Gotta get it off muh chest - SE narrative change

[crazyj4488]

Ever since Jeremy Irons started doing the narrative of SE, one thing has always bugged me....in the scene where you ride by Michaelangelo painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Walter Cronkite would say..."BEHOLD, the Sistine Chapel." Now you ride by this scene and NOTHING is said about it. I bet you some people don't even connect with this scene since it goes by so quickly.

That line of the narrative always stuck in my memory and it has been bugging me for years now that the scene quietly floats by with nothing said about it.

Just my .02 cents

 

[SnackyStacky]

GEEZ! Now I'm gonna have to pay closer attention.

I didn't think it was anything as definitive as mentioning the chapel by name, but I thought Jeremy Irons said something about the artisans and musicians of the time (as some wonderful baroque music is played). I have NO recollection of the Walter Cronkite narration.

I love that scene!

 

[RHONDALEE]

I agree with you Crazyj4488, everytime I go on SE and go by that scene, I hear Walter Cronkite's voice saying "Behold, the Sistine Chapel". I miss the whole Walter Cronkite narrative.

 

[elf]

Me too I miss Walter Cronkite, the ride has never been as special as with him. Although I still go on it every trip. That's another thing I wish I video taped (horizons the other).

 

[DisneyAddict_M]

Me too I miss Walter Cronkite, the ride has never been as special as with him. Although I still go on it every trip. That's another thing I wish I video taped (horizons the other).

Luckily, I have most of the old rides on videotape...SE, World of Motion and Horizons. My father taped them all on a trip we took 16 years ago (when I was 10!) It makes me sad to watch the video now though.

I do remember that narration, but I didn't know it was Walter Cronkite. And I didn't know Jeremy Irons is the one doing the narration. I need to pay better attention!

 

[crazyj4488]

Sigh....I miss the old BIG 3 dark rides at EPCOT.

Thank god we still have SE. I really love the finale they added in the early nineties.

 

[mplsmom1]

Ok - when did the narrative change?? My first trip was in '99 and SE is our absolute favorite ride at Epcot. I'm going to feel silly if it switched on me and I didn't notice!

 

[crazyj4488]

I think they changed it in 1996. Any1 else wanna chime in here?

 

[Uncleromulus]

Don't remember exactly when it changed, but was disappointed when it did. Cronkite put an "effort" into the narrative-Irons sounds like he's about to fall asleep.
And they got rid of "Tomorrow's Child", the music they always played on the way "down". Another mistake to compound the first one.
At least we should all be glad we got to see the "big 3" dark rides. Think about all the folks who now will never get to experience Horizons and World of Motion--.

 

[OKW Lover]

I believe the actual line by Cronkite was "Behold the Sistine ceiling". Always thought was curious phrasing.

 

[leighe]

Which one of the "dark 3" was the one where you could choose to go underwater or into space? I know I remember something like that from my childhood trips with my parents but when DH and I went in summer of 2003 (I hadn't been since '96 or so) there wasn't anything like that so I thought maybe I dreamed it.

 

[OKW Lover]

Which one of the "dark 3" was the one where you could choose to go underwater or into space? I know I remember something like that from my childhood trips with my parents but when DH and I went in summer of 2003 (I hadn't been since '96 or so) there wasn't anything like that so I thought maybe I dreamed it.

You're thinking of Horizons. Loved that orange smell in the futuristic farming scene.

 

[crazyj4488]

I believe the actual line by Cronkite was "Behold the Sistine ceiling". Always thought was curious phrasing.

You're correct. Here is the actual phrase from the script I found online:

"Behold, the majesty of the Sistine ceiling."

Just an adjective missing. Man, I miss that narration.

 

[ReninDetroit]

The script was changed in 1994.

As you can see by my little phrase under my name, SE is my favorite Disney script lol....

I like the Jeremy Irons. It's comforting.

I just wish they'd fix that cranky track!

I also think it's terrible to go down to the bottom and see a big empty room where the global neighborhood used to be...and there's still AT&T written everywhere in the second portion of the ride...there are some parts you can see they blatanly tried to cover them up, but in the projections for the video communicators you can see the AT&T logo in the bottom left hand corner.

 

[leighe]

You're thinking of Horizons. Loved that orange smell in the futuristic farming scene.

Thanks! I wish that was still in Epcot. What happened at World of Motion? Was it something about flying? I wish I could remember this stuff better.

 

[ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!]

World of Motion was the Spaceship earth of transportation. Vehicles from past to present and well, beyond. I loved both Horizons (was my favorite ride) and World of Motion. I dig Test Track a lot, but I'd rather have Horizons than Mission Space.

 

[OKW Lover]

Thanks! I wish that was still in Epcot. What happened at World of Motion? Was it something about flying? I wish I could remember this stuff better.

WOM's song was "its fun to be free" and featured man's efforts from the beginning of civilization to move about freely. There were scenes of a cave man blowing on his foot to ease a blister, the invention of the wheel, a used chariot lot, a scene with a stage coach and theives holding up a railroad train, early 1900's city streets with lots of early cars and a few horse drawn buggies, and then some more recent scenes. The ride ended with a view of a city of tomorrow that was pretty much in the dark with lots of lights zipping about.

 

[Disney Fool]

Since nobody's mentioned it, I miss the view of the NASA spaceship and the astronauts as the vehicle turned around in SE. Now, all you see is the planet Earth. Nice, but ....I sure miss the old way. My motto is: (and are you listening, Disney?) "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!!!"