Space Mountain being changed?!?!?!!!!

[ChrisFL]

If Walt was still here, all of those "beloved" attractions would be gone. He himself said that the park will always change, it will never be a museum. Just look at Disneyland when he was around. Walt put up the Viewliner in 1957:

To say that he wouldn't keep ANY of his attractions is being presumptuous IMO.

Imagineers are following the same concept Walt himself created. Create an attraction and continue to "plus" it or replace it. Just look at the great things that have been done to Pirates and Haunted Mansion. Remember that these people working on these attractions are the people that have created this place we all love. So why don't we trust them when they say they've got something better for us?

Because we know what they did to alien encounter, what they did to 20K under the sea, what they did to Mr. Toad, what they did to Horizons, what they did to Journey to Imagination....

Just as a side note, Walt didn't have anything to do with Space Mountain. It was created 11 years after his death in Floridas' Magic Kingdom and then eventually recreated in Disneyland. So other than it being an old attraction, its not part of Walts legacy.

That's untrue, he DID have some input for a Space Mountain concept, but it was in very early stages:

http://www.mouseplanet.com/mark/mg050706gm.htm

 

[TPCShauna]

the track definitly needs to be replaced but not changed. i like the fun of sometimes not knowing which way you are going to turn, the headchopper effect when flying down a straight track. the cars do need updating. why cant they just update the place a bit, replace the track system with the same layout and just build another coaster in a different place in MK and call it night on bald mountain.

As of the last update regarding this refurb, the only changes are to be a total replacement of existing track and a refurb on the cars. There are no plans to change the layout of the ride itself or the cars. They are planning to darken the ride. There has been no word on whether they will be adding music. There have also been no mentions of changing the queue in any way.

To clarify a couple things about the cars, they have individual lap bars, so a pooh-sized person can sit next to a kid, and both of them can still feel safe and comfortable at the same time.
IIRC there were mesh bags in front of you to put your stuff in so it didn't get away from you, but I don't know if those are still there. RnRC doesn't have anything like that and it's a more wild ride...

I also seem to remember the seats being padded, but I could very well be wrong; after all, that was over EIGHT years ago! (I should really get back to Disneyland...)

Yes, DLR SM has lovely mesh bags in front of you to put your things in and the seats are padded. They also have the great individual lap bars. I like the cars a 1,000 times better than their counterparts at WDW.

 

[Daveylegs]

I live in Colorado so I spend as much time at DLR as I do at WDW. In fact, I was at DLR last December and leave for WDW on Wednesday (yay!).

It's funny how the rides at DLR and WDW are different. There are so many threads comparing the same rides at the two parks.

My opinion is that Space Mountain at DLR is incredible. The rennovation really improved the ride. I will admit, however, that I liked the pre-rennovation DLR version of the ride more than the WDW version anyway.

The DLR version is incredibly smooth. The music is perfectly themed with the ride. The queue didn't really change much and the loading area is pretty much the same as it was before.

Unless I'm mistaken, there are two tracks in DLR too. But there is only one line and the two tracks are identical.

Now, I seem to remember SM being down for 18 months, not 10. They completely removed all of the tracks and rebuilt. I can't see them doing that in 10 months so it may be a much less involved update than the one they did in Florida.

I'm not actually advocating the change. I like having incentive to go to DLR. SM, POTC, IASW, Indiana Jones, Matterhorn, and a slew of Fantasyland rides keep DLR different enough to keep us coming back.

Having said all of this, I'll still ride SM at WDW this week and enjoy every minute!

 

[AlwaysLoveDisney]

actually, when i heard about this, i kinda had the same thoughts. i love space mountain the way it is now, but alot of people seem to like the one at DLR. I've never ridden it, so i wouldn't know.

This may sound weird, but my favorite part about the space mountain at disney world is the fact that you get your own comfy seat for yourself. haha

but that's just me.

 

[Disney1976]

I live in Colorado so I spend as much time at DLR as I do at WDW. In fact, I was at DLR last December and leave for WDW on Wednesday (yay!).

It's funny how the rides at DLR and WDW are different. There are so many threads comparing the same rides at the two parks.

My opinion is that Space Mountain at DLR is incredible. The rennovation really improved the ride. I will admit, however, that I liked the pre-rennovation DLR version of the ride more than the WDW version anyway.

The DLR version is incredibly smooth. The music is perfectly themed with the ride. The queue didn't really change much and the loading area is pretty much the same as it was before.

Unless I'm mistaken, there are two tracks in DLR too. But there is only one line and the two tracks are identical.

Now, I seem to remember SM being down for 18 months, not 10. They completely removed all of the tracks and rebuilt. I can't see them doing that in 10 months so it may be a much less involved update than the one they did in Florida.

I'm not actually advocating the change. I like having incentive to go to DLR. SM, POTC, IASW, Indiana Jones, Matterhorn, and a slew of Fantasyland rides keep DLR different enough to keep us coming back.

Having said all of this, I'll still ride SM at WDW this week and enjoy every minute!

I think the reason the WDW refurb of SM could be done in 12 months is because they are supposedly using the same architect, and same format/design as they did in DL. Since much of the planning work is already done and they have the benefit of going through the refurb process once already, theoretically, this should be a quicker refurb.

 

[TPCShauna]

Unless I'm mistaken, there are two tracks in DLR too. But there is only one line and the two tracks are identical.

Now, I seem to remember SM being down for 18 months, not 10. They completely removed all of the tracks and rebuilt. I can't see them doing that in 10 months so it may be a much less involved update than the one they did in Florida.

There is only one track at SM in DLR. And yes, it was down for 18 months for a total refurb. They replaced every inch of track in the whole ride as they found numerous stress fractures. It had never had a total refurb since it was initially built.

