When was the last Imagineer "break-through?"

[sarabi]

I must be naive or easily amused...

Can someone point out to me a another ride that operates like Soarin'? Another coaster that operates like Everest?

I'm always impressed by WDI's work. Perhaps a contractor makes the technology but WDI makes it an attraction. Trust me, I don't want to ride a chair that lifts and lowers all day, but Soarin' is more than that...

A lot of people responding to this thread sound very unimpressed... I don't get why. Are they engineers themselves that can design something better? Do they know of something I don't know (very likely) as far as attractions similar to these?

I must just be happy go lucky. I don't even mind the daylight breaks in Everest. It makes me feel like I'm down some crevice in the kumbu icefall.

 

[joel_maxwell]

I must be naive or easily amused...

Can someone point out to me a another ride that operates like Soarin'? Another coaster that operates like Everest?

I'm always impressed by WDI's work. Perhaps a contractor makes the technology but WDI makes it an attraction. Trust me, I don't want to ride a chair that lifts and lowers all day, but Soarin' is more than that...

A lot of people responding to this thread sound very unimpressed... I don't get why. Are they engineers themselves that can design something better? Do they know of something I don't know (very likely) as far as attractions similar to these?

I must just be happy go lucky. I don't even mind the daylight breaks in Everest. It makes me feel like I'm down some crevice in the kumbu icefall.

well, for argument sake, just because their ride system is unique, doesnt mean that it is a A++ attraction. (i understand what you are saying and i agree 99% with it) i think that the design etc into these systems is incredible itself.

with that said, i think that both attractions are well above anything anyother industry is producing in their parks, some people just wish certain aspects of attractions would work as advertised (ie: mr yeti, mist etc)

you have heard my 2 cents on E:E about the light coming through, but the only thing that i have against Soarin is that i wish the screen/lenses could be cleaned or air blown off more frequently, and more films. I just dont understand why there hasnt been a second film made for WDW (especially with 2 theaters).

 

[marni1971]

Trust me, I don't want to ride a chair that lifts and lowers all day, but Soarin' is more than that...

Indeed - and I think that`s the very thing we are talking about. Soarin' is greater than the sum of its parts. Take the parts one by one and none is groundbreaking or a breakthrough.

A lot of people responding to this thread sound very unimpressed... Do they know of something I don't know (very likely) as far as attractions similar to these?

Again, my angle is not a lot measures up to the huge impact some of WED/WDIs developments have in the past. Circle*Vision, travelling theatres, a show building on legs, Omnimovers, Animatronic figures.... the list goes on. Are we not `wowed` as much anymore? Have we become blase about park technology? Has the competition caught up? Have we pushed as far as realisticly possible? I`d say yes. When EPCOT Center opened virtually each attraction had scores of one-of-a-kind cutting edge "inventions" - for want of a better word - that made it stand out and stand way above the competition. A good example is Journey into Imagination had 78 special effects - a third of them developed for that attraction. That was more than the entire Magic Kingdom had when it opened. Back to Soarin', as an example - having a positionable motion base (BTTF) with wind (Dreamflight), an Omnimax screen and smells (Horizons) isn`t exactly cutting edge tech wise. But it works on an emotional level. Very well.

 

[Figment571]

Please correct me if I'm wrong but hasn't Tony Baxter stated that Disney has come up with a ride vehicle that trumps Spidey? Was it the arm tech that they were using until Uni got the rights?

 

[EpcotServo]

Please correct me if I'm wrong but hasn't Tony Baxter stated that Disney has come up with a ride vehicle that trumps Spidey? Was it the arm tech that they were using until Uni got the rights?

Perhaps it's the crazy whirlygig Lee has a picture of?

http://photoalbums.wdwmagic.com/showphoto.php?photo=34713

:lol:

 

[sillykid]

Perhaps it's the crazy whirlygig Lee has a picture of?

http://photoalbums.wdwmagic.com/showphoto.php?photo=34713

:lol:

Looks like a TSMM vehicle if you ask me???
But I think you're right....it's a whirlygig!

 

[ChrisFL]

Can someone point out to me a another ride that operates like Soarin'? Another coaster that operates like Everest?

Soarin'? Horizons had two screens in the middle of it, although the vehicles didn't simulate motion, and Back to the Future had a ride system simulated movement with a screen about the same size.

Everest's ride mechanics are different than The Mummy's but the effect is the same (going down backwards after stopping at one point). But if you want go back farther, Maelstrom also did the same thing, though obviously it isn't a rollercoaster.

 

[Legacy]

Can someone point out to me a another ride that operates like Soarin'? Another coaster that operates like Everest?

Another ride like Soarin'... Back to the Future/Simpsons. It's a simulator infront of an Imax screen. The only difference is that Soarin' is inverted while Universal's attractions are standard.

The only "unique" aspect of Everest is the backwards portion that... wait a sec... Mummy at Universal has a backwards portion on a rollercoaster track. Outside of that, Everest in any Vekoma coaster, only inside a mountain (like Matterhorn) and an animatronic yeti that never works.

Please correct me if I'm wrong but hasn't Tony Baxter stated that Disney has come up with a ride vehicle that trumps Spidey? Was it the arm tech that they were using until Uni got the rights?

Disney didn't create the Roboarm. That was an outside company called Kuka.

 

[tdonald]

If you ask me, Expedition Everest is very well themed, especially the queue... except for the unfinished back of the mountain!!! Couldn't they have finished that? :shrug: You can see it from the parking lot!!! Does anyone have a pic of it?

 

[Fade_to_Blah]

If you ask me, Expedition Everest is very well themed, especially the queue... except for the unfinished back of the mountain!!! Couldn't they have finished that? :shrug: You can see it from the parking lot!!! Does anyone have a pic of it?

