Journey Back Into Imagination

JII Version 5.3: Science and Music

2012-02-26T13:39:00.004-08:00

Version 5.3 of the simulation is up and running! Here's what is new:

RIDE
- The Science scene in the ride is fleshed out a bit. This includes the set, some lighting, and special effects.
- There is some early work on sets and props for the Brand New Show scene.
- I've changed the walking mode so you are not always trapped down in the track pit. The POV is still lower than the ride vehicle but it is a little easier to move around now.

IMAGE WORKS
- The Electronic Philharmonic is more detailed in the Image Works now. This includes its music (thanks to E82)!
- The 3 entrances and exits from this scene to the upper lobby are a little clearer now. There are still shots of where you are going in the doorways to make this easier.

OUTSIDE
- There is now pavilion atmosphere music outside and some MJ goodness in the Captain EO entrance lobby (thanks again, E82).
- I fixed some weird geometry that was causing long dark lines on the sidewalks. I also fixed the invisible dirt in the potted plants and texture issues with the Follow Figment sign upstairs.

THEATER
- Those stupid exit signs are working now. You'd be amazed what a pain those managed to be (for reasons I don't entirely understand).

KNOWN ISSUES
- If you want to see a mildly amusing goof. Check out the EO exit doors from the outside. They're not supposed to be transparent for obvious reasons. Oops.
- There are a few missing and transparent walls in the ride.

WHAT'S NEXT IN 5.4
- Brand New Show scene in the Ride
- Bubble Music in the Image Works
- Proper lobby murals and maybe the elevator shaft too
- In the theater, mostly quality and efficiency upgrades

Previews and Plans

2012-02-24T23:06:00.000-08:00

I think I have a plan now. We'll see how long it lasts...

Up until recently, I've been mostly working on getting every part of the building built (Image Works was the last hold out) and getting all of the programming working right (mostly with the ride system). Though there is still tweaking to do, those major milestones have been met. From now on, it's just a matter of layering in various levels of details throughout the entire attraction.

And there is a lot to do.

I think I want to try to flesh out one piece of the 4 scenes (outside, ride, theater, image works) on each update now. And I think I'll try to name what the next pieces will be each time I do an update. I work really well with stated goals so this will help me stay focused. So here goes...

The next update (which I'm working on right now) will include major work on the following pieces:

- Electronic Philharmonic in the Image Works. As you can see from the sneak peek above, I'm getting there. And I am pleased to announce, that thanks to E82's JII Music Compilation, this exhibit will include its proper music!

- The rest of the Science scene in the ride is next as well. I will try to put some lights and FX in there, but functioning video is not possible yet, mostly because I don't have copies of it. I'm also sticking with the placeholder Dreamfinder figure for now. Animated characters is going to be a new effort all on its own.

- I'm going to try to add the remaining area music for the outside scene.

- The theater is pretty complete already. I'm still looking for better reference material to make it look like it did when EO originally ran. In the mean time, I'm going to fix the stupid exit signs. It's not much but it drives me bonkers.

There will be little bits of other things in there as well and that will probably influence the next round. For example, I've done a tiny bit of work in the Brand New Show ride scene. And I'm still slowly crunching through various optimizations that should improve overall quality over time.

Anyway, that is the plan. We'll see what happens with it. And now, I'm getting back to work.

JII Version 5.2: New Ride Track

2012-02-12T20:22:00.000-08:00

Version 5.2 is up and running (again). This is not a huge update but it has some important new elements to it. Because I'm feeling lazy, please enjoy the updates in bullet point list form:

- Upgrade to Unity 3.5. Because this version is new, you may need to update your WebPlayer. It's quick and easy. Get it here.

- Using the recently acquired JIYI blueprints, the track path has been completely replaced. There is now an architecturally accurate track (with rails), track pit, emergency egress path, and multiple show platforms. This update required me to move a whole lot of walls. What you'll see inside does not really indicate the amount of work that went into it.

- There are now properly scaled (though not always properly placed) placeholder characters throughout the ride.

- The Flight of the Imagination scene is a little more interesting to look at. The Dreamport and Science scenes have a little bit of progress too. Remember, you can hit "W" and walk around if you don't want to wait for the ride.

- (Simple) special FX in the ride!!!

- Tons of optimization of the models thanks to some pretty cool Sketchup plug-ins. I've also started the long process of breaking down the model into smaller parts for better culling in Unity. This will be an ongoing thing that should continue to improve quality over time. I'll introduce this in parts as I keep adding to the model. If I try to do it all at once, I'll lose my mind.

Ride Blueprints!

2012-02-05T15:05:00.000-08:00

I recently got access to the blueprints for the 2nd incarnation of JII, Journey Into Your Imagination (JIYI). I was both excited and hesitant about this because I wasn't sure how much information would be helpful in recreating what was there before. When I first looked at them, I knew immediately that they would help me in getting the track path and many of the major walls arranged correctly. No matter what, this would a good step in the right direction.

And then on closer inspection, I discovered this little gem...

Facility egress path. Doesn't sound like much but this information is a HUGE find for me. The egress path is an evacuation walkway that follows the entire ride track. In JII, it is always located on the right side of the vehicle (where the doors are). This is a big deal because the egress path is pretty much always at the same elevation as the base of the vehicle. Since JIYI did not alter any of the track that it uses, this gives me accurate track elevations for almost the entire ride. And I believe that the deleted sections of track were all level with load and unload (the magic scene being a possible exception TBD).

Some other helpful bits of info in these prints include the vehicle dimensions and track width. In a few cases, the prints also tell me the height of some of the set platforms from the original ride that were reused. The rest of these can be figured out from the egress path as well.

As you can see in the screenshot at the top of this post, I have already recreated the track and egress path with the new dimensions. I am integrating this into the ride model now. I am going to have to move around several walls and fix the placement and dimensions of some of the sets I've already started building. So I am taking a few steps back to make this right, but I think it will be worth it in the long run.

