Mickey Monitor Entry 1 : New Epcot Pavilion (Horizons Thread)

[FigmentPigments]

One thing I think we should consider when designing this attraction is -- how does it not become outdated easily? And how does it appeal to a general audience.

While I know a fundamental goal of ours is to stay true to the spirit of Epcot -- I think we can do that with a more riveting attraction. Not necessarily a thrill ride or anything of that kind -- but build off of (what was at the time) a pretty innovative ride system.

I'm thinking a possible upgrade would be an alternative KUKA arm -- with less turbulence, but the ability to enter in and out of show scenes, rather than passively view them.

As for the attraction itself -- Horizons and Quill did a great job of summarizing the basic premise of the prior edition so I won't delve into that -- but just add that the reason why Epcot purists view this attraction in such high regard is because it embodies the spirit of Epcot that was lost in the late 90s.

This attraction will be successful if it embodies what Epcot stood for, without sending us back in time to 1983 in terms of story and just pure nostalgia.

I could listen to the Horizons soundtrack all day -- but I could also listen to the 1994 Jeremy Irons Spaceship Earth soundtrack all day...and in the 2007 upgrade, the soundtrack was changed.

So subtle things like that I think would go a long way.

If we are focusing on space and deep space colonies -- Louis Viallet is someone I like who isn't mainstream like a Hans Zimmer Interstellar soundtrack, but I still think would sound really cool if you are floating through space in the future.

(at 50:40 mins)

Yes, I think it is essential for people to be involved in the rides and the ride scenes. Passive observance is okay for a show, but to keep people from becoming bored, I think we need to have the guests be in the scenes as much as possible.

 

[OvertheHorizon]

I kind of agree. I did a New Horizons prompt a while back, and I had the "look back" portion in the queue where people can look and be informed there, but if bypassed won't affect the attraction. I'm partial to keeping the attraction relegated to a look towards the future instead of a combination of past and future. Just my opinion though.

Your opinions are always appreciated.

 

[OvertheHorizon]

One of the "trends" in theme park attractions is shorter versus longer. I believe that both of the 360 degree movies in China and Canada have been shortened from their original versions. There is no way that Disney would design a 40 minute attraction like the Universe of Energy today (it almost makes me cringe the way they make the announcement about the length before the ride starts).

I keep trying to think how our focus for a NEW Horizons could focus on people rather than technology. I don't have an easy answer yet, but I keep thinking about it.

Another trend (which began with the original Horizons) incorporates a different ending depending on the selections of the riders in each car (a trend continued nicely in Spaceship Earth). I've often wondered if such a trend could be accomplished by the vehicle taking a completely different ride path for the concluding segment rather than just through the use of video screens? A "trackless" vehicle could make that approach easier to accomplish. It would be a FRESH approach to ride design. I should stop... I was the one who said earlier we should think about the story we want to tell before talking about the ride/attraction. Me bad!

 

[QuillPenn]

I would like to apologize in advance if this post comes across as pessimistic or snippy. My play opens tonight, and I'm dealing with a bit of anxiety as a result, so I might be a tad distracted. Believe me I am not trying to come across that way.

One of the "trends" in theme park attractions is shorter versus longer. I believe that both of the 360 degree movies in China and Canada have been shortened from their original versions. There is no way that Disney would design a 40 minute attraction like the Universe of Energy today

From what I've seen on Youtube, (the only way I am able to visit any them park at the moment) I would agree with you. Attractions do tend to favor the shorter side of things. And yes DISNEY certainly wouldn't design a 40 minute long ride, not in this day and age. But just because they do, who says we have to? Short rides may not necessarily mean better rides. Plus, we might make our job harder than it needs to be by putting a time constraint on it, especially when you consider that we are trying to come up with an attraction that summarizes the spirit of EPCOT.

I should stop... I was the one who said earlier we should think about the story we want to tell before talking about the ride/attraction. Me bad!

No your not. You more or less said that you like tossing out ideas because it might spark a brainstorm. Just look what I thought up purely based on your use of the phrase "Problem-Solving."

