Memory 063 – Mission: Space

Come and join us for another installment of the WDW-Memories podcast, where I try to make it possible for you relive your Walt Disney World Memories when you can’t actually be there.

** Binaural Audio **
Time: 25:38

Ok, so it’s official. I’m heading to Orlando in June. Yes it’s for a convention at the Orange County Convention Center, but I can’t travel that far and not see the parks. So I will figure out a way to make it there, even if it’s for a day or just an evening. Maybe I’ll even plan a time to meet up with any of you who might be there at the same time, but no official plans yet. If you have any suggestions, feel free to let me know.

Anyways, this really has nothing to do with today’s memory. Today, we’re going to relive one of those polarizing attractions again, Mission: Space. I say polarizing because I know people love to hate this attraction because it replace the beloved Horizons. I think Dan said it best in a tweet when he said “noooooooooooooooooooo, That took over for the best attraction in WDW…” I agree with Dan, but I won’t go so far as to protest Mission: Space. It’s a pretty good ride in it’s own right. I LOVED Horizons, don’t get me wrong, but I am sadly coming to grips with the understanding that things must evolve to keep from getting stale. I just wish it wasn’t this attraction that was destroyed. That said, at least Mission: Space isn’t so bad. I love the background music as you approach the attraction, the feeling of the initial G forces as you “take off”, and the feeling of weightlessness as you “leave the Earth’s atmosphere”.

Originally the request came in from Scott back in 2010 for this attraction and Test Track which we did back on Memory 050. I later got a similar email from Cameron just simply requesting it. As always though, I wanted to hear from more of you, so again I tossed it out on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+, and I got some great responses. You already heard what Dan said on Twitter. Frederick responded on facebook by saying:

“After riding it in 2003, Mission: Space was the first WDW ride which made me say, “never again”. I was glad when they came up with the Green and Orange Versions, because now I can enjoy the ride without the hangover afterwards…“

And finally Julie responded with a great story, which if you can go to Facebook and read the whole thing. I’ll just summarize it by saying, she loved it and her parents weren’t such big fans. However, you should really listen to the suggestion to face forwards at all times. My brother almost found that out the hard way also.

So now on to the memory. It’s 2007, and we are at Epcot with Traci’s parents for Flower & Garden Festival. We’re wrapping up our day at Epcot and are going to head to the Magic Kingdom shortly for some fun there, but before we leave, we wanted to ride Mission: Space. Traci and her mom opt to not ride, since Traci is pregnant, so her dad and I take our Orange Team cards and get in line. We’ll join this memory just as the party is splitting up, and we’re entering the queue area, and we’ll stick with it right through the attraction and as we exit the attraction into the Advance Training Lab and meet back up with Traci and her mom.