This next update may take a bit of time since I am doing this, upgrading to Unity 3.5, and trying to slowly introduce some helpful Unity tips and techniques I recently received from Chris Wallace over at Horizons Resurrected (thank you!). Should be a nice update when it's done though.

JII Version 5.1: Ride Parts

2012-01-24T23:27:00.000-08:00

Version 5.1 of the Web Simulation is up now. This one is mostly technical but it is at last focused on getting the ride more fleshed out. Here are the additions and changes:

- The Ride Scene now features the full soundtrack and it is time aligned with the ride scenes. There is a little bit of cheating here. Because the soundtrack is a fixed length, I had to make several vehicle speed changes to keep it aligned. I tried to keep them subtle.

- Some of the sets, walls, and props are starting to appear (still mostly as placeholders) in the ride. There is a little something in Dreamport, Arts, Literature, Science, and the Finale. Very little but it's getting there. Look for the teapot chandelier!

- You now have the option to get out and walk around by pressing the "w" key once the ride starts. You can resume riding where you left off by pressing "r". You exit the ride early by pressing "e".

- Because the Flight of the Imagination scene (aka, the turntable) is 5 minutes of staring at the vehicle (with soundtrack now at least), I have added the option to skip it by pressing "s". This allows you to explore the rest of the ride without having to wait.

- I fixed a couple of missing walls in The Image Works. Ooops. Also, all 3 Image Works entrances and exits work now.

- I corrected the Near Culling... whatever that is. Anyway, you should no longer experience the disorienting effect of seeing through the solid walls when you run into them. This may still happen with objects I let you pass through. By the way, certain items (like the queue rails) let you pass through on purpose to make navigation easier.

The next set of additions should mostly be ride content. It's slow going since I don't have any real scene maps. I'm slowly working out placement from videos and photos. Anyone have blueprints or backstage photos I can borrow? :-)

JII Version 5: The Image Works

2012-01-15T01:00:00.000-08:00

The first draft of the Image Works is in the simulation now. This is the last part of the pavilion that I needed to construct. I currently have no plans to simulate the restrooms.

I am using the opening 1982 layout, including these attractions: Bubble Music, Rainbow Corridor, Vibrating Mirrors, Lumia, Stepping Tones, Digital Wall, Light Writer, School of Film, Magic Palette, Pin Tables, Kaleidoscopes, and Electronic Philharmonic.

All of the rooms and attractions are in place though the level of detail isn't very high yet. I'll be adding the signs, screens, props, and other details in future versions along with the other scenes. My eventual goal is to simulate the interactivity of some of the rooms, but none of that is happening yet. I'll also make the 3 entrances and exits work individually. That's kind of fudged right now.

Big thanks to Martin Smith. His videos and maps provided most of the research images I used in this part of the building.

The work continues. Enjoy your Journey Back to the Image Works!

JII Version 4.3: The Little Details

2012-01-01T14:00:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! To start off 2012, I've uploaded web simulation version 4.3.

As usual, this version includes a lot of clean-up and technical fixes. Blah blah... The more important element of this minor update is the addition of many missing details that I think are subtle but important to making the model feel right. Most of those details are in the outdoor areas of the lobbies of the ride, theater and image works areas.

The architecture and details inside the Captain EO theater went through a bit of an overhaul as well. Specifically, the walls on either side of the theater are different and some little things (like employee doors and 3D glasses return bins) are in. I promise, I'll fix the crappy lighting next. :-)

You can see photos of many of these at the bottom of this post.

I've also added 3 black signs that indicate where the scene changes are (or will be). A recent comment on the Facebook page made me realize there is nothing letting viewers know about the hidden entrances to other scenes. I hope this will help make it more obvious.

That's it for this update.

JII Version 4.2: Fixed?

2011-12-17T21:03:00.001-08:00

I believe that I have fixed the problems that were causing the missing buildings in the web simulation. It was apparently the result of some corrupted geometry in the Sketchup models. In the process of cleaning that up, I managed to remove a lot of unnecessary parts and simplify the models. It kind of needed to happen anyway. I also derived a method for testing the issues at home instead of waiting to see the results the next day at work. Turns out that the missing buildings only showed up on Windows XP machines. Yay for compatibility mode. Please let me know if any of you have continuing issues, but I think I got this one.
Oh... and I accidentally erased the escalators in the lobby. Maybe when I restore them, I'll figure out how to make them work too. :-)

Technical Problems

2011-12-12T18:25:00.000-08:00

There have been some mysterious issues with the web simulation since the last update. For many people, some of the buildings are missing and falling off the face of the Earth is common. And I know the simulation won't load at all for others. Sorry about that. :-(

I probably should have said something about this sooner, but I honestly thought I'd fix the issue long before now. Not so much...

I think I have tracked down the issue and hope to have it fixed shortly. Unfortunately, everything looks perfect on my home computer so I don't know if the fixes worked until I test it out the next morning at work. It's not the most optimal troubleshooting arrangement. I'll get it though. I promise.

Thanks for you patience and the helpful feedback several of you have given me. :-)

Mike

JII Version 4: Lobby Color and Ride Elevations

2011-11-27T22:19:00.001-08:00

Version 4 of the interactive Journey Into Imagination simulation is up and running!

I've been working on the project quite a bit in the past 2 weeks. 90% of that work is behind the scenes stuff. I had to do a lot of updating to bring the models up to speed with the new Play-up software version (that's a good thing). I've also started trying to make the thing run better, and I must admit that there is a long way to go there.

