DAK “Zootopia” is being created for the Tree of Life theater

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

I know I didn't appreciate it AS much as I could of (in part because I thought it'd never close), but part of the wonder of the entire ride was not being able to figure out how we seemed stationary for much time with the Dreamcatcher while other people were simultaneously entering the ride . It certainly "set the tone" for the rest of the ride (among many other benefits) .

And what was even neater though was it didn’t quite feel stationary either because of the animation in the back, on top of the moving clouds sculpted underneath, above, and around the scene. Like you really felt like you were traveling alongside Dreamfinder & Figment.

 

[jah4955]

And what was even neater though was it didn’t quite feel stationary either because of the animation in the back, on top of the moving clouds sculpted underneath, above, and around the scene. Like you really felt like you were traveling alongside Dreamfinder & Figment.

What a pinnacle of Imagineering! These forums have reminded me of how GREAT it was (previously remembered it as "great." )

 

[Bocabear]

Sometimes going backwards to the original is a good thing...Recreated with 21st century technology, it could be as good if not better than it's original incarnation.... But they need the talent to make that happen... This Zootopia attraction does not make me feel like they have the team that could pull it off.

 

[Figments Friend]

A physical version of Flight of Passage where you soared through physical sets with animatronic versions of the animals would be far more impressive than the existing FoP. It would easily be the best ride on the planet.

But that's just not feasible -- I have no idea how much it would cost to build an actual physical version of something close to FoP but it would have to be billions of dollars, especially considering they spent $500m on Cosmic Rewind. It's a good example of a ride where using a screen makes sense, though, since building a physical version of that ride is essentially impossible.

I remember back when the project was first announced, there was a proposed concept of this featuring a large animatronic Ikran / Banshee ‘ride vehicle’ that Guests were to ride on.
Basically, a type of moveable seat for several Guests with a mounted animatronic head and neck of a Ikran in front of your field of view.

Think of a mix of Indian Jones Adventure transport vehicle with no wheels mounted to a Star Tours motion base with a animatronic creatures neck and head mounted to it.
That was the proposed idea floated…but did not happen as we know.

Bob Iger was said to have tested a mock up of this proposed ‘vehicle’ at WDI and it was soon decided at a later point to go in another direction.
This was primarily due to capacity concerns and costs, no doubt.

Would have loved to have seen this mock up more closely.
At the time I recall some video clips and blurry screen shots making the rounds on social media of Bob trying it out as part of the promotional hype after the announcement for the new Attraction.



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[EagleScout610]

I'm surprised we haven't gotten clips of Clawhauser slouched over or in his default position during a show. Maybe they've figured out how to keep him working.

 

[WorldExplorer]

I'm surprised we haven't gotten clips of Clawhauser slouched over or in his default position during a show. Maybe they've figured out how to keep him working.

No one snuck up behind them and filled the attraction with water completely out of the blue this time, like they did with Tiana's.

 

[Comped]

I'm surprised we haven't gotten clips of Clawhauser slouched over or in his default position during a show. Maybe they've figured out how to keep him working.

Another site has already reported him in B-mode. Which is a on screen within the video itself. The area with the AA is simply unlit. (Unfortunately it's the only outlet to do so, or I would have posted it - no other info on social media or elsewhere I can find).

 

[jah4955]

Another site has already reported him in B-mode. Which is a on screen within the video itself. The area with the AA is simply unlit. (Unfortunately it's the only outlet to do so, or I would have posted it - no other info on social media or elsewhere I can find).

I noticed that too.

One may commend Disney for having the backup plan "ready to go," but it's, imo, just another example of Disney "playing not to lose."

From what I've read the animatronic was the only part not outright panned.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

This video shows while he is in the booth his mouth doesn't work..So, basically we're hearing this Garfield Style through his mind...

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

This video shows while he is in the booth his mouth doesn't work..So, basically we're hearing this Garfield Style through his mind...

More than just his mouth, his entire face. So weird looking. He looks just like one of the critter band members from Tiana’s Bayou Adventure there. Static with basic arm movements and body swaying back & forth Lol

 

[donaldtoo]

This video shows while he is in the booth his mouth doesn't work..So, basically we're hearing this Garfield Style through his mind...

OK, so besides the usual malfunctioning AA, that Disney is infamous for these days, what the friggin’ hell did I just watch…?!?!?! Do they pump nitrous oxide into the theater now…or their “blue sky” sessions, or both…?!?!?!

 

[Figments Friend]

So the AA has been replaced with a screen it seems, due to movement issues.

How magical.

How many days has this been open…?
Who saw this coming…?
Is nothing reliable anymore except the tri-monthly price increases…?

Asking for a friend.

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[James Alucobond]

So the AA has been replaced with a screen it seems, due to movement issues.

