Captain EO - Popularity and Return

Popularity and Return

Several years after the attraction originally opened, it made its one and only network television appearance on MTV, albeit in a down-converted 2-D version. It has not aired again since, nor has it officially been issued on home video, although bootleg videos exist.

After the death of Michael Jackson on June 25, 2009, Captain EO regained popularity on the Internet. For several years, a small group of fans had petitioned Disney to bring back the attraction and Jackson's death had brought this campaign to a peak. Soon afterward, Disney officials were seen in Disneyland at the Magic Eye Theater and reportedly held a private screening of Captain EO to determine if it could be shown again. It was rumored that Disneyland would announce the return of the attraction at Disneyland in September. However, on September 10, Disney CEO Bob Iger said, "There aren’t plans to bring back Captain EO at this time ... We are looking at it. It’s the kind of thing that, if we did it, would get a fair amount of attention and we’d want to make sure we do it right."

On December 18, 2009, it was announced that Captain EO would return to Tomorrowland at Disneyland beginning in February 2010. Social and Print Media Manager Heather Hust Rivera from Disneyland Resort confirmed this on the DisneyParks Blog and stated that Honey, I Shrunk the Audience! would be closing. The attraction hosted its final public showing in the Magic Eye Theater at midnight on January 4, 2010 to make way for the Michael Jackson film's return.

The attraction re-opened at Disneyland on February 23, 2010. The attraction returned to Discoveryland at Disneyland Park (Paris) on June 12, 2010, returned to Epcot at Walt Disney World on July 2 and to Tokyo Disneyland on July 1. The attraction in fact returned to Epcot for a "soft opening" (actual opening to the public prior to the official opening) on June 30, 2010, two days prior to its official re-opening.

The attraction is billed as "Captain EO Tribute" by way of distinguishing the presentation of the film from its original 1986–1997 run. The current presentation makes use of existing in-theatre special effects held over from Honey, I Shrunk the Audience!, but many of the original "4-D" effects such as the enormous fiber optic "starfield" wall along with smoke and lasers were removed from the building at the show's first closing, and were not returned for the revived presentation. The removed special effects from the original presentation are also missing in the Walt Disney World, Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris revivals that would follow.