Spaceship Earth Refurb Details

meticulus9 · Post by **meticulus9** » Dec Fri 07, 2007 8:47 am

i loved jeremy irons as the narrator, hopefully she'll be as good. But the thing Ill miss the most is the view of earth from space at the top of the sphere. I found that scene to be quite awe inspiring.

Post by **rdeacon** » Dec Fri 07, 2007 11:00 am

I just read that they had a guest preview yesterday. One person that rode the SSE specifically enjoyed the new narration.

Can't wait to get back to WDW to ride SSE.

Rich

Post by **Dr. Ravenscroft** » Dec Wed 12, 2007 12:19 pm

I accidently posted this in the wrong thread originally sorry

http://www.miceage.com Has pictures and a story up on the site about the new SSE(spoilers):

http://www.miceage.com/kevinyee/ky121107a.htm

Leigh · Post by **Leigh** » Dec Wed 12, 2007 1:52 pm

I read the whole article about SSE holding my breath and almost passed out!

I can't believe they changed the music -- hello it was perfect!

Okay change the narrator if you must but the music?!

Sigh. I am sorry to hear about the second half of the ride. I really hope they can make it better than it is now. It sounds very disappointing.

trekty · Post by **trekty** » Dec Wed 12, 2007 2:39 pm

www.laughingplace.com has video of the new Space Ship Earth. I'm hoping the attraction is better in person, so far I am disappointed w/ the changes

Captain Schnemo · Post by **Captain Schnemo** » Dec Wed 12, 2007 4:05 pm

I take a more long-term view of these changes, so I'm pretty happy with what I've seen so far.

The beginning looks very nice, and they didn't seem to destroy much, so that's good news for the future. Frankly, what they've done exceeds my expectations.

They've probably got more things planned for the ending, so I'm not too upset about that yet. The previous endings weren't so great either. Even if it doesn't improve, it leaves the possibility open for better things to come that won't have to come at the expense of the good stuff.

The major damage to climax of the ride was done with the last update, which took away the amazing space sequence at the top of the sphere, so relative to that change, this one is looking much better. I'm operating under the assumption that there's still a lot of work to do on the ending.

Other changes, such as narration and music, can always be altered in the future without damage to the core of the attraction, so I'm more tolerant of those changes (although the uninspiring ending music is a bit of a sour point).

Cheshire Cat · Post by **Cheshire Cat** » Dec Wed 12, 2007 5:14 pm

The major damage to climax of the ride was done with the last update, which took away the amazing space sequence at the top of the sphere

Which space sequence was this?

Captain Schnemo · Post by **Captain Schnemo** » Dec Wed 12, 2007 5:25 pm

The part where you emerge from the cramped spaces of the history lesson into a wide open area with a big space station. The cool orchestral part of "Tomorrow's Child" played here, and the stars were fiber optic instead of projected and were really twinkly and convincing.

Not sure what's there now, but they removed the station and changed the effects (and the music) a long while ago. I'd always considered that a real bummer as it was probably my favorite part (putting the "Future" in "Future World", as it did).

My memory's a little hazy on the details here, but I'm pretty sure the above is accurate.

Cheshire Cat · Post by **Cheshire Cat** » Dec Wed 12, 2007 5:32 pm

Oh, ok. I'm familiar with that scene, that's the one my dad misses also.

I'm more fond of the Earth being projected on the ceiling although I would imagine the effect would be better with fiber optic stars rather than projected ones.

meticulus9 · Post by **meticulus9** » Dec Wed 12, 2007 5:50 pm

Cheshire Cat wrote:Oh, ok. I'm familiar with that scene, that's the one my dad misses also.

I'm more fond of the Earth being projected on the ceiling although I would imagine the effect would be better with fiber optic stars rather than projected ones.

the earth projection at the top of the sphere was my favorite when jeremy irons made his comment about just being passengers aboard earth. Next was the spaceship earth scene.

Lion Sleeps Tonight · Post by **Lion Sleeps Tonight** » Dec Thu 13, 2007 12:12 am

Spaceship Earth was open today for at least an hour or so. I got to Epcot around 5pm, and they had it open. Packwingfn and I got to ride it twice.

I'm not good at the technical stuff, and it's been a while since I've been on the attraction. Let's just say I loved Spaceship Earth before, with the Jeremy Irons narration and the then soundtrack.

Now it's just "eh" with the new audio compared to the old. It'll take some time to get used to, and it definitely has a different feel to it. It's not as catchy either. Jeremy Irons' narration was more inspiring, while this new new narration is more like a lecture.

And yes, the decent leaves much to be desired at this point. One person does the touch screen stuff, which isn't very entertaining, while the other person either watches or stares at darkness.

And what's with the newspaper boy selling newspapers while facing the wall, lol.

HSolo29 · Post by **HSolo29** » Dec Thu 13, 2007 1:40 am

Captain Schnemo wrote:The part where you emerge from the cramped spaces of the history lesson into a wide open area with a big space station. The cool orchestral part of "Tomorrow's Child" played here, and the stars were fiber optic instead of projected and were really twinkly and convincing.

Okay, now I know I haven't been going crazy for the past 10 years or so. I knew there used to be a space scene in there but whenever I mentioned that to my family, they looked at me like I was nuts. I was really fond of that scene as well, otherwise I wouldn't have remembered it.

As for the updates, I watched the link of the video on the last page and wasn't too impressed with what I saw aside from the animatronics. I agree that the ending leaves much to be desired, but hopefully they can add something in there between now and the true opening.

Post by **acp** » Dec Thu 13, 2007 5:46 am

meticulus9 wrote:
Cheshire Cat wrote:Oh, ok. I'm familiar with that scene, that's the one my dad misses also.

I'm more fond of the Earth being projected on the ceiling although I would imagine the effect would be better with fiber optic stars rather than projected ones.
the earth projection at the top of the sphere was my favorite when jeremy irons made his comment about just being passengers aboard earth. Next was the spaceship earth scene.

Yes, that's the bit that stuck in my mind. The narration said "On this, our Spaceship Earth" just as you emerged into space and see the Earth.

I do hope they put something back during the descent. I quite liked the twinklyness of all the lights, and the mini spaceship earth towards the end.

Andy.

Lion Sleeps Tonight · Post by **Lion Sleeps Tonight** » Dec Thu 13, 2007 8:06 am

acp wrote:
meticulus9 wrote:
Cheshire Cat wrote:Oh, ok. I'm familiar with that scene, that's the one my dad misses also.

I'm more fond of the Earth being projected on the ceiling although I would imagine the effect would be better with fiber optic stars rather than projected ones.
the earth projection at the top of the sphere was my favorite when jeremy irons made his comment about just being passengers aboard earth. Next was the spaceship earth scene.
Yes, that's the bit that stuck in my mind. The narration said "On this, our Spaceship Earth" just as you emerged into space and see the Earth.

I do hope they put something back during the descent. I quite liked the twinklyness of all the lights, and the mini spaceship earth towards the end.

Andy.

That part was always such a cool, and almost chilling ending. Plus that creepy wind at the end.

emcduck · Post by **emcduck** » Dec Thu 13, 2007 9:01 am

horizons1 wrote:I am excited about the effort they're putting into making a new "classic" Epcot attraction. I am only bummed that the opening has been pushed back to 2/19/08 as I was planning a trip for January!

I'm going in January too. I've been hearing that they are currently in the soft opening pahse, so we might get lucky!