Eddie Sotto's take on the current state of the parks (Part II)

Omnispace

Omnispace

Well-Known Member
Eddie Sotto said:
The problem was to create a new attraction without R&D. There was not much on the shelf at the time. Frankly, I hated using anything already done so we kind of cheated with the Aquatopia, but it was something in process and at the time. I thought we could just use the guts of the system, but it was guided by lasers that needed a clear line of sight to each car from a central location. You can't do that with physical dark ride sets in the way, so we had to rethink the guidance. Once you do that, the strategy unraveled into a new system. The show was funded and going by then and we were off to the races. There were lots of problems with the software when it opened and it had to be rewritten in Japan, from what I heard. We had trouble finding programmers at the time as they were all fixing Test Track.
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I've read a lot of praise about this attraction but only just now watched a video of it. Ok -- actually a few. Themeparkreview's is the best one I found. All I have to say is...wow! It's very impressive in every way. The honey pots going through in multiples adds to the comfortable sense of "togetherness" that Pooh and his friends have. The pots also seem to embody the fluid quality of a child running about. No wonder you had such a challenge making all this work out -- it's so dynamic. It must have been a challenge designing the sets to be seen from many vantage points rather than just one linear perspective. As I said before, something like this would be very appropriate for a re-imagining of the Imagination pavilion at Epcot. Although I am fairly suspect about forcing "interaction" on guests, I think it would be cool to be able to choose a few particular places one wanted to explore within the attraction.
 
Eddie Sotto

Eddie Sotto

Premium Member
Omnispace said:
I've read a lot of praise about this attraction but only just now watched a video of it. Ok -- actually a few. Themeparkreview's is the best one I found. All I have to say is...wow! It's very impressive in every way. The honey pots going through in multiples adds to the comfortable sense of "togetherness" that Pooh and his friends have. The pots also seem to embody the fluid quality of a child running about. No wonder you had such a challenge making all this work out -- it's so dynamic. It must have been a challenge designing the sets to be seen from many vantage points rather than just one linear perspective. As I said before, something like this would be very appropriate for a re-imagining of the Imagination pavilion at Epcot. Although I am fairly suspect about forcing "interaction" on guests, I think it would be cool to be able to choose a few particular places one wanted to explore within the attraction.
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The movement of the "Pots" was always story driven and was a reaction to something in each scene. The first scene is the "Blustery Day" so the sense was they were being tossed by the wind and the scenery and minor wind effects complemented that so the movement was not contrived. The Pots then literally "bounce" with Tigger, and "dance" with the Heffalumps. They zoom backwards out of Pooh's dream and that feels natural too as the effects work in the opposite direction to enhance the movement.

It was a challenge to design 360 degree sets that did not give themselves away as the viewing angles are more than just one point source. Hiding lighting was also an issue as you can look back as a pot spins in place.
 
paul atreides

paul atreides

New Member
TMH said:
I remember being more impressed than I imagined with the ride paths on Pooh. It's amazing how perfectly timed everything has to be for the ride to coordinate, especially in the final room. The groups of three didn't just interact with each other, the sets had to be timed with the other sets as well. It really was spectacular.

I have a question for you about DisneySea. A model of the entire park frequently shown in Imagineering books shows a Tower of Terror with a building profile similar to WDW's TOT. Was the Disney World TOT ride system highly considered for TDS? I always found it interesting that the TDS TOT uses the newer technology as opposed to the more elaborate original version. Was budget the reason? Or did it have to do with reliability?
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According to videos I've seen, the Pooh ride in Japan is MUCh better than its American counterparts.
 
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Pixiedustmaker

Well-Known Member
Eddie Sotto said:
It was a challenge to design 360 degree sets that did not give themselves away as the viewing angles are more than just one point source. Hiding lighting was also an issue as you can look back as a pot spins in place.
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That's interesting, another reason to watch the HD YouTube Pooh's Hunny Hunt video again!

The lighting is really well thought out. I see a lot of diffuse light via floor lights aimed at wall murals in the forrest scene (it flickers on the video, plus you can tell it is florescent tubes based on the spectrum, but seems to work well as the blue sky doesn't have that yellowish tint of incadescents), as well as focused spotlights sort of hidden in the "leaves" of the trees. In the forest scenes there are some really nice "autumn" colors, yellowish-orange, and some light maple leaf reds.

I wonder if anybody has ever thought of doing a "Seasons of Pooh" ride. They could have winter, fall, spring, summer rooms, and perhaps crank up the air conditioning in the winter room to simulate the cold of winter, and perhaps use "4-D" flower scents for the spring room . . .perhaps they could even simulate falling leaves or snowflakes.

Maybe project falling leaves on the murals, and hang fake leaves on invisible threads, just out of reach of guests, and blow them with a fan? You'd just have to make sure the string o' leaves doesn't get tangled, like would happen below with wind:

original_Layla-Palmer-Halloween-Fall-Leaf-Garland-Beauty_s3x4_lg.jpg


In this video you can see the "fake" family of heffalumps & woozles in their honey pot, for example, starting at the 2:12 mark.

 
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Eddie Sotto

Eddie Sotto

Premium Member
Hiding the ceiling was tough in the first scene so we had to hang all of the leaves in a way that allowed the lighting to reach the sets, but did not show the catwalks. It was a white light scene and the black light was saved for the Dream sequence, so it was harder to hide things. We had one big opening where the tilting tree was, and gaps for the flying Pooh figure, but that was it.
 
