I went on Adventure Thru Inner Space tonight...

dweezil78

dweezil78

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Not literally of course, that'd be silly. But as someone who didn't make it to Disneyland for the first time until the year 2000, I sadly never had the chance to ride ATIS in person and it has always bummed me out that I'd never truly know what it was like.

For years, I've had a copy of the virtual ride thru (), but as you know, watching something on your screen isn't at all like being there. Well that changed tonight...

Enter the OCULUS RIFT. You may have heard of this thing... it's a virtual reality headset currently being tested with developers. You can buy one if you want to, they are not limited to developers (which I am not). It's $350 and if you have a decent PC and aren't a total novice, you can easily figure out how to work it.

I can get into all the ins and outs of why this thing is so amazing, but that's not the point of this post. The point is that one of the great things you can do with the OR is simulate all kinds of video screens... one of which being a ginormous 180-degree dome type screen. I decided to see what would happen if I projected the ATIS virtual ride thru on one of these and.... HOLY MOLY. While the ride thru is created with 3D assets, the output rendering is not actually in 3D (to your eyes), but it really felt like it for some reason. I very much felt like I was sitting in one of those blue omnimovers riding this thing and it was a crazy sensation to be sure. I legitimately felt like I experienced that ride tonight.

What's amazing about this is that this was just a 4:3, non-HD video, hardly even taking advantage of what the tech is actually capable. Imagine if this ride thru was created today specifically for the platform with complete 360 movement enabled with layers upon layers of assets. The possibilities are endless!

And just in case you're wondering... I have tried this with Soarin' as well and the results were just as amazing!
 
TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
To be honest, I'm not quite sure how this would all work technically, but I think I got "Virtual Reality Goggles" out of your interesting description.

I rode Inner Space many times in the 1970's and 80's. It was a fantastically cheesy but effective ride, and very fun. The theme song was ridiculously catchy, and I think fondly of Monsanto to this day because of it.

If there was a way I could actually re-ride Inner Space circa 1970 again through some goggle viewing thing, that would be great!
 
dweezil78

dweezil78

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Yep, you pretty much got it right. Virtual reality goggles. But unlike the stuff from the 90s, this one actually works and the effect is mindblowingly awesome. http://www.oculus.com/dk2/

And to be fair, the version of Inner Space I am viewing is NOT virtual reality (it is computer generated, but I cannot look around the scene itself). But rather the ginormous curved screen I'm projecting it on inside the headset/goggles is what is virtual. I know that's a bit confusing, hope it kind of makes sense. :)
 
RandomPrincess

RandomPrincess

Keep Moving Forward
This ride closed when I was about 7. But I had dreams about it for years never realizing it was a ride from my childhood. The part of the line where you see the ride vehicles go into the machine and see the tiny people come out the other side and the giant eye looking at you through the microscope where in my dreams. It wasn't until I was an adult and found Yesterland.com that I realized it was a real ride.
 
Marc Gil

Marc Gil

Well-Known Member
dweezil78 said:
67 was the least cheesiest IMO. Sleek, minimalistic, with layers of kinetic energy -- and legitimately looking towards the future of technology and science. Everything that came after it was a step down IMO.
Click to expand...
Agreed, but Inner Space definitely has some campiness.

How I love 1967 Tomorrowland
image.jpg
 
donaldtoo

donaldtoo

Well-Known Member
Cool!
Along with PotC and Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland, Adventure Thru Inner Space (especially the "miniaturized" Guests in the queue) is one of my most vivid memories of my first trip to Disneyland when I was 6 years old in 1968. :)
 
sedati

sedati

Well-Known Member
Not a necro-post, but to let you know an updated version is now available for the Oculus Quests

Project Snowflake on Meta Quest | Quest VR Games

From 1967 until 1985, guests at Disneyland had the opportunity to ”travel into the incredible universe found within a tiny fragment of a snowflake.", in Adventure Thru Inner Space. Now you have the ability to experience this extinct Disneyland attraction on your Oculus Quest. So join us as we...
www.oculus.com www.oculus.com
 
S

Sailor310

Well-Known Member
I have to confess, as a youngster, I would look at the colors of peoples outfits as the cars went into the shrinking microscope and try to see if the same colors were going by in the miniaturized cars in the clear tube. I wasn't quite sure you could actually shrink people on a ride, but I kept checking.
In high school years it was a great make-out ride.
 
britain

britain

Well-Known Member
sedati said:
Not a necro-post, but to let you know an updated version is now available for the Oculus Quests

Project Snowflake on Meta Quest | Quest VR Games

From 1967 until 1985, guests at Disneyland had the opportunity to ”travel into the incredible universe found within a tiny fragment of a snowflake.", in Adventure Thru Inner Space. Now you have the ability to experience this extinct Disneyland attraction on your Oculus Quest. So join us as we...
www.oculus.com www.oculus.com
Click to expand...

Nice, but will VR be able to recreate that musty asbestos smell?
 
Stevek

Stevek

Well-Known Member
Speaking of simulations, while not Disneyland related I thought some of you would enjoy this 3D interactive rendering of Epcot Future World in 1982. You can "virtually" walk around Epcot during this early incarnation which includes an under construction Horizons. Each pavilion includes links to the fantastic @marni1971 documentaries. Great stuff, can't imagine how much work went into this project.

kuula.co

Futureport 360º

Virtual Tour | Start
kuula.co kuula.co
 

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