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Diagon Alley details revealed - spoiler alert
- Thread starter flynnibus
- Start date
tirian
Well-Known Member
All good points, and I agree the dragon should have some movement; but how does it compare to the giant plastic hat that Disney plopped into 1920s Hollywood or the cardboard wand that towered over SSE for nearly a decade?
You may know more about this than I do, but is there some kind of legal impediment to having guests walk underneath an animated display?
Just because something swivels doesn't necessarily mean it's going to fall over.
I do, but looking at the Dragon's structure as they installed it was what lead me to anticipate that it was going to have some kind of limited animated function. The angle of the top of the neck led me to believe that the body would contain the cantilever support for the head/neck which could move side to side without displaying any working parts.
A lot of resting animals only move their heads. It's a small motion that would indicate that the creature is somehow alive and alert.
Yeah, something, anything besides being a stone, still statue would be preferable.
What really bugs me is that the Dragon is quite clearly painted to be as "real" and show-accurate as possible.
Contrast this with the awesome and much-missed Dueling Dragons entrance sculptures, which were highly detailed but painted in solid colors, so as to communicate that they were merely statues, and 100% fake and not real/fake in a way that would disappoint guest expectations or defeat immersion.
Bairstow
Well-Known Member
Actually the misunderstanding is completely reasonable.
How can you watch the film on which this attraction is based and not assume it was going to be a roller coaster?
The only real question is whether that's supposed to be Vekoma or Arrow Dynamics track.
A quick Youtube or Google search reveals that the vast majority of the public still assumes that this is going to be a coaster of some sort.
So yeah, you and I might know what this attraction is actually going to be like, but I'd be willing to wager that 90% or more of the guests who show up to ride this thing will assume it's a coaster, right up until they step off of it.
Oh, it has plenty of coaster style elements. Think Mummy but not as intense nor as coaster-centric. That I think is the best way to describe it.
The coaster track was the best system to use for the ride system. It needed to be adaptable to several scenarios and elements, and robust enough to handle the RVs weight and travel not to mention handling the stress of key points in the ride.
The coaster track was the best system to use for the ride system. It needed to be adaptable to several scenarios and elements, and robust enough to handle the RVs weight and travel not to mention handling the stress of key points in the ride.
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Magenta Panther
Well-Known Member
And it's great competition for Disney. Now, the usual case would be that Disney would feel pressure to raise the bar in order to compete. But...Disney seems to feel that the best way to handle competition is...to ignore the competition. Or else make stupid knee-jerk decisions. Seriously, does anyone really believe that Pandora is going to be any competition for this?
Magenta Panther
Well-Known Member
Video from Gringott's money exchange.. aka Disney Dollars
Interesting...I wonder if that's a computer program talking, created to respond to certain words. In some interactive computer models, there's a "tree" of responses programmed into it that are activated by word (or more factually) sound cues. Or is there a person under that desk, manipulating the AA figure and responding in real-time, kind of like Crush?
No, but it adds complexity through the levels of safety you would implement. And the more mass involved, the greater the forces and strengths required. When someone cited the size, you blew it off. It very much is important, especially when it's extending out from it's own footprint.
Disney seems scared to do overheads at all anymore.
"anticipate" "believe". One must learn to back themselves down when they extend on their own assumptions and not hold it against others for failing to meet your own leaps. Sure, more is better, but are they above the minimum line? By far IMO.. it's an amazing looking piece in itself.
Whatever it is.. it's pretty bad at the moment. They need to get rid of that response lag to have it feel anything natural. Given the delay and animation needs.. it's gotta be pre-programmed stuff. It's just a question of what's prompting.. automation or a CM. CM is probably involved given the delay.
Magenta Panther
Well-Known Member
Magenta Panther
Well-Known Member
I agree about the delay; it does make it seem less convincing. The effect reminds me of Talking Mickey, except that Mickey doesn't seem to have that lag problem, at least that's the impression I get from videos I've seen of it.
Bairstow
Well-Known Member
I don't know about that.
I'm with Tom Morrow on the issue- it really doesn't make good thematic sense for the dragon to perched up on top of the bank 24/7.
I'll hopefully have a chance to scope it out in person this fall, but from what I've seen and read the dragon statue seems like an odd misstep in what is otherwise an amazing project.
Perhaps it was originally supposed to move and was scaled back due to budget cuts. Maybe Lightbulb will fill us in one of these days.
Don't pin it all on me; there were a lot of sources that originally reported that the dragon was going to move.
http://www./2014/01/behind-the-wall...f-harry-potter-grows-up-at-universal-orlando/
http://www.screamscape.com/html/universal_studios_florida.htm
http://westatlanticmedia.wordpress.com/2014/01/28/its-magic-the-new-harry-potter-theme-park/
Knockturn.. my bad. I knew it didn't feel right typing it, but too lazy to confirm it
Tom Morrow
Well-Known Member
I wouldn't want it to go away, but it really needs to at least be given a different paint scheme.
Bairstow
Well-Known Member
Who put that chintzy-looking train station there?
It's blocking my view of two world-class B&M Inverts!
Bairstow
Well-Known Member
RandomPrincess
Keep Moving Forward
"Knockturn Alley" as in "Nocturnally" Where the dark wizards go.
Steam trains are composed of linked cars... they bump, screech, and thud as trains start and stop.
Steam engines are not silky smooth.. they jerk or spin as they start. They huff, they puff, you hear it groan and strain to start moving the train of cars behind it.
Steam engines are very dynamic.. there is a lot of different elements going on concurrently for the engine as they finish braking, stop, etc.
A large part of the aurora around steam trains comes from the complexity and dynamics you see and hear from the train. It seems alive as it breaths, chokes, leaks, strains, releases, etc.. It's not just about some puffs of steam from stack and wheels. The train visually looks great, but seems to lack those dynamic bits that would bring the level of authenticity to it as a steam train.