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Jeanine

Jeanine

Member
Eddie Sotto said:
It was a challenge to design 360 degree sets that did not give themselves away as the viewing angles are more than just one point source. Hiding lighting was also an issue as you can look back as a pot spins in place.
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It is a fabulous ride, and I think hiding the lighting adds quite a bit to it. That's one thing I tend to notice in the new Little Mermaid ride--there doesn't seem to have been much effort into concealing things like that, so it's hard to sustain the belief that you're not just riding around looking at show scenes.

I think it's also telling that this ride has sustained its popularity as is, while some of the newer rides like Monsters Inc. and Sinbad have already gone through revisions...
 
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Pixiedustmaker

Well-Known Member
Jeanine said:
It is a fabulous ride, and I think hiding the lighting adds quite a bit to it. That's one thing I tend to notice in the new Little Mermaid ride--there doesn't seem to have been much effort into concealing things like that, so it's hard to sustain the belief that you're not just riding around looking at show scenes.
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Mermaid goes much slower than other Fantasyland rides, such as Toad, Peter Pan, probably in absolute speed, but probably also in how much time you spend in each scene. You certainly get to spend a lot of time in the "Under the Sea" scene, by the end of the ride I'm ready to jump out and find something more exciting to do . . .

I had viewed this as a negative, but I wonder if they want to make sure that really small little kids enjoy Mermaid, before they're ready for stuff like Mr. Toad. I kinda think of Mermaid like a mini-Small World, yeah, you can see bars and stuff, but it's more about the music than going off on an adventure. I think was why I kinda was expecting something different—a fast paced adventure with Ariel.
 
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Pixiedustmaker

Well-Known Member
Eddie Sotto said:
Hiding the ceiling was tough in the first scene so we had to hang all of the leaves in a way that allowed the lighting to reach the sets, but did not show the catwalks. It was a white light scene and the black light was saved for the Dream sequence, so it was harder to hide things. We had one big opening where the tilting tree was, and gaps for the flying Pooh figure, but that was it.
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Looks great to me! The 100 Acre Woods, though was obviously a hand-drawn creation in the Disney Pooh films, always seemed like such a three dimensional place, you've got the animal's living abodes, and I think having that LPS Hunny Pots really gives you the sense that you're in a place . . . kinda feels like place-making inside a ride, versus story scenes that your mind's eye stitches together, which is a pretty cool experience to have in a dark ride, and the fact that the Hunny Pots move about in a random fashion kinda seems to give the feel that the guest is exploring a bit in that 100 Acre Woods scene.

The spot-lights on the hidden catwalk look natural to me because they seem to mimic how light filters down through a tree's canopy.

stock-footage-zoom-out-of-beautiful-autumn-tree-canopy-against-blue-sky.jpg
 
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Pixiedustmaker

Well-Known Member
Just noticed there isn't a "Happy Birthday Pooh!" scene in Tokyo. Always seemed a bit of gratuitous "hooray for everything!" to me, primarily for little kids who like seeing animals at a birthday party, regardless of the context.

220px-Disneyland-MAWP_birthday.jpg
 
Eddie Sotto

Eddie Sotto

Premium Member
We decided to begin and end the story with the physical book, vs. a big AA scene with everybody. We went with the last scene of the Hunny Tree movie where he is in hog heaven eating honey. The Balloon from the beginning was supposed to have taken him into a tree. We kept it insanely simple. Pooh has to succeed in a big way in his "hunt" for Hunny.
 
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Eddie Sotto

Eddie Sotto

Premium Member
Jeanine said:
It is a fabulous ride, and I think hiding the lighting adds quite a bit to it. That's one thing I tend to notice in the new Little Mermaid ride--there doesn't seem to have been much effort into concealing things like that, so it's hard to sustain the belief that you're not just riding around looking at show scenes.

I think it's also telling that this ride has sustained its popularity as is, while some of the newer rides like Monsters Inc. and Sinbad have already gone through revisions...
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We had a great team, and here are a few names that come to mind that we were fortunate to have. Kelly Forde and Ed Johnson in art direction, Jon Georges in a producer's role, Nina Vaughn and Chris Smith as illustrators and designers, Chris Merritt in the modeling, Dan Ju and David Durham in programming, and so many more great Imagineers up and down the line. The Sherman brothers even came out for the recording sessions and gave us their blessing. I know I missed many but I want you to know about those who worked so hard both in the USA and Japan.
 
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choco choco

Well-Known Member
I still think the great advantage of the LPS isn't really the ability to move people, but the ability to move figures, should you put one on its base. That really opens up a lot of possibilities, freeing animatronics from having to always be static, having them interact with vehicles, scenery, each other, crossing the path of the vehicle...you could have an animatronic "follow" or "guide" you throughout, which could make for interesting storytelling.

Pooh's Hunny Hunt has the one figure that is able to move around. The figure's actual movement is limited (it just rocks back and forth), but it's really cool how it roams and mingles. I don't think there's been a ride yet that really takes advantage of this concept.
 
ChrisFL

ChrisFL

Premium Member
choco choco said:
I still think the great advantage of the LPS isn't really the ability to move people, but the ability to move figures, should you put one on its base. That really opens up a lot of possibilities, freeing animatronics from having to always be static, having them interact with vehicles, scenery, each other, crossing the path of the vehicle...you could have an animatronic "follow" or "guide" you throughout, which could make for interesting storytelling.

Pooh's Hunny Hunt has the one figure that is able to move around. The figure's actual movement is limited (it just rocks back and forth), but it's really cool how it roams and mingles. I don't think there's been a ride yet that really takes advantage of this concept.
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I agree with this, a more advanced use of that idea could really push storytelling in a whole new direction (no pun intended)
 
fractal

fractal

Well-Known Member
Wow! Just saw the video of the Hunny Hunt ride. Amazing! Congratulation to you Eddie; that is what a Disney ride should be. I have to believe that Walt would approve.
 

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