HISTA Seats?

MyNameisStitch

MyNameisStitch

Member
Original Poster
Got a question about the moving theater in HISTA. How do they make all the seats move? It seems like the entire floor moves instead of individual seats. Is the entire theater floor on a giant set of hydraulics? Also how do they keep it where people can't get up and walk out when the seats are moving and hurting themselves (i don't recall seatbelts but it has been a long time since i've seen it)? This is an effect that always stands out to me when I think of HISTA. I mean the rats are cool but a bouncing theater is awesome.

Thanks,
Jake
 
PlutoInOrlando

PlutoInOrlando

Active Member
In the Parks
Yes
Yes...the entire floor moves. It only moves (if I remember correctly) about two to three inches each way.

When you first enter the theater, and you look down, you will see a black "box" that goes all the way around the seating area.

I happened to have been lucky enough to be one of the "Test" people before it opened. We had about half a theater full, and the other half of the chairs were filled with sand bags (for the weight). We thought that was the most crazy movie they had done when we finally got to see the whole thing.
 
MyNameisStitch

MyNameisStitch

Member
Original Poster
PlutoInAtlanta said:
Yes...the entire floor moves. It only moves (if I remember correctly) about two to three inches each way.

When you first enter the theater, and you look down, you will see a black "box" that goes all the way around the seating area.

I happened to have been lucky enough to be one of the "Test" people before it opened. We had about half a theater full, and the other half of the chairs were filled with sand bags (for the weight). We thought that was the most crazy movie they had done when we finally got to see the whole thing.
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Wow! Thats really cool. I used to do sand bag ride testing on Roller Coasters for Six Flags when I worked for SF Astroworld in Houston.

I still remember the first time I saw HISTA. I was really excited because I love the movies (I actually watched the first one last week). I was so freaked out because of the mice and the snake and never wanted to do it again LOL. I got over it of course but I still hold my legs up during the mice and close my eyes during the snake (i'm deathly afraid of Snakes and just don't like mice) but otherwise I still love the show even though its extremely dated.

Thanks for the info! :wave: Does anybody have any pictures of the theater?
 
marni1971

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
If I recall, each row is on a separate motion base - a huge undertaking considering the pipework involved for the hydraulics, air pressure effects, water effects. And the fact each HISTA theatre had to be excavated by JCB from inside the building, without touching the building structure!
 
PhilharMagician

PhilharMagician

Well-Known Member
marni1971 said:
If I recall, each row is on a separate motion base - a huge undertaking considering the pipework involved for the hydraulics, air pressure effects, water effects. And the fact each HISTA theatre had to be excavated by JCB from inside the building, without touching the building structure!
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Each HISTA theater? There is the preshow theater and the main show theater.

There is a very noticable seam all the way around the seating area, but I have never noticed any breaks between the rows dividing the theater.
 
marni1971

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
PhilharMagician said:
Ok. That clears things up.

Is Epcot's version the only moving theater?
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Nope - they all needed the 8-12 ft basement retro-adding. DLC, DLP and EPCOT had previously shown Captain EO (EPCOT of course had the Magic Eye built for Magic Journeys) and TDLs theatre was built for The Eternal Sea.
 
PlutoInOrlando

PlutoInOrlando

Active Member
In the Parks
Yes
from:
http://www.dlrpmagic.com/guides/disneylandpark/discoveryland/honeyishrunktheaudience/
Fun Facts
  • The entire audience is seated on a huge motion base, capable of lifting over 140 tons, which gently tilts to give the effect of movement as you shrink.
  • The attraction is located in the same building which previously housed CinéMagique (aka Captain EO), the Michael Jackson 3D extravaganza. Bringing Honey, I Shrunk The Audience to the location was far more complicated than changing the film reel, however, as the building had to be completely gutted before a giant pit was dug to accommodate the huge motion base and other special effects.
  • The attraction uses 20km of power cable, 600m of optical fibre cable and 13,000 lightsources using over 100,000 watts of energy.
  • Features an original soundtrack by Bruce Broughton, the composer behind such classics as Disney's Le Visionarium (From Time To Time), One Man's Dream and CinéMagique plus numerous film projects including Silverado.
Found from various other sites:

The dog that sneezes on you in this 3-D film is actually a puppet.

The entire audience is on a platform that moves up to four inches high during the presentation to simulate the theater moving and the floor shaking.
The sound effect used for the shrinking machine when used to enlarge Professor Szalinski (the first time it is used in the show) is the same sound effect that is used in Captain EO as the noise his space ship makes when he leaves the planet with his crew at the end of the show.
Kristie Smithers, a character in the show, asks "Shouldn't we wait for Professor Szalinski?". This is a direct reference to the film Honey, I Blew Up the Kid in which a scientist asks "Shouldn't we wait for Szalinski?"


Honey, I Shrunk The Audience is a 3-D film at several Disney theme parks themed to the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids film series. It first opened at Epcot's Imagination Pavilion in 1994, Disneyland in 1998, and Disneyland Paris in 1999. It also opened at Tokyo Disneyland in 1997 under the name MicroAdventure!.
 
Since1976

Since1976

Well-Known Member
Some interesting tech info in this thread. No wonder they've kept the show going so long -- it was a bear to put together!

That said, I think they could easily come up with a new show which uses the same technology ("plussed," of course).
 
PlutoInOrlando

PlutoInOrlando

Active Member
In the Parks
Yes
Since1976 said:
Some interesting tech info in this thread. No wonder they've kept the show going so long -- it was a bear to put together!

That said, I think they could easily come up with a new show which uses the same technology ("plussed," of course).
Click to expand...


I totally agree with that!
 
dolbyman

dolbyman

Well-Known Member
Kristie Smithers, a character in the show, asks "Shouldn't we wait for Professor Szalinski?". This is a direct reference to the film Honey, I Blew Up the Kid in which a scientist asks "Shouldn't we wait for Szalinski?"
Click to expand...

isn't the attraction based on the movie ? .. why is that a sneaky reference ? :veryconfu
 

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