Fool me once…
We previously posted a news bit declaring that Spaceship Earth at Epcot was finished after its recent refurbishment and that the finale was not going to receive any level of overhaul or addition. We posted this after contacting several people at Walt Disney World and even riding the attraction several times ourselves looking for proof of upcoming additions. None existed and everyone told us the same story: the ride is finished and it is supposed to look the way it does.
More recently, we’ve been sent many links to rumors and reports of changes in the descent/finale of Spaceship Earth. Primarily the rumors report that the video sequence at the end has been modified (with new character head animation) and that new lighting fixtures have been added.
They have not. We compared film from multiple trips on the ride on May 8th to previous filming and photographs since the refurbishment months ago. Nothing has changed. We regret to inform the hopeful/optimistic few that Spaceship Earth is still “finished” and will likely remain this way for several years.
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6 Responses to “Fool me once…”
That character head animation is a blast! After the first time we kept riding in April to see who could make the funniest head, and picking out odd places for our home.
my 5 year old LOVES this ride. i think we rode it at least 4 or 5 times last week. and the character head animation was so fun. we loved seeing our ‘heads’ on the world map as we walked out of the ride.
“HAYES IS ELECTED”. you guys do a great job of getting news and developments out to us. it’s bound to happen sometimes. keep up the good work. thanks, susan
I admit it—I don’t understand why The Faithful hate the descent so much. Yes, it’s focused on the little Siemens story that you generate. No, it doesn’t make much use of the real estate around the vehicle on descent—but that’s because, you know, most people are *looking at the screen.*
And, people (as opposed to The Faithful) seem to *like* the little Siemens story. The attraction draws better than it did before, the post-show area is great, the changes on the ascent are all largely improvements. Anecdotally, my family liked the attraction a lot pre-update, and like it even more now.
My daughter is a big-time “optimal Touring Plan” type—if a line is more than about 15-20 minutes, she’s not interested. In light of that, her comment coming off the new version for the first time is even more striking:
“I want to ride that *again*, and I *don’t care how long the line is!*”
Rode this again in 2/09. Still enjoy the ascent. The descent is a waste of time. I guess for youngsters looking for a spoof, it is fun. It almost seems as if the imagineers ran out of ideas or money and just stuck in a computer gimmick. We didn’t bother with it in April. I guess there is always hope, but you sort of pricked that balloon.
So today is Mothers Day and my kids are seeing the grandparents for the first time since we went in April. What did they talk about first? Spaceship Earth and the descent. To each his/her own I guess. We consider ourselves among the faithfull, and it would not bother me if they did not change it. Can’t wait to go back on in August.