I know of one team that entered this year besides you and your team. I would love to hear what you designed....
wow, really? that's cool! there's a decent number this year. not sure the exact amount, but it seems less than usual.
well, i'd love to tell you what it was MEANT to be; lack of time, and a decision to hold off on big guns made us turn in a (IMO) inferior product. it took my team forever to decide on an idea, and i lost a couple members, so we tried to scale down our thinking, for next year. (an imagineer later told me, why do that? you can do the comp every year, but why not jsut do well and then you'll be working here?)XP
we went with an idea i had for a surfing themed coaster. I've always been entranced by some of the awesome surfing moves, mostly, riding the tube, and i thot it'd be awesome to create one based on that. to tie it to disney, we (naturally) made it stitch themed (my fav, but it just made sense).
the gist of teh story is that jumba(eeevile gene-e-ous) creates a machine (hyper sinusoidal amplificationating transmitter) that actually creates a wave behind you, to help boost nani's surfing business. as a customer, you are 'persuaded' to help test it. stitch wants to help, but manages to just damage the device. the ride itself is you riding your 'surfboard' along, while it happens to malfunction. the highlights include being launched be a massive tsunami behind your car, doing some 'tricks' on the top, and running under the crest into a corkscrew thru the tube. as the tube gets smaller, your car is actually 'pulled' into a whirlpool that takes you underneath into a cavern in the nearby volcano, which happens to be an ancient hawaiian sanctuary. as you ride thru, you narrowly avoid obstacles, until you slow to a crawl in a dark cavern. stitch tries to fix the device, but is interrupted be the cavern waking up in an eruption. magma fountains, boiling, bubbling water and steam, and flaming tiki sculptures surround you as a second tsunami forces its way in, and you are cannoned out the top into the air (the volcano and entrance are housed in a show building, and this actually shoots out of the mouth and outside. you flit about in the air as the device goes crazy, and then come in for a splash down at the beach. you come back to the shop in order to give the board repairs, and it actually heads into the building for the next guests
it was meant to employ a few special effects and LIM technology (we seemed to be on a water kick this year; a lot of our ideas involved it) overall, i was proud with the idea, but our presentation to WDI isnt amazing, so I doubt we'll even make semis.
oh well, but better for next year!
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