Extinct Attractions: Sad reality

[Walt Disney1955]

I guess it is part of life, sometimes a sad part. My wife and I first danced at a country bar (not really into country music, but she is) that is now a fancy restaurant. Big change. The place we first kissed? Closed. Lots of things that were sentimental to us when we were dating or just first married have changed. Bars close that people frequent, restaurants close, water parks close and fun attractions like haunted houses close.

Does anyone remember Mystery Fun House in Orlando? I loved it. Lots of fun memories there, we went every year in the 1990s. But I don't have a single picture of the inside of it that we took. Since then I don't know what is similar to it in Orlando despite the fact there is a lot of attractions to do. Maybe Wonderworks, and even then.

What I think WDW should do more is have some sort of recurring video being played somewhere on Main Street (they used to) about vintage WDW. Disneyland has that for the opening day still somewhere down Main Street (I forget what building it is in). That would be something at least, because I think in general people prefer Country Bears (Disneyland) or Mr. Toad (WDW) over Winnie the Pooh that replaced it, even though it is not a bad ride either.

I say what someone else already said, take pictures of structures, not overdoing it on selfies. No one needs to see anyone's face 50 times, but some structures won't be there forever. I had a lot of memories of the Skyway and I wish I had pictures of that (I know there are ones online of course though)

 

[trainplane3]

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)

Horizons Resurrected was actually recently updated:

 

[BasiltheBatLord]

Horizons Resurrected was actually recently updated:

This is awesome, thanks. Never heard of this before somehow.

 

[JIMINYCR]

Well its been that way with Disney ever since the beginning. Read Dave Smiths books about the beginning of the Disney archives. No one thought of the value and historical meaning in Disney items. There was so much material that got thrown out, discarded, trashed, from Walts or ther companies early years because no one saw the value it it. When it finally was thought of to collect and save Disney history they found scripts, props, films, important items haphazardly stored away in closets & bins, nothing was categorized or sorted out. They had limited space so they had to decide what to keep and what was to be lost. Its too bad with all the property Disney has that they cant build a historical museum onsite for guests to enjoy. I found DHS, One Mans Dream so very fascinating, and that was just limited to what was held in one tiny area. Imagine the possibilities of having a decent sized building that featured all sorts of park past items.

 

[Heppenheimer]

Well its been that way with Disney ever since the beginning. Read Dave Smiths books about the beginning of the Disney archives. No one thought of the value and historical meaning in Disney items. There was so much material that got thrown out, discarded, trashed, from Walts or ther companies early years because no one saw the value it it. When it finally was thought of to collect and save Disney history they found scripts, props, films, important items haphazardly stored away in closets & bins, nothing was categorized or sorted out. They had limited space so they had to decide what to keep and what was to be lost. Its too bad with all the property Disney has that they cant build a historical museum onsite for guests to enjoy. I found DHS, One Mans Dream so very fascinating, and that was just limited to what was held in one tiny area. Imagine the possibilities of having a decent sized building that featured all sorts of park past items.

Consider that even Walt Disney's own house and the Carolwood Railroad no longer exist, it should not be surprising how much old Disney material ends up in the dump.

 

[Jimmy Thick]

Unreal 4 engine is one of the best and it's FREE (though it also requires quite a powerful PC to use it).

So not true:

• Desktop PC or Mac
• Windows 7 64-bit or Mac OS X 10.9.2 or later
• Quad-core Intel or AMD processor, 2.5 GHz or faster
• NVIDIA GeForce 470 GTX or AMD Radeon 6870 HD series card or higher
• 8 GB RAM

Those minimum requirements are pedestrian to say the least, you can get $200 laptops that exceed those minimums. 2.5 ghz processors can be had for under $50 bucks, to call that powerful is pretty amusing. Google is your friend.

 

[ChrisFL]

This is awesome, thanks. Never heard of this before somehow.

