Originally Posted By Goofyernmost >>>The fact that the entire finale is nonexistent.<<< If you're referring to the downward ride in SSE, I have to disagree with you. I think that this is a clever, technically impressive and amusing ending to the ride. IMHO, so much better than anything they have had there since the very beginning. They tried other things there and it was boring, anti-climatic and, to me, felt more like an info-mercial then a part of the show.
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper ^^^I can't disagree more. The Jib-Jab cartoon I can do at home is an embarrassment, and no where near the emotional ending from SSE '94.
Originally Posted By Mr X Gotta agree with the Skipper. I mean, you've got all that SPACE around you to look at, and they expect you to sit there and watch an economy class sized monitor and be captivated by it? I sure wasn't. They can do better.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip I first experienced Spaceship Earth in 1991. I don't remember any details, but I do remember the beginning and end of the ride being some of the most memorable moments for me. Of course that was also 1991... when sequential lighting of LED's and very creative use of neon was a COOL thing. Today I would probably yawn at it all. The new ending, love it or hate it, is certainly memorable.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost The only thing that I really miss from the old SSE is the night city scene. I always thought that was cool everything. You would cause me to become a veritable whine machine if they ever took out the outer space to earth scene at the top. Thems would be fightin words.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost I do suppose tomorrows child was a heart tugger, but I never really got much into the rest of it. By comparison to the upward journey, it did nothing for me.
Originally Posted By TP2000 Great info here! I've been on the Tokyo Mansion several times in the past decade, and it's an exact duplicate of the WDW version. Every time I can remember the Tokyo CM's herd a perfect group in to the foyer and the pre-show starts there with closing doors behind you, then their stretch room works as designed (non-elevator just like WDW) and you are shuffled on to the loading area and the Omnimover. And of course the Tokyo CM's are all in perfect character. The Tokyo version of Haunted Mansion Holiday also has a unique foyer pre-show that is also handled perfectly logistically and operationally with GIANT crowds for the popular holiday version. So clearly the operation of the WDW clone in Tokyo proves that it can be done with the physical and mechanical setup unique to the WDW and Tokyo Mansion's. But if folks in Orlando can somehow justify it to themselves that it's not really THAT BAD to keep the stretch room doors open on both sides and just feed the line through to save a buck or two on operating labor and maintenance on the stretching rooms, then more power to 'em! I'm sure those silly Walt-trained Imagineers back in the 1960's weren't as clever as the 21st century theme park manager in baggy drip-dry Dockers any way.
Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer >>>If you're referring to the downward ride in SSE, I have to disagree with you. I think that this is a clever, technically impressive and amusing ending to the ride. IMHO, so much better than anything they have had there since the very beginning. They tried other things there and it was boring, anti-climatic and, to me, felt more like an info-mercial then a part of the show.<<< I'd say the same things about the current ride's finale. It's screens. Nothing new. I have one in my pocket. Big deal. Meanwhile, the old finale had sets, light effects, video effects, and a rousing score. I'll take that.
Originally Posted By leobloom >> The fact that the entire finale is nonexistent. << Gotcha. Yeah, that's been a problem since they reopened.
Originally Posted By leobloom The musical score for the 1994 SSE descent was some incredibly powerful music. I'd probably go so far as to say it was my favorite piece of score from a Disney attraction along with the Omnimax score from Horizons.
Originally Posted By danyoung I don't really have a problem with the SSE finale per se. It's a fun little game, and it's fun to see ME in a cartoon, even if it's JibJab quality. My problem is that it's totally misplaced. Instead of an interesting set of scenes that continues the theme of the ride, we get dark surroundings and a video game. Fun game - just not at all the right place for it.
Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer >>>The musical score for the 1994 SSE descent was some incredibly powerful music. I'd probably go so far as to say it was my favorite piece of score from a Disney attraction along with the Omnimax score from Horizons.<<<< Someone once spliced the old music to the current narration. Helps 100000000%.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***Every time I can remember the Tokyo CM's herd a perfect group in to the foyer and the pre-show starts there with closing doors behind you*** Thank you for the input. I was a little afraid to stick my neck out here for fear that I was just recalling things wrong or perhaps just wearing TDR rose colored glasses. But yes, that has been my experience as well. ***And of course the Tokyo CM's are all in perfect character*** This, however, has NOT always been the case. The reason they are so perfect now, believe it or not, is because of me. Yup, WAY back in the summer of 98, a young and shockingly handsome Mr X worked at Tokyo Disneyland and shared a common breakroom with the Haunted Mansion folk (very nice bunch of people, but then again all the TDR CM's are!). Well, going into the park I happened to notice that they were all SMILING to the customers and kindly inviting them into the attraction! I thought to myself "Wha?", since I'd always enjoyed the roll playing of the cast in Florida and Anaheim and felt it added GREATLY to the show (particularly in contract to all the other attractions where everything was smiles and puppy dogs). So I asked them one day, "why do you guys smile and act nice, don't you know you're part of the show?", and they answered "we didn't know that!". So time after time when I'd see them working in the park, I'd jokingly shoot them a frown and a dire stare (with a wink), and over the months word spread around the attraction that it was OKAY to act like the dour staff of the mansion they were supposed to act like...and they LOVED it. By the time I returned to Japan the next year, the entire attraction had the same sort of vibe the other Mansions have always had, and somehow it sounds like it stuck! Yay, me!
Originally Posted By brotherdave I never said that I was giving WDW a pass on the bad show of how they operate the Mansion's foyer, only that they've been doing it much longer than anyone has realized (at least 30 years, if not more!).
Originally Posted By brotherdave Cool story, Mr. X! So we can credit you for bringing the "proper" Mansion CM character to TDL!!! Good Job!!!
Originally Posted By Mr X ***So we can credit you for bringing the "proper" Mansion CM character to TDL!!!*** Indeed you can. Sounds crazy, but it really IS a true story. What they told me was that they went through the training programs like everyone else and were taught to be friendly and smile like all the other employees. It's funny, too, because culturally speaking Japanese are nowhere near as gregarious as a typical all-American cast member might be (a good one, anyway lol), and though extremely polite with their customer service, they are not accustomed to giving a big smile or asking if a customer needs some extra help or having a conversation with a customer etc... So the Tokyo training program takes that all into account and goes EXTRA heavy on the pixie dust to make sure they all learn "the Disney way" properly. So for the Mansion folks to have to unlearn what they had learned was very tough for them (I was persistent though, it's the freakin Haunted Mansion for pete's sake, one of my favorites and not the least of which because of the awesome vibe from the CM's there!).
