Is MISSION: SPACE one of Disney's greatest mistakes?

[BachataMan]

I love everything space-related especially by Disney, but I have to say Mission Space has to be one of the worst attractions in all of WDW, and I'm not alone in thinking this.

For one, it replaced what was arguably the best attractions at EPCOT - Horizons. I never got a chance to ride this ride, but from what I have seen and heard, I definitely would have enjoyed it. I know by today's standards it would have been extremely dated and they would have kept having to update it, but that hasn't stopped EPCOT from updating rides like Spaceship Earth and Test Track for the times. Hell, the idea of terraforming desert into farm land is still pretty futuristic even by today's standards among other things that were in the ride. Plus I understand that they had to demolish the building mainly because the foundation it was built on was very weak and risked being swallowed by a sinkhole.

Second, I understand this ride is supposed to be realistic - like if you were really flying into space it would be like this. Well at the same time, it takes place in 2035. You would think by then space flight would not be stuck in the Saturn V days of flying in a very tight-nit claustrophobic capsule.

Third, in the same realm that has Star Wars and the like, this ride seems totally generic and out of place - like it would have made more sense if it was out at Kennedy Space Center.

Fourth and worst of all, this ride can potentially make you sick and has even killed some people. When the ride first opened, there was no green mission and orange mission; it was all what orange mission is today, which is barf-city because you're being spun around a small room at 30 mph.

Charles Boda made a good point and mentioned this ride should have different outcomes based on how well the people in the capsule with you work as a team and you should be able to fail if you don't do what you're supposed to do. The whole assignments thing is useless when the 'computer' will do it for you anyways in case you're slacking off and not paying attention.

I imagine this ride will be gone in the next five years. They just did a major refurb last year and even that didn't help. Even on a really busy day, there's almost never a long wait to get on this ride - most of the people who ride it aren't aware of how sick the orange side will make you and probably decide to never ride it again once they do so the first time. Hopefully then they'll decide to bring back Horizons. More likely than not however they're probably going to put in a Black Panther 3D adventure ride.

 

[Disneylover99]

I don't know if it's Disney's greatest mistake, but going on it is definitely my biggest mistake/regret.

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

I love this ride! Me and my then 6 year old rode it at least a dozen times last year (Orange) and we all did Green as a family with our then 3 year old at least 3 times. My wife decided to do Orange with our 6 year old and said never again! But I think it's great! You never feel like your spinning at all. Only 4 months and I get to ride it again and again!

 

[goofyernmost]

I have ridden every ride in WDW starting in 1983. I liked Horizon, but, even for me it didn't have sustainability. It was interesting and fun the first couple of times after that it was a crashing bore. That was supported by the fact that it was a walk on during its final years. There was a time when the line extended out the door and into the park. When M:S first started out it had a couple of unfortunate occurrences. Two people died on it. One was an older person with a pre-existing condition that he knew about and the other was a young kid that also had a pre-existing condition, but, that wasn't known.

After that the ridership dropped off for a while, but, talk about your thrill rides, that was the ultimate ride it, and possibly die attraction. So much for the people that complain about Disney not having thrilling enough rides. Anyway, the first time I rode it. I was amazed. When the ride was over the first word out of my mouth was "Awesome". Something that I had never said before in connection with any Disney ride. Then in order to calm the nerves of the public they split it up between the green side and the orange side. The green side worked basically the same as Star Tours does with a simple simulator action and the orange side used the centrifugal simulator to make you feel the actual G forces if you were in a real rocket ship. It can be very intense especially if you have breathing or circulation or inner ear problems.

No everybody's cup of tea, for sure, but, hardly hated by all. Many that complain about it have never ridden it because of fear. Those that have and complain were mostly judging it because of motion sickness problems, the same as the infamous tea cups. Hardly a mistake, it still remains busy most of the time.

 

[DISNEYSQUIRRELS]

MS has always fallen flat in my opinion. I have tried it several times & it’s just ... meh. Not because it makes me sick or anything like that.
I think because there is no endearing story coupled with the fact that it is just a so/so ride leaves me feeling fine if I skip it. I want to love it or at least like it but every time I ride it I feel like I’m missing something that the Imagineers wanted me to see/experience. Please start over.

 

[BarbieGal457]

Charles Boda made a good point and mentioned this ride should have different outcomes based on how well the people in the capsule with you work as a team and you should be able to fail if you don't do what you're supposed to do. The whole assignments thing is useless when the 'computer' will do it for you anyways in case you're slacking off and not paying attention.

I LOVED Horizons, and have many fond memories of it as a child. To me this was a downgrade but I know that is highly personal and mainly due to my strong memories of it. I do like Mission Space however I always do the green side to avoid motion sickness. I quoted this part because I definitely agree with Charles as well. It seems sort of pointless to have the buttons if they play really zero role. I think I would find it a lot more interesting if this was added. If I miss riding, I'm just like "meh no big deal." I think it will make it through the next 5 years but I do with they'd update it to make it more interactive.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

My family and I really like Mission Space. We’ve always done the orange side.