Spaceship Earth
(photos below)

February Relaunch of Spaceship Earth Follows 
Lengthy Project of Changes and Refinements

Spaceship Earth, the iconic centerpiece of Epcot, relaunches in February with changes and refinements installed during more than seven months of construction and detailing.

Presented by Siemens, the relaunched Spaceship Earth looks on the outside like it did when Epcot opened a quarter century ago. But on the inside, Spaceship Earth has undergone changes since summer 2007 that will treat guests to an innovative "interactive" attraction with many new scenes, new costumes and set decorations, new lighting and special effects, a new musical score and narration, and a totally re-themed interactive post-show.

On a trip through time inside the Spaceship Earth attraction, guests discover how each generation of mankind has invented the future for the next generation, and how the spirit of innovation has moved people from caves to the cosmos.

During the journey, new scenes depict: a family in the late 1960s viewing the moon landing on television; a massive, two-story computer room of the late 1960s with reel-to-reel-computers; a garage of the early 1970s where the "personal computer" is born; and a "tech tunnel" in which guests become part of a digital data stream.

Even scenes that guests have experienced since 1982 have been touched by the project. "Practically every Audio-Animatronics figure in Spaceship Earth has been updated in one way or another," said Show Producer Bob Zalk of Walt Disney Imagineering. "To make the figures more realistic, they've received a makeover of everything from their hair to their costumes to their movements."

Spaceship Earth, the iconic centerpiece of Epcot at Walt Disney World Resort, relaunches in February 
with changes and refinements installed during more than seven months of construction and detailing. 
Spaceship Earth has undergone changes since summer 2007 that will treat guests to an innovative "interactive" 
attraction with many new scenes, new costumes and set decorations, new lighting and special effects, 
a new musical score and narration, and a totally re-themed interactive post-show. Spaceship Earth presented 
by Siemens includes a time-travel adventure through the history of communication, showing how the spirit of 
innovation has moved people from the caves to the cosmos.

Meanwhile, the makeover of the narration and music benefited from some "star power":

• The new narration is delivered by English actress Dame Judi Dench, who earned an Oscar as best supporting actress in 1999 for her role in the motion picture "Shakespeare in Love." While Dench delivers the ride vehicle narration in English, guests can also choose five other languages for their vehicle, a Disney "first" -- French, German, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish.
• The new musical score was composed by Bruce Broughton, who has won a record 10 Emmy Awards and has been nominated for an Oscar and a Grammy during a career writing in every medium -- from theatrical releases and TV feature films to the concert stage and computer games. A 62-piece orchestra and 24-voice choir brings his latest composition to life.

  As the ride-through adventure nears its finish, interactive touch-screens in the ride vehicles light up with a series of questions, soliciting guests' preferences concerning things such as where they'd like to live and work in the future. Then guests are treated to a personalized view of themselves in their idyllic future.

  When guests disembark the time travel experience, they are invited to visit "Project Tomorrow: Inventing the World of Tomorrow" presented by Siemens, where interactive exhibits bring to life the ideas and technologies Siemens is developing to help make the world a better place for the future. The space is filled with fun, interactive games and displays that showcase innovative technologies. Here, guests step into the world of tomorrow and glimpse the future of medicine, transportation and responsible energy management across the globe. Project Tomorrow includes:

• Body Builder, a 3-D interactive game that enables users to assemble a digital human body, simulating the Siemens technology developed to perform remote surgeries.
• Super Driver, a driving simulation video game that showcases motor vehicle accident avoidance systems developed by Siemens.
• Innervision, a view into the future of medical diagnostics in the home.
• Power City, a game that demonstrates how to manage power in a growing city.

Epcot is the Walt Disney World discovery park, where guests are immersed in a celebration of both technological accomplishments and international cultural achievements. The 305-acre theme park encompasses two unique worlds -- Future World and World Showcase -- with attractions, shows, entertainment, dining, shopping and architectural wonders. Epcot is part of the 25,000-acre Walt Disney World Resort, near Orlando, Fla. For more information, guests may call 407/824-4321 or visit disneyworld.com.