Most importantly, I have rebuilt and upgraded the ride system (which had disappeared for a little while there). It now runs better AND features elevation changes. I finally gave up trying to find elevation blueprints and just worked out the elevations from watching online videos. However, the trick is that I did it using videos of the current ride (which are much clearer than the old ride videos) and then compared the elevations against the old track plan. I used both track plans and videos from Martin Smith to do this. See here:

I've also temporarily added several placeholder photos of the ride scenes and some preliminary speed changes. I'll adjust those speeds once I add the final soundtrack (that's my next major step).

Another thing that I've done in this version is adding a bit of color to the lobby. I've been hunting for clean photos of the lobby murals and have had no luck. I'm still looking but I went ahead and added what I could find for now. I think it gives the proper look even if it isn't as accurate as I'd prefer. The quest continues...

This version also features a new method for running music that I think sounds much better and is so much easier to manage for me. I'm also starting to experiment with lighting. In particular, I'm using lightmapping in a few places to varying degrees of success. This is new to me but I'll get there. I'm rapidly learning that my real-world understanding of theatrical lighting is almost entirely useless here. Also, I'm using the free version of Unity 3D so lightmapping and shadows are limited. Oh well.

Finally, this version has some simple effects added to it. I think the animated fountains (not the jumping ones yet though) and sunlight flares add a nice finishing touch. You be the judge.

Bug Hunting in JII

2011-10-23T16:31:00.000-07:00

This week, I have refocused my Journey Back Into Imagination efforts from adding elements to getting the web simulation engine optimized. It's been getting bulky and has always been a bit sloppy in the controls.

This task switch was well-timed. The import tool that I use to get the Sketchup models into Unity is called Playup and it had a few bugs that I didn't really know how to deal with. This is the very first 3D project I've ever attempted so I'm still very new at it. Anyway, the biggest issue is that Playup was importing objects at a huge scale and rotated 90 degrees sideways. I compensated for this by scaling up Unity components to match and by building my Sketchup models sideways. These bugs have been fixed in the most recent version of Playup and it is wonderful. However, it means that I have to go back and un-rotate the models, re-import them all and fix the upscaled Unity components. It'll be worth it but the progress is slow going. The ride system in particular is going to be a problem and it may need to be rebuilt from scratch.

As you can see in the attached screenshot, I have already fixed most of the exterior areas. What you see here is about 1/100th the size of the last model.

I have also begun working on something called culling. Using a Unity plug-in, I can now "turn off" items that are not immediately visible to save processor strain. This sounded simple at first but doing it for the exterior is proving complicated. The system uses zones of visibility, but my trouble is that the exterior is wide open and there is glass everywhere. There are very few places where something is out of sight. I'll figure it out. This technique is going to be very important inside the ride though. Things will be complicated in there and it will be nice to shut-off scenes that the riders aren't in.

Another thing I am adjusting is the controller sensitivity. This is a lot easier now that the scale is smaller and more logical. The mouse sensitivity in the next version will be less than 1/3rd of what it is right now.

The work load for these updates is pretty big. What I think I'm going to do is get the scaling corrected in the exterior and EO Theater scenes but leave the ride scene alone until I can figure out the ride system issue. I'll also get the controller sensitivity fixed and some basic culling in. Then I'll update the web simulation at that point. It'll be a bit of a step backwards since some previous elements might be missing (vehicles in lobby, EO canopy, trees) but at least it should run smoother. This part isn't all that much fun but it'll be nice to have it done.

I'll let everyone know as soon as the fixes are published.

Big Changes

2011-08-23T16:48:00.000-07:00

Big changes are happening for me and it has been a long time coming. Anyone who has known me for longer than 10 minutes knows that my lifelong goal is to help design and build theme parks for a living. A few days ago, I accepted a job with a company called Thinkwell Design and Production that does this very thing. I start in September and the job is in Burbank (so I won't be moving again).

I will be a Technical Manager, helping take creative designs and figure out how to make them work in the real world. My first assignment will be working on a new $1.5 billion theme park in China called Monkey Kingdom, but I may also be working on other projects at the same time. Check out some pictures of Monkey Kingdom here.

I'm excited and terrified. It's a little intimidating when when your dream for the last 3 decades is suddenly real and sitting right in front of you. I'm very happy, but part of me still can't believe this is happening.

Florida Vacation

2011-08-16T00:01:00.000-07:00

I have just returned from a great vacation to Orlando.

Pictures, pictures, pictures....

This vacation was a trip to the WDW and IOA theme parks and also a family reunion. There were 19 of us though the group never got bigger than 16 at a time.

"How many in your party?"
"A metric ****-ton. Just give us the whole boat, please."

In addition to a much overdue family visit, this was my first time back in Orlando since I left Disney back in 2007. I didn't get to see a lot of my old friends and co-workers but I did get to see some. Good times.

I also got to see all of the new things that have been added to WDW and IOA since I left (although some of it was technically added before I left but I never had the chance to check it out). And since I'm a hardcore theme park nerd, this is the part where I dish on those new additions. If you aren't a theme park nerd, you may want to eject now.

HARRY POTTER
Quite possibly the most beautiful piece of bad traffic management ever conceived. I'm consistently amazed at how gorgeous and detailed IOA is while simultaneously missing the mark on traffic flow, ride capacity and American-sized seating. The Harry Potter land itself was eye-popping and very true to the movies visually. And much to my surprise, I liked the butterbeer. The ride was also very well done and had a great queue line... with one exception. SERIOUSLY, setting the queue in a greenhouse does not help with the stifling heat on a psychological level no matter how much fake snow you put outside. The ride was cooler than I thought it would be. Well done. As for the queue to for the Dragon Challenge. How did they manage to make the coolest queue in IOA into the lamest?

HAUNTED MANSION
I was really looking forward to this and I was not disappointed. I believe this was done as a series of separate enhancements over a long period of time. All of them were great without interfering in the original flavor of the attraction. The staircase scene was my favorite and the new attic was extra creepy. Loved this.

