How did the Horizons Ominax work?

[THEMEPARKPIONEER]

So before you enter the ominax there's a blank screen or wall with colored lights projected on to it, then the ominax goes on. What I can't figure out is do the ominax projections go off when the carts are in place or do the projections go off as the carts pass. Also I can never find the gap between both screens in any video. In the blueprint the gap looks to be a good delay between both screens.

 

[Virtual Toad]

How did it work? Pretty darn well!

Seriously, what a wonderful part of the best WED ride ever. The Omnimax screens were huge, gigantic, enormous. A single film loop with multiple scenes played simultaneously, continously, on both screens. Since the ride system was an Omnimover-variant, there was no gap between cars so no need to start and stop the film. The experience was carefully timed so you got to see most if not all of the scenes.

The transition between the two screens was pretty smooth but definitely noticable in person. But the great thing about Horizons (and so many of the WED rides from that era) was that by the time you reached that point in the ride, you were completely disoriented by sights, sounds, smells, and the twists and turns in direction and elevation. WED's artists and engineers were masters at building an deliberately immersive experience that seemed to take you out of a "show building" and into another dimension. Riders were literally so transfixed by the experience that the gap between screens was completely overlooked.

Can you tell I miss those days? Listen well, future ride designers: high, hidden ceilings are a key element of good ride design. Take a look at how obviously visible the ceilings are in relatively-recent WDI efforts such as Mermaid and the current version of Figment. If you can't make riders forget they are in a show building, you've already lost the battle.

 

[ChrisFL]

So before you enter the ominax there's a blank screen or wall with colored lights projected on to it, then the ominax goes on. What I can't figure out is do the ominax projections go off when the carts are in place or do the projections go off as the carts pass. Also I can never find the gap between both screens in any video. In the blueprint the gap looks to be a good delay between both screens.

The first part of your question....the Omnimax doesn't go on, it's always on. The colored lights were before and after the screens...you'd just pass by them.

 

[marni1971]

Indeed. Two rolls of film and two projectors playing the same synchronised image continuously.

There was a filled in black gap of about a foot between the screens, but the image overlapped so well that it also projected onto this 'wall' between the screens. It was only noticeable since the edges of the screen were curved and this section was flat.

And to think they also had a spare complete projector on dry hire from IMAXcorp just incase. Those were the days of show quality.

 

[Bairstow]

Been on Space Ranger Spin?
Remember the tunnel you travel through where Zerg is just a big projection on the wall?
It was very similar to that; a continuously-playing movie theater that you slowly enter and leave.
The transitions were a little awkward, but it wasn't exactly aiming for total immersion, so it worked.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Been on Space Ranger Spin?
Remember the tunnel you travel through where Zerg is just a big projection on the wall?
It was very similar to that; a continuously-playing movie theater that you slowly enter and leave.
The transitions were a little awkward, but it wasn't exactly aiming for total immersion, so it worked.

Last week as I rode through that tunnel, I had a flashback for the first time. All of a sudden without actually thinking about it, I pictured the take off from Wings or whatever followed Wings. It came back vividly in my memory.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

I'll have a go at the gap.
The blueprint is maybe a bit uncear. The triangle in the middle is the 'double Soarin''. The narrow line is the ride path. You enter the omnimaxes with a sharp corner - untimed to the video or sound - and make a sharp turn from one screen to the other at the bottom of the triangle. On ridethrough video, it looks like you are just continually moving in front of one big screen. In actual experience, you were somewhat aware of a turn, and your eyes moved from one screen to the next. Quickly too, because of the quick sharp turn. You had only a brief moment where you could see both screens. And not at once, because they were beyond your sphere of vision (we apes need 3d vision in trees, not peripheral vision for the plains like a grazing zebra).

The gap was made barely noticeable by the quick transition from one screen to the other. This tricks the eye, and because of the sharp turn, your vision is greatly accelerated too - your eye is moved across the screen, the gap area, at great speed, exposed to it for only a fraction of a second, and is then directed again at the second omnimax, deaccelarating to a leisurerly speed.

 

[disney4life2008]

I just watched the full ride on YT and I am heart broken. They closed Horizons which in all honesty I think could have still been adaptable today for Mission Space? MS is a terrible ride even more so when compared to Horizons.

 

[quirkle]

My brother accidentally stopped the door with his foot and we stopped on the upward area between rooms - I could see my mother glaring at us from the bend. We walked along the ride - totally tripped out. I was a very young and that was the first time I felt drunk - lol.

 

[THEMEPARKPIONEER]

Its funny, I haven't been on Horizons in years not to mention I was 8 years old at the most but I still remember the ominax, the farm scene, underwater and the ending where you select your destination. But watching the video I remember it being one of my favorite rides. But at the same time I rather remember it as it was then see what it would have been today and seeing all the changes they have made.

 

[The Mighty Tim]

Its funny, I haven't been on Horizons in years not to mention I was 8 years old at the most but I still remember the ominax, the farm scene, underwater and the ending where you select your destination. But watching the video I remember it being one of my favorite rides. But at the same time I rather remember it as it was then see what it would have been today and seeing all the changes they have made.

