Spaceship Earth

I visited EPCOT yesterday and have no new snowglobes to report. I did get to ride the newly reopened Spaceship Earth. I've read opinions of others who have ridden it, claiming that the redo is a catastrophe and terrible and the worst thing ever and, well, I liked it! In fact, I have to wonder if they were even on the same ride.

If you don't want any details about this attraction before you get a chance to ride it yourself, then stop reading now.

I found the first half of the ride to be vastly improved. Everything has been redone and it all looks great. Most of the old animatronic figures that barely moved have been replaced with the modern day figures that move all over the place. If you thought the old figures looked real wait until you see these guys. The sound system has been vastly improved and almost every scene has literally been brought to life.

Most people's complaints that I've read seem to be based on the descent after seeing the planet from outer space. There is really no scenery and you answer a few questions on a monitor screen that then shows you a cartoon about what your life could be like in the future. While I can understand that may not be to everyone's liking, I found it to be a lot of fun. Lets face it, the old descent was kinda boring. It was based on how computers are being used today not in the future. Well, I live in the present and know that computers are being used in classrooms and I can talk to other people all over the world from my pc. Why do I need to go past a bunch of scenes showing me present day? I think the cartoon about my future was much more entertaining and it seemed to me that the people getting off the ride around me were having a much better time then I have seen with the old ride.

There were a few things I didn't like. The family is no longer watching Walt Disney on their television. Snow White is no longer playing at the theatre. As a Disney fan, I didn't like seeing this little tributes to Walt go away but at the same time I recognize that they didn't really fit the story of innovention in communication that was being told. In the roman scene the little cartoon horse and chariot projection that races through the street was not there. For some reason I always liked that and thought it was neat but again realize that it may have been removed so as not to detract from the realism of the scene. Then again, maybe it will be back, the ride doesn't officially open until sometime in february so minor things like this could still be changed. I did find the new narration a bit annoying. Most of that was because it was a little to loud but some of it seemed a little to close together and talking over the scenery when I would have preferred it quiet so as to take in the whole scene better. A tighter narration in a spot or two to shorten it would help but that's just my opinion.

All in all, I enjoyed it and found it to be a vast improvement over what was replaced. The ride, once again does what an EPCOT ride is supposed to do. It educates, it entertains and most importantly, you get off feeling optimistic about the future.