It's a small world interactive queue concept art leaked

[whylightbulb]

...

 

[Tom]

I'm not quite sure where I stand on this yet; I'll have to give it some more thought. I've had no issue with the Haunted Mansion queue (the name alone and the fact that many first time guests know it as the "Haunted House" is a comparable reveal to what takes place in the queue, as far as I'm concerned--I consider it foreshadowing; whether it's well-executed is another matter) and I think the Disneyland IASW additions were well done.

What I don't agree with is those treating changes to "it's a small world" as tantamount to painting a mustache on the Mona Lisa. While both are art, there are stark differences between the two. One is a theme park attraction, and such attractions were intended from the beginning to be dynamic and evolving. It doesn't sit well with me that we have an expectation that the most beautiful theme park attractions (in any case, I wouldn't count IASW among this group, for what it's worth) should never change.

Theme park attractions are collaborations by nature, whereas many other pieces of art are the product of one person. This is not to say I agree with making changes for the sake of advertising other products or synergy, but changes, in general, should be tolerated.

I, for one, thoroughly enjoy the new HM queue. I thought it matched the atmosphere of the attraction perfectly. Half grim, half silly - and all well themed. It was a nice addition that served a few purposes....give guests a tiny bit of entertainment while in queue, and allowed them to re-work the primary queue for guests needing assistance. And they did so tastefully, in my opinion.

I feel the same way about Pooh's queue. Everything fits, and you can tell they spent money on it. Props are three dimensional as opposed to painted flats. The Fantasyland queues are some of the more difficult to wait in, especially in the summer (since, while covered, they're still long, winding and hot). When they put a full- effort into the work, and blend it nicely, I appreciate it.

As for attraction changes, Tom is right that we should never expect an attraction to remain static forever. If there's an opportunity to plus an attraction, I'm all for it...IF they do it tastefully and don't just throw technology at it "because they have it". Pirates is probably one of my favorite upgrades, because it was done well. They utilized a bit of technology, but it doesn't stand out as technology because of the way they implemented it.

None of us can say at this point whether the IASW video screens will be nicely implemented or will be just plain gaudy - but I predict the latter, since video simply wouldn't "blend" into the attraction. BUT, perhaps they'll wow us.

As Tom implied, IASW isn't the most visually stimulating attraction in the park. Yes, Mary's dolls are classic and cute, but as I float by a bunch of plywood walls and indoor/outdoor carpet, it just screams "cheap". So, maybe by that standard, the monitors will fit nicely. And again, to me, the ride is less than stimulating. I ride it to get out of the heat, sit down for a while, and because it's sort of an obligatory "classic Disney attraction". If they can make kids feel INVOLVED, and maybe, accidentally teach them something along the way, sure, why not?

 

[marni1971]

My memory isn't what it used to be but I believe you might be right. I have never spoken to him about the project because it is probably a sore spot for him. I edited the original post just in case you are right though.

Indeed he (Baxter) didn't. And he doesn't think much of the latter versions either.

 

[Lee]

My memory isn't what it used to be but I believe you might be right. I have never spoken to him about the project because it is probably a sore spot for him. I edited the original post just in case you are right though.

Indeed he (Baxter) didn't. And he doesn't think much of the latter versions either.

Yep.
Tony clearly isn't fond of the current Imagination. I seem to recall him gesturing toward it, rolling his eyes a bit, and calling it "That thing".
:lol:

 

[whylightbulb]

Yep.
Tony clearly isn't fond of the current Imagination. I seem to recall him gesturing toward it, rolling his eyes a bit, and calling it "That thing".
:lol:

LOL I have no idea where I got the impression that he was involved. It never made sense to me because I know of no person (except a Florida WDI employee who shall remain nameless but I'm sure several here will know him since he was heavily involved) that likes the ride. Tony has a good sense for what will work and what won't.

 

[aladdin2007]

LOL I have no idea where I got the impression that he was involved. It never made sense to me because I know of no person (except a Florida WDI employee who shall remain nameless but I'm sure several here will know him since he was heavily involved) that likes the ride. Tony has a good sense for what will work and what won't.

Yes and its a shame they wont have him come here and redo it. Or maybe he doesnt even want to at this point, hes semi retired or is he still involved with Disneyland projects? The TDO of today probably doesnt even know who Tony Baxter is. :brick:

 

[Lee]

Yes and its a shame they wont have him come here and redo it. Or maybe he doesnt even want to at this point, hes semi retired or is he still involved with Disneyland projects? The TDO of today probably doesnt even know who Tony Baxter is. :brick:

He is overseeing a few things at Disneyland, which is "his" park.

Little to no chance of him taking on a WDW project again. What time he has left with the company will be spent out west.