To be fair, nobody has been on Horizons for years.

Sadly.

 

[Fantasmic]

To be fair, nobody has been on Horizons for years.

Sadly.

Like... 15 years....

 

[THEMEPARKPIONEER]

It's been long enough, according to me they can bring it back whenever they want, I think I'm due for a ride on Horizons

 

[KingOfEpicocity]

check out http://horizonsresurrected.com/ and currently im working on a horizons 2.0!!

 

[THEMEPARKPIONEER]

check out http://horizonsresurrected.com/ and currently im working on a horizons 2.0!!

Awesome, I drew out Horizons 2.0 floor plans and concepts, never made a simulation. I did make the music for it, you can use some of the music if you want when I copyright it.

 

[FettFan]

I just watched the full ride on YT and I am heart broken. They closed Horizons which in all honesty I think could have still been adaptable today for Mission Space? MS is a terrible ride even more so when compared to Horizons.

Because Disney decided to pander to the nose-picking-Playstation-zombie demographic who thought Horizons was "boring".
Don't get me wrong...I actually do enjoy Mission Space as a thrill ride. It works. (lol: MS Works)

BUT...Epcot Center, by virtue of its mission statement to "entertain, then inform and inspire all who come here", was never meant to shift solely to thrill rides. (this is also one of the reasons I completely fell in love with Test Track 1.0 and absolutely cannot stand Test Track 2.0)

MS could have been something truly spectacular if they did like Wonders of Life and made the thrill ride just one part of a much larger experience. But they didn't. They went full in with "EXTREME THRILLS", and once it made people sick/dead, they partially shut down half of it.
And they also put in those ludicrously long hallways.

So very sterile. So very bland.

 

[KingOfEpicocity]

Awesome, I drew out Horizons 2.0 floor plans and concepts, never made a simulation. I did make the music for it, you can use some of the music if you want when I copyright it.

that would be amazing! my email is luke.anthony@sbcglobal.net if u wish to contact me

 

[KingOfEpicocity]

Because Disney decided to pander to the nose-picking-Playstation-zombie demographic who thought Horizons was "boring".
Don't get me wrong...I actually do enjoy Mission Space as a thrill ride. It works. (lol: MS Works)

BUT...Epcot Center, by virtue of its mission statement to "entertain, then inform and inspire all who come here", was never meant to shift solely to thrill rides. (this is also one of the reasons I completely fell in love with Test Track 1.0 and absolutely cannot stand Test Track 2.0)

MS could have been something truly spectacular if they did like Wonders of Life and made the thrill ride just one part of a much larger experience. But they didn't. They went full in with "EXTREME THRILLS", and once it made people sick/dead, they partially shut down half of it.
And they also put in those ludicrously long hallways.

So very sterile. So very bland.

The imagineers believe that guests not longer want to learn, they want thrills. and in reality the new generations do! its very sad Disney is following trends not starting new ones...

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Because Disney decided to pander to the nose-picking-Playstation-zombie demographic who thought Horizons was "boring".
Don't get me wrong...I actually do enjoy Mission Space as a thrill ride. It works. (lol: MS Works)

BUT...Epcot Center, by virtue of its mission statement to "entertain, then inform and inspire all who come here", was never meant to shift solely to thrill rides. (this is also one of the reasons I completely fell in love with Test Track 1.0 and absolutely cannot stand Test Track 2.0)

MS could have been something truly spectacular if they did like Wonders of Life and made the thrill ride just one part of a much larger experience. But they didn't. They went full in with "EXTREME THRILLS", and once it made people sick/dead, they partially shut down half of it.
And they also put in those ludicrously long hallways.

So very sterile. So very bland.

You know, when I look at that pic all I can think is how with just a tiny bit more money and effort they could've turned M:S into a Living Space pavilion, that is, a pavilion that analagous to the Seas purports to be an outer space colony.

Beam guests up and down at the entrance/exit, hydeolator style. Then let us wander the space station through these corridors (with windows on the Kuiper belt!), and where we can admire that revolving wheel, can enlist for missions to Mars, and with some edutaining space exhibits where the games postshow is. So little effort, and it uplifts a 'thrill ride plus' to a fully fledged EPCOT space pavilion.

 

[FettFan]

You know, when I look at that pic all I can think is how with just a tiny bit more money and effort they could've turned M:S into a Living Space pavilion, that is, a pavilion that analagous to the Seas purports to be an outer space colony.

Beam guests up and down at the entrance/exit, hydeolator style. Then let us wander the space station through these corridors (with windows on the Kuiper belt!), and where we can admire that revolving wheel, can enlist for missions to Mars, and with some edutaining space exhibits where the games postshow is. So little effort, and it uplifts a 'thrill ride plus' to a fully fledged EPCOT space pavilion.

Brava Centauri fully realized.

Also..."Your Life on Mars", where guests would get the chance to suit up and explore a large soundstage made up to be a Martian desert, similar to the "moon walk" simulators at Space Camp.

Also....Martian off-roading!

The EPIC AMP. Electric ATV.