"Black box" interchangeable dark ride coming to Disney's Hollywood Studios?

ppete1975

Well-Known Member
This has become relevant again because Clickbait.com posted an article.

"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 honestly don't see how that's a bad thing. Especially if you are a pass holder. New ride experiences all the time. Especially with trackless, you could even change the movement. While I don't want all rides to do this (I need animatronics), a changing dark ride.. not a horrible thing.
 

QuasiNoFroyo

Well-Known Member
Here are some movie-themed experiences I would really love to see in this attraction:

The Lion King
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Hercules
Mulan
Treasure Planet
Big Hero 6
Wall-E
 

ppete1975

Well-Known Member
I think fox and the hound would be awesome for this

and you could swap them out... like limited engagements then bring them back. You might have people come to the park just to see certain ones.
 

mikejs78

Premium Member
This has become relevant again because Clickbait.com posted an article.

"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."
Well, since this was posted by Clickbait, the chances of it being true just dropped by about 60%.
 

britain

Well-Known Member
This seems like something in the overlapping areas of Venn diagram consisting of Runaway Railway, the movie previews that take up the 3-D theater space, and the Void’s Star Wars and Ralph experiences.

I’d expect it to be updated not as often as the movie previews, but about as often as the Void adds new experiences.

And when one proves to be very very popular, it becomes a test run for a more permanent attraction.
 

Tanna Eros

Well-Known Member
This has become relevant again because Clickbait.com posted an article.

"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."
King's Island in Ohio has a similar theme going on with "Mystic Timbers", where they switch out the video segments that are in the haunted old barn. It's good for a theme park of that kind, where the budget is kept low because the winter comes, but the only thing I can think of with Disney doing it is to feature their latest IP. Buckeyes are expected to be hokey, but I'm leery of that same hokiness in a big park like Disney.
(Mystic Timbers is sweet in a nostalgic way, but it makes me sad in the same way: In my youth, we used to go car hopping over the glacier induced hills of Southwestern Ohio, and dare to go on allegedly haunted roads. It's kind of sad that the ride recreates that experience, because the real experience like I had is long gone.)
 

jumpinjamie

Active Member
This has become relevant again because Clickbait.com posted an article.

"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."

Will the first IP be "Untitled Pixar film 2021" or "Untitled Disney Anmation Studios film 2021"? It will probably just be Toy Story 4 or Frozen 2...
 

Timothy_Q

Well-Known Member
If Walt Disney Imagineering can deliver a dark ride for the cost of a movie preview or meet and greet, why aren’t they just doing that in the first place?
It seems they are doing that, it’s what this thread is discussing. Martin has already mentioned this project before.

And nobody said it’d be the same price as a M&G. Nobody has mentioned the budget for this.
 

Pi on my Cake

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
VR experiences tied to new movies are becoming more and more common. This could basically be that same basic concept taken to 11. Sounds like a pretty cool idea for a studio park C ticket. And this park needs more rides. I wouldn't want this in every park world wide. But for studios it makes sense.
 

Magicart87

No Refunds!
Premium Member
Soooooo any guesses on what ip they’d be using for this one?

I'd guess something with a lot of linear horizontal motion possibly a chase sequence. ( I think that style of motion lends itself well to these things) An IP with plenty of action. 🤷‍♂️ Incredibles, Cars. Flavor of the Month makes the most sense though.
 

Timothy_Q

Well-Known Member
I'd guess something with a lot of linear horizontal movement possibly a chase sequence. ( I think that style of motion lends itself well to these things) Something with plenty of action. As for IPs... 🤷‍♂️
391603
 

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
It seems they are doing that, it’s what this thread is discussing. Martin has already mentioned this project before.

And nobody said it’d be the same price as a M&G. Nobody has mentioned the budget for this.
You suggested a budget range. The Studio wouldn’t just start spending huge chunks of marketing budgets on the parks. Just because they want to do it doesn’t mean it will be successful.
 

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