Rumor "Black Box" Coming to DCA?

[Tank Man]

Keep in mind, it's from Tom's Clickbait.

"We are in an age of abundant projection-heavy, screen-based attractions at the Disney Parks and there’s no sign of turning back anytime soon with Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway and the new Spider-Man attraction coming to Disneyland Resort. Well, beyond these announced attractions, Disney has plans to build a ride in what they call a “black box” that would rely heavily on screen and projection technology, allowing the theme of the entire ride to be changed in just weeks, if not days. You may recall that we first told you about this attraction back in May.

Much like some of the attractions listed above, the ride would be trackless, featuring free-roaming vehicles that could easily be reprogrammed. With screens and projectors making up most of the attraction, scenes could be altered (possibly overnight) from one version to the next. The idea here is that a ride could be changed from one intellectual property to a more current “IP” in little-to-no time.

The “black box” term comes from the appearance of the attraction when everything is turned off. It is essentially a giant warehouse with projection and screen surfaces, a blank canvas. The attraction will feature props and figures with limited movement to try and offset the screens with some moving pieces. Said figures will be designed so they can be switched out whenever the attraction changes.

The attraction is also internally called a “Flex Ride”, since it can have multiple uses, much like a “Flex Space”.

The “black box” dark ride is projected to open in 2022 at Disney California Adventure, at the same time as its Walt Disney World counterpart in Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The exact location for each attraction within those parks is unknown, but an educated guess would be Hollywood Land at DCA and the Animation Courtyard area at the Studios."

I don’t like this idea and my theory that DCA might change to a Movie park if all craziness breaks loose. A black box attraction would be interesting but I don’t think at DCA since it be disappointing. I do see this happening and this is a cool idea but I would see Universal embrace it more as Disney is now trying to have immersion be s bigger thing. Some rides need the screens (Muppet Vision, Star Tours, etc.) but then there is RotR which will use screen but not as the main thing as some advanced tech will be involved. Disney is using projections and screens a bit to much but not that bad as they are trying to use them to an advantage point instead of making a cheap ride (*ahem* Universal and Fast and Furious).

 

[No Name]

There are three pinnacles of constructing new attractions: fast, cheap, and good. The catch is, it‘s nearly impossible to strongly excel at all three at once. Think of anything built at the parks this century and you’ll see what I mean. Here is a visual as well.

I will probably start a thread on this topic at some point if it gets real juicy, and we can have fun plotting where different attractions fall on the visual, because it’s becoming an issue. Bob Chapek has been aggressively trying to have imagineering do things faster and cheaper, and that’s great in theory, but quality will suffer. And if he doesn’t make successful fundamental changes to imagineering, quality will plummet.

The Black Box attempts to do the impossible. If it’s repeatedly successful, my opinion of Bob Chapek would improve dramatically. Good luck to him.

 

[THE 1HAPPY HAUNT]

I didn't mean they are literally creating those rides... Obviously they are going to pick a more generic vehicle that can be used for anything. Not a honey pot.

well they though? dinsey likes to have their vehicles even if it is the same vehicle used in another park's attraction to look unique to that ride's theme.

 

[lazyboy97o]

well they though? dinsey likes to have their vehicles even it is the same vehicle used in another park's attraction to look unique to that ride's theme.

By it’s very nature, an attraction with a cheaper cost and shorter development timeline is going to require compromises.

 

[shortstop]

There are three pinnacles of constructing new attractions: fast, cheap, and good. The catch is, it‘s nearly impossible to strongly excel at all three at once. Think of anything built at the parks this century and you’ll see what I mean. Here is a visual as well.

View attachment 392923

I will probably start a thread on this topic at some point if it gets real juicy, and we can have fun plotting where different attractions fall on the visual, because it’s becoming an issue. Bob Chapek has been aggressively trying to have imagineering do things faster and cheaper, and that’s great in theory, but quality will suffer. And if he doesn’t make successful fundamental changes to imagineering, quality will plummet.

The Black Box attempts to do the impossible. If it’s repeatedly successful, my opinion of Bob Chapek would improve dramatically. Good luck to him.

I’m not sure if I agree with the idea that good + fast = not cheap. This is based on the assumption that lengthening the build time of an attraction lowers its final cost, which surely isn’t true.

 

[No Name]

I’m not sure if I agree with the idea that good + fast = not cheap. This is based on the assumption that lengthening the build time of an attraction lowers its final cost, which surely isn’t true.

You’re correct that the visual doesn’t always hold up in the opposite direction and that’s why I don’t like when it’s referred to as a graph. But shortening a build time past a certain point does raise its final cost, which is what applies to the Black Box. If they want to change it up in 3 months or weeks or days it’s going to cost big bucks.

The visual also fails in rare cases like perhaps the current SWGE which was not fast, not cheap, and arguably not that good.

 

[TROR]

You’re correct that the visual doesn’t always hold up in the opposite direction and that’s why I don’t like when it’s referred to as a graph. But shortening a build time past a certain point does raise its final cost, which is what applies to the Black Box. If they want to change it up in 3 months or weeks or days it’s going to cost big bucks.

The visual also fails in rare cases like perhaps the current SWGE which was not fast, not cheap, and arguably not that good.

Well, to be fair, the flaws with Star Wars land come deep in its core. Superficially it's a fantastic land with incredible detailing, but that's all it is. There's no substance behind any of it. All the time and money in the world can't fix the lack of brains in WDI.

 

[Darkbeer1]

 

[Phroobar]

That's pretty cool!

 

[TheDisneyParksfanC8]

I wonder if its possible we will see the attraction concept also be used/changed into a theater type setup IE Dreamworks Theater at USH. A theater type of attraction could easily fit into the spot of the Sunset theater venue if they demo it