Another trend (which began with the original Horizons) incorporates a different ending depending on the selections of the riders in each car (a trend continued nicely in Spaceship Earth). I've often wondered if such a trend could be accomplished by the vehicle taking a completely different ride path for the concluding segment rather than just through the use of video screens? A "trackless" vehicle could make that approach easier to accomplish. It would be a FRESH approach to ride design.

Oh there definitely should be multiple endings, and I like the idea of trackless ride vehicles. The trick there though is that in the Original Attraction, guests got there choice of ending, which I would like to keep, however, if we aren't using video screens, how do we make that work with physical sets? Especially if there's happens to be a time in the day that one scene ends up being more popular than the others?

Also, @spacemt354 mentioned the use of KUKA Arms, would it be possible to do that on a trackless ride system, without the vehicle becoming to bulky, or risk it becoming unbalanced?

At the same time, I do agree with @OvertheHorizon, we still need to figure out what story we want to tell, do we go with the idea I presented earlier, or are there some other ideas. Remember this just a brainstorming phase, just about anything goes.

 

[OvertheHorizon]

I would like to apologize in advance if this post comes across as pessimistic or snippy. My play opens tonight, and I'm dealing with a bit of anxiety as a result, so I might be a tad distracted. Believe me I am not trying to come across that way.



From what I've seen on Youtube, (the only way I am able to visit any them park at the moment) I would agree with you. Attractions do tend to favor the shorter side of things. And yes DISNEY certainly wouldn't design a 40 minute long ride, not in this day and age. But just because they do, who says we have to? Short rides may not necessarily mean better rides. Plus, we might make our job harder than it needs to be by putting a time constraint on it, especially when you consider that we are trying to come up with an attraction that summarizes the spirit of EPCOT.



No your not. You more or less said that you like tossing out ideas because it might spark a brainstorm. Just look what I thought up purely based on your use of the phrase "Problem-Solving."



Oh there definitely should be multiple endings, and I like the idea of trackless ride vehicles. The trick there though is that in the Original Attraction, guests got there choice of ending, which I would like to keep, however, if we aren't using video screens, how do we make that work with physical sets? Especially if there's happens to be a time in the day that one scene ends up being more popular than the others?

Also, @spacemt354 mentioned the use of KUKA Arms, would it be possible to do that on a trackless ride system, without the vehicle becoming to bulky, or risk it becoming unbalanced?

At the same time, I do agree with @OvertheHorizon, we still need to figure out what story we want to tell, do we go with the idea I presented earlier, or are there some other ideas. Remember this just a brainstorming phase, just about anything goes.

There's nothing pessimistic or snippy about your post. What play are you in? I've done theatre all my life (an old guy here). Break-a-leg!

Yes, the challenge if there were three separate tracks (for example at the end of the ride) is how they would sort themselves out in terms of popularity. But I thought if we had a trackless system it would make it easier for ride vehicles to separate and take different routes. Perhaps the trick is to have those ending "guest choices" be a relative small portion of the ride journey so that nothing gets backed up too much.

MORE BRAINSTORMING: In the original Horizons, they focused on land (desert farm), space, and sea. I wondered (still thinking about specifics) about a focus on environment (macro - climate or micro - where we live), health (medicine, fitness, eating smart), and leisure/recreation (perhaps things more active than looking at screens)?

 

[spacemt354]

I have a 3 hour train ride coming up in a half hour...so ill have some time to brainstorm!

 

[spacemt354]

Also nothing snippy in that post...

It was exactly what the brainstorming process is about!

 

[OvertheHorizon]

@spacemt354 Hope your test went well.

 

[spacemt354]

@spacemt354 Hope your test went well.

I hope so too

But thank you! I feel pretty good about it, thats usually a good sign

 

[spacemt354]

Having little to no internet connection kinda put a damper on my plans haha but oh well.

I will take a more in-depth look at this tomorrow.

