Disney may gut Epcot's Spaceship Earth for new attraction

I am all for an update or overhaul of Spaceship Earth but I have concerns I have said elsewhere. Spaceship Earth is the "Cinderella's Castle" of Epcot. If they choose to put in an attraction that is only accessible to certain height minimums, there will be a lot of disappointed children.

The "golf ball" is one of the most recognizable pieces of architecture in all the world and it would be a shame if kids couldn't enjoy it, in my humble opinion.

New Pavilion.

What's the obsession with 'refurbishing' things these days? Why does it seem like parks always remove a ride when they add something new?

Grr. I lessthanthree Spaceship Earth

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~~~ Maddy ~~~
"Stalkee: The woman everybody wants"
*** This post was edited by Chernabog on 11/25/2002. ***

The ride will still be family oriented, plus it will handle more guests per hour. I see no negative reason why this should happen, Im all for it.

Plus, they lost their sponsership with AT&T, so they can re-theme the ride as well. Spaceship Earth's ride is about communication through the years, anyway, so this new attraction. Time Bandits, will most likely relate to that anyway.

From my understanding, the ride system itself has become a maintenance nightmare. Think about it: That thing has been running 7 days a week since 1982. Even pixie dust can't always do the trick.

Here is a great link about whats going on at disney right now includes a little discription of mission to mars ride. Story is 5 pages long and is a very good article.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.12/rebuilding.html?pg=1&topic=&topic_set=

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Army Rangers lead the way

How can they possibly justify getting rid of one of disney's greatest rides? I mean, sure, it may have low ridership, but it is a classic dark ride; one of the very few left in the world! Anyone else agree that Eisner is destroying this company?

Sad...very vey sad day for Disney.

I remember my first trip to Epcot in '84 and waiting at least 1 1/2 hours to get on Spaceship Earth. Again, I think it is/was a great attraction but 25 years is probably more than we should have got out of it.

If you know anything about the mechanics of the ride you would realize that this is probably the best thing they can do.

I don't see anything wrong with removing/updating a ride that's 25 years old. The last time I was WDW (about 3 years ago) SE was a walk-on in the middle of a weekend afternoon. It's old technology and should be updated.

Coaster131: No, I don't agree that Eisner is destroying the company. I would say that if they DIDN'T update their rides.

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Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein

Spaceship Earth needs to be updated, but I feel that the ride needs to be based upon the same principal. I would love to see SSE stay an omnimover attraction and I would love to see it reamain educational.

SSE needs to have its ride system updated, for at least one major reason: Arrow made it. Arrow products don't age well.

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Eisner has been destroying the company in different ways... the overhaul of Spaceship Earth is probably one of the wiser moves that Disney execs have made in regards to Epcot in the past few years. Throughout the years, many Disney attractions have received complete overhauls, and I'm actually a little surprised that SSE was not taken care of years ago. Its an older ride, with low capacity and lots of required mainenance... not exactly the type of ride you want inside of one of WDW's landmarks.

The passing of an older ride is a sad thing, but in some cases, change truly is for the better.

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-Rob
Don't forget to vote for your favorite wooden coasters @ http://www.geocities.com/wcoasterpoll - the polls are open until November 30th!

Plus it was boooooooring.

Fierce Pancake -

That's your opinion. Feel free to mock a ride because it's educational and not thrilling. There's more than just thrills, you know.

The ride is a classic and should not be tampered with. It deserves to stay in Epcot forever.

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-Kyle Brylczyk
KoRn - Untouchables

Finally a possible good use for the Geodesic dome. As a kid, way back in the mid 80's, SSE was what I was most excited about doing when we traveled to WDW, unfortunately after what seemed like an eternity in line I was bored to death on the ride.

Yes I've ridden 1 time since, as an adult, thinking maybe it was because I was so young. Boy was I wrong. As an adult it was even worse.

I see the viewpoint of keeping an educational slant in the rehab. However, I hope they don't play down to an audience. Even as a child, I was bored mainly because I wasn't learning anything new. *** This post was edited by coasterrod on 11/25/2002. ***

Spaceship Earth has low capacity? The ride has a capacity of 1400 pph. For Disney that may be middle of the road, but look at rides like Peter Pan's Flight and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh whose capacities I doubt even top out at 1000pph. SSE has more people per yer flow through it than any other attraction in the world.

I seriously doubt capacity is an issue. Even a totally full queue is only a half an hour wait- tops.

coasterrod- Spaceship Earth is a geosphere, not a geodome. It's a full sphere.

I'm really sorry if I come off sounding like a jerk about this, guys... I apologize. It's just that Spaceship Earth is my baby, I don't want anyone or anything to happen to it!
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- John
I got a B&M T-shirt!

*** This post was edited by Michael Darling on 11/25/2002. ***

there will be a lot of disappointed children.

Oh, boo, hoo. . .

I have no problem with them changing the ride inside. Sure it may be a classic, but I have never heard of there being much of a line for it for a while. So I don't see any problem with them putting in something worthwhile.

And I agree the ride was a tad boring, and not just because it was educational. The animatronics weren't very fluid in motion and it just seemed old to me. I think that people will just have to accept that not all rides can stay forever and the park does have every right to mess with whatever rides they want. After all, they belong to them. *** This post was edited by YellowMan on 11/25/2002. ***

I wish they would keep the basic ride, just update some of the effects and animatronics.

Mamba- I agree totally. I also am the proponent of replacing the omnimover. Like I said, Arrow track doesn't age well- especially on an Omnimover.

Michael Darling said: "...SSE needs to have its ride system updated, for at least one major reason: Arrow made it. Arrow products don't age well."

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Oh please, why don't you give it a break, buddy. And, I'd like to see your study which shows Arrow track aging significantly worse than track produced by other manufacturers. Anecdotal tales mean nothing to me, and I think others see through it readily, too.

If you can't back something up then why say it?? Better stick to your day job....