Uni's New Plan For Potter Could Make Significant Dent To WDW

AEfx

Well-Known Member
You can choose not to believe me, thats fine, but anyone who has SEEN the tech behind these two ride systems knows what I'm talking about.

We do.

To say that Spiderman is the same tech as Dinosuar is absurd.

But most things that guy is saying are, so I don't think that is a surprise. ;)
 

Pioneer Hall

Well-Known Member
Fair point. But that does nothing for those of us in our 20s and 30s who travel to WDW without kids and aren't the types to wait in half-hour lines for a meet and greet. I KNOW it doesn't cost billions to install a system to let you make a reservation from your iPhone -- that's called OpenTable. Maybe the better question is, will Next-Gen tell me in April what restaurant I will feel like eating at on a random Tuesday in October, so I can get my ADRs in time? ;)


Every time I start thinking that Universal is getting everything right and Disney is getting it all wrong, I think of Rip Ride Rockit, and I'm brought back down to earth. What a misfire that thing is.

This thread was busy today while I was away, so I apologize in advance for reaching back about 15 pages...

It might not do anything for those of us in our 20s that visit the parks without kids (of which I am in that demographic now). As I said in the Adv Club thread, I want nothing more than Disney to once again offer more for people in that age range since it would greatly benefit me. However, I expect Disney to offer the majority of their experiences for kids and families because they are the largest group and the ones who are going to be doing the most of the spending. The personalized meet and greets will strike a cord for a lot of them, and in the end will make a huge impact in their vacation. Probably as significant as any of the E-tickets in the parks. The whole memories thing might sound like MAGICal PR, but at the end of the day that is also what the majority of Disney vacationers are looking for. Don't get me wrong though, it shouldn't act as an excuse for Disney to get stale or allow innovation and maintenance to go by the wayside. But, by changing the meet and greet experience I think they are being incredibly innovative even if it doesn't appeal to us fans directly.

It is another discussion, but I am not saying that the tech should be ignored in the work place or home or where it belongs.

Theme parks you experience. You could compare them to a concert ... or a fine meal ... or a walk on the beach ... or etc.

There is no need for smartphones in a theme park setting beyond telling your friends at home 'hey, suckers, sorry you are working and its 31 degrees, but I'm in line for TT at EPCOT and then headed to lunch at San Angel Inn -- hope they still serve Tostitos chips and salsa!'

Disney should absolutely not ignore the tech, even in P&R, but it should not be part of the experience for guests. WDI shouldn't be having blue sky sessions saying 'how can we create an adventure in Pirates where people can use their tablets'.

That is just so point blank wrong.

~$28 for pasta in a theme park? Sure, sounds rational to me!~

Why shouldn't tech be part of the experience though? Just because you don't think it should be there doesn't mean that the majority of guests don't want it to have some impact on their experience. Disney, like any other entertainment company in this realm has to always walk on a fine line I believe. They need to offer their unique experiences while also keeping up with what the public is looking for. As Steve said, smartphones and tablets are becoming the way of life whether you like it or not. Disney (and really anyone else) should not ignore what their public wants. Again, I agree with you that experiences should remain as experiences. Getting fancy with an iPhone shouldn't allow them to cheap out on the physical stuff in the park. However, I think that some smart technological advances will make the guest happier in the end.

Exactly. :)

I am psyched about Shanghai DL. And I'm willing to bet I'm the only here planning on being there on Day 1 (unless I can convince my fellow hater Lee to join me). But no matter how amazing something created for that park may be, it is of no moment to a discussion on WDW's parks being stale.

It's like riding an ancient Delta DC-9 that's almost as old as the Spirit and being told by the flight crew to not about it because the airline has some brand new 777s flying on the other side of the planet.

I mean, I could say since Disney is doing a perfect job running ESPN that therefore they are doing likewise with ABC too (they aren't!)

I'd like to get to Shanghai around opening (make an adventure out of it and visit Hong Kong and maybe even Tokyo at the same time). Although, I hope it isn't like Hong Kong where I am now better off for waiting a few years to get there. We can meet for whatever the special Shanghai Disneyland treat is after the cut the ribbon at the turnstyle.
 

dxwwf3

Well-Known Member
You lost me when you say anything that happens in sports is "news". ;)

One of the biggest news stories of the year involved a former football coach.