There was a thread about this a while back. They have painted it to look like a village. It still looks kinda bad IMO though.

I think some of you are downplaying the challenge of some of the things WDI does. It may look simple enough, but im sure its much more challenging to pull off than is lead to believe. Take SSE for example, taking a picture of someone and having the computer automatically crop it out then put it into a video 3 minutes later is not an easy problem. Theres a million difficult things with this, not the least of which is that facial recognition technology is very difficult (especially when you have guests that are moving even slightly) to work with. They also put that into the huge after show part of the attraction. And the amazing thing is it usually works (most the time? hehe). I know its popular to say "oh they just throw computer power!!!! at it" but im sure thats not even the half of it.

 

[fyn]

Take SSE for example, taking a picture of someone and having the computer automatically crop it out then put it into a video 3 minutes later is not an easy problem. Theres a million difficult things with this, not the least of which is that facial recognition technology is very difficult (especially when you have guests that are moving even slightly) to work with. They also put that into the huge after show part of the attraction. And the amazing thing is it usually works (most the time? hehe). I know its popular to say "oh they just throw computer power!!!! at it" but im sure thats not even the half of it.

That technology has been around for a long time. Its the same type of software that casinos use for security, and I wouldn't be surprised if WDI simply bought a license for it.

 

[jakeman]

That technology has been around for a long time. Its the same type of software that casinos use for security, and I wouldn't be surprised if WDI simply bought a license for it.

I believe you just proved his point.

 

[KZevchik]

The "Waterfall" mist effect was actually devolped by a different company (They are able to be installed for parties and conventions and such)

I had their website but I forget what it was called...

And...I'm pretty sure there is no scrim involved, could you explain a little further?
:shrug:

I use the term 'scrim' loosely, it is actually fog/mist however it is used as a scrim (projection), I've seen the effect by WDI a year and half before it appeared at POTC. I don't have an answer about the other company. I don't know the technics behind the effect other than it is a chemical based mist that dissipates at the same exact moment for every particle. Same way the exact same size of salt will dissipate in water at the same interval. This is how it was explained to me without giving away trade secrets.

 

[KZevchik]

I was under the impression that Laugh Floor was the winner of the ImagiNATIONS collegiate engineering competition a few years ago.

All I can say is "hmmmm", this is probably true, I guess when you are in a competition you give up intellectual rights. IMO or experience.

 

[VillanovaBlue]

http://www.fogscreen.com/en/

 

[EpcotServo]

I use the term 'scrim' loosely, it is actually fog/mist however it is used as a scrim (projection), I've seen the effect by WDI a year and half before it appeared at POTC. I don't have an answer about the other company. I don't know the technics behind the effect other than it is a chemical based mist that dissipates at the same exact moment for every particle. Same way the exact same size of salt will dissipate in water at the same interval. This is how it was explained to me without giving away trade secrets.

Ah, ok. When I hear scrim I think Streching Room roof-type scrim.

Yes, that link is the one!

 

[cpeterstx]

you have heard my 2 cents on E:E about the light coming through, but the only thing that i have against Soarin is that i wish the screen/lenses could be cleaned or air blown off more frequently, and more films. I just dont understand why there hasnt been a second film made for WDW (especially with 2 theaters).

I love Soarin' but I totally agree with you on the picture quality. I am hopeful that the next gen of Soarin' will move to a digital projection system. I really don't know if there are digital IMAX projectors out there. If not, there's a project for WDI!

 

[fyn]

I believe you just proved his point.

Eh, how? He said that cropping someone's face from a picture was a hard problem to solve, and my point is that this problem has been solved for a long time, and Disney likely bought the rights to use the software that solved this problem.

Unless he was being sarcastic and I totally missed it.

 

[jakeman]

Eh, how? He said that cropping someone's face from a picture was a hard problem to solve, and my point is that this problem has been solved for a long time, and Disney likely bought the rights to use the software that solved this problem.

Unless he was being sarcastic and I totally missed it.

Just because the technology has been around for awhile doesn't mean using it in a theme park setting or in a particular way is not challenging.

I believe his point was the imagineers don't really get credit when we assume something is simple. Which you proved by dismissing the technology for SSE.

You can also look at this as a contradiction in another direction. Why do folks around here get excited about AA's still? This is 40 year old technology and fairly simple nowadays.

Given the topic of the thread, I will say that we probably agree that the photo capture technology is not really a breakthrough. Complicated and underappreciated, maybe.

 

[wannab@dis]

I must be naive or easily amused...

Can someone point out to me a another ride that operates like Soarin'? Another coaster that operates like Everest?

I'm always impressed by WDI's work. Perhaps a contractor makes the technology but WDI makes it an attraction. Trust me, I don't want to ride a chair that lifts and lowers all day, but Soarin' is more than that...

A lot of people responding to this thread sound very unimpressed... I don't get why. Are they engineers themselves that can design something better? Do they know of something I don't know (very likely) as far as attractions similar to these?

I must just be happy go lucky. I don't even mind the daylight breaks in Everest. It makes me feel like I'm down some crevice in the kumbu icefall.

Naive? Not in the least. In fact, I would say your post is very insightful.

Ever heard the old saying? "Those that can, do; those that can't, teach." Or, written in a form that is current to this thread (and many others...) "Those that can, work for WDI; those that can't, but think they could always do better, post on internet fan forums." :zipit:

It's also interesting to see new attractions (or in the last few years) are subject to being dismissed; however, everything used to be better and was great. If anything, the Imagineers of EPCOT in the 80's seemed to be lacking IMO. They couldn't even think outside the "everything is an epic length dark ride snooze fest" box! My local Chuckie Cheese has AAs... are they now the equivalent of WDI? :lol: