Cool Space Ride @ Epcot: COMING SOON
 

Hey I was watching the Travel Channel, and there was this thing on Disney Engineers. They were talking about some cool new ride that will have simulated waightlessness. Its going to be like a trip to a space station. I think thats really cool!

I dug-up this article,

Disney's mission: Space ride at Epcot, by Richard Verrier of The Sentinel Staff Published in The Orlando Sentinel on April 21, 2000. -

Walt Disney World's next big attraction, billed as a "one-of-a-kind astronaut experience," will lift off at Epcot in 2003, Disney said Thursday.

Executives from Disney and Compaq Computer Corp., sponsor of Mission: Space, gave the first glimpse of the proposed ride Thursday night, displaying the new logo and artist drawings of the attraction.

Set decades into the future, guests will be transported in time and place to an International Space Training Center, where they will encounter simulated challenges faced by real astronauts.

The attraction -- in the former Horizons Pavilion next to Test Track -- will feature a 5-minute ride that simulates space flight 20 to 30 years in the future.

"The idea is to give all the illusion and sensation of real space travel -- lifting off, leaving the confines of earth, feeling weightlessness and visiting another planet," Susan Bonds, the show's producer, said Thursday.

Disney would not release other details of the ride, saying it was still in development. Preliminary work has already begun on the $150 million to $200 million project.

"The combination of Disney magic and Compaq technology will create a truly one-of-a-kind guest experience," Walt Disney World President Al Weiss said. "Epcot is the perfect setting, continuing the park's dedication to the explorer in all of us with its unique attractions that inspire us to discover new worlds."

Disney consulted with former NASA scientists and astronauts, including Story Musgrave, to design Mission: Space. Musgrave calls the new attraction "a place where guests can imagine our future in space and their role in it, walking in the footsteps of heroes and building on the wealth of technology we've developed to date."

NASA has no formal relationship with the project but has agreed to allow Disney to depict its training methods. The agency sees the program as a potential way to promote its space program.

Guests, for example, might be able to communicate with astronauts in the future space station, Bonds said.

Compaq's sponsorship is part of a broad 10-year corporate alliance with Disney.

"With some of the most advanced technology ever produced, Mission: Space will provide guests with a rare glimpse into a world where the possibilities for computers and space flight are endless," Compaq CEO Michael Capellas said.

The Houston-based company also will sponsor a fireworks display for the 45th anniversary of Disneyland and continue to sponsor Disneyland's Innoventions Pavilion and the DisneyQuest interactive game centers.

Hey maybe they will have that up in time for Nationals next year

Edit

Better yet maybe it will be open during the team SOCIAL

i was in epcot a few weeks ago and they had a section closed off by test track and it looked like they already started biulding it.

Hey, I was watching the Travel Channel and also saw all that. Now I know what they are doing with that space next to Test Track. This is the first time that I knew what they were doing there. I hope that it is open during The Championship Event for us to use. :)

It would be cool if we were the first group of "Visitors" to the park that got to ride it. It would make sence, kinda.....


Hey you can alwasy hope! :D

Actually, I've noticed the construction for that ride for the past two years (I noticed it first in February 2001, they were breaking ground and starting to put in steel beams). It is not until today that I know what that construction was for. Hopefully it'll be open for Nats next year... I'm always looking for something new to do.

NICE 234 won't be attending nats this year and i have to say that i won't miss spending $10 on lunch a day and then 45 for a team party that had the party level of sleeping.

Hmm.. the only way you can simulate weightlessness is with a big drop. It's probably going to resemble one of those big drop rides you see at a amusement park. I have to say if there is any imax movie I recommend you see is one about the space station. It was amazing. Plus me and my mom were pointing out the little stuffed animals floating around the space station. It was also scary imagine watching in 3-d a liftoff of a Russian spacecraft from a short distance away. I was ducking because it felt so real.

Hey If anyone knows when that special is going to be on again. Please post it or somehow let me know

anyone got any vacation pics, that have it on them :confused:

Here is the "Official Site" click here

this was viewable at nationals. they ha a big red/orange/brown dome with a rollercoaster track going around it. Looked cool.

Mission: Space has been under construction for 2 years.

It's not scheduled to open until about one month past Nationals. Traditionally, however, all new attractions will 'soft open' as a limited trial to see how the public reacts, how the crew acts, and how the ride performs. That is entirely hit or miss. It may or may not be open for Nats., but it most definitely won't be available for the Team Social, I think.

It isn't, and it's not.

A big drop doesn't simulate weightlessness. It simulates 1 g. - freefall. To simulate weightlessness during a fall, the object must be accelerated downward. Some rides do this already. Namely, Disney's Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, and S&S Power's Turbo Drop towers (1/2 of Dominator at Dorney Park, 2/4 of Power Tower at Cedar Point, Supreme Scream at Knott's Berry Farm).

Mission: Space isn't a drop tower. You can see pictures of the show building at www.wdwmagic.com . It's far too small to be a drop ride.

In fact, satellite photos taken of the construction site before the building was erected confirm that it's four centrifuge mechanisms.

How will the attraction work? Well, I can only share my best guest, knowing a teeny bit of physics, and how the Imagineers have worked in the past.

(It's Disney Imagineers, by the way, MattK. To call them anything else is a disservice to their wonderful craft. You have the Internet as an unlimited research tool. Use it, rather than relaying half-truths and malappropisms.)

The launch is easy. The centrifuge pod, which'll have on-board video will spin up, exerting positive force on riders. It'll happen quickly, and be sustained for a minute or more. I'm not entirely sure, honestly, if they'll simulate an *entire* launch sequence.

Weightlessness? Well, after spinning around in circles for a little while, each person will have some inertia, right? That inertia is going to make them want to continue moving in the same direction.

If the pod slows down at a rate that's commisserate with the inertia, it can approximate floating. It won't be true weightlessness, as you'll still be experiencing the 1g of gravity, but you will be floating, sort of 'laterally', if you can visualize it. It's not true weightlessness, of course, but a facsimile. Coupled with sensory deprivation, it could prove to be quite effective.

Dave needs to post, I know Dave knows all about this attraction!!!

DAVE, WHERE ARE YOU?!?!

Yes, Mr. Nasa, where are you? I want juicy details.