And yes ESPN has been going downhill over the past few years for sure. Obviously trying to create news in many situations.
 

ChrisFL

Premium Member
Why shouldn't tech be part of the experience though? Just because you don't think it should be there doesn't mean that the majority of guests don't want it to have some impact on their experience. Disney, like any other entertainment company in this realm has to always walk on a fine line I believe. They need to offer their unique experiences while also keeping up with what the public is looking for. As Steve said, smartphones and tablets are becoming the way of life whether you like it or not. Disney (and really anyone else) should not ignore what their public wants. Again, I agree with you that experiences should remain as experiences. Getting fancy with an iPhone shouldn't allow them to cheap out on the physical stuff in the park. However, I think that some smart technological advances will make the guest happier in the end.

As an example, If Pirates has a smartphone app for the queue, it takes away from the idea that you're in a 19th century caribbean adventure IMO. If its set in current day, its less of an issue.
 

NoChesterHester

Well-Known Member
As an example, If Pirates has a smartphone app for the queue, it takes away from the idea that you're in a 19th century caribbean adventure IMO. If its set in current day, its less of an issue.

I get all that, but believe everyone is being a bit of a purist.

The smartphone is here to stay. Guests using them isnt ever going away. Ignoring their use in design because it doesnt fit with the theme just isn't realistic.

Why not try to integrate?
 

whylightbulb

Well-Known Member
Well your wrong...same ride system but new tweaks...so just stop
I suppose I am in a unique position to comment on this since I was fortunate enough to work on both projects performing different roles for each.

First of all when you are talking about a dark ride system, when it really comes down to it, you are talking about industrial automation and equipment. What makes dark ride technology unique is the ability to place people right in the middle of it and the need to integrate art/media while hiding the technology. Those two factors, people and art, are the two most important elements that make any dark ride project a challenge. There are other aspects that throw up obstacles to overcome (the need to place an industrial robot on a moving ride vehicle in FJ comes to mind as one of the most challenging) but those two are responsible for most of the headaches.

In the epic battle between Spiderman and Indy, in my opinion, Indy wins with respect to overall exerience and the proper balance between technology and art. But, while Indy blazed the trail in terms of EMV technology, Spiderman introduced more innovations in blending show and ride elements. It also introduced the yaw rotational axis. This really allowed us to blend scenic and film with the ride in ways that had never been achieved before.

Indy's ride system is truly dynamic and capable of more than exhibited on the ride. Its design was meant to simulate the feel of an off-road vehicle that is not on a track. The track slot/tow bar design was implemented after a failed demonstration of the trackless system that involved Lucas and Eisner that almost landed them in the hospital - although they never know about the fact that they almost crashed straight into the wall and thought it was all part of the proof of concept. We realized at that time why it is so important to not only have redundant safety systems in place but also why you can't soley rely on RF to provide safety. This goes back to the "people" factor I brought up above. In designing a ride system we probably spend at least sixty percent of the time dealing with safety.

The ride system that evolved with Indy truly is a marvel. The rear follower actuators allows it to almost fishtail. The track being located beneath the ride path allows the feel and look of the ride to be more realistic and the fact that it only uses one electric motor to power the hydraulic propulsion, rear steering, pitch, roll and thrust adds to both the practical nature of the system and the authentic feel of the ride.

Spiderman introduced new techniques for blending film and audio media with a moving ride vehicle. Real-time distortion (or moving point of convergence) is the timing of the vechicle's motion with the how the media is rendered for each second in terms of perspective. Back in the late 90s that involved some complex calculations and techniques that had never been tried. Also consider the physical high-def printing techniques used for the set work that was designed to blend with the film media. That was a first and contributes quite a bit to the immersive effect that I believe adds so much to this ride.

The rotational axis of motion enabled us to introduce a disorienting effect to the ride experience that no other attraction had previously achieved. The audio mix and polyphony was unique in its design and adds more to the adrenaline rush than I think most people realize.

There are many more examples but what I'm getting at is that both rides deserve credit for innovating and introducing new technologies to the theme park industry. But to say that Spiderman is ONLY a tweak from Indy is innacurate. They both achieve what they were designed to do. Indy feels like an authentic off-road adventure through an acient temple and Spiderman feels like a ride through a comic book.