Siemens AG (NYSE:SI) is one of the largest global electronics and engineering companies with reported worldwide sales of $107.4 billion in fiscal 2006. Founded 160 years ago, the company is a leader in the areas of Medical, Power, Automation and Control, Transportation, Information and Communications, Lighting, Building Technologies, Water Technologies and Services and Home Appliances. With its U.S. corporate headquarters in New York City, Siemens in the USA has sales of $21.4 billion and employs approximately 70,000 people throughout all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Eleven of Siemens' worldwide businesses are based in the United States. With its global headquarters in Munich, Siemens AG and its subsidiaries employ 480,000 people in 190 countries.

Aronda's Coverage from December 2007:

The new, revised version of Spaceship Earth is open sporadically as of December 2007 for advance showings, although the refurbishment is not finished yet. Aronda happened to be touring Epcot on Sunday, December 16, 2007 while the attraction was open for business. She got a good look on her two consecutive rides, as well as several exclusive interior photos shown below.

The ride is generally the same at the beginning, with minor-to-significant changes which enhance several scenes. The new narration by Judi Dench is clever and more upbeat than the brooding Jeremy Irons version we're used to, and we like it better--though the narrative remains mostly unchanged, with much of the language retained from the old version (with the exception of the ending). Furthermore, many of the Audio-Animatronics figures have been re-costumed and the technology revamped to render movements more life-like--with remarkable effect.

The opening scene which features the mastodon has been enhanced; now the scene is clearer with more to look at. The cave man scene features animated cave wall graphics that are synchronized with the opening film montage, while the Egyptian scene has been enhanced and freshened a bit. Look for more papyrus laying about. The Greek scene has been totally reconfigured. No longer do we see a scene from the Greek theater (which we miss); instead, the Greek's contributions to math and logic are emphasized. The library (where Islamic scholars preserved "back up" copies of ancient texts thought lost in the destruction of the library at Alexandria) now sports more books on the shelves, with both scroll and codex types represented, though the codices are still arranged spine out (as we arrange books today) instead of fore-edge facing out in keeping with our understanding of how books were stored in the past.

The Renaissance scene has been freshened a great deal, with more incunabula stacked about the printing press. The workshop scene includes a new statue, more kitsch lying about (check out the clutter on the paint mixing table where the hidden Mickey is), and now Michelangelo has better lighting to work under--and we can see him better as we pass by. In fact, we can see that Michelangelo is an entirely fleshed-out figure rather than seeing an arm, leg, and head, as before.

The steam-powered newspaper press remains largely unchanged, though now it's place in time is more evident by way of the newspaper headlines asserting that the Civil War is over. The newspaper boy is (curiously) facing toward the back of the set so that we can't see his face. A very odd situation, in our opinion. The telegraph operator has also inherited more period items in the office, and the telephone poles now have their insulators painted with glow-in-the-dark paint so that they can be more easily discerned in the darkness. The movie theater screen has been moved to the side, with a small audience viewing the revised film clip--a newsreel. The radio station scene has also received minor updates. And a welcome change is the elimination of all those movie screens (Snow White, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) as you move toward the top of the geosphere.

It seems that the family at home in their living room has redecorated a bit. They've dispensed with their color console and remote control and replaced it with a Philco Futura monochrome unit, which is tuned to the 1969 moon landing--which happens to be a great opportunity for Ms. Dench to transition into the NEW computer scene ahead, which replaces the international telecommunication scene. In the computer scene, the classic device is portrayed in the style of such machines as the IBM 7090 and the like. One of the characters from the radio station scene has advanced to the computer age, and now we notice for the first time that she's a southpaw! No wonder she's devoted her life to cutting edge electronic technologies! (Editor's Note: Can you tell that Aronda is left-handed?)

The final scene before we enter the star dome is a garage scene in which the self-contained personal computer is being created, followed by a short tunnel filled with bits of green-glowing "digital" information flowing all around us (a great effect!). Aronda had earlier noticed an odd "squiggle" being generated on a small area of the wall in this section of the ride long before it closed--now it appears that this may have been the projector which is producing this effect under test.

After the star dome, the ride vehicle rotates backward, but a new effect appears as the vehicle begins its descent--there's a mirrored chamber with tiny lights--the mirrors reflect the lights to create the illusion of many regularly positioned lights into a large space--a very nice effect indeed! Turn around in your backward-moving vehicle to see the full effect--it's awesome!

