Disney's Spaceship Earth - Week of 10-11

My wife surprised me with a last minute vacation to Florida last week! While down there, I got to speak with a number of staff (excuse me, cast members) including a higher up that is setting me up with a one-on-one with an Imagineer during the winter break. More relevant to this class, however, I got to ride on Epcot's updated Spaceship Earth. As the script made references to the history of communication, the narrator also slipped in innuendos to modern media; monk's copying books by hand were the first file back up system, trade roads in ancient Rome were the world's first world wide web. This is a smart way of engaging a younger generation. The ride also sported a new touch screen menu in each of the vehicles that, after snapping a picture of your face and uploading it to the ride system, presented you with a map (to input where you were from) and a few multiple choice questions about what type of future you wanted to have. At the ride's finale, you were presented with a video staring two cartoon characters (featuring your super-imposed head from earlier) acting out a future based on your answers to the questions. As you exited the ride, a giant monitor displayed the images of the various riders and where they said they were from. Apparently, social networking has now gone as far as infiltrating theme park rides.