I think the point that the Spiderman crowd is making is that Disney stopped with Indy stateside and with DisneySea internationally. Nothing since DisneySea has come close to the Spiderman experience from Disney in the past ten years. Now Universal is uping the ante with FJ and the next Potter expansion. Where's Disney's anwer stateside to this? Cars maybe. At least there is significant investment in Carsland but we'll have to see if the money has been spent wisely or, like so many of the Disney projects in the past ten years, wasted on corporate BS. I promise you if I (or several others in the industry) had $300 million to design and build a ride it would far surpass anything to date in terms of innovation, experience, themeing and guest satisfaction.
 

bullsforthewin

New Member
I suppose I am in a unique position to comment on this since I was fortunate enough to work on both projects performing different roles for each.

First of all when you are talking about a dark ride system, when it really comes down to it, you are talking about industrial automation and equipment. What makes dark ride technology unique is the ability to place people right in the middle of it and the need to integrate art/media while hiding the technology. Those two factors, people and art, are the two most important elements that make any dark ride project a challenge. There are other aspects that throw up obstacles to overcome (the need to place an industrial robot on a moving ride vehicle in FJ comes to mind as one of the most challenging) but those two are responsible for most of the headaches.

In the epic battle between Spiderman and Indy, in my opinion, Indy wins with respect to overall exerience and the proper balance between technology and art. But, while Indy blazed the trail in terms of EMV technology, Spiderman introduced more innovations in blending show and ride elements. It also introduced the yaw rotational axis. This really allowed us to blend scenic and film with the ride in ways that had never been achieved before.

Indy's ride system is truly dynamic and capable of more than exhibited on the ride. Its design was meant to simulate the feel of an off-road vehicle that is not on a track. The track slot/tow bar design was implemented after a failed demonstration of the trackless system that involved Lucas and Eisner that almost landed them in the hospital - although they never know about the fact that they almost crashed straight into the wall and thought it was all part of the proof of concept. We realized at that time why it is so important to not only have redundant safety systems in place but also why you can't soley rely on RF to provide safety. This goes back to the "people" factor I brought up above. In designing a ride system we probably spend at least sixty percent of the time dealing with safety.

The ride system that evolved with Indy truly is a marvel. The rear follower actuators allows it to almost fishtail. The track being located beneath the ride path allows the feel and look of the ride to be more realistic and the fact that it only uses one electric motor to power the hydraulic propulsion, rear steering, pitch, roll and thrust adds to both the practical nature of the system and the authentic feel of the ride.

Spiderman introduced new techniques for blending film and audio media with a moving ride vehicle. Real-time distortion (or moving point of convergence) is the timing of the vechicle's motion with the how the media is rendered for each second in terms of perspective. Back in the late 90s that involved some complex calculations and techniques that had never been tried. Also consider the physical high-def printing techniques used for the set work that was designed to blend with the film media. That was a first and contributes quite a bit to the immersive effect that I believe adds so much to this ride.

The rotational axis of motion enabled us to introduce a disorienting effect to the ride experience that no other attraction had previously achieved. The audio mix and polyphony was unique in its design and adds more to the adrenaline rush than I think most people realize.

There are many more examples but what I'm getting at is that both rides deserve credit for innovating and introducing new technologies to the theme park industry. But to say that Spiderman is ONLY a tweak from Indy is innacurate. They both achieve what they were designed to do. Indy feels like an authentic off-road adventure through an acient temple and Spiderman feels like a ride through a comic book.

I think the point that the Spiderman crowd is making is that Disney stopped with Indy stateside and with DisneySea internationally. Nothing since DisneySea has come close to the Spiderman experience from Disney in the past ten years. Now Universal is uping the ante with FJ and the next Potter expansion. Where's Disney's anwer stateside to this? Cars maybe. At least there is significant investment in Carsland but we'll have to see if the money has been spent wisely or, like so many of the Disney projects in the past ten years, wasted on corporate BS. I promise you if I (or several others in the industry) had $300 million to design and build a ride it would far surpass anything to date in terms of innovation, experience, themeing and guest satisfaction.