Here's the Journey Back into Imagination website:

HOME | jbii

jbiimagination.wixsite.com

It's pretty extensive as well. The actual simulation is giving me a certificate error right now but you can download it or view the videos

 

[Virtual Toad]

not at the time, other than he was working on it when possible

Hey all, I'm the one who started Virtual Toad all those years ago. I was moved by Jef Moskot's "Save Toad" effort and decided to attempt a 3D creation of the ride. Back in the late 1990's, 3D animation was still a "newish" technology, at least for home users.

I tackled the project starting with Ray Dream Studio on an original iMac in OS9. I still remember the day I found the floor plan for the ride on eBay. Good times. I was blessed with countless assistance from members of the Disney fan community, especially Mike Lee from Widen Your World, who shared a treasure trove of photos.

Fast forward several years later... even though I was making progress, the technology was changing and it proved difficult to transition everything from OS9 to OSX. Ray Dream quickly became obsolete, rendering was taking forever, and by the time my second son was born in 2008, my life was changing rapidly and adult commitments had to take priority.

I've still found time to dabble in other Disney-inspired projects, including a backyard musical fountain and tiki bar experience. I also found myself heavily involved in the push to replace the aging rec center in our neighborhood, a six-year effort that culminated with the grand opening of the facility last fall.

Virtual Toad is never far from my thoughts, but things you get into when you're in your 30's have a way of falling by the wayside by the time 50 rolls around. It's amazing how fast those years go by.

I have indeed paid to keep the site active all these years, though there may come a day when even that may have to end. Ironically, I was contacted very recently with an offer to take over the project, and while I haven't had a chance to respond, it's something I would definitely consider.

I agree with the OP that losing works of art in the form of physical spaces-- such as theme park attractions-- is especially sad. When Notre Dame caught fire, I was devastated by the loss, but heartened by the news that experts had painstakingly preserved the details in 3D ahead of time so that it could be rebuilt. Toad is no Notre Dame, but perhaps someday Disney will recognize the value of lost classic attractions and try to reconstruct them for real. In the meantime, I can still take my sons on the Winnie the Pooh ride and torture them by pointing out all the architectural elements in the queue that were there when motorcars were still racing through Toad Hall....

 

[Beacon Joe]

I agree, being there is definitely it, but Martin's videos are about the closest we can get now. @marni1971 Any videos of Adventure Thru Inner Space? Marie

Probably the closest out there:



They're edited - I assume due to the darkness of the ride. But I assume that the original recording from which this is cut still exists somewhere.

There is also this full ride through. It's pretty much darkness:

 

[Johnny Three-hats]

Probably the closest out there:



They're edited - I assume due to the darkness of the ride. But I assume that the original recording from which this is cut still exists somewhere.

There is also this full ride through. It's pretty much darkness:

Huh, I wasn't aware of that ridethrough existing or the clearer on-ride footage. Cool, thank you.

Side note, does anyone know if this attraction was considered "scary"? Because the audio and even the minimal visuals trigger some very primal fear in me, like a bad fever dream.

 

[ChrisFL]

Hey all, I'm the one who started Virtual Toad all those years ago. I was moved by Jef Moskot's "Save Toad" effort and decided to attempt a 3D creation of the ride. Back in the late 1990's, 3D animation was still a "newish" technology, at least for home users.

I tackled the project starting with Ray Dream Studio on an original iMac in OS9. I still remember the day I found the floor plan for the ride on eBay. Good times. I was blessed with countless assistance from members of the Disney fan community, especially Mike Lee from Widen Your World, who shared a treasure trove of photos.

Fast forward several years later... even though I was making progress, the technology was changing and it proved difficult to transition everything from OS9 to OSX. Ray Dream quickly became obsolete, rendering was taking forever, and by the time my second son was born in 2008, my life was changing rapidly and adult commitments had to take priority.

I've still found time to dabble in other Disney-inspired projects, including a backyard musical fountain and tiki bar experience. I also found myself heavily involved in the push to replace the aging rec center in our neighborhood, a six-year effort that culminated with the grand opening of the facility last fall.

Virtual Toad is never far from my thoughts, but things you get into when you're in your 30's have a way of falling by the wayside by the time 50 rolls around. It's amazing how fast those years go by.