STAR TOURS 2
Holy ****! I heard good things about this but still didn't know what to expect. An amazing surprise is what I got. This was more than an update. It's a whole new attraction and the quality is unmatched. I knew I was in for something cool when I saw the detailed new console graphics next to C3PO in the queue. I thought the abandoned Rex pilots in the queue was a nice touch. I only got to ride once (Kashyyyk and Coruscant) and was blown away. The depth of the CGI is intense for a theme park ride. It kind of made the prequel trilogy worth it. I can't wait to do it again.

LMA w/ LIGHTNING MCQUEEN
The replacement of Herbie with characters from Cars was a good choice. Making the sequence go on for what feels like 20 minutes... not so much. Also, the assumption that everyone has seen Cars 2 was annoying. The "story" made absolutely no sense to me, not having seen the 2nd film.

CAPTAIN EO
I don't know if it changed since re-opening or if the WDW version was done differently from Disneyland. Either way, this was a much better experience. Gone away was the annoying bounce through the entire "We Are Here to Change the World". The subtler theater movement and whip warrior / rat tail programming was a nice enhancement here. I know this attraction's rebirth may be a short one but I'm glad to see it back for now.

MONSTERS INC LAUGH FLOOR
This is just cute and I really enjoyed it. Elements of it seem eerily similar to a proposal I made while working at WDW but that's OK. I doubt they stole my idea but if they did, somebody owes me lunch. As much as I miss Timekeeper, I do really like this. Fun!

SPACE MOUNTAIN
I thought this was going to be another update like the Mansion. Mostly, it was just a sponsor removal. I still like the ride but the changes are very "Meh". Why did they kill the man and dog robots in the exit scenes!? Lame!

PIRATES
I knew these changes would be minimal. Best I could tell, the only change was the film on the fog curtain to include the latest movie. Since the fog curtain is the most out of place enhancement in the ride, I can't say the film change helped much. Oh well.

FANTASMIC
Mixed feeling about my old stomping grounds here... and mostly about pyro. Simply, the decision to cut pyro from the 1st half of the show (Sorcerer comets and flowers) was just wrong. Shame on y'all. The additions of pyro later in the show were cool though. I miss the saxons on the Steamboat but the waterfalls do add some consistency. Making all the tracer plates the same color was a little lame though. The strobes and twinkle lights in the mountain looked better than I remembered seeing in a long time. If they rehabbed those, good choice. All nit-picking aside, it was nice to see the show again where a little piece of my soul (and a lot of my programmin still lives.

Whew! I've got my park and family fix for a little while now. I'm happy and exhausted (and somehow NOT sunburned for once). I'd been looking forward to this trip for a long time and it was exactly what I hoped for.

Dreamfinder's Ride

2011-07-13T01:17:00.001-07:00

I've started building the interior ride parts now. First up also happens to be one of the more intimidating parts of the project for me: the Dreamfinder Vehicle. Check out the photos HERE or download the Sketchup model HERE. Some parts and 2 important occupants are still missing but I have to determine how I'm going to handle their animation before I can add them. I hope to put the vehicle into the interactive model soon.

Big Interactive JII Update

2011-07-03T20:23:00.000-07:00

The latest version of the Journey Into Imagination simulation is online. See it HERE.

At first glance, there aren't a lot of obvious changes to this. But there are a TON of technical changes. The biggest change is that the whole thing has been broken down into separate scenes to save processor power and load times. I'm now maintaining 4 different Sketchup models, customized for use in the Untiy game engine: Outside, the Ride, Captain EO interior, and the Image Works (which is not available online yet, though you can go upstairs into the pyramid for a better view). I've also turned off a lot of heavy geometry and will be fixing it to run smoother and faster in future versions. Almost every inch of these models has been rebuilt in some way for use in Unity. Programming will be easier in the future.

The ride simulation is now integrated directly into the overall model. There still isn't much to see in there but it is working. You can look around 360 degrees while on the ride and press "Enter" when you want to get off. Although it is still running at super speed for now, I do have the turntable synced up (mostly via programmer cheating) and the 90 degree rotation works as well. I'll eventually add the proper speed changes, but that will probably wait until time to sync the soundtrack.

I have already started learning and integrating audio and lighting. I'm a theatrical technician by trade so I'm having to un-learn how to use these tools. They don't really work like real life in Unity. You can see some early lighting attempts in the Captain EO scene. I also put some (at least temporary) audio in most of the indoor areas. Those elements should be working better in my next major update.

This little project has now officially become the most technically complicated thing I've ever taken on without being paid for it. I'm a professional control systems programmer and I think I've become pretty adept at Sketchup, but the 3D game stuff is totally foreign to me. It's fun though and I'm glad I'm doing this. It is forcing me to learn not only Unity and more advanced Sketchup functions but also things like Javascript, C#, Blender (animation is another big learning curve for me), and the wonders of 3D geometry and math in general. I'm really hoping to come out of this with a nice marketable skill set. It feels like a long road to get there though.

I hope you enjoy the updates. Please feel free to give me useful feedback (bad or good) or advice. I'm also always on the hunt for new reference resources. Soon I'll be crediting some great folks who have sent some wonderful material. Thank you all.

Ride System Simulation

2011-06-17T00:59:00.000-07:00

The last couple of days have been spent on one of the bigger technical challenges I've been preparing for. I built the functioning ride system (and rider viewing engine). It actually works!

I built this in Unity using a module called Splines. The track, walls and scale are all correct but the speed is very high to offset the fact that there is basically nothing to see yet. I still need to add the speed changes but that is proving complicated since my "train" is actually 4 autonomous vehicles that would close in or spread apart as they pass over a track-based speed trigger. I need to figure out how to get the lead car's speed changes to trigger the other 3 at the same time. Working on it.

