Spaceship Earth

2009-08-12T11:55:00.000-07:00

*All images on this post are copyright scott9432 (from flickr.com) except where mentioned*
Welcome to the first post of Disney Review 1971, where every week we will be reviewing either an attraction or decision of Disney.

This Week: Spaceship Earth

Spaceship Earth is the centerpiece of Epcot, it is a pentakis dodecahedron which stands 180 feet tall, it houses an attraction of the same name.

Breif History:
Spaceship Earth opened on October 1st, 1982 with the rest of EPCOT Center, and since then has had 4 versions, 1982-1986, 1986-1994, 1994-2007 and 2007-today. It has also seen the addition and removal of the 'Epcot Wand' (see image left), which was originally designed for the millenium celebration at Epcot, when it read '2000', but was changed in 2001 to read 'Epcot', it existed for 7 years before being removed for the 25th Anniversary of Epcot in 2007. Throughout all of the versions of Spaceship Earth, it has always had the same basic outline, a timeline from the beginning of mankind to the 21st Century.

Description of the ride:
Spaceship Earth is an omnimover, which means every car is joined together around the whole track, and the ride cannot stop moving during operation, so the station platform is moving with the ride. After boarding, you ascend through a tunnel where your picture is taken, for a purpose revealed at the end of the ride. The ride then begins taking you through scenes of the past, starting with Prehistoric Man, then making its way through Cavemen, Egyptians (and the inventions of papyrus), Ancient Greeks teaching math, The Romans (including the famous burning Rome scene), the Islamic Empire, Cathedral Abbey, the Gutenburg Press, the Renaissance, the Industry Revolution, the Age of Invention, the Age of Information and then into the famous planetarium scene, including the star and earth projections, afterwards you begin going backwards through the Stars, and finally into the unlit descent tunnel, where the touchscreen on your vehicle will come alive with 'invent your future', which will ask you a series of questions about yourself and wishes for the future, and then use the image it took of you at the beginning to create a video of your future.

My Review:
Well, I took my first ride on the current version of Spaceship Earth in 2008, I had forgotten about the changes and was slightly dissapointed when I heard a different musical score than the one I remembered. I was hit with the memory of reading about the changes when the voice told me to prepare for the photo. From then until the top of that tunnel I was unsure about what I was going to see, would anything that I remembered still be there? Well, that was answered in the first scene, I was relieved to see the Dawn of Mankind opening scene, and from that moment the ride was fantastic, it kept all the old scenes that I love with the exception of one or two, and added some imaginative new scenes that were magnificent. What I will admit is that I was dissapointed with the ending, compared to the last version, I missed the old ending scenes with the news tv and bedroom scenes, along with the magnificent model of New York City, with various lights representing the communications between people in the city. That particular bit was Disney at it's best, the music, the scenery and the magic worked together wonderfully. I was very amused by the new interactive ending, which was fun. Overall the most recent version of Spaceship Earth impressed me, however I don't think that Judi Dench was correct for the narrator.

Hidden Magic:
Overall, there is not many hidden things to look out for in Spaceship Earth, aside from Hidden Mickeys, so here goes with that:
1.On the way into Spaceship Earth, you will pass a mural on your right, there is a rocket on the mural with a number on it, look at the black number '3', it is a hidden mickey on it's side.
2.In the Islamic scene, where they Islamics are trying to restore the information lost in Rome buring, look to the shelves behind them, there are 3 scrolls which form a hidden mickey.
3.In the scene with the sleeping monk at his desk, look to the top right of the document, there is a small ink blot that forms a hidden mickey shape.
4.In the renaissance scene, look to the table on the left just on the way into the room, just in front of the first painter, there are three 'paint circles' that form yet another Hidden Mickey.
5.When the attraction was updated in 2007, 2 new Hidden Mickey's were added, the first is in the scientists scene on the right hand side, look towards the orange coffee cup on the desk, there is a Mickey mouse sticker on it.
6.In the new scene with the garage and the orange/red car on the left hand side, there is another Mickey Mouse Sticker on the car window.

Tips for Spaceship Earth:
Spaceship Earth is not one of the more visited attractions at Epcot, in the high season, queues are usually around 30 minutes long, also remember that it is constantly moving, except for when a disabled person needs to get on the ride. So you do get through the queue relatively quickly. I would recommend that if you plan to visit Test Track, Mission: SPACE or Soarin', you go and get a fastpass for the one you want to ride the most, then visit Spaceship Earth as one of those 'space fillers'. Spaceship Earth takes about 15 minutes from start to finish.

Spaceship Earth from the Photographer's Eye:
Spaceship Earth is generally harder to take pictures of than most other dark rides, since the lighting in Spaceship Earth is very low, if you would like to attempt photographing the scenes, remember that no flash photography is allowed. What you need is a high ISO speed (2500 or higher), a low aperture (f/7 or lower), and a shutter speed of around 1/60. You also get a chance for a colorful shot towards the end of the ride, through the tunnel. (See left)(Photo to left is property of Joe Penniston and was released under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Deriative Works 2.0 Generic)

Thank you for reading the first ever Review in this blog, please leave your opinions and comments below.

Next Time:
We will be reviewing The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (Disneyland Paris Version).
That's on Monday 17th August, see you then!