Extinct Attractions: Sad reality

ChrisFL

Premium Member
Original Poster
I was thinking the other day, unlike most other forms of popular media, books, movies, music, TV shows, theme park attractions can really be lost.

There's a great effort in hollywood to maintain and restore old films, some that could be lost due to age (I've heard some of the original Doctor Who episodes have also been lost forever).

Theme park attractions, however, have no such organized preservation efforts. Of course, we have lots of unofficial efforts to preserve video and audio of the attractions with the extreme amount of work done by @marni1971 and others, then re-creations of popular rides in 3D as well (Adventures through Innerspace, Horizons, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at WDW, original Star Tours to name a few) .

However, I do wish that these companies like Disney and Universal put more effort into making official recordings of everything available, or virtual experiences of the extinct attractions. Unfortunately, I know Disney is hesitant about this, since many new attractions were rated much poorly than the ones they replaced.

Imagineers and theme park designers put in a LOT of work to put these attractions together and some only last a decade or two before being unceremoniously replaced.
 

The Pho

Well-Known Member
Well there is ACE but their power is quite limited. They have saved rides before though. Basically though the only hope for those extinct attractions is everytually being rebuilt in VR from old footage.
 

ChrisFL

Premium Member
Original Poster
forgot to mention, someone was re-creating the original Journey into Imagination in CGI/possibly VR, got pretty far along with it as well, then he got a job at an actual theme park design firm, Thinkwell I believe.
 

Johnny Three-hats

Active Member
This is something I've spent more time than I care to admit contemplating. Lost media is a particular interest of mine, and I consider extinct attractions to be an ultimate form of that. Once something is gone, torn out of its place, it's just gone, most likely forever. Even if it's restored or rebuilt, it's not really the same, and that doesn't happen on many occasions anyway. I get some real melancholy feelings thinking about the simple fact that I never would have gotten the opportunity to see Universe of Energy as it was in its first incarnation, not properly. Martin's videos are excellent, but you'll never be there. VR is great too, but again, it's not the same as physically being there and seeing the grand things created to be experienced in person.

I know everything turns to dust in the end anyway, but it does make me pretty sad thinking about such elaborate art just being lost, destroyed, replaced, what-have-you on a whim. Maybe it's old, maybe it's dated, but, particularly with EPCOT Center, so much effort and work and artistry was put into these attractions. Wish more of that created beauty could have been preserved as it was.
 

ThatMouse

Well-Known Member
Disney does not even preserve recent creations. They had a professional video and sound recording of the live Pixar orchestra on YouTube and when I went to download it they had already pulled it down and I can't find it. If anyone has it that would be great to keep in my library.
 

wannabeBelle

Well-Known Member
Disney does not even preserve recent creations. They had a professional video and sound recording of the live Pixar orchestra on YouTube and when I went to download it they had already pulled it down and I can't find it. If anyone has it that would be great to keep in my library.
Exactly. I saw ton of filming and picture taking by Disney themselves on the last day of Mulch, Sweat & Shears. I never saw any of it out there on any platform. There were also a TON of fan based websites that covered this incredibly well, those videos I enjoy on a regular basis!! Marie
 

Heppenheimer

Well-Known Member
I never realized how nostalgic some people can get for these old attractions. Who would have thought that If You Had Wings/Delta Dream Flight would merit 10 different videos on Youtube?

Then again, I was slightly disappointed I couldn't find any video footage of Smart 1 from old EPCOT.
 

hombredesilla

New Member
There's a great effort in hollywood to maintain and restore old films, some that could be lost due to age (I've heard some of the original Doctor Who episodes have also been lost forever).

Currently there are 97 episodes of Doctor Who not known to exist. Thankfully, the programmes were audio recorded by fans in the 60s so there is some record of the programmes from their broadcast. I have an interest in missing media in part because of my interest in Doctor Who.

In an interesting link, the earliest missing storyline involves the travelers becoming mixed up with the travels of Marco Polo. The BBC have a letter on file from Walt Disney regarding his appreciation for the serial and expressing his interest in the movie rights to the story. Nothing came of the idea.
 

ppete1975

Well-Known Member
ITs not just Disney. Most of us are probably old enough to remember stores., malls, old theaters, famous spots that have been torn down and there is not only no video but not even still photography. Even though more pictures are taken in a day than all pictures before cell phones (I forget the exact numbers), most of those are selfies of people, not structures. I suggest everyone take as many pictures of places they enjoy or frequent because they will change, and in the case of notre dame could have no notice.
There are several structures and things that I slightly remember from being a kid, or were before my time that I would love to see again even in a picture and it doesn't even exist, or is in a photo album gathering dust in someones attic.
 

ChrisFL

Premium Member
Original Poster
http://virtual-toad.com/

This was the most expansive effort to recreate an extinct attraction that I'm aware of, but the person gave up over a decade ago and has just left the site sitting there. (I guess he's still been paying for the hosting all these years still though)

I contacted that person several years ago asking if he would be willing to offer it as a group effort, but due to the CG program he was using, he said it would be difficult.

It seems most of the people that start these projects do so as a solo-effort and other things get in the way. I think doing this as a group project with talented people in 3D modeling and the right file types (.obj, .stl, etc.) to work in a specific environment. Unreal 4 engine is one of the best and it's FREE (though it also requires quite a powerful PC to use it).

Edit: one cool thing which I haven't tested yet, but Planet Coaster now allows you to import 3D models, that could also be used for some things possibly.
 

BasiltheBatLord

Well-Known Member
I contacted that person several years ago asking if he would be willing to offer it as a group effort, but due to the CG program he was using, he said it would be difficult.
Interesting, did he mention anything about starting it up again? I've always thought it's interesting that despite having not worked on it in a decade he's still kept the site up all this time.
 

ThatMouse

Well-Known Member
I have Planet Coaster and I know how to do 3D modeling, but even with those tools it's 100's of hours of work I don't have time for. I have recreated the music from the Norway movie that I'll release when I'm done. Edit: it's sampled instruments for now but I'm experimenting with different versions.
 

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