 

[HMF]

I'm not quite sure where I stand on this yet; I'll have to give it some more thought. I've had no issue with the Haunted Mansion queue (the name alone and the fact that many first time guests know it as the "Haunted House" is a comparable reveal to what takes place in the queue, as far as I'm concerned--I consider it foreshadowing;

If you consider foreshadowing to be a guy who walks out of a movie theater telling people in line what happens in the movie they are about to see. That is what The Haunted Mansion Interactive Queue is like. It reveals that the ghosts are "Silly Spooks" long before you are supposed to know that, It breaks the "we'll take care of the outside" rule and worst of all the Organists tomb depicts the banshees flying out of the organ, which makes no sense because said banshees would not exist in his lifetime so them being on his crypt is absurd. The Sea Captain merrily sings and squirts water guns The poetess is obnoxious and with all the noise it totally destroys the once eerie and foreboding feeling you are supposed to experience before you go into the Mansion and as for you saying "You can just skip it" as whylightbulb? said the sound bleeds into the regular queue as well.

 

[HMF]

LOL I have no idea where I got the impression that he was involved. It never made sense to me because I know of no person (except a Florida WDI employee who shall remain nameless but I'm sure several here will know him since he was heavily involved) that likes the ride. Tony has a good sense for what will work and what won't.

Are his initials EJ?

 

[Tom]

If you consider foreshadowing to be a guy who walks out of a movie theater telling people in line what happens in the movie they are about to see. That is what The Haunted Mansion Interactive Queue is like. It reveals that the ghosts are "Silly Spooks" long before you are supposed to know that, It breaks the "we'll take care of the outside" rule and worst of all the Organists tomb depicts the banshees flying out of the organ, which makes no sense because said banshees would not exist in his lifetime so them being on his crypt is absurd. The Sea Captain merrily sings and squirts water guns The poetess is obnoxious and with all the noise it totally destroys the once eerie and foreboding feeling you are supposed to experience before you go into the Mansion and as for you saying "You can just skip it" as whylightbulb? said the sound bleeds into the regular queue as well.

This really is a huge thread drift, but oh well...

I'm not entirely onboard with this synopsis (but that's allowed because this is an internet discussion board).

I don't think Disney markets the Haunted Mansion to be a gore fest, or anything even close to scary. It's just "creepy" in a Disney sort of way.

Introducing guests to some of the key players, and giving them a taste of what's to come, is not ruining the story, in my opinion. And it's not giving them a false sense of safety, by telling them the entire experience will be silly.

On the contrary, once you've gone through the queue, you enter into the creepiest area of the property (well, at least since Alien Encounter's demise). The stretch rooms are a perfect mixture of creepy, silly, then downright scary. The room itself is "foreboding", but then you see the pictures stretch and experience the gags. But the finale with the hanged person is quite intense, and not something I would have ever expected from Disney. So, if this room doesn't "spoil" the demeanor of the ride, the queue certainly doesn't.

 

[whylightbulb]

I, for one, thoroughly enjoy the new HM queue. I thought it matched the atmosphere of the attraction perfectly. Half grim, half silly - and all well themed. It was a nice addition that served a few purposes....give guests a tiny bit of entertainment while in queue, and allowed them to re-work the primary queue for guests needing assistance. And they did so tastefully, in my opinion.

I feel the same way about Pooh's queue. Everything fits, and you can tell they spent money on it. Props are three dimensional as opposed to painted flats. The Fantasyland queues are some of the more difficult to wait in, especially in the summer (since, while covered, they're still long, winding and hot). When they put a full- effort into the work, and blend it nicely, I appreciate it.

As for attraction changes, Tom is right that we should never expect an attraction to remain static forever. If there's an opportunity to plus an attraction, I'm all for it...IF they do it tastefully and don't just throw technology at it "because they have it". Pirates is probably one of my favorite upgrades, because it was done well. They utilized a bit of technology, but it doesn't stand out as technology because of the way they implemented it.

None of us can say at this point whether the IASW video screens will be nicely implemented or will be just plain gaudy - but I predict the latter, since video simply wouldn't "blend" into the attraction. BUT, perhaps they'll wow us.

As Tom implied, IASW isn't the most visually stimulating attraction in the park. Yes, Mary's dolls are classic and cute, but as I float by a bunch of plywood walls and indoor/outdoor carpet, it just screams "cheap". So, maybe by that standard, the monitors will fit nicely. And again, to me, the ride is less than stimulating. I ride it to get out of the heat, sit down for a while, and because it's sort of an obligatory "classic Disney attraction". If they can make kids feel INVOLVED, and maybe, accidentally teach them something along the way, sure, why not?

I do agree with you regarding Small World but not about Mansion. Just like any good suspenseful story, you need the calm before the storm in order to appreciate the crescendo and payoff. Some of the interactive elements are better than others, but in general, the thing as a whole detracts from the experience in my opinion. I don't mind the Pooh queue since the ride is cheap anyway LOL.

They really have a great opportunity to make Small World a true E-Ticket. I know they won't go far enough with it and they will most likely screw up what they do but Small World could be brought into the 21st Century and become truly entertaining with this concept.

To start with I would use Disney Sea's Sinbad as a model. Not every AA needs to be of that quality but a few in each scene would go a long way. Bring the overall lighting level down and do more to hide the ceiling (this can be done partially by adding some down lights and clouds in some scenes). Work with the color scheme to allow the scenic and costumes to pop. Add some simple new effects. Work with the sixties theme and maintain some of the limited articulation for the collection of similar dolls gathered in each respective scene.

