Here's an article that discusses the subject:
AP article
Posted on Thu, Feb. 06, 2003
Experts: Disney must act with sensitivity in marketing new space ride
MIKE SCHNEIDER
Associated Press
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - When Walt Disney World announced plans to build a spaceflight simulator three years ago, it seemed like savvy timing. The first crew was getting ready to go up to the International Space Station, and Disney was in a position to capitalize on interest in the space program and its proximity to the Kennedy Space Center 70 miles away.
Now, following the space shuttle Columbia disaster, Disney finds itself facing a potential public relations minefield with the opening of the Mission: Space ride just months away.
If Disney handles the ride's opening with sensitivity to the Columbia disaster and markets it as an homage to the space program, it could escape any fallout, theme park consultants said. If Disney isn't careful and sells the ride as a thrill-seeking experience, it could backfire, they note.
Disney's Mission: Space web site, for instance, asked visitors in a poll Thursday, "Do you think space travel is dangerous?"
"They're thinking, 'Really bad timing' from the viewpoint of the ride opening," said Dennis Spiegel, president of International Theme Park Services Inc., a Cincinnati-based consulting firm. "When you have a catastrophic tragedy like this, it doesn't bode well for you."
When it comes to opening a new ride, Disney isn't the first theme park to have tragedy collide with its fantasy world. Universal Studios in Orlando, out of respect for victims, delayed for a couple of months the opening of its "Twister" ride in 1998 following tornadoes that killed 42 people in central Florida.
"This certainly changes the way you market the attraction," said Robert Niles, editor of themeparkinsider.com, an online newsletter about theme parks.
If Disney officials "ignore what happened here and make it perceived to be a frivolous thrill ride, then that can peeve a lot of people off," he said. "But this is a company that thinks, rethinks and triple thinks everything when it comes to public relations."
Mission: Space is still under construction. When it opens, visitors will board a four-person simulator where they will be flat on their backs for liftoff. Using hydraulic lifts, the ride will give visitors the feeling of intense G-forces as a spacecraft escapes Earth's atmosphere.
Disney has a lot riding on the $150 million Mission: Space, as it is only one of two new attractions opening this year at the resort. The other new attraction, Mickey's PhilHarmagic, is a 3-D film and much less ambitious than Mission: Space.
The resort, like Orlando's other theme parks, relies on new attractions to lure tourists back, especially when a tepid economy and fears of a war are discouraging people from visiting. Last year, attendance was down between 4 percent and 8 percent at Disney's four Florida theme parks, according to Amusement Business, a trade publication.
Since its inception, Disney has been promoting effusively the space ride at its Epcot park. During the ride's announcement three years ago, Disney officials touted the ride's sponsorship by the computer company, Compaq, which has since merged with Hewlett-Packard, and bragged that the ride was getting technical advice from former NASA scientists and astronauts, such as Story Musgrave.
The company has one advantage in that it hasn't set an official opening date, only saying sometime in 2003, and can be flexible.
Disney spokeswoman Jacquee Polack said Thursday that it was inappropriate to comment on the attraction out of respect for the seven astronauts killed when Columbia re-entered the atmosphere last Saturday.
"Our hearts go out to the families involved in this tragedy and this isn't the time for us to be talking about our attraction," Polack said.
But Bill Warren, another Disney spokesman, said discussions on how to market the ride haven't even begun so marketing executives aren't even considering at this point how the Columbia tragedy will affect their plans.
The company will likely play down the thrill-ride aspect of the attraction and play up reverence for the space program and the beauty and majesty of space travel, Spiegel said.
The fact that the ride is at the Epcot park, which has several educational attractions on science and technology, may allow Disney take a more instructional tone with the ride, said Steve Baker, an Orlando-based theme park consultant.
The attention to the space program following the Columbia tragedy may actually raise the profile of Mission: Space, said Bill Coan, who runs a theme-park design company in Orlando.
"I believe events like this add to the eventual excitement of an attraction like that," said Coan whose company, ITEC, worked on the ride. "The last thing they want to do is appear to leverage this ... but it doesn't hurt them a bit to show there is still an interest in space exploration."
