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[Kristof]

Walt Disney World will offer a tamer version of the attraction thrill ride Mission Space the company said Tuesday, less than three weeks after a woman became ill on the ride and later died.
The $100 million Epcot attraction spins riders in a centrifuge that subjects them to twice the normal force of gravity. The alternative version is slated to start this summer and will run alongside the original ride. It will not have a spinning centrifuge, Disney spokeswoman Kim Prunty said.

Mission Space received international media attention after German tourist Hiltrud Bluemel, 49, died April 12, one day after she went on the ride. A preliminary report from the Medical Examiner's Office showed Bluemel died from bleeding of the brain.

She also suffered from severe, long standing high blood pressure, according to the medical examiner's office. Thirteen signs posted along the ride warn guests with high blood pressure, heart conditions or motion sickness, from riding Mission Space.

Disney officials said the decision had nothing to do with Bluemel's death.

"Providing a choice between two ride options will help to further encourage all guests to carefully consider posted health advisories when making their decision," said Walt Disney World Resort President Al Weiss.

A 4-year-old Pennsylvania boy also died last summer while riding the attraction. An autopsy determined Daudi Bamuwamye, of Sellersville, Pa., died of an irregular heartbeat linked to a natural causes.

[Dlrpfan]

this is a good thing right?!
anyway disney will seriosally loose out on money.

[Patrick]

They might as well just close the attraction if I get to Epcot personally I'm going nowhere near the thing and I'm meant to be a thrill seeker :lol: .  Offering a tamer version yes wonderful but it's now been slated as a death trap and will scare many people off due to the amount of deaths even if they had nothing to do with the attraction anyway.  It was a risk and it's in my mind failed they might as well go and spend the money somewhere else for Epcots 25th Anniversary.

[Anthony]

This seems like a really stupid idea.  A tamer version?  What the?!  If you need to open a tamer version of an attraction, then there's obviously something *seriously* wrong with the original.

They shouldn't replace it, they've spent too much money on it.  Can't they just make the actual attraction tamer?  It seems like a really odd thing to do, to add a totally seperate version of the attraction.... weird.  It'd be like making a seperate Star Tours simulator that doesn't actually move (for those with motion sickness), or a new Armageddon special effects room with any effects (for those with a nervous disposition), or perhaps an extra Crush's Turtle Twister that doesn't spin.  :roll:

[Dlrpfan]

New news on it from Dlrp.fr

As we announced it to you there is little, there are from now on two versions quite distinct from Space Mission : the team Orange (of which the similator turns as before and makes feel powerful forces G with the visitors), and the team Verte (which embarks on board a not turning simulator and saw a "softened" experiment).

As of today, the normal queue becomes the "Orange" queue, and it "individual" queue (a special queue which exists since always and intended for the visitors alone. Such a queue makes it possible to the visitors alone to embark more quickly by filling the holes left by the groups of visitors in an odd number) becomes the "Green" queue.

Before whoever does not enter attraction, the visitors must present an orange or green passport at the end of the queue. This passport makes it possible the cast-members to make sure that the visitor chose well the version which he wants to try out.

The direction of Walt Disney World Resort was thus rather fast to set up this "softened" version, and it is included/understood why. These last days, Mission Space posts latencies records from... 5 to 10 minutes, whereas close the Track Test posts 60 minutes of waiting. Would the public have been cooled by the two successive deaths which have occurred in this attraction, which are however not due to disfonctionnement wrinkle?

[Kristof]

Something easier to read from Mouseplanet.com:

Mission: Space "lite" officially debuted on Friday, offering riders the choice of joining the "green team" or the "orange team" for two different experiences on the popular Epcot attraction.

As I reported a couple of weeks ago, Walt Disney World announced on May 2 that Mission: Space would debut a second ride profile this summer, offering a "mild" ride to go with the normal "wild" ride profile. Implementation was delayed while logistics for multiple queues and Fastpass distribution were developed.

On Friday, the existing stand-by entrance became the stand-by line for Orange Team (normal high-G version), while the former Single Rider entrance became the stand-by line for Green Team (non-spinning version). A single Fastpass queue will have riders steered to their correct team as they approach the merge point. Riders will be issued an orange or green "launch ticket" before entering the building, and will be directed to the proper line.

In the new "green" version, the centrifuge motors will be turned off, but the other capsule motions will still be in place, so that riders will not just be watching a movie in fancy seats, but will get some of the feeling of the original without the high and low G-forces created by varying spin rates of the centrifuge.

In addition to the standard warnings that people with high blood pressure, heart, back or neck problems, motion sickness or other medical issues should not ride, the Orange Team launch ticket includes the note that "f you are uncertain whether orange team – more intense training is right for you, we strongly encourage you to select green team – less intense training." The reverse side of the ticket includes messages in Spanish, Portuguese, French, German and Japanese telling the rider to ask a uniformed ride attendant for important safety instructions in their language, which should help to blunt the criticism that foreign guests might not understand the warnings in the queue—which are only in English—and might not see any warnings in their own language, which are only available on the foreign-language park maps.

While Disney continues to claim that the change has nothing to do with the two deaths of two guests following their rides on the attraction, it's hard to believe that there was absolutely no relationship, whether it be due to liability or to perception resulting from the incidents. Waits at the $100 million attraction had dropped to 10 minutes at times over recent weeks, perhaps due to people being afraid that they might also have an undiagnosed condition that could lead to death after riding Mission: Space. (Both deaths were determined to be due to aggravation of undiagnosed pre-existing conditions in the riders.) By presenting an alternate option that will allow people who are uncertain about their health to still get a good feel for what the attraction is about, Disney will bring back a large group of people who might not otherwise give the attraction a second look. The move appeared to be successful, as wait times reached 40 minutes on Friday morning. It may take some time to confirm any trend changes, however.