Spaceship Earth Soft Opening Official!

[mulderxcoltrane]

Not sure if this has been posted yet, but from another Disney website (very credible) posted the following yesterday:

Spaceship Earth began admitting guests around 8pm tonight, December 6th, 2007. It may or may not be open to guests in subsequent days. If open, it may close at any time for any length of time.

A soft-opening is a period of trial-running the attraction with guests in order to work out the logistical problems and to test some elements. Some parts of the ride may not be fully operational. Again, there is no guarantee it will be open on any given day at any given time.

[Figment!]

This was noted last night in From the source (good news on Spaceship Earth, too) (http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=121308) down in the News forum.

As of yesterday Attraction Cast were reporting that the ride was planned to be open for previews today (12/7).

We have some INTERCOTees on-property today and over the next couple of days, we should be getting some first hand reports if the previews continue as planned.:thumbsup:

[RedheadWriter]

Great news!!!

[poeticeclipse]

Eeeeeek! I'm too excited!!!:yay:

[Taam Hamms]

Hope its open still in January! :thumbsup:

[TBY2225]

Great! I can't wait to hear all about it. Hope it is open when I am there next month!

[kjmom]

We will be there Dec. 12 thru 20, hope we get to experience it:party:

[TiggerTopper]

:santa3::santa3:I FLY TO DISNEY TOMORROW A.M. :santa3::santa3:

[emfleck]

:santa3::santa3:I FLY TO DISNEY TOMORROW A.M. :santa3::santa3:

ME TOO!!!!! :thumbsup:

:deer::santa3:

[devoted93]

Well, the new videos are already on YouTube!

So far from me - some good, some not so good. I'll need to see more to make an official decision!

[berri_boo]

My DH & I were able to get on SSE earlier this evening around 5:15pm. It's great. We were both excited about being able to get on it since it was reported that it wouldn't open at all during our trip. Thankfully (or not thankfully) today was our last day & we decided to do a 4 parks in one day thing and happened to be in EPCOT and leaving when everyone was lined up waiting for SSE to open. I asked a CM how long before it would open & he said 15-20 mins. We ended up waiting about 32 mins before being let in.

It was great...the animatronics seem to move more fluidly then they have in the past. The cars now have a video screen on them that is only utilized in the beginning & end of the ride. The new narration is a lot better to.There are definitely a lot of big chances going on in SSE and you can tell by the smell of "new wood" that a lot has been done.

[McGoofy]

Well, the new videos are already on YouTube!

So far from me - some good, some not so good. I'll need to see more to make an official decision!

I'm going to avoid watching them. I want it all to be a big surprise when I do get to see it. Hopefully there will be no spoilers. I avoided spoilers with Haunted Mansion, and I think that made it that much sweeter when I did get to ride it because I didn't know what to expect.

I just finally got to my single digit countdown, so I hope that I will get to ride SSE when I am there in 9 days!:thumbsup:

[KAJUNKING]

I have a good friend going to the world 1/2 through 1/9 and he really loves se, what chance do you guys think he has to see the attraction on this preview or soft opening, i am really hoping he has a shot to see the new ride.

[medic9016]

It will be hit or miss until the official opening. Now with all the bad reviews over the last week, it could be closed more than open , to make some more changes. They will just have to be in the right place at the right time.

[DDuck66]

It was open all day on Saturday the 15th!!! The wait was only about 10 minutes. We really liked it...but with a soft opening you can never tell.

[DigitalDaredevil]

We were there last week. The info we received is that it is sporadic. One day it may be open for a couple hours, another day just for an hour. They said they do it to "test" SE.
Usually they have a CM by the door to the right of the SE entrance where the wooden wall is up. If you are nice to them, they may give you hints on when to return.

[DigitalDaredevil]

The animatronics were greatly improved. The first half of the ride was pretty much the same but fixed up a bit. Once you get to the part where the TV's and movie stuff are, it begins to change and then there isn't much. I imagine that WDW is still working on the end of the ride from the black cloth that has stars all over it. I can't wait to see what's behind there. My only complaint is that I preferred Jeremy Irons narration over the current narration. But that is my opinion.

[SurferStitch]

We got to see it on our last day (12/17). We went to Epcot many times during our 12 day trip, but it was usually closed. A couple times there were admitting CM's only. But, on our last day there, the door was wide open.

The wait was only about 10 minutes, so that was great. Animatronics were greatly improved. The "pick your future" thing at the end was a little lame....I was hoping for more, but it was cute.

I'm really glad we got to experience the soft opening. It's always kind of cool to do something before it's officially open to the public.

[DigitalDaredevil]

Another indicator that they are not done with the attractions is in the printing press scene, the paperboy is needlessly facing away from the riders, and is a bit out of view unless you know he is there, even though he is still doing his "newspaper spiel".

[meandmydog1]

Received a messgae today from a friend at Epcot today, they are boarding SSE right now so it looks like the soft opening continues.

[disneyboundagain]

It was open on 12/21, but the line was too long for our young kids. The line was much shorter today ( 30 min) and we were able to ride. First half was great. The decent was just stars, and the interactive movie was really lame.

[Sweezy]

so i finally got to ride the updated spaceship earth and i will more or less echo the sentiments of everyone else...the first half is great. the new animatronics are impressive, and as far as i could tell all of the updates in the first half are tasteful and positive. i wasnt quite sure what was going on with the computer hub scene with the disco/hooker-dressed afro woman, but the bill gates garage scene is charming and all of the details are fun to examine. its really sad to see all of the old future scenes COMPLETELY gone, however, as they were really part of the ride's DNA. I especially miss the 'future cities' scene, as well as all of the scenes as you are descending.

i might have forgiven this had the touchscreen 'future you' segment been the least bit satisfying, but let me say that it is just absolutely terrrrible, wow. the video has a few variables i guess depending on the questions you answer, but the outcome is comically simple and ridiculous...akin to a short segment of "The Jetsons", only this is 2007. imagineering here, apparently, is nowhere to be seen...its as if they were afraid of making any estimations/predictions of the future at all, so they just threw in some cartoon of random characters flying to and fro in a mock-spaceship. correct me if im wrong but this is what Epcot (especially spaceship earth and futureworld) are based on...showing us the concepts of the future 'today'. the end upsets me more on a 'trend' level than anything else...i really hope that this trend of ignoring the creative side of the future because its too costly to update does not continue, because that is just the complete opposite of the high Disney quality that we have come to expect and admire.