Originally Posted By DisneyCM6 I got to go on a tour of the inside of SSE last night. A walking tour that takes you past most all the scenes, and proceeds all the way to the top in the planetarium room. It was really cool. Things I learned -- There is an incredible amount of realistic and historic detail packed into each of the scenes. More than you can be expected to see and absorb as the ride vehicle passes by. The original ride was planned to be longer. The track was originally intended to continue onward and upward in the planetarium room for quite some distance further than it does now. The additional flooring is all there, and the floor anchors are there, showing where the track was supposed to go. Just nothing there. Something about load limits on the building forcing the design change. Some original plans even called for the ride vehicles to exit the SSE structure somewhere near the top, with a view of the park from up high. It was unclear if the trip down to the bottom would then have been all outside, or if the plan was go back inside SEE and complete your journey that way. You can see down through the center of the building from the top. There's a spot where you can look down to the track and vehicles way down below. Like looking down the center of a stairwell in a tall building. We got to see the rooftop hatch where you can get access to the top/outside. No, they didn't include peeking out the top of SSE as part of the tour. Shoot. There is no one big drive mechanism that moves the Omni mover vehicle chain. Instead, there are 181 electric drive motors distributed along the entire length of the track. As big as these motors are, they are rated at only 5hp each. Each motor drives a rubber tire that presses upwards from underneath the vehicle. Each vehicle frame has a flat plate underneath for the tires to roll against and push. That's how the whole thing is driven. The SSE exterior does need to be cleaned from time to time. (I had always assumed the Alucobond surface was probably permanently self-cleaning) Cleaners start at the top from the top hatchway. Ropes and harnesses are used, and they actually rapelle on the outside of SSE. This work is always done at night, away from guest's view. They did not say how often it is done, or how long it takes to completely do an SSE cleaning. Yes, there are 11,324 triangles. But that's really made up of something like 960 triangular sub-assembly structures. There is an inner and outer skin on SSE. The interior skin is rubberized, and sealed from the weather. The outer skin is the triangular Alucobond surface that we see. But it's seams are very much larger, not intended to be sealed, and allow air, light, and rain through. The separation between the interior and exterior skin is about 30". Enough room for maintenance people to crawl around in like on a jungle gym, and not be visible from outside SSE. Sounds spooky to me. There are 161 ride vehicles in the chain. Each set of two vehicles has a smaller car immediately in front of them with a triangular top. It turns out those were originally intended to hold the technology for a hologram projector that would put your ride narrator actually out in front of you, instead of just in your ears through the speakers. This technology either never worked well enough, or was too expensive, or was an overall distraction from the ride itself, and was never done. I think they use the small triangular cars to hold the ride audio equipment. I missed the SSE utility elevator on the tour. This is the one that goes down to the ground immediately out in front of the SSE guest entrance. I had expected to see the top of the elevator shaft, where it must go up to inside SSE, and where other floor stops might be. I'll have to ask about this next time. Nearly every animatronic character in the ride is a re-use of one of the characters in the American Adventure or from the Hall of Presidents. Many of our former presidents are doing double duty as we speak as characters on this attraction. Once you've been told which president the long-haired lute-playing character is (Dwight Eisenhower) you can actually see the resemblance. ---------------------------- This was the last CM tour of SSE until at least end of summer 2007. This is because SSE is getting ready to go down for a significant refurb that may keep it down for much of the summer. No details on the extent of the refurb, whether it will change much of the actual show. They did say much new technology will be installed. ----------------------------
Originally Posted By MinnieSummer WOW -- that sounds like a great tour, too bad it's for CM's. I hope the rehab is extensive without changing the heart of SSW.
Originally Posted By gaston lives So are you actually inside the golf ball when you're in the entrie ride? I always thought you basically entered it only near the end.
Originally Posted By DisneyCM6 >> that sounds like a great tour, too bad it's just for CM's.<< Agreed. I'd pay money for a tour like this as a guest. But to be fair, the groups have got to be small (not much room up there next to the track), and there's a LOT of climbing involved on small, twisty-turny stairs. Not something for your average guest. And there are no "facilities" anywhere in the building. The nearest restrooms for guest OR CM's are at ground level across the way behind Guest Relations. -------------- >> I hope the rehab is extensive without changing the heart of SSW. << You and me both. So far, what rumors I've heard would support this.
Originally Posted By Daannzzz ""So are you actually inside the golf ball when you're in the entrie ride? I always thought you basically entered it only near the end."" You are in Spaceship Earth the globe for most of the ride. There is a large building at the bottom of the globe which is where the ride begins and ends. It seems to me that you enter the globe fairly quickly at the beginning going up one of the massive "supports". I think when you come down you are in the lower building for a portion of the ending before coming down into the unload area
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 Yeah, the track spirals up, and then back down through Spaceship Earth. You know when you're going back down because you take a pretty steep incline (the support arms, I think). It's right after the Global Neighboorhood section and where you used to hear the old theme song "Tomorrow's Child".
Originally Posted By bobbelee9 Wow, you brought back memories of Inside WDW that use to be on the Disney channel on Saturdays. It was really interesting and educational to see the behind the scenes stuff. Miss that program.
Originally Posted By brotherdave Wow! Very interesting to hear the details of the attraction! I'll have to look for lute player "Ike" on my next visit. By the way, do you know of other presidents and characters doing double duty in SSE?