How magical.

Shocker ... a B mode exists. There are plenty of things to complain about, but having a backup B mode isn't one of them. If the downtime is persistent, then that's an issue.

 

[HMF]

So the AA has been replaced with a screen it seems, due to movement issues.

How magical.

How many days has this been open…?
Who saw this coming…?
Is nothing reliable anymore except the tri-monthly price increases…?

Asking for a friend.

-

I am sure as with a certain other animatronic in the same park, we can expect it to still be unfixed twenty years from now.

 

[MoonRakerSCM]

Turns out while previously unknown, the Tree of Life is actually built entirely around the Clawhauser animatronic housing frame.

 

[BrianLo]

That whole part of the ride was a marvel. I bet most people riding didn't even come close to understanding or appreciating the complexity that went into pulling the carousel scene off.

It would be so much easier to do all of that today than it was back then and yet we've yet to see anything that comes close to this in a constantly moving track-based ride.

I’d like to shout out the competition that Ministry of Magic does this effect quite well and often. Particularly the death eater scene. Most of the ride uses parallax and physical set props in front of synced projected media.

Not quite the same, but the penultimate scene of Mystic manor is in the wheelhouse.

 

[MrPromey]

I’d like to shout out the competition that Ministry of Magic does this effect quite well and often. Particularly the death eater scene. Most of the ride uses parallax and physical set props in front of synced projected media.

Not quite the same, but the penultimate scene of Mystic manor is in the wheelhouse.

I'm talking about the fact that you're essentially riding in Carosel of Progress, complete with walls on either side of you for a moment but instead of going from scene-to-scene, the scene is moving along with you with the characters presenting show-like dialog before sending you off to the Dreamport. As you're moving, the Dreamfinder blimp is keeping pace with you and it almost feels like you're stationary. The background changing dynamically is almost an afterthought but impressive in its own right when you understand what they had to work with when developing this in the late 70's.

Closest I can think of where we come to that with anything modern is the entirely screen-based aspects of Forbidden Journey that allows it to turn into a simulator momentarily while continuing to move the ride vehicles along the track.

Not sure about Mystic Manor but I don't recall anything like that in Ministry of Magic.

Today we have animatronics like Olaf that seem to follow you but they require the spreading out of ride vehicles so there's time for a reset before he has to start over. That whole sequence with Dreamfinder was designed as a never-ending continuous loop. He was ready to start over with the next set of vehicles the moment yours was out of the carousel while other Dreamfinders are giving their own spiels to other people ahead and behind you.

It was such a creative solution for getting around the limited technology of the day and worked with omnimover-like reliability.

 

[BrianLo]

I'm talking about the fact that you're essentially riding in Carosel of Progress, complete with walls on either side of you for a moment but instead of going from scene-to-scene, the scene is moving along with you with the characters presenting show-like dialog before sending you off to the Dreamport. As you're moving, the Dreamfinder blimp is keeping pace with you and it almost feels like you're stationary. The background changing dynamically is almost an afterthought but impressive in its own right when you understand what they had to work with when developing this in the late 70's.

Closest I can think of where we come to that with anything modern is the entirely screen-based aspects of Forbidden Journey that allows it to turn into a simulator momentarily while continuing to move the ride vehicles along the track.

Not sure about Mystic Manor but I don't recall anything like that in Ministry of Magic.

Today we have animatronics like Olaf that seem to follow you but they require the spreading out of ride vehicles so there's tome for a reset before he has to start over. That whole sequence with Dreamfinder was designed as a never-ending continuous loop. He was ready to start over with the next set of vehicles the moment yours was out of the carousel while other Dreamfinders are giving their own spiels to other people ahead and behind you.

It was such a creative solution for getting around the limited technology of the day and worked with omnimover-like reliability.

Ah- got it! I totally misunderstood what aspect you were getting at. I had understood it as the juxtaposition between an animatronic and media tracking a ride vehicle.

For a “carousel” for ride efficiency it’s really just Forbidden Journey and Millennium Falcon that have done it I can think of. It’s more meant to be something operationally unnoticeable than noticed, as you say. Outside of COP.

Edit - the rise preshow might be the closest?

 

[Tha Realest]

Shocker ... a B mode exists. There are plenty of things to complain about, but having a backup B mode isn't one of them. If the downtime is persistent, then that's an issue.

What’s shocking—though given its repeated occurrence lately, it shouldn’t be—is how frequently these new AAs continually break down soon after opening. The world’s largest theme park consortium seems to have worse maintenance than those janky Rock-Afire Explosion bands at ShowBiz Pizza.

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

Do we know if the figure is servo or hydraulic controlled or a hybrid? Was just curious on maybe what his face is controlled by (servos or hydraulics), or if the body perhaps is controlled by different style parts than the face.