Disney Develops New "Floating Omnimover"

articos

articos

Well-Known Member
The quite amazing group at WDI R&D is constantly working on new concepts and ideas all over the spectrum. This is a ride system that was a blue-sky concept and is looking to be used for Shanghai. It's essentially an update to what The Land and Small World's ride systems are. Indy's EMV started with this group, as did the roving Living Independent Character initiative figures like Ratatouille and most recently the Lumiere AA in Belle.
 
Eeyore13

Eeyore13

Member
billDozer said:
they couldnt have used this in mermaid i would have gladly waited another year for the most obvious water ride to be a water ride
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If they make the Mermaid ride an actual water ride the figurative concept of going under the sea during the ride simply does not work as you are still floating on the water. IMO that would change the ride as to the concept of the ride would no longer work.
 
WDW1974

WDW1974

Well-Known Member
articos said:
The quite amazing group at WDI R&D is constantly working on new concepts and ideas all over the spectrum. This is a ride system that was a blue-sky concept and is looking to be used for Shanghai. It's essentially an update to what The Land and Small World's ride systems are. Indy's EMV started with this group, as did the roving Living Independent Character initiative figures like Ratatouille and most recently the Lumiere AA in Belle.
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Yep ... that definitely is planned for SDL!

BTW, going to have to teach @Lee so much about Chinese culture between now and the opening ... going to be like a fulltime job ... ya know, like the Disney Lifestylers!:D
 
Genie of the Lamp

Genie of the Lamp

Well-Known Member
Could we possibly see this be implemented for the boat ride that is supposed to go through the SDL Castle? Or are they going to consider implementing it on other rides like POTC?
 
MerlinTheGoat

MerlinTheGoat

Well-Known Member
So i'm assuming this is going to be used for Pirates in Shanghai probably. Heard they were supposedly working on a somewhat different type of boat system for it. It sounds like a great idea for the track at the very least. Though I heard rumors at one point that Shanghai's Pirates was going to be much lighter on animatronic figures than previous POTC's (focusing instead on video screens). Any truth to that?

I'd be pretty surprised if WDW gets this tech or anything anytime soon, Disneyland is even looking far more likely to receive any sort of decent ride investment at this point in time.
 
B

billDozer

Active Member
Eeyore13 said:
If they make the Mermaid ride an actual water ride the figurative concept of going under the sea during the ride simply does not work as you are still floating on the water. IMO that would change the ride as to the concept of the ride would no longer work.
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you can still have the effect of being under water you just wouldnt be on the sea floor you would be bobbing under the water.
 
WDW1974

WDW1974

Well-Known Member
the.dreamfinder said:
So will it take 10-15 years to see this ride system at a stateside park...SW/UNI?
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Hah ... yep, likely!

Genie of the Lamp said:
Could we possibly see this be implemented for the boat ride that is supposed to go through the SDL Castle? Or are they going to consider implementing it on other rides like POTC?
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It 'could' be for one of those or even for another water ride. :)
 
WDW1974

WDW1974

Well-Known Member
MerlinTheGoat said:
So i'm assuming this is going to be used for Pirates in Shanghai probably. Heard they were supposedly working on a somewhat different type of boat system for it. It sounds like a great idea for the track at the very least. Though I heard rumors at one point that Shanghai's Pirates was going to be much lighter on animatronic figures than previous POTC's (focusing instead on video screens). Any truth to that?
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Yes. There's a lot of truth to it.

If you've seen the new Jack Sparrow attraction at TPFKaTD-MGMS, then you have a small-scale idea of some of what you'll see in Shanghai!
 
MerlinTheGoat

MerlinTheGoat

Well-Known Member
WDW1974 said:
Yes. There's a lot of truth to it.

If you've seen the new Jack Sparrow attraction at TPFKaTD-MGMS, then you have a small-scale idea of some of what you'll see in Shanghai!
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I haven't been to WDW since Feb last year (don't think i'll be returning in the very near future either considering), didn't see it in person. I saw a video of it though and I'm honestly not at all excited if that's how many new rides are going to go now.

I'm a massive fan of animatronic figures in rides. For theme parks, that's my gold standard, having set pieces with not only a ton of detail but populated by moving animatronic figures. I admit to being spoiled by classic EPCOT rides in that respect, but video screens for me just can't match a well designed set populated by tons of animatronic figures (no matter how big or creatively implemented they may be, or whether they're in 3D or whatever tech they want to put in). If it's something to enhance an element that was already just a painted prop in the background them it can work (like digital mapping to add moving texture and such to a wall), but not when it's used in place of something that could have been a physical set or robotic figure.

The fact that Disney seems to be moving away from this style of ride saddens me immensely. I hope someday the main ideas will shift back to physical robotic figures.
 
voodoo321

voodoo321

Well-Known Member
Eeyore13 said:
If they make the Mermaid ride an actual water ride the figurative concept of going under the sea during the ride simply does not work as you are still floating on the water. IMO that would change the ride as to the concept of the ride would no longer work.
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I understand your point but I'm not sure that the ride really works on any level. A flume bed of water would at least give it a slight bit more atmosphere. Would have possibly worked if they had made the ride similar to 20k at TDS.
 

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