On weightlessness: its not real weightlessness at all. Any more than youre really falling off the launch bay in Star Tours. Its an effect done by tricking your body. Essential (oops, according to rumors), theyll just throw the centrifuge into neutral for a few brief moments and that produces a very realistic sensation. Since very, very few people going to Disney World have been in space or been tossed across the sky in a jet fighter, most people will think it feels like being weightless. But its just really the combination of what your eyes are telling your brain, what your brain is expecting to feel, and a natural muscle reaction to being squished by centripetal forces for a few minutes.
You can get the same response at home. Stand in the middle of a doorway and press with your arms against both sides of the door frame as hard as you can for two minutes. Really press hard to tire out your muscles. When you finally stop, your arms will magical float in the air and theyll feel weightless. Anyone who has had a cast removed knows the same sensation. The Mission: Space ride system is just a flight simulator and the militarys had thirty years to refine all the tricks.
The Space Pavilion had always been planned as one of the premier attractions for EPCOT Center. Being that space is the center point for the future and since WDW is so close to the Kennedy Space Center, it all kind of made sense. The original pavilion had always been a pre-mission pre-show leading to a ride simulation journey into space. You would arrive at a space colony (the bulk of the pavilion) filled with other attractions (think Wonders of Life). The goal was to offer several hours of exploring the complex.
Cut to Space: The Shrinking Frontier. Eisner refused to spend any of his money on the attraction and General Motors experience with Test Track sacred away anyone willing to drop major bucks on a new attraction at WDW. The pavilion was hacked down into nothing but the ride element to save money (and to make sure the guests are out buying plush). One rumor claims the average guest will spend less than fifteen minutes inside the M:S building (thats line, pre-show, spin cycle, and exit through the shop).
There will be a minor exhibit of movie props and NASA material at the attractions exit, very similar to the exhibit in
Disneyland. In fact, it might actually BE the Disneyland exhibit to save even more money. Of course, one of showcase elements here in Disneyland is an area that lets you listen to a microphone catching the winds blowing on the surface of Mars. Well, it would have. The probe that the exhibit talks about actually crashed on the planet over four years ago and Disney hasnt bothered to change or remove its exhibit.
You get the feeling that the Disney suits just dont care anymore...
(P.S. Before the small is good business sense crowd starts in according to rumor Disney spent more on making and marketing the disastrous Mission to Mars movie than they spent on Mission: Space. Which is a better use of those funds a movie that tanked in the theaters in two weeks or a full-fledged pavilion that will attract guests for twenty years? Even in weightlessness its still possible to be penny wise and pound foolish.