The video can be done well by using windows, doors, Musion, complimentary set pieces on either side of projection surface etc. The video content and animation should match the limited articulation dolls so as to blend properly. Filters should be used to reduce video glow.

That is where I'd start with respect to design intent for this project. There's a lot more of course but hopefully you can see how, with the right budget and talent, this could bring Small World to the next level.

On the technical side of things I'm not sure how they plan on tagging each guest and assigning the data to their respective boats. I have some ideas but it should be interesting to see what they go with.

 

[whylightbulb]

Are his initials EJ?

LOL no but EJ has been involved in some successful projects. The guy I'm referring to has not been involved with one decent attraction that I know of. He is a super nice guy and very likeable but I'm afraid his talent as a designer is lacking.

 

[HMF]

LOL no but EJ has been involved in some successful projects. The guy I'm referring to has not been involved with one decent attraction that I know of. He is a super nice guy and very likeable but I'm afraid his talent as a designer is lacking.

TF is at Disneyland, so it's not him, wow I am stumped it isn't PC or EG, is it?

 

[Tom]

I don't mind the Pooh queue since the ride is cheap anyway LOL.

We'll agree to agree on this one!

They really have a great opportunity to make Small World a true E-Ticket. I know they won't go far enough with it and they will most likely screw up what they do but Small World could be brought into the 21st Century and become truly entertaining with this concept.

21st century...yes. E-Ticket...that's a stretch, and would really be degrading to true E-Tickets.

Bring the overall lighting level down and do more to hide the ceiling (this can be done partially by adding some down lights and clouds in some scenes). Work with the color scheme to allow the scenic and costumes to pop. Add some simple new effects. Work with the sixties theme and maintain some of the limited articulation for the collection of similar dolls gathered in each respective scene.

YES! These things all should have been done long ago. These exact points are what makes the ride so cheap looking. You look up and you see a 2x2 acoustic ceiling. You see walls and electrical conduit. You see painted plywood set pieces. You see giant curtains masking off some stuff they don't want you to see. Hell, you go into room 2 and you can see up into the space above the ceiling for God knows what reason!

When I ride through, I don't feel like I'm in a Disney attraction. I feel like I'm in a warehouse that someone threw a ride into. Granted, that's exactly what they did for the World's Fair, but it's been a LONG time since then, and they've had plenty of opportunities to plus it a bit.

The video can be done well by using windows, doors, Musion, complimentary set pieces on either side of projection surface etc. The video content and animation should match the limited articulation dolls so as to blend properly. Filters should be used to reduce video glow.

But then it will just look like <whatever the Mexico boat ride is called these days>.

On the technical side of things I'm not sure how they plan on tagging each guest and assigning the data to their respective boats. I have some ideas but it should be interesting to see what they go with.

RFID. They would have to start that process to make this work. That means you're assigned an ID number the moment you book a trip, and it's associated to your Disney web profile, which is then associated to your personal Theme Park Entry Media. It'll be a complex procedure that is going to take some serious ingenuity. But, that's why they're spending a billion dollars on it.

 

[lazyboy97o]

On the technical side of things I'm not sure how they plan on tagging each guest and assigning the data to their respective boats. I have some ideas but it should be interesting to see what they go with.

If Jim Hill is right, and he has been talking about this specific project for awhile now, then this would not be too much since it will, at least initially, only be available to those who purchase XPass. According to him each XPass participant will receive a wristband with an RFID chip that is to be used for the length of their stay. This would enable Cast Members to separate XPass groups from each other and ensure that non-XPass users see what they are missing.

What has me curious is how this will be handled when the number of XPass users increases? How does Guest Relations deal with it when Susie's doll shows but not Sally's or Johnny's or Larry's? Can't well give out front of the line passes, the XPass holders already have much of their day scheduled.

 

[Lee]

TF is at Disneyland, so it's not him, wow I am stumped it isn't PC or EG, is it?

I think it was TomFitzgerald who was behind both of the...umm....inferior versions of the ride.
Pretty sure...but I could be wrong.:shrug:

Kevin Rafferty was involved, too.

(I'm not using initials, since most of these guys are fairly well known.)

 

[Buried20KLeague]

I just received an e-mail from Disney about a new "It's a Small World" app available for the iPhone and the iPad...

Wonder if this is connected...

(apologies if this was already mentioned somewhere in the thread, btw)

 

[aladdin2007]

I just received an e-mail from Disney about a new "It's a Small World" app available for the iPhone and the iPad...

Wonder if this is connected...

(apologies if this was already mentioned somewhere in the thread, btw)

Maybe thats all it is, hopefully :lookaroun

 

[lazyboy97o]

The app has been available for a bit now.

 

[DisneyDadof5]

Just got the email myself, and if you look at some of the artwork, it looks similar to the concept art. Now I just wish they'd put it out for Android.