Aladdin VR ride at WDW?
John Alan Dunning
Somewhere recently (New Media magazine?) I read about a planned
virtual reality, flying carpet ride at Epcot. I saw a screen shot
of the ride; looked pretty impressive. I think I also read that
a version the ride that can handle only two people at a time is
currently being tested and is open to the public, possibly in the
Innoventions pavillion. Can anyone confirm or deny that?
Thanks,
John
--
______________________________________________________________________________
John Dunning jdun...@phoenix.princeton.edu
Allan Schaffer
>
>Somewhere recently (New Media magazine?) I read about a planned
>virtual reality, flying carpet ride at Epcot. I saw a screen shot
>of the ride; looked pretty impressive. I think I also read that
>a version the ride that can handle only two people at a time is
>currently being tested and is open to the public, possibly in the
>Innoventions pavillion. Can anyone confirm or deny that?
Basically correct; during the testing phase there are 4 stations,
each with a single rider flying his/her own magic carpet around the
city of Agrabah. It's very impressive. (and fun to ride)
The ride itself is around the corner from Innoventions pavillion at
EPCOT, in its own building. If you're standing in the area beyond
the water fountain and looking back towards "SpaceShip Earth" it will
be to your left. Look for a triangular pink & white sign which reads
"Walt Disney Imagineering Labs".
There is an interesting article about the ride in SGI's "Silicon
Studio" WWW area. The URL is:
http://www.studio.sgi.com/Interactive.html
enjoy.
Allan
--
Allan Schaffer
Silicon Graphics
asch...@sgi.com
http://reality.sgi.com/employees/aschaffe
Fright Inc
It's not actually in Innovations; it's sorta behind it, in a
specially-opened section of the WDI offices (Imagineering). It's only a
small segment of the ride, and only 4 or 5 out of the 50 to 100 guests
watching the show get to try it out (as guinnea pigs, so to speak).
Actually, it's not that exciting... kinda like watching someone else play
a G-rated version of Doom (although the graphics are much better, and WDI
is developing this on Silicon Graphics Workstations). But it does look
pretty cool for the participants, and there's a goal (you look for
something hidden in a tower by flying on the magic carpet). The headsets
have stereo sound AND stereo visuals, so the participants get to have true
depth perception (though the observers only get to watch on flat overhead
monitors.) When this is ready to go, it should be quite an experience.
Hope this helped you out!
Jeff B. (Fright I...@aol.com)
**** When hinges creak; in doorless chambers...****
Claude Nichols
: Somewhere recently (New Media magazine?) I read about a planned
: virtual reality, flying carpet ride at Epcot. I saw a screen shot
: of the ride; looked pretty impressive. I think I also read that
: a version the ride that can handle only two people at a time is
: currently being tested and is open to the public, possibly in the
: Innoventions pavillion. Can anyone confirm or deny that?
Confirmed!
It's an Imagineering exhibit, and it handles 4 people randomly
chosen from the audience. It is in the Innoventions area. Myself
and 3 of my children were able to be chosen to ride it.
We all agreed that it was spectacular!
--
Janna Nichols...FDC Rolly..."I'm hungry mother, I really am!"
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Ed Sterrett
(John Alan Dunning) writes:
>
>Somewhere recently (New Media magazine?) I read about a planned
>virtual reality, flying carpet ride at Epcot. I saw a screen shot
>of the ride; looked pretty impressive. I think I also read that
>a version the ride that can handle only two people at a time is
>currently being tested and is open to the public, possibly in the
>Innoventions pavillion. Can anyone confirm or deny that?
WDI's exhibit in EPCOT Center's Innoventions (West) is indeed a
prototype of a planned VR attraction, and includes 'test flights' of the
VR flying carpets by 4 Guests (per show), picked from the audience. ;)
--
+ + Ed Sterrett FDC Iago
+ ()_() Castmember- Walt Disney World Security
+ (_) R.A.D Host: WDW & Orlando Information- dc...@ix.netcom.com
*** Not an official spokesperson for the Walt Disney Company ***
James R. Freeman
I got picked. Extremely excellent VR. You can move your head fairly rapidly, and the image still tracks well. The resolution on the displays is incredible. There is no problem focusing on the image.
It's especially wonderful when you are flying through the city and you pick up little snippets of the street vendors calling out to you. There is excellent coordination between the location of the characters and the apparent source of the sound.
I found it a bit confusing that the carpet would only go up if you had forward movement: I would expect a magic carpet to work like a helicopter; you signal "up" and it goes up, whether you are moving forward at the time or not.
The only bad thing is that the head mount has to be so tight that you will have a slight headache for the next five minutes. (It tightens with a knob, like a ski boot.) The headache is a very small price to pay.
There is also a little vertigo, but you just remind yourself that you are still on solid ground and it goes away immediately.
If noone finds the thief, and it's getting toward the end of the demo, listen for a crucial clue from the Imagineers. Sometimes they announce it over the microphone, and sometimes they whisper it in your ear.