The vehicles do make the 90 degree turn for the Flight of the Imagination scene but I haven't put in the elevation changes yet. That is mostly because I don't know where they are yet. I think my next challenge besides the speed triggers will be synchronizing the turntable. I may be able to cheat with this since I only have to deal with one train and one POV. I would love to eventually create a fully functional 3rd person view of the entire ride running at once. That would be extremely complicated though. I would basically be faced with the exact same technical challenges as the original ride programmers. I'm going to focus solely on the single train 1st person ride POV for now.

My plan is to make this a "scene" in the game. When you approach the load, you'll be moved into the vehicle and ride it restrained this way. In the load scene, there will be an endless train passing through load to give the correct Omnimover appearance but it will switch to the single train for the ride.

Speaking of scenes (which I'm learning about now), I've decided to divide the interactive model into 4 scenes: outside (including the main ride lobby / load), the ride (with restrained POV), Captain EO interiors (with music), and eventually, The image Works. This will lower the load times and break the project into more manageable chunks for programming. The next major update should include that break up minus The Image Works. We'll see.

Journey Into Interactive Online

2011-06-08T13:31:00.000-07:00

The 1st draft of the interactive Journey Back Into Imagination is now up and running online. Check it out HERE.

It doesn't seem like there's much to it yet (and there really isn't), but it was quite a bit more work than I expected. I started working on the interactive model with some free game development software called 3D Rad. I was running into limitations including not being Mac compatible and a really fussy web player so I eventually decided to try Unity. Unity is a lot more complicated but very flexible (and still free). I finally have most of the basics figured out. My goal wasn't really to copycat all of the software and techniques being used over at Horizons Resurrected. I've actually researched and tried about 20 different programs for various parts of this project and eventually ended up using the same stuff. I know first hand why he picked what he did now. Currently, I'm using Google Sketchup 8 to build the models (see some of the parts HERE). I then export them using PlayUp into Unity to build the "game".

I don't really have background in 3D graphics or game development so I'm learning everything as I go. Fun and frustrating. I started playing with Google Sketchup about a year ago and think I've become relatively proficient at it, but I have been doing a lot of cheating. When shapes got complicated, I usually hid the problems with clever coloring or a carefully placed square. My models were built to be seen from specific angles or in videos where I controlled the view. In an interactive model where you can wander around on your own, that is not practical. Also, all of that hidden geometry covered up in the background still gets rendered by the game software. Things get slow and clunky.

I've spent the past couple of weeks going through nearly every inch of the JII model. I've removed tons of hidden junk geometry and simplified a lot of messy intersections. I've also made some of the interior spaces accessible so all of my cheats that made the exterior look good while mucking up the interior had to go. I've also broken it down into smaller chunks (called components) and set all of them to the same axis orientation for better control in Unity.

And then there are the faces. I've learned that all faces have a front and a back. In Sketchup, that isn't a big deal because you can just paint either side the color you want. In Unity, the backside of faces are invisible (at least by default - I don't know if that can be changed yet). A huge part of the work this last week has been flipping about half of the hundreds of faces in this model and then repainting them. That work is not entirely done. You can still see many invisible walls, ceilings and other surfaces when you go inside the buildings. Fixing that is my next task.

I'm starting to fix up the basic interior structures today. My plan is to try and add a few fancy features to the exterior after that: better textures, animated water features and jumping fountains, other people, the missing trees, and maybe some lighting so I can do night scenes as well. In the interior areas that are fleshed out already, I need to add lighting, working escalators (and maybe the elevator too) and I want to start adding some sound as well.

Building the inside of the ride and Captain EO theater are farther ahead but still the ultimate goal. If I get pretty decent at Unity, maybe I can put some functioning Image Works elements in as well. We'll see...

And now back to work.

Journey Into Interactive

2011-05-31T18:23:00.000-07:00

Interactive programming in 3D Rad.

This weekend was a time of great success and head-banging failure for my Journey project. My goal was to create an interactive version of the model using game software so others could explore and eventually ride the recreation from the web. The success part was that I did manage to convert my Sketchup model into an explorable "game" using 3D Rad software. It's quite cool. The failure was my inability to get the web embedding feature to work. In the process, I discovered that it would be unavailable to Mac users as well. I decided to change gears a bit.

I started over with Unity software. I think it will have better quality and flexibility, but it will also work in all formats. The problem is that it is a lot more complicated. I'm reading all the documentation now. This doesn't help my patience though. To get right up to this particular finish line then go back and start over is not the sort of thing I do easily. But I have no choice, I guess. I'll live.

While I work on rebuilding the interactive environment, I decided to start doing nicer renderings of the existing model. I'll try to run one each night for a little while. I'm also continuing to tweak the exterior model and build the interior. Despite a minor set back, I'm still having fun with it so the journey continues.

1st rendering attempt. Some color weirdness below the small pyramid and the Kodak logo vanished, but not bad overall.

Journey Updates

2011-05-26T22:10:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to get my momentum back (as well as a tiny bit more spare time). The results are new pieces and parts to my JII Recreation project.

The biggest change (which was really bugging me) is the new pyramids. They were just just temporary shapes with a diamond-ish pattern on them before. Now they are actual 3D structures with transparency.

I also finally tackled the ride vehicle mostly successfully. This was my 6th attempt but I'm pretty happy with it now.

The reason for both of these new additions are the result of my starting the interior ride and Image Works lobbies. The upstairs portion, especially, kind of required it. You can see new photos of all these new parts at the Facebook Page or Flickr gallery.

Recreating Figment

2011-05-16T00:45:00.000-07:00

I'm working on building the basic Figment figure right now. I'm still not done with the exterior yet but I realized I need to build him because he appears as a topiary in front of the Kodak store. Might as well get the real version done in the process. I'll deal with his costumes and other poses once I start creating the internal scenes.

