticed new things at the end of SSE. The video was fairly cool, and I thought the final scenes were interesting. Not to mention the decent music is one of my favorites.

A million times better than a video screen that's going to get spit on, cracked, faded, etc.

[goofy for pluto]

Even if the second half is a bust... can it be any worse (or less imaginative) than it was before... really...?!?!!?

Actually for me YES!! I enjoyed the whole ride before SE is (was?) my favorite attraction in all of WDW.
I thought the whole makeover was because the descent portion of the ride was not accurate and they wanted to show a more realistic idea of what the future might hold.
The cartoon I saw on You Tube was Lame, and in no way represented the quality
that we expect from WDW.

[GoinGoofyPlanninThisTrip]

To those that have ridden...

Is the apex of the ride still a view of the earth?

[Demos]

Well I haven't posted on here in a long time but I felt compelled to post today.

I did indeed ride the "improved" SSE on Saturday morning (a trip to Epcot wouldn't feel proper otherwise). I must say that I do agree with a majority of the posters and say that even though the first half is pretty good, the latter is a major disappointment.

In fact, there are even a few changes in the first half that I felt were a little dispiriting - especially in the "advent of cinema" section where before we were treated to many different screens of movies from the silent era to the 50s, we are now treated to one. True, it may fit with the storyline only slightly better and it may have been cut back to make room for the new scenes that follow but this section of the ride now seems less spectacular.

Another change that no one seems to be noticing is that they covered up the Venus de Milo! Where for 25 years the statue has been left unchanged, they decided to cover the statue's "vanity" by depicting a less complete version. One wonders if the change was made due to parental complaints but it nevertheless ranks in my opinion as one of the most prude changes I have seen made to a Disney ride in the last few years.

As for the latter half of the ride, what else can I add that hasn't been stated yet. The video is a bit on the corny side but it would have been a nice addition if only the descent itself at least had some visuals instead of pure empty space. It makes this portion of the ride seem thoroughly lazy. Furthermore, this may seem like one of the first times where a rehab appears to have almost as many deletions as additions!

But that is not truly the case. The enhancements to the first half are extraordinary. The new animatronics are tremendous and a few little touches such as the animated cave paintings are a brilliant touch.

So all in all, is our beloved SSE destroyed? My answer is no but it is a little more underwhelming. It definitely does not rank up there with the Haunted Mansion as one of the better Disney rehabs.

[Demos]

To those that have ridden...

Is the apex of the ride still a view of the earth?

Yes it is.

[Vinny]

I was looking forward to seeing the results of the SSE rehab on my trip to WDW next February. The old version of the ride did not bother me at all as it was vintage Disney to me. SSE was one of the first rides that I went on at WDW and have always enjoyed it. Although, after reading this I am not holding out much hope. I still plan to ride it at least once to see the changes. I'll just have to wait until then.

[x]

I was hoping for something a little more dramatic in the top dome. For some reason I can visualize a really cool giant spiral galaxy filling the room in which we slowly zoom in to the solar system and then the earth. That room just has more potential in my opinion.

I'm glad they had this preview. You can be the bad reviews of the descent will make it to WDI. I wouldn't be suprised to see the opening delayed a little passed Feb.

[Ian]

From reading many reviews of the ride, it seems the screen aspect may be Horizons inspired?

No ... that's what I expected, but don't go in expecting that. It's nothing like Horizons at all.

Another change that no one seems to be noticing is that they covered up the Venus de Milo!

I noticed that immediately and thought the same thing you did ... that's odd and kinda lame.

Okay, so obviously I rode today and I pretty much agree with everyone else. The first half of the ride I thought was very good. There are a few aspects that I wasn't thrilled with, though. Like the Audio-Animatronics now look like they're on speed. They move too fast or something. The rest of it, Demos pretty much covered for me. One other thing I'll add is that the lady in the mission control room with the knee high boots is just weird. Who the heck dresses like that at NASA???

Now the good ... I liked the new scenes quite a bit. They were nicely detailed, fit the ride well, pulled the story together, and actually had a bit of an old-school Epcot feel to them. Everything up to and immediately past the Earth at the top of the ride is better than it was before, overall.

But the end is just stupid. That's all I can even think of to say. You answer a couple of pointless questions and then watch this incredible weak quasi-Jetsons movie. It's really, really pathetic. And the entire end of the ride is completely empty. Empty. Nothing but black curtains. It's bad ... I mean bad, bad. I can only hope there's more.

One other comment ... I do not like Judi Dench's narration AT ALL. Irons brought a certain majesty and sense of awe to his narration, but Dench is far too conversational and she even tries some humor at times. It's way too casual and low-key for my tastes.

Overall, I'd say it's a wash at best.

[DizneyRox]

Don't blame Judi, she's just reading a script. A bad script, but that's not her fault. Blame that one on Imagineering...

[John]

Certainly would be nice if a certain resident imagineer would chime in and comment on whether anything additional is planned for the end of the ride...

Ian, any chance there might be something behind the curtains that might get "revealed" at launch?

This whole thing is making me sick to my stomach. Behind Horizons, Spaceship Earth was my favorite ride in the park. If anything, I pictured an enhancement of the end. Sure, it wasn't spectacular before, but the lighting effects, future city, school in the future, and the scene where they showed people communicating to remote places certainly added to the ride. For there to be nothing... no lighting effects, no animatronics, no scenes is a huge dissapointment to me and thousands of other SSE fans.

I actually was looking forward to this revamp - and now, I just don't know. I'm still holding out some hope that additions are on the way.