They are definitely gathering real test information: the demonstration is not just for show. When you get picked, you go backstage. There is a person there entering the information from the survey forms into a Macintosh.
I asked about the details. (I program for a living.) Each helmet and motion base is driven by a dedicated SGI Onyx and SGI Indigo. The Onyx is using all eight parallel processors. The program runs in 512 meg of real memory. There are four systems at WDW for guest testing, and one system in California for development.
In article <95027.134...@MIAMIU.BITNET>, Nick Noble <NRN...@MIAMIU.BITNET> writes:
> I walked into the area to see the VR display at WDW.
> The ride was great. Hope you get picked.
Rich_Car...@cup.portal.com
> Somewhere recently (New Media magazine?) I read about a planned
> virtual reality, flying carpet ride at Epcot. I saw a screen shot
> of the ride; looked pretty impressive. I think I also read that
> a version the ride that can handle only two people at a time is
> currently being tested and is open to the public, possibly in the
> Innoventions pavillion. Can anyone confirm or deny that?
I can confirm all that, although *four* people at a time can ride it,
on four separate virtual-reality flying carpets. All the others in the
group get to stand and watch video screens showing what each person sees
in stereo through their headset.
I was extremely happy to be picked to pilot this VR ride, especially
after previously having seen the messages here stating that Disney was
looking for a certain demographic audience to test this attraction out.
As I am someone who is 41 years old and was picked, I guess that theory
is now blown out of the water! ;-)
It is *very* smooth and quite a believable virtual reality experience.
The "carpet" responds instantly to being steered one way or the other
and to acceleration as well as slowing down to a complete stop. There
was no sense of "urpy-ness" in me . . . I never felt woozy or sick to
my stomach at all. When I flew high over the city and gazed at the
majestic palace of Jasmine and Aladdin, my jaw dropped! It was
breathtakingly beautiful. The animations are right in sync with your
actions as you steer the carpet, and they are flicker-free and never
stuttered at all. The 3D spacial sound also keeps right up with
where you and the carpet are going.
What can I say? It's just like being in the "Aladdin" movie!
My only complaint was that I couldn't ride it longer. The Imagineer
told me afterwards they have found that for most people if the ride
lasts just a few minutes longer then most get a queazy stomach.
He also told me that originally two of the four virtual reality
devices also had motion platforms, but these were removed and then
replaced with stationary ones similar to the other two when it was
discovered that too many people were getting nauseous from the full-
motion virtual reality. He did give me a tip which I will try if I'm
ever chosen again: He said when you are flying high over the city
'way above the buildings you should lean far over the side of the
carpet and look down. Apparently the view is awesome and very
shocking! :-)
I never tried hard to solve the puzzle, because I had heard about all
the work that went into the animations that are found at ground level
if you slow down and stop at each character. These are quite funny
and worth blowing a chance at "winning" the adventure. Besides, if
you solve the puzzle too soon, you'll just sit there with nothing
else to look at until the all-too-short time runs out. ;-)
BTW: The Future Disney Cabinet (FDC) Magic Carpet rode it the night
after I did! ;-) I enjoyed looking down with my visor to the edge of
the magic carpet I was "riding" on, because that's when it is seen that
Mickey Mouse's hands are the ones holding onto the edge of the carpet!
This got quite a lot of laughs from those in our group who know me well!
;-D
-Rich Koster ()_() ()~() FDC MUCK/FDC Walk-Around Mickey Mouse ()_()
Portal Disney FANtasEARS Moderator <rich_...@cup.portal.com> (_)
Fidonet Disney Echo Asst. Moderator <1:390/5.10> <Call Portal: 800-433-6444>
* "Keep your hands and arms inside the carpet!"
Ethan Solomita
>Yoo Hoo, John!
>
>
>I was extremely happy to be picked to pilot this VR ride, especially
>after previously having seen the messages here stating that Disney was
>looking for a certain demographic audience to test this attraction out.
>As I am someone who is 41 years old and was picked, I guess that theory
>is now blown out of the water! ;-)
>
picking teens and twenty-year-olds when I was there. Of course,
I'm referring to physical age, not mental age, or whether they
are young-at-heart. 8-) But I still do think that they have their
demographics. I'll have to see if, next time, they'll take me if
I beg enough. 8)
>My only complaint was that I couldn't ride it longer. The Imagineer
>told me afterwards they have found that for most people if the ride
>lasts just a few minutes longer then most get a queazy stomach.
>He also told me that originally two of the four virtual reality
>devices also had motion platforms, but these were removed and then
>replaced with stationary ones similar to the other two when it was
>discovered that too many people were getting nauseous from the full-
>motion virtual reality. He did give me a tip which I will try if I'm
>ever chosen again: He said when you are flying high over the city
>'way above the buildings you should lean far over the side of the
>carpet and look down. Apparently the view is awesome and very
>shocking! :-)
When I was there the imagineer told me that 2 of the 4
would move, but it must not have been much motion, since I didn't
notice it as I watched jealously from the floor being left with
nothing other than the monitors to "experience"! Do I sound
upset... no, not at all... 8)
-- Ethan
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