I'm learning as I research that I have several inaccurate elements in my model. Little things I would never think of normally. For example, the simplistic fountain structure is not the original one. The original was significantly more complicated. Yay... I'll fix that at some point. Also, the planters around the ride entrance were added later. It's easy enough to delete them but they gave me a lot of headaches (seriously - stupid bushes) so I don't have the heart to destroy them yet. Eventually.

So in the near future, I'm going to fix the wrong stuff, flesh out the rest of the landscaping, and find a better way to represent the glass pyramids. Once the exterior is complete, I will move on to the lobby for the ride and Captain EO. These are both visible in the external model. Once that is done, I will move to a new copy of the model for the interior to keep the file size down. This exterior model does actually have all of the internal walls in place but the rooms are empty.

If anyone out there has the track elevations, it would help me out. Back to work...

JII Recreation Resumes... Slowly

2011-05-09T00:16:00.000-07:00

I'm finally getting back to work on this after taking a break to move and start a new job with a pretty brutal schedule. Progress will still be slow for awhile but there will be progress.

Tonight, I started a Facebook Page for this project and created a Google Sketchup collection for all the various parts going into the main model. If you're a Google Sketchup user like me feel free to download them and discover what a complete cheater hack I am at this. And if you want to help me build parts as I get into the interiors, let me know. There are going to be A LOT of parts eventually.

Check 'em out:

Google Sketchup JII Parts

JII Recreation Facebook Page

Journey Into Imagination Recreation 2

2011-03-18T17:13:00.000-07:00

A little over a week ago, I started a new project to occupy my spare time. I've been recreating the original Journey Into Imagination pavilion from WDW's EPCOT in Google Sketchup. It's been a lot of fun and I've had some research help from some great people.

I'm posting a little bit about where I'm at with this because I'm going to be taking a break from it for a couple of weeks. I'm about to move very shortly and start a new job so I won't have much spare time. For those that don't know what I'm talking about, I'll explain shortly in another post.

My eventual goal is to recreate the entire attraction including the ride and theater inside. This model already contains most of the major internal walls but the level of complexity means I'm going to have to build this in several parts. This first model is focused on the exteriors and the rooms you can see through the windows (ride lobby, Captain EO entrance and exit, Kodak store). I think I'm pretty close to finished outside. I just have a few finishing touches like benches, trash cans, and remaining landscaping.

I have tried my best to recreate the original color schemes but that is proving difficult with the poor documentation available. I'm also kind of guessing at a lot of the details. I noticed that the plants and even some planters change, move and disappear throughout the years. There are a lot of anachronisms here that I hope to straighten out eventually. I'm trying to target the look of the original JII / original EO era (my personal favorite). And for those of you that are really detail-oriented, I know there is quite a bit of scale-fudging (Captain EO lobby in particular). I only have ground plans so EVERYTHING vertical has been eyeballed from photos and videos. I think I'm close enough for nostalgia though. I must admit, the exterior seemed so much simpler than it really is when I took this on. All of the crazy triangular faces and sloping curved walkways challenged me but I'm learning a lot from it. Since this isn't my design, cheating is harder to get away with.

Anyway, that's where I am right now. I hope to resume in a couple of week and start hitting the insides.

Here are the latest new shots:

Along with all of the previous progress shots are HERE.

Journey Into Imagination Recreation

2011-03-09T03:57:00.001-08:00

I've started a new 3D drawing project as a hobby. I'm still working on my other design stuff but I thought it would be a fun challenge to recreate something that no longer exists (entirely).

I'm rebuilding the original version of EPCOT Center's Journey Into Imagination attraction in Google Sketchup. My intention is to reconstruct the entire pavilion including all the interior ride elements. This may take a long time. You can see my progress HERE.

At press time, I completed the first draft of the ride building exterior and the original sign. I realize that the building is sporting the newer paint job but I did that for comparison with my reference photos. I will be changing it to the opening day color scheme shortly.

I do not have access to detailed blueprints, but I've managed to get some good ground plans and some rough elevation info. The truth is, I'm using the ground plans as a guide but most of the drawing is approximated. I'm going to get it as close as I can but it won't be technically perfect at all. I figure the inside will involve a lot of guess-work so the outside doesn't have to be 100% either. I just want to make it a good trip down memory lane for myself and like-minded others.

If anyone has any good photos, videos, or blueprints, I'd love to get copies so I can get as detailed as possible. Thanks!

Finally, I also want to say that this has been inspired by (and in some cases, assisted with advice and drawings from) these fine recreation projects: Enfilm's Flickr Drawings, Horizons: Resurrected, The Mighty Microscope, and Virtual Toad. Thanks guys!

Unfinished Projects

2011-03-01T20:42:00.001-08:00

I have been extremely distracted lately. There is a lot of stuff going on including good stuff, bad stuff and even a few things that manage to be both. When I get like this, I tend to start and stop about a million things. I get very whim-oriented and don't really finish anything. Just so I can feel like I actually have something to show for my stack of unfinished work, I though I'd post a bit about some of the things I've started.

Hopefully, I'll get back to finishing it once my life is a bit less chaotic.