This is my thing...the Spiderman crowd seems to think that disney has not done any ride in the last ten years that brings your into the story or is as unique as Spiderman, so much so that they deny the fact that Dinosaur is even close to being like it which you know is not true since they use the same basic ride system. I like FJ but the flying sensation is not there for me while when you are on Soarin you really have that flying sensation. Soarin is a home run in my book for theming and execution. While i am not a fan of Mission Space that attraction is excellent in its way to blend story, theme and ride all in one. Some people here seem to think that TSM is not innovative which is just not true at all. They will use the excuse that it is just Buzz with 3d which is pretty much what i say about Spiderman....but the way it integrates an old time amusement park game experience with the 4D elements it is a total Home Run
 

bullsforthewin

New Member
"But, while Indy blazed the trail in terms of EMV technology, Spiderman introduced more innovations in blending show and ride elements. It also introduced the yaw rotational axis."

That is what Lightbulb said....

Which is basically what i said...to think that Dinosaur/Indy is NOTHING alike Spiderman is delusional...Spiderman took the EMV Tech, blended 3D screens and added the rotational axis...WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT I SAID
 

disney fan 13

Well-Known Member
"But, while Indy blazed the trail in terms of EMV technology, Spiderman introduced more innovations in blending show and ride elements. It also introduced the yaw rotational axis."

That is what Lightbulb said....

Which is basically what i said...to think that Dinosaur/Indy is NOTHING alike Spiderman is delusional...Spiderman took the EMV Tech, blended 3D screens and added the rotational axis...WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT I SAID

he also said ''There are many more examples but what I'm getting at is that both rides deserve credit for innovating and introducing new technologies to the theme park industry. But to say that Spiderman is ONLY a tweak from Indy is innacurate. '' :wave:
 

Lee

Adventurer
"But, while Indy blazed the trail in terms of EMV technology, Spiderman introduced more innovations in blending show and ride elements. It also introduced the yaw rotational axis."

That is what Lightbulb said....

Which is basically what i said...to think that Dinosaur/Indy is NOTHING alike Spiderman is delusional...Spiderman took the EMV Tech, blended 3D screens and added the rotational axis...WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT I SAID
He also said:
But to say that Spiderman is ONLY a tweak from Indy is innacurate.
They are two entirely different systems, designed to achieve a similar effect. However, they go about it in completely different ways.
Similar? Yep.
Just a tweak? No. More than that.
 

bullsforthewin

New Member
He also said:

They are two entirely different systems, designed to achieve a similar effect. However, they go about it in completely different ways.
Similar? Yep.
Just a tweak? No. More than that.

See there is a difference what you are saying and what others arent...You said they are similar which is what i said. I also said that Spiderman added new features which is true...what the others are saying is that Spiderman is NOTHING like Indy/Dinosaur which is flat out wrong. Which was confirmed by you and Lightbulb.
 

disney fan 13

Well-Known Member
See there is a difference what you are saying and what others arent...You said they are similar which is what i said. I also said that Spiderman added new features which is true...what the others are saying is that Spiderman is NOTHING like Indy/Dinosaur which is flat out wrong. Which was confirmed by you and Lightbulb.

are we saying that they are similar, yes. do you accept that it is more then a tweak, no

that is what we are talking about
 

Pioneer Hall

Well-Known Member
As an example, If Pirates has a smartphone app for the queue, it takes away from the idea that you're in a 19th century caribbean adventure IMO. If its set in current day, its less of an issue.

Agreed. Like I said in my earlier post technology shouldn't overshadow the actual experience. I also don't think NextGen is going to just be a billion dollars on queue diversions either. I think that it is going to involve things (and some of them on your smartphone) that help to personalize your experience to whatever degree you want that to happen. Some of these features, and my guess would be really the planning and scheduling features, would be smart phone related. I'm not one to disagree that Disney is slipping in some key areas and Uni is really giving them a challenge. However, I think to completely say NextGen is the problem before its really implemented is short sighted. We don't know exactly what is happening and I personally don't think that it will detract quite as much as people are fearing it will. I guess this stance won't win me a ton of brownie points in this thread, but this is my feeling on the situation.
 

bullsforthewin

New Member
One of the biggest news stories of the year involved a former football coach.

And yes ESPN has been going downhill over the past few years for sure. Obviously trying to create news in many situations.

ESPN is going downhill a little but it is still better than anything else out there...i cant watch college football or basketball on any other stations since they all suck compared to ESPN.
 

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