WDWMagic.com reports...Interactive Elements to Mission Space!

[norestneeded]

Just wanted to give you all a heads up. Seems like this could be what sets Space apart from the cookie-cutter spinner.

"Mission Space Ride System

28 June 2002: Interactive elements

Some new info leaking out around the ride system reveals that there are some interactive elements to the ride. Apparently, there will be user interaction required INSIDE the pods during the attraction. The action of the guests inside the pod will influence the outcome of their ride!"

missionspace.wdwmagic.com/space_pavilion_ridesystem.htm

 

[Bstanley]

Kewl - that was certainly one thing that was fun about Horizons - being able to choose the destination/ending.

I wonder if it's better to be a front seat driver or a back seat driver?

Along these same lines - does anyone know if the MIB ride at USF has this type of interaction - it seemed to me that if we missed shooting some of the Aliens that they shot our vehicle and made it spin around.

 

[WDWHound]

Bstanley: Yes, if you dont shoot some aliens qickly enough in MIB, your car will spin. It will aslo spin if the someone in the opposing car shots your car's exhaust port. Of course there are certain points in the ride where it always spins, such as when you are swallowed by the giant alien near the end of the ride.

 

[King Triton]

I sure do miss Horizons.

King Triton

 

[Another Voice]

Okay – time to get in serious trouble again…


SPOILER WARNING
The following is a quick, vague and brief rumor concerning the storyline to ‘Mission: Space’. This is a rumor only and is unverified (although it does agree with some other things I’ve seen). If you don’t want to know – stop reading now. You have only yourselves to blame…


According to the rumors – during the simulator portion of the attraction you will be “passengers” in small training vehicle. Your little four person craft is boosted into space on the back of a much larger rocket – I think there have been pictures of this already posted and a model is/was on display at the preview center.

You are launched into space and get the thrills of g-forces and the simulated weightlessness. Then, Something Goes Wrong. You are caught in a meteor shower (this is a Disney space ride after all). The ships start to take damage and your piloted booster rocket explodes. You have to make an emergency reentry in your own ship – on your own.

Now this is where the rumors start to get mixed up. According to the rumors, one of the four guests in the cabin was supposed to pilot the craft back down to a landing. After the firery re-entry, the "pilot" would need to stear the spaceship to the landing strip using a joytsick and prompting from your on-board Compaq flight control computer (get the money you know). The cabin would react to what the “pilot” did and you feel like you were "flying". Hopefully everyone would make it back down safely. Basically, the ‘Mission: Space’ cabins would become the training simulators that spawned the technology in the first place.

According to rumors, there were technical and budget problems with having each cabin independently controlled, and there was some concern about whether or not the guests would “get it”. There are rumors that the interactive element is now an “abort button” that needs to be pushed so your “ejection capsule” is blasted free. This little bit is mentioned on the ride system manufacturer’s web site as a potential story element for a potential ride – but it does fit in nicely with the other ‘M:S’ rumors.

Yet another rumor says that storyline has run into some resistance due to recent events. After 9/11, exploding ships and plummeting to earth in a plane have lost any kind of entertainment value and many people question whether it’s appropriate for an amusement park attraction. And NASA is none to pleased to hear about exploding space ships as well for the oblivious reasons.

Also note that the storyline works well for either the “trip in space” plot or the “training center” plot. Your flight could either suppose to be “real” or nothing but a training simulation. I suppose that your success or failure during the training mission could be judged on when you hit the abort button.

 

[All Aboard]

"Something goes wrong" sure does seem to be central to theme park attractions these days. That gets kinda old for repeat trips. The safari is the chief example. But, it sounds like it works well for Stormrider.

I do agree that exploding space craft isn't really a good idea for all the reasons Voice listed.

Given a choice, I'd much rather the attraction be about a trip into space rather than an experience inside a spaceflight simulator (even if that is actually what you are doing.) My understanding of a true centrifuge simulator is that it pushes the limits of human endurance to determine if someone is capable of being an astronaut (and then trains them to function under those extreme conditions.) That, of course, will not do for the general public. So, instead of "toning down" that experience - I'd much rather have an attraction that gives you the fantasy of some "real" element of space travel.

 

[hopemax]

I don't know if anyone here was aware before, but my degree is in Aeronautical & Astronautical Engineering, emphasis on the Astro part. Our 10 person astro class had to design a reuseable launch vehicle, we had to present our design to industry representatives, write a 50 bazillion page report and all the other stuff that really happens.

So if over the next few years you see me going off and ranting about Mission: Space. I hope you remember this.

It's hard enough to convince people in the benefits of space exploration when the perceived leaders in entertainment boil it down to "something goes wrong" and "see the cool way your body reacts to being spun around really fast?" At one point Disney released the critically acclaimed "Man In Space" to introduce people to the complexities of space travel, and hired people like Werner Von Braun as consultants...oh I better stop before something takes over my body....