THE TOY FACTORY
This is a flume ride based on a tour through a quirky and cartoon-like toy factory (think of the visual style of the movie, Toys). The ride content is presented in a funhouse / dark ride style with scenic elements that are almost entirely flat. I want that cardboard cut-out Viewmaster kind of depth. So far, I have modeled the entire ride system, vehicles, track, building and some of the exterior decorations. I have also started the interior but only finished part of the load room. The unique element of this ride is that it randomly chooses one of 3 possible paths, twice during the ride. Here are some pictures:

ATLANTIS WATERPARK
I admit, I stopped this one because it started turning into a job. That would be fine if it were a job, but since I'm not being paid, I reserve the right to move on when I'm not having fun with it anymore. What killed me was the tedious rockwork modeling. Blah. Anyway, this was a design for a waterpark based on the lost continent of Atlantis. I know it isn't terribly original but I actually thought of this back in the early 90's and I wanted to see if I could represent my thoughts more accurately in 3D. Once I realized I could, I kind of lost interest. There is a good possibility that I will never finish this one. Pictures:

HOTEL
I started building this one mostly as an exercise in finished rendering. There is no theme, just a standard mega-resort kind of thing. I put a lot of effort into keeping the scale as accurate as I could and I did a lot of work with lighting too. I dropped this one mostly because it was getting a little too Vegas and Vegas kind of annoys me right now (a big part of my distractions lately). Here are some photos:

GOTHIC THEATER
I plan to finish this one. I am modeling a gothic-style theater from a story written by a friend of mine. There are some very specific story elements (gargoyles in particular) that I was having a very hard time representing the way I saw them. That snag stopped me but as soon as I figure out how to draw them right, I'll finish. This one is actually much further along than this one photo suggests:

I have a handful of others that I've started but aren't far enough along to show including a restaurant, bumper boat / water battle, and a roller coaster with a really strange launch system. I'll get to them eventually. I need to get focused first... maybe next week.

Favorite Memory - A Night in the Haunted Mansion Ballroom

2011-02-23T18:03:00.000-08:00

I wrote this as part of a meme on my regular blog which asked "what is you favorite memory?".

I have many "favorite" memories and I find them hard to rank. Many events are cherished memories but they aren't singular snapshot moments. They took place over several hours or days. To avoid writing a novel, I though I'd go with a single postcard-like memory. Of course, this moment has some backstory leading up to it so I'm probably going to end up with a long story anyway.

The history (which I know I've told in parts elsewhere)... When I was 10 years old, I wanted to be an inventor. Then , while rummaging through old boxes in the attic, I found a postacard depicting the Hitchhiking Ghosts from Disneyland's Haunted Mansion. It was a souvenir from a trip my parents had taken years before. Something in me snapped at that moment. From then on, I've been a huge fan of Disney parks and their magical technologies. I didn't want to be an inventor anymore. I wanted to be an Imagineer.

18 years later, I got the chance to work for Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) in Orlando. I was temporarily transferred from my Tech job at Fantasmic to the WDI Show Lighting department. My main jobs there were to update documentation and maintain the artistic intent of the lighting in the attractions at Magic Kingdom. For a Disney Nerd like me, this was an all access pass. Getting to (in fact, getting paid to) wander around in classic attractions in the middle of the night by myself was a dream come true.

But the coolest moment happened in my first week there as my boss was showing me around. One of my biggest tasks was to update the lighting docs for the Haunted Mansion. We're talking about 1970's blueprints here. OMG, people. He took me into the Mansion and we walked around on the sets and behind and underneath them. I was so overwhelmed with joy that I could hardly function as a professional. I don't think I remembered anything practical from the tour. I was very struck by how temporary it all looked. Early Disney attractions were very much built like movie sets. There was a lot of rickety wood and very temporary repairs everywhere. The whole attraction was actually freestanding away from the walls of the show building. It looked exactly like a soundstage with movie sets in it. Amazing. It was also a maze. I continued to get lost in there for months after that.

We worked our way through that maze of back passages and turned into a strangely familiar space. I didn't realize where I was at first. There was black cloth, apparently pointless wooden frames, oddly mounted lighting fixtures, tracks on the floor, a strong smell of grease, and a whole bunch of animatronics that looked like someone forgot to paint them. It was like this cheap and awful recreation of the ballroom scene that someone had built in their garage. And then we stepped out from behind all that black cloth and that's when it happened.

I was standing on the floor of the Ballroom in the Haunted Mansion!!!

And we had just entered through the lower reflection room. This was my Mecca. My hallowed ground. My Holy Land. I was tingling with goose bumps and adrenaline. I know this might seem like nothing to the average person, but I had spent 18 years obsessed with the Mansion since I first saw those Hitchhiking Ghosts. This set was the most iconic scene from the ride and it was what I most wanted to see.

I wanted to raise my arms and shout, "I'm the 1000th ghost, mofos!", but I decided that might not go over too well.

In stark contrast to the haphazard assembly of the reflection room elements, the Ballroom was perfect in every detail, even up close. It was like a museum. Everything was so carefully placed (including miles of fake spiderwebs) that I was afraid to touch anything. My boss casually picked up one of the plates on the dining table to reveal a Polaroid underneath that showed exactly how the place settings should be set.

The weirdest thing is that out of every scene in every ride I walked on in the months I was working there, the Ballroom was the only one that had no characters or animatronics in it at all. They were all in the upper and lower reflection rooms. The emptiness made it seem so much creepier. It made it more real and powerful to me. This probably sounds silly, I know. I can't explain entirely to my satisfaction.

All I know is that the moment I realized where I was standing was as intense to me as the moment I found that postcard in the attic. It only reinforced who I was, what I love, and what I want to be. I hope to make the same pilgrimage at Disneyland someday. If I'm lucky, maybe I'll get a chance to be their 1000th ghost too.

Render Test Results

2011-01-26T23:10:00.000-08:00

After 11 hours, I got this image. It is a Kerkythea render of a Google Sketchup model. I think it came out a bit like a painting. I'm pretty pleased.

THIS is a previous render where I didn't get the colors and levels of the 31 lighting fixtures quite right and THIS is the original Sketchup model from THIS project.

I learned quite a bit from this round. Next lesson will be network rendering and making sure all of the components make the transfer (look closely - the window frames are missing - oops).

My new hobby is certainly not about instant gratification but it is fun for me. Next up is a daytime rendering. Should be interesting.

Design for Fun #9 - TRON: Adventures Thru Digital Space

2011-01-22T23:08:00.000-08:00

Here is my latest attraction design for my own amusement. And this one, more than any previous, is all about the "for fun" part. I've wanted to do a TRON ride since I was 12 and at 38, I finally got around to it.

