The Sum of All Thrills, a new attraction in Innoventions East began Cast Member previews today at about 5:00 pm. I was lucky enough to be among the first to try it out, and was quite impressed. Many spoilers beyond this point, so if you want to experience the attraction without any preconcieved notions, read no further.
The concept is very similar to CyberSpace Mountain at DisneyQuest, but the presentation is very slick, and ultimately (IMO) more successful. The experience begins with a short pre-show, which describes what the attraction is about, gives some engineering basics, and demonstrates a little about what the sponser company, Raytheon, does. (look for a cameo by the ill-fated Virtual Boy gaming system during the pre-show) You are next sent to the drafting room, where you get your own interactive drafting table (or share one with a riding partner). Here, you swipe a card given to you before the pre-show and after selecting your language and number of riders, proceed with designing your ride.
You are given the choice of a bobsled course (mild thrill), a rollercoaster (moderate thrill) or a jet course (most thrilling). After you choose your ride, you proceed with the design phase. The computer gives you the choice of several different track element (turns, drops, loops, etc.) options, again ranked from mild to heavy thrills. Once you select a track element, you can check whether your vehicle has enough kinetic energy to complete the maneuver. If not, you can adjust the height of the element, the speed of the vehicle, or both. You do this by placing a ruler or on the drafting table, which causes various sliders and gauges to appear on the table. It's a very cool and intuitive interface, and one of the highlights of the experience. At the end, you name your creation, choosing from a set of adjectives and nouns.
After selecting four or five track elements, you upload the track course to the system and are sent upstairs to one of four Kuka robot arm simulators. Here, you are given a temporary locker to store any bags you may be carrying, along with the contents of your pockets, for the duration of your ride. After this, the Cast Member swipes your card and verifies that you're okay with riding the course you've designed, particularly if it includes inversions. Note that you must be at least 54" tall to ride the attraction if your course includes inversions. I don't recall if there is a minimum height requirement just to ride the attraction, but I assume that there is. There were also the standard warnings about high blood pressure, back and neck problems, pregnancy, etc.
For the ride itself, you are strapped into the end of a giant robotic arm. Up to two people can ride at a time on each of the four arms. Your upper body is enclosed within a combination video screen and safety restraint, and your legs dangle freely. The seat itself was surprisingly comfortable and well padded. If, for some reason, you need to stop the attraction, there is a large "panic" button on the armrest between the two seats. If the button is pushed, the arm immediately returns to the load/unload position. There is a video feed of the person (if any) in the cockpit next to you in the corner of the screen. The motions of the arm are very smooth and fluid, and can get pretty...well...thrilling. The graphics on the screen are pretty good: sharper, but a bit less detailed than those on Mission: Space. I ended up going back and re-designing my course to make it more thrilling for my second ride, as I'd underestimated my "thrill" tolerance at first. The total ride time was in the neighborhood of 2 minutes or so.
In summary, this is a great addition to the attraction lineup in Innoventions. There is a bit of an education element to it, including some very basic information about inertia and kinetic energy. There are also lots of little physics equations that pop up next to the design interface and during the onride footage. One thing that I didn't like was that there is no "undo" or "back" button available during the design phase. Once you've picked a track element and found a height/speed setting that works, you're stuck with it. You're also given a relatively short amount of time for the design work, likely owing to the pretty small capacity of the attraction. However, I didn't have any problems finishing within the alotted time (though younger Guests may). All in all, I found it to be a very enjoyable and well-done C/D-ticket attraction that will probably have a hellishly long line once it opens to the public.
As an added little bonus, you get to keep the card you're given. I'm told you can go to the attraction's website and enter the code on the card to upload your track design online. I was also told that eventually you'll be able to tweak your design online, then come directly back to the attraction and ride your creation without going through the drafting process.
The concept is very similar to CyberSpace Mountain at DisneyQuest, but the presentation is very slick, and ultimately (IMO) more successful. The experience begins with a short pre-show, which describes what the attraction is about, gives some engineering basics, and demonstrates a little about what the sponser company, Raytheon, does. (look for a cameo by the ill-fated Virtual Boy gaming system during the pre-show) You are next sent to the drafting room, where you get your own interactive drafting table (or share one with a riding partner). Here, you swipe a card given to you before the pre-show and after selecting your language and number of riders, proceed with designing your ride.
You are given the choice of a bobsled course (mild thrill), a rollercoaster (moderate thrill) or a jet course (most thrilling). After you choose your ride, you proceed with the design phase. The computer gives you the choice of several different track element (turns, drops, loops, etc.) options, again ranked from mild to heavy thrills. Once you select a track element, you can check whether your vehicle has enough kinetic energy to complete the maneuver. If not, you can adjust the height of the element, the speed of the vehicle, or both. You do this by placing a ruler or on the drafting table, which causes various sliders and gauges to appear on the table. It's a very cool and intuitive interface, and one of the highlights of the experience. At the end, you name your creation, choosing from a set of adjectives and nouns.
After selecting four or five track elements, you upload the track course to the system and are sent upstairs to one of four Kuka robot arm simulators. Here, you are given a temporary locker to store any bags you may be carrying, along with the contents of your pockets, for the duration of your ride. After this, the Cast Member swipes your card and verifies that you're okay with riding the course you've designed, particularly if it includes inversions. Note that you must be at least 54" tall to ride the attraction if your course includes inversions. I don't recall if there is a minimum height requirement just to ride the attraction, but I assume that there is. There were also the standard warnings about high blood pressure, back and neck problems, pregnancy, etc.
For the ride itself, you are strapped into the end of a giant robotic arm. Up to two people can ride at a time on each of the four arms. Your upper body is enclosed within a combination video screen and safety restraint, and your legs dangle freely. The seat itself was surprisingly comfortable and well padded. If, for some reason, you need to stop the attraction, there is a large "panic" button on the armrest between the two seats. If the button is pushed, the arm immediately returns to the load/unload position. There is a video feed of the person (if any) in the cockpit next to you in the corner of the screen. The motions of the arm are very smooth and fluid, and can get pretty...well...thrilling. The graphics on the screen are pretty good: sharper, but a bit less detailed than those on Mission: Space. I ended up going back and re-designing my course to make it more thrilling for my second ride, as I'd underestimated my "thrill" tolerance at first. The total ride time was in the neighborhood of 2 minutes or so.
In summary, this is a great addition to the attraction lineup in Innoventions. There is a bit of an education element to it, including some very basic information about inertia and kinetic energy. There are also lots of little physics equations that pop up next to the design interface and during the onride footage. One thing that I didn't like was that there is no "undo" or "back" button available during the design phase. Once you've picked a track element and found a height/speed setting that works, you're stuck with it. You're also given a relatively short amount of time for the design work, likely owing to the pretty small capacity of the attraction. However, I didn't have any problems finishing within the alotted time (though younger Guests may). All in all, I found it to be a very enjoyable and well-done C/D-ticket attraction that will probably have a hellishly long line once it opens to the public.
As an added little bonus, you get to keep the card you're given. I'm told you can go to the attraction's website and enter the code on the card to upload your track design online. I was also told that eventually you'll be able to tweak your design online, then come directly back to the attraction and ride your creation without going through the drafting process.
Nice.
