The High-Teching of Wonderlands
What does the future hold for theme parks? Thanks to advances in computer graphics, processing power and visual technology, we can expect more immersion, interactivity and, of course, thrills.
© OLEK NOVAK-ZEMPLINSKI
PETER JACKSON IS NOT EASILY IMPRESSED. So when the director of cinematic spectacles like King Kong and The Lord of the Rings trilogy took Universal Studios Hollywood’s King Kong 360 3-D attraction for a preliminary test-drive, it was hard to predict his reaction.
At the test facility in Playa Vista, CA, Jackson sat on a stationary, wood tram mock-up positioned between a pair of 187-foot-wide, 40-foot-tall screens upon which 16 high-definition projectors showed high-resolution footage of Skull Island, an unsettling world where raptors, a T. rex and a ferocious gorilla rule. But, as Jackson discovered, this is no ordinary HD experience. King Kong 360 3-D (which opened July 2010 as part of the Studio Tour) features the world’s largest 3-D projection installation, with footage playing at 60 frames per second — two-and-a-half times the rate of average films.
“It was so compelling that the combination of picture and sound was enough to physically move us, even though we were seated on a stationary platform,” recalls Mark Woodbury, president of Universal Creative for Universal Parks & Resorts and overseer of the ride’s design. “We reacted to a feeling that the platform was being lifted up. Peter liked it, and we believed that the tram [which takes riders on a tour of the park before entering King Kong’s world] would be the icing on the cake. We left that test screening knowing that King Kong would be great.” And an obviously impressed Jackson described the ride as “the largest, most intense 3-D experience on the planet.”
King Kong 360 3-D resides on the cutting edge of theme-park technology, but it is hardly alone. The days when simple, freestanding rides are enough to attract visitors are nearly over — and the bar among consumers has been raised as high as the mighty gorilla’s brow.
THEME-PARK GOERS WANT TO DO more than go fast, go high and get scared. “Patrons want to go someplace and be transported to another world,” says Bob Rogers, founder and chief creative officer of BRC Imagination Arts, which has worked on theme parks such as Walt Disney World Resort’s Epcot in Florida; Animation Celebration and Steven Spielberg’s Motion Picture Magic at Universal Studios Japan; and Freej Theme Park in Dubai. “They want to be in the story of Indiana Jones or get attacked by dinosaurs and fear that they’ll die in four seconds before dropping down into a tropical lagoon.”
In some cases, the world is created even before you get on the ride, primarily with interactive elements. If you happen to be in line for Toy Story Mania! (a feat of technology in itself; see sidebar) at Disney’s Hollywood Studios (one of Walt Disney World Resort’s four parks) and Disney California Adventure Park, don’t be surprised to see Mr. Potato Head doing his part to make the wait more bearable. He’s not merely a person in costume chatting away, but rather a sophisticated AudioAnimatronics figure that looks like a giant root vegetable.
And while waiting in line for Soarin’ at Epcot, guests participate in several dynamic games, such as simulated bird races shown on five enormous digital projection screens along a 150-foot hallway. Fifty people gather in front of each screen and guide their birds via crowd motion dynamics — moving and gesturing in various directions, turning themselves into human joysticks.
Disney is clearly leading the charge of interactivity. At Epcot’s The Seas with Nemo and Friends attraction, guests descend to a virtual underwater world, ending with a ride through a 5.7 milliongallon saltwater tank — one of the world’s largest aquariums — where they’ll encounter Nemo and friends “swimming” with the real fish. Turtle Talk with Crush is another tech-heavy highlight of The Seas with Nemo and Friends Pavilion.
“Turtle Talk with Crush [which is at both Epcot and Disney California Adventure Park] is a 15-minute show built around interactivity, and it is always a little different. Leading-edge computer technology and real-time animation allow Crush to interact with the audience,” explains Joe Garlington, vice president of interactivity at Walt Disney Imagineering. A display that may initially look like one more tank filled with sea creatures is actually a rear projection screen showing animated CGI footage that operates in real time and reacts on the fly, with Crush pointing out specific audience members and bantering with them. “[The show] is the world as children think it ought to be: with a cartoon character that can talk to them just like a live person,” Garlington says.
But adrenaline junkies shouldn’t fear: All this technology isn’t wasted on the young and/or squeamish. Theme parks still value thrills and chills. However, according to Jamie O’Boyle, a senior analyst at the Philadelphia think tank Cultural Studies & Analysis whose clients have included Walt Disney Imagineering, “There is a limit to how many Gs the body can tolerate. We went through the arms race for speed and height; now the race goes toward the immersive experience.”
Indeed, when rides can’t go any faster, rise any higher or drop any further, the goal is then to go deeper into the virtual world, simulate speed and create adventures through high-tech trickery. The best rides these days combine virtual reality and animatronics to create the kind of atmosphere that can excite a guy like Jackson. In this realm, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is leading the way. A park-within-apark at Universal Orlando’s Islands of Adventure, Potter is an immersive world in which you walk the streets of Hogsmeade, drink Butterbeer instead of Pepsi, and peruse spooky wand shops rather than souvenir stalls. Designed under the watchful eye of Woodbury and Thierry Coup, it is widely regarded by industry insiders as the world’s greatest theme park attraction, winning multiple awards from the Themed Entertainment Association last year. Woodbury also oversaw the creation of another past award winner: The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man ride at Universal Orlando’s Islands of Adventure, which was the first attraction ever to combine moving, motion-based vehicles (making riders feel like they’re scaling skyscrapers), 3-D film and live action.
