Any project as large as Mission: Space has an awful lot of elements that need to be brought together all at the right time and in the right way. That is usually accomplished through planning and Disneys primary internal pastime has always been huge meetings where people sit around and plan things (and often never actually getting around to doing things). Whats basically created is a huge web where one plan is based on another which is based on the results of yet someone elses plan, which in turn is based on the very first plan.
There have been a series of planning target set all along to get this attraction up and running. In order for everyone to get their own job done, everyone has no choice but to assume the schedules are going to be kept. When the ride opens, there has to be merchandise available (which in turn it has to be designed, manufactured, shipped and warehoused), there has to be marketing (ads created and shot, time and space purchased, reporter trips planned), and the operations have to be in place (cast members trained, hours adjusted, even stuff like additional electrical power has to be purchased). All of this stuff takes months to put into place; you cant wait until the attraction is finished to start. Otherwise youd have a glorious $120+ million empty building glittering in the sun.
The huge risk is, of course, is that youll have an eager knowledgeable cast, fresh t-shirts, and anxious informed fans all lined up but no attraction. Its happen before, Big Thunder, Splash Mountain, Test Track are just some of the more notorious examples.
Mission: Space uses a type of simulator technology thats been around for a long time, but its being used in a different way. Its one thing to design and operate a machine to put a pilot through a twenty-five minute F-16 mission a couple times of days; its something else to build a machine thats going to put 60 people through a three minute spin cycle a dozen times every hour, twelve hours a day, three hundred sixty-five days in a row. And its one engineering task to design a machine for a government with essentially unlimited maintenance resources; its different to design something for a struggling TV-network holding company.
The basic rumbling is that Mission: Space is simply too much too fast. There is still a good chance that solutions to all of the challenges can still be found in time. And theres an even better chance that corporate pressure will force solutions (even if only short term) to keep certain dates. Not only have a lot of resources been poured into opening this attraction on time, but a lot of personal assurances have been passed around The Halls of Power. Some of those assurances reach far beyond Burbanks Team Disney Building and were made by a certain balding, spot-light hungry executive whos getting really tired of making excuses to the likes of McDonalds, Kodak and General Motors.
Theres also a lot of internal pressure within WDI itself (or at least whats left of it). M:S is really a chance for WDI to show whats it capable of especially after the utter disaster of non-WDI projects like California Adventure. Its also a chance for them to undo their corporate reputation, one that came about do to Test Track, Rocket Rods and a host of other delayed attractions.
This reputation may also be playing a role in these rumors as well. Essentially no one trusts what WDI tells them. While they nod their heads in agreement at the planning meetings, once they get outside the conference room they all display a huge amount of skepticism. Part of figuring out rumors is to understand the motivations and the viewpoints of the groups involved. Because of the costs and reputations around M:S, there are just as many reasons for people to say the attraction is early as there are for people to say that its late.
One thing is certain; no one wants to be the first one around the conference table to say we aint going to make our deadline. I would not be surprised if Mission: Space opens on time; in fact I really hope it does for a lot of reasons. But I wont be putting any money on it.
P.S. It seems like no one has noticed that Philamagic has all but been official postponed until Fall. I dont have any good rumors on this one, but this one is much harder to understand than Mission: Space. Its nothing but a six minute 3-D film Disney turns those out like Mrs. Fields turns out cookies. I can only guess theres some sort of budget issue involved.
P.S.S. - I think the issue with the buttons has to do with the in-cabin emergency stop that a guest could press - similar to the "barf buttons" in the 'Cyber Space Mountain' cabins at DisneyQuest. The 'Mission: Space' attraction is really a souped upped version of that that technology. The difference is that 'M:S' will have several drums all linked on the same centrifudge. If a guest hit an E-stop inside, they'd stop the attraction for all those people as well. This is just one of the many operation "issues" that they're working on.