 

[QuillPenn]

There's nothing pessimistic or snippy about your post. What play are you in? I've done theatre all my life (an old guy here). Break-a-leg!

Thanks, it's a stage adaptation of the 1985 film Clue, I play Professor Plum, and the performance was phenomena!! 1 down 11 more to go.

I'll probably look over everything again tomorrow as well, I'm pooped!

 

[OvertheHorizon]

Friday morning thoughts: Following on my posts from yesterday, I keep thinking about the underlying message we want to convey. As we look "over the horizon" (Hmmm catchy phrase) how do WE want to shape OUR lives. If CoP was about demonstrating how inventions made our lives easier and saved us time, maybe we should focus on QUALITY OF LIFE issues (perhaps in the three realms I suggested yesterday - environment / health / leisure). Using that saved time to hug a child, read a book, meet our neighbors, improve our community, leave our mark on the world - okay, that last one might be a stretch. I'm also thinking about the phrase from Carousel of Progress about the "rat race," which hasn't gotten any better. Our lives are bombarded by so much (thanks to technology) that we need to find ways to sort out what is important to US, our families, and loved ones. I'm sure @spacemt354 will have great ideas when he finally gets a good internet connection. As will others.

 

[OvertheHorizon]

Since my earlier post, I had a few more random thoughts. Perhaps we can highlight the messages around us (in music, literature, culture, film) that celebrate what's important in our lives. Whether it's the Beatles' lyric, "I want to hold your hand." The image of two cartoon animals coming together with a common strand of spaghetti. A Special Olympian crossing the finish line in her wheelchair. There have to be countless examples, but I got to thinking about all of the messaging with which we are bombarded daily and how to separate what's important from what doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

 

[spacemt354]

Thanks, it's a stage adaptation of the 1985 film Clue, I play Professor Plum, and the performance was phenomena!! 1 down 11 more to go.

I'll probably look over everything again tomorrow as well, I'm pooped!

Congratulations Quill!

 

[spacemt354]

This may be an off the wall idea - but what if it connected to the ending of Spaceship Earth

Whatever future you sought on Spaceship Earth sticks with you on your MagicBand, and then you upload it on Horizons?

 

[spacemt354]

This way -- every ride is different, and it creates a sense of interactivity (which I'm hoping would be the direction we'd want to take the new Future World)

I love the old Epcot - but most of the experiences were passive learning environments. With an active environment, it breeds more excitement into the attractions, while still holding that edutainment value.

By uploading your future on Horizons, you can then see how the quality of life in the future has improved your life on full scale (rather than just a cartoon clip on SSE -- SSE can be the preview of Horizons), and rather than the family of the Carousel of Progress. It can be something tangential to that story, and doesn't necessarily have to have a specific time period in mind. It can just be how the progress of today can shape the future of tomorrow.

 

[OvertheHorizon]

This may be an off the wall idea - but what if it connected to the ending of Spaceship Earth

Whatever future you sought on Spaceship Earth sticks with you on your MagicBand, and then you upload it on Horizons?

Off the wall? Sure. Worth thinking about? Absolutely... or some version of that.

As I thought about alternative endings for this attraction, I wondered if guests could be issued card readers that would record their choices and it could translate into information that could be emailed back home etc.

Space, did you have thoughts about the overall story we want to tell?

 

[OvertheHorizon]

We were writing similar thoughts at the same time.

 

[spacemt354]

Off the wall? Sure. Worth thinking about? Absolutely... or some version of that.

As I thought about alternative endings for this attraction, I wondered if guests could be issued card readers that would record their choices and it could translate into information that could be emailed back home etc.

Space, did you have thoughts about the overall story we want to tell?

That would be interesting! The card readers...I'd definitely like to see (especially with Test Track) the guest be able to create their own attractions basically on Future World East. This mind-set may also help our eventually redos of both UoE and Wonders of Life.

 

[spacemt354]

We were writing similar thoughts at the same time.

Haha yes indeed!

For story -- I may have missed this, but were we planning on first starting in the past at all? (Like the old attraction) or do we want to jump right into the future?