The Wizarding World’s signature ride, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, is outfitted with new-generation robotic arms, upon which “enchanted benches” can smoothly pivot — allowing them to drop, spin, twist and turn — in a manner that makes riders feel as if they are effortlessly swooping through the world of Harry Potter. “The [arms] on Harry Potter tilt and manipulate and rotate you so that you never see where you are going. You can be made to feel as if you are lying on your back and descending down a hole, ” says Rogers, who was amazed by the ride.
All this fear-inducing, speedsimulating magic can take a remarkably long time to produce. Planning and construction stages for large, multidisciplinary attractions such as Potter can take three to six years. The attractions invariably begin with a process known as “blue-skying,” in which creative teams come up with the graphic and narrative elements.
“At that point, it’s not a question of how much money it will cost or whether it can be done technologically,” says Joni Newkirk, a 20-year veteran of Walt Disney Company, where she was in charge of forecasting and feasibility analysis for new rides, and a current theme park consultant with her company, Integrated Insight Inc. “It’s a question of how far it will move the needle.”
Oftentimes, the planning and conceiving phase involves the authors and directors who created the characters that inspire the attractions. Director Michael Bay had a hand in the upcoming Transformers ride (debuting this fall at Universal Studios Singapore and arriving in Hollywood in 2012), and Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling was very supportive of the attraction, going so far as tasting the Butterbeer.
With regards to King Kong 360 3-D, Woodbury says, “Peter Jackson got it right away. He took off with the idea [of a narrative in which prehistoric beasts overtake the tram] and suggested having a phone ring on the tram that attracts the attacking raptors.” Then he came up with the idea of having a
T. rex grab a fifth, virtual tram car, projected in such high definition that fellow (virtual) riders appear to be snatched up by the dinosaur.
VISIONARIES WORKING IN THE industry predict that as the use of simulators and virtual reality increases, so will opportunities for lightning-fast tweaks to themes and characters. There will be more customization, such as being able to retool an attraction so that it ties into the release of a new movie or offers deeper on-the-fly interaction with riders in a particular car. “Maybe the ride will be different every time you go on it,” Newkirk says. “Or you will be able to choose your version: ‘Princess or cowboy?’”
Additionally, Garlington envisions a park in which robotic characters can seamlessly interact with humans, expressing emotions that elude today’s Mr. Potato Head. (In fact, a next-generation set of Mr. Potato Heads called Autonomatronics figures is in the works, which will utilize artificial intelligence.)
“It is estimated that in 2050, a single computer will have the processing power of all humans put together,” Garlington says. “They’ll be providing massive intelligence to the theme-park environment. One problem that may be resolved has to do with language. We have people visiting from all over the world and the shows can’t communicate with all of them. Fifty years from now, I can see the potential for that.”
All of this technology is impressive, and it definitely gets designers excited — but that’s really beside the point. “A theme park visit is not about technology; it’s about experience,” Rogers says. “Technology is a tool, and the theme park itself is really an elaborate illusion. Convince me that I am a student of Hogwarts, where things are going terribly wrong, and, well, that is one heck of a trick.”
NOT JUST A CARTOON
HOW DOES TOY STORY MANIA! WORK?
At this high-tech Disney attraction, guests sit in trams and use plastic shooters to go after virtual targets (like pigs, ducks and water balloons) as they coast through a series of carnival midways. Of course, there are no bullets, no midways and no 3-D targets. Here’s how Disney, with the help of 154 computers, does it.
Using custom 3-D software, the second-floor computers create the animation of projectiles and targets to reflect the accuracy of each shot. This happens in one-60th of a second. It’s as close to real-time animation as you can get.
Each tram is outfitted with eight shooters. Each pair of springaction shooters is hardwired into a dedicated computer in the bottom of each tram.
Information is sent from the tram’s computers to a computer network on the second floor of the ride via a secure, wireless router.
Via proprietary software, the computers calculate each shot at the moment of the trigger pull through constant communication that takes into account the angle of the shooter, the tram’s movement, location of the guest’s eyes and the trigger pull speed.
THE THEME-PARKING OF MUSEUMS
Museums across the US are realizing that they compete with theme parks for the hearts and dollars of visiting families. In order to get an edge, they hire guys like Chick Russell, a show producer at Universal Creative and former consultant to creative directors at forward-thinking institutions that wanted to add theme-park dazzle to their attractions. Here are three of his favorite teched-out museum exhibits.
MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
CHICAGO
“They have a German World War II submarine on display. Interactive exhibits have been built into it; one allows you to simulate a controlled dive, a crash dive and emergency surface sequences.” www.msichicago.org
ABRAHAM LINCOLN PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
SPRINGFIELD, IL (105 MILES FROM ST. LOUIS, MO)
“‘Pepper’s Ghost’ is a technology used in the Haunted Mansion at Disney theme parks. Glass and light are employed to create a ghostly presence. They do a show in the museum called Ghosts of the Library that uses the same technique.” www.alplm.org
FORT WORTH MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND HISTORY
FT. WORTH, TX
“It has a 4-D theater with motion seats, just like those you see in theme parks. Inside the theater, you experience how shale — rockhard substances embedded with gas — are formed and how the gas gets extracted.” www.fwmuseum.org
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