I have indeed paid to keep the site active all these years, though there may come a day when even that may have to end. Ironically, I was contacted very recently with an offer to take over the project, and while I haven't had a chance to respond, it's something I would definitely consider.

I agree with the OP that losing works of art in the form of physical spaces-- such as theme park attractions-- is especially sad. When Notre Dame caught fire, I was devastated by the loss, but heartened by the news that experts had painstakingly preserved the details in 3D ahead of time so that it could be rebuilt. Toad is no Notre Dame, but perhaps someday Disney will recognize the value of lost classic attractions and try to reconstruct them for real. In the meantime, I can still take my sons on the Winnie the Pooh ride and torture them by pointing out all the architectural elements in the queue that were there when motorcars were still racing through Toad Hall....

Thanks for your detailed response. Trust me, I understand when a passion project can't be completed due to other circumstances getting in the way.

Can those files be exported into another file type like .obj, etc. by chance?

 

[ChrisFL]

Also, what other attractions should have their own virtual re-creation?

I'm thinking:

- World of Motion
- If you had wings
- Dreamflight

what else?

 

[Heppenheimer]

Also, what other attractions should have their own virtual re-creation?

I'm thinking:

- World of Motion
- If you had wings
- Dreamflight

what else?

The only extinct ride that I'd really like to see virtually re-created would be the original Journey Into Imagination, mainly because it's one of the few that wouldn't be terribly dated today.

Although if someone could replicate that weird vertiginous feeling you experienced on Dreamflight as you moved towards that spinning light (anyone else remember that effect?), that would be cool.

 

[ChrisFL]

The only extinct ride that I'd really like to see virtually re-created would be the original Journey Into Imagination, mainly because it's one of the few that wouldn't be terribly dated today.

Did you see the link I posted to that one above?

 

[Heppenheimer]

Did you see the link I posted to that one above?

Perhaps I should have stated "The only extinct ride I am familiar with..."

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Somewhere there is a rainbow bridge and when I cross it I'll ride Horizons and If You Had Wings and dine at the Empress Lilly and watch Illuminations....

 

[Virtual Toad]

Thanks for your detailed response. Trust me, I understand when a passion project can't be completed due to other circumstances getting in the way.

Can those files be exported into another file type like .obj, etc. by chance?

Ray Dream may have had an obj exporter as an add-on extension so it's at least a possibility. The toughest part is it only ran on OS9. I might have one remaining OS9 compatible mac in the attic somewhere but I would have to dig it out and hope that it still boots.

Beyond objects and texture maps, there was a lot of lighting and animation baked into the master Ray Dream files. I'd already programmed the ride vehicles to travel through the building, and had an entire set of Photoshop routines to add motion blur to the animation, as that feature wasn't available through Ray Dream.

If someone took it over I think it would be easiest to begin from scratch with modern software and the texture maps I'd already completed (walls, object surfaces etc.) as a starting point. At the time, my goal was a photo-realistic ride-through animation as opposed to a true "VR" experience, which made the master Ray Dream files huge-- and render times ridiculously slow.

I do have one or two fully-rendered scenes of the cars in the queue area that have never been released publicly. It's not much, but it might be fun to see if I can find them....

 

[Beacon Joe]

Side note, does anyone know if this attraction was considered "scary"? Because the audio and even the minimal visuals trigger some very primal fear in me, like a bad fever dream.

Good question. As a small child, I never found it scary or creepy. The atmosphere was more along the lines of a subtle tension and mystery...

... the mysteries of chemistry that, of course, Monsanto was unlocking.

 

[Trackmaster]

I don't see the obsession over keeping old rides around forever. They're supposed to be experiences. You enjoy riding the rides, and then you move on to enjoying new rides. You love the rides, lock them away in your memory bank, but then you move on and ride a new ride that's different. Doesn't seem like a hard concept to me.

If a park is willing to spend cold hard cash on giving you new experiences, why fight it?

 

[Lilofan]

Our family never got to partake but for the lucky guests that got to ride with a race car driver at the Speedway run by a third party (Richard Petty)?, by the Magic Kingdom parking lot, that's something that is a once in a lifetime experience at WDW.