 

[orangekid13]

Unless I'm mistaken, there are two tracks in DLR too. But there is only one line and the two tracks are identical.

When I was there in 2000, there were two loading docks but the track had a switch like BTMRR so it's one track on the actual ride.
I found something that says the 2005 refub included a completely new track, but the same design/layout, so it sounds like there's still only 1. Watching newer ride videos, it's still the big winding track I remember without a side-by-side or double track.

 

[TPCShauna]

When I was there in 2000, there were two loading docks but the track had a switch like BTMRR so it's one track on the actual ride.
I found something that says the 2005 refub included a completely new track, but the same design/layout, so it sounds like there's still only 1. Watching newer ride videos, it's still the big winding track I remember without a side-by-side or double track.

The switch is used when they take cars off and on the main track to go to the maintenance bay.

You are correct that there is only one track. There is not room for two.

 

[orangekid13]

The switch is used when they take cars off and on the main track to go to the maintenance bay.

You are correct that there is only one track. There is not room for two.

my bad, I had to go watch a ride video again, I remembered wrong about 2 loading stations, I must have either been thinking about 2 stops on the same track for loading 2 trains at a time or remembered seeing trains that weren't in use alongside the main track in the loading area just before the actual stations.
...or I was remembering playing a flash game thing of controlling the ride online somewhere and it was the DLP version

 

[TPCShauna]

my bad, I had to go watch a ride video again, I remembered wrong about 2 loading stations, I must have either been thinking about 2 stops on the same track for loading 2 trains at a time or remembered seeing trains that weren't in use alongside the main track in the loading area just before the actual stations.
...or I was remembering playing a flash game thing of controlling the ride online somewhere and it was the DLP version

There is an area where they "shift" cars over so that disabled persons can load without the stress of hurrying. They also load and dispatch two sets of 3 row cars at once.

And yes, the maintenance bay is just off to the left as you start onto the ride. When they load on cars, they send them through the ride once empty before loading on guests.

Can you tell that SM is one of my fave DLR rides?

 

[orangekid13]

I just found this thread: http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1843516
from someone about someone they met who supposedly has parents higher up in disney, and the refurb is supposedly going to start this summer, possibly the end of the month. Something I found said that there wasn't much or any warning about going down for refurb (could be because they suddenly found out they really needed to do a lot of work immediately?) but if that's true and they didn't give a lot of warning about the DLR one, maybe it could be true...

have there been many really short notice closures of big attractions like that?

 

[TPCShauna]

I just found this thread: http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1843516
from someone about someone they met who supposedly has parents higher up in disney, and the refurb is supposedly going to start this summer, possibly the end of the month. Something I found said that there wasn't much or any warning about going down for refurb (could be because they suddenly found out they really needed to do a lot of work immediately?) but if that's true and they didn't give a lot of warning about the DLR one, maybe it could be true...

have there been many really short notice closures of big attractions like that?

It's totally a rumor. Disney has already filed for permits to start work in January. There have been articles on several Disney sites talking about the refurb and all say it is scheduled to begin in January and last 10 to 12 months.

 

[DrDeb]

wait a minute... Carousel of Progress going away??? tell me it isn't so-- i'm still upset they took the Golden Girl's House away!!!! yes i am a WDW purist too

 

[ChrisFL]

wait a minute... Carousel of Progress going away??? tell me it isn't so-- i'm still upset they took the Golden Girl's House away!!!! yes i am a WDW purist too

No, COP is not going away...they're adding stuff to it and making it look better right now....

 

[orangekid13]

the final scene in COP was outdated at least 5 years ago, the video games were outdated when I went in 98 with Nintendo 64 graphics looking way better.

where did the COP come up anyways?
and where does everyone find the permits? do some people just look through all the permit applications for the area every day?

 

[ChrisFL]

the final scene in COP was outdated at least 5 years ago, the video games were outdated when I went in 98 with Nintendo 64 graphics looking way better.

where did the COP come up anyways?
and where does everyone find the permits? do some people just look through all the permit applications for the area every day?

It's designed to be a history of life through the 20th century.

 

[Daveylegs]

If you guys all say it's one track, I believe you. Chalk it up to my faulty memory. Since it is just one track, I wonder how they could completely redo the current WDW tracks with the new one? Again, I don't think they changed the loading area. Did they? They'd have to completely revamp the loading area at WDW to have it the same as the one at DLR.

 

[orangekid13]

It's designed to be a history of life through the 20th century.

The last one is supposed to be the near future, they've already updated it at least once

 

[Mrs.Toad]

If you guys all say it's one track, I believe you. Chalk it up to my faulty memory. Since it is just one track, I wonder how they could completely redo the current WDW tracks with the new one? Again, I don't think they changed the loading area. Did they? They'd have to completely revamp the loading area at WDW to have it the same as the one at DLR.

This is why I doubt that they are refurbing the WDW SM to make it "the same" as the DL SM. They are probably just going to replace the track and cars to be more like those at DL, maybe add some music.

There are lots of differences in a lot of the rides that are at both parks, Splash, HM, ToT, PotC, etc, some of them significant, others not so significant. I'm sure there will continue to be differences in the two SMs, and I'd guess that one of those differences will be the two separate tracks.

 

[JenM]

If you guys all say it's one track, I believe you.

It's one track. I took this two weeks ago at DLR:

And they take your picture on it, which they don't do at WDW.

In two days I went on this 7 times. I skipped a last trip back into DCA to ride California Screamin' again (another excellent coaster) just to get a few more rides on this one.

It's faster, the track is smoother, the opening 'launch' is incredible and I love the soundtrack. And you really can't see anything during the ride except the stars spinning around.

It's soooo much better than the WDW version.