The descent portion of the ride now includes an interactive viewscreen at every row of seats in each ride vehicle (see photo below). During descent, the screen asks questions, then prepares a retro-futuristic look at how your future could be. Unfortunately, this portion is, in Aronda's opinion, quite lame--the questions are rather superficial and the resulting cartoon is too "Jetsons" to be anything but a dull time-passer until you disembark the ride. Hopefully, this part of the ride will be tweaked a great deal by the Imagineers before the official opening! There's something strangely uncomfortable about our attention being diverted from the magnificence of the rest of the attraction to the small screens inside our vehicles. Why, we wonder, has Disney decided to make our vehicle the focus of what should be the most climactic section of the experience?

Finally, Project Tomorrow is the post show entertainment. No significant changes have been made to Project Tomorrow since we covered it in our May 16, 2007 edition of Aronda's Walt Disney World NewsPad newsletter, except that another attraction has just opened here, called Power City (see photo below). 

Following is information relating to the earlier version of Spaceship Earth:

A sign at the end of Spaceship Earth informs us that Siemens will be sponsoring a new post-show soon!

I'll admit it. I'm a Spaceship Earth groupie. In fact, I've ridden Spaceship Earth twice in one day--and didn't get bored. This travel through time--through the history of communication--is so intricately woven that it's impossible to notice everything, even after you've ridden it multiple times. (Also, some of us are addicted to the smell of wood burning during the Fall of Rome. Hmmm. Maybe that's why we have to keep riding.)

The original script was penned by science fiction author Ray Bradbury, and originally narrated by Walter Cronkite. Now, you hear the brooding voice of Jeremy Irons as your slow-moving vehicles take you to the top of the huge "golf ball," as my nephew calls it--though it's more accurately called a geosphere. During your journey through time, you'll experience primordial humans writing on cave walls, a scene from the Greek theater, monks copying manuscripts, the use of the moveable-type printing press, Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel, the Industrial Revolution and the steam engine, followed by the telegraph office, movie theater, and.... Well, you get the picture. Words just don't do the experience justice. All age groups can enjoy this spectacular ride!

Above is the mural you'll see as you enter the geosphere.

Spaceship Earth can be spotted from a huge variety of vantage points throughout Epcot, 
both Future World and World Showcase--and even from many vantage points in the 
Epcot Resort Area hotels. Here is a photo taken just as the Fountain of Nations was "erupting."

Official Disney Press Release Below:

The attraction is Future World's landmark adventure.

As guests soar through time and space within the famed 180-foot silver geosphere, they see innovative, interactive television and digital communications at work -- bringing life-saving medical technology to wilderness homes, helping archaeologists share distant discoveries with home base instantly or creating electronic bridges that close gaps in human understanding.

In one scene an American boy and a Japanese teen-age girl exchange experiences via video telephone. He shows today's karate class; she shows video of her home run in last night's baseball game.

With narration featuring the powerful voice of actor Jeremy Irons and an impressive musical score, the Spaceship Earth production includes dazzling visual effects; floating images of current newscasts on giant screen, super-definition TV; virtual reality classrooms of the future; and a breathtaking planetarium visualization of the universe around Earth.

Larry Gertz, show producer for the production, said major changes were made to humanize the story of communications and to provide a complete storyline with a beginning, middle and end, tracing man's ability to overcome distance and language barriers through improved communication concepts and new technologies.

First acts of the drama trace development of language and literature from caveman days through Egyptian, Greek and Roman civilizations to the Renaissance, printing press and industrial and electronic age communication.

Familiar scenes starring Audio-Animatronics actors have been enhanced with fiber-optic visual effects, new lighting and sound, plus an improved ride system that reduces vehicle noise during the sharp ascent and the precipitous plunge through Act III where images seem to float in space.

Spaceship Earth's 16-million-pound, 180-foot-high geosphere has been recognized as Future World's dominant landmark since the opening of Epcot in 1982. The attraction helps introduce and complements Innoventions, Epcot's ever-changing exposition of amazing products for the near future.