This is an imaginary dark ride based on a mixture of the old and new TRON movies. It's an omnimover ride modeled in the style of the early 80's mega-dark rides featured in EPCOT Center's Future World. I also built it as though it were a replacement for Adventure Thru Inner Space (which was replaced by Disneyland's Star Tours in reality). In accordance with tradition, the ride has references to its predecessor. The title is obvious but I also reused the microscopic crystals for the background in the tank scene.

To make this ride, I downloaded an existing Sketchup model of Inner Space and excavated it. I then squeezed my ride into the existing room and track layout. That was kind of fun. I also made use of other existing Sketchup models from the 3D warehouse, especially for the various vehicles. I modified many of them though.

Like most omnimover rides, there is dialog that triggers at different points along the track. I've included that dialog in the picture descriptions on Flickr. There are 25 pictures in that set, with some of them linked by thumbnail at the top of this post. I'm still planning to continue trying to render scenes from this ride and my others in a higher quality. I've been experimenting with that already.

If you are a stranger wandering on to this from the web, this has no affiliation with the Disney company at all and will never be built. I did this just to amuse my inner child. I hope it amuses yours too.
EOL

Tron Ride: First Render Test

2011-01-18T23:10:00.000-08:00

This is my first render test for a Tron-themed ride project I just started (just for fun and practice). I used Indigo Renderer on a Google Sketchup scene. Click HERE to see the original.

Unfortunately, this is an incomplete render. Getting this far took 36 hours and the next step would be another 36. Obviously I have issues to resolve and I'm looking into other render options now (like Blender). There are goofs in here on my part like the blue on the omnimovers, missing glow on the lightcycle, and a big ugly reflection of an unfinished room in the background. This is challenging but I'm having fun. I have decided that I'm going to continue pursuing this. Glitches aside, this did render almost exactly as I imagined it. I think that's a good sign.

The ride is about halfway finished from a Sketchup perspective (see HERE). I'll post the ride-through video and regular Sketchup graphic shots when they're done and then get back to playing with the rendering. I may try to create some interactive walk-throughs of this and past rides with Unity (already downloaded). I saw it work nicely HERE.

Design for Fun: Starting a TRON Ride

2011-01-14T23:09:00.000-08:00

My inner 12 year old is very happy today. I've decided what my next design-for-fun project is going to be. Since I was a kid, I've always wanted to do a few things:

- Design a new ride for an existing space. I just think that's a fun challenge.
- Design a ride for Disney.
- Design an attraction based on the TRON universe.

I started with the idea of doing a new ride in an existing space and I wanted to stick with a traditional and gimmick-free dark ride (no shooting galleries or motion bases). In the Sketchup 3D Warehouse, I found a nice full model of Disneyland's Adventure Thru Inner Space. I decided to pretend that it didn't already turn into Star Tours and began cleaning out the model (virtual demolition, essentially). Only the major walls and track remain as you can see in the photo. I am further along than that now though.

I'm creating a ride that technically would belong at Disneyland and in Tomorrowland. After rejecting some other futuristic ideas, I decided to do the TRON thing. It was only a matter of time. I figure WDI is probably working on something now so I should get my play project done before their real attraction influences me. My ride will be an open house by ENCOM to take you on a tour of the future as Flynn saw it. Guests board vehicles that are transfered to the grid for a tour of the digital city including stops at the Game Grid and End of Line Club (newly refurbished). The Mighty Microscope is now the laser. My working title for the ride right now is TRON: Excursion.

This project will be a little bit different (and time-consuming) for another reason. I recently got a copy of Indigo Renderer for Sketchup. It will allow me to realistically render my scenes including the use of lighting and reflections. I think a Tron dark ride is the perfect environment to test this out. Here is an example of someone else's work with this program that I think gives you an idea of what I'm thinking. I'll post render tests as I finish them.

Now back to work on the future that never was and most likely can't be...

Operation: "Portfolio Fix" is Done (probably)

2011-01-12T23:07:00.000-08:00

I've felt a change in the air lately. I don't know if it's going to play out exactly like I expect (it rarely does). It doesn't matter. What matters is that when I feel like this, I always get this overwhelming urge to tie things up and update the outdated. And I generally can't stop until I get it done. This particular impending change has inspired me to fix job-related stuff: resume, portfolios, etc. I've started and stopped this effort many times in the past two years without much to show for it. This time, I started about a week ago and finally "finished" tonight.

My main goal was to get all of my recent work (professional and personal) in the resume and portfolio (online and PDF versions). Most of the 2000's were not represented but I fixed that a few days ago. Tonight, I centralized all of my online portfolio stuff. All of the missing links are in and most of the external links are gone. It's all one website now. I also felt the need to clean up the visual clutter and the junk in the code too. Microsoft worked against me there. There's still one weird bug with the "back buttons" on two pages that I can't quite kill. Maybe I'll find them later.

Anyway, if you're curious about the kind of stuff I've done for work or to keep myself amused (and you aren't already sick of seeing it in various forms on this blog), head on over HERE. Some pages may require refreshes if you've been there recently. I'm also open to feedback, especially if something is wrong or bad. I'm a little obsessed with getting it all fixed up right now.

For now, I think I'm done. Next week, I'll have a new obsession.

Design for Fun #8: Mobius Coaster

2010-12-21T23:06:00.000-08:00

It's been a few weeks since I felt inspired to do a little ride design. This one has no theme and is just a ride concept. It's also my first attempt to do a coaster. Tracks are hard in Sketchup, by the way.

My coaster is based on a Mobius Strip. The track has rails on top and bottom. The vehicles ride the upper rails then do a half-twist to an inverted position on the lower rails. Because of the twist, the upper and lower rails form one long track. The vehicles do 2 loops on the track, passing under the station on the first loop and stopping in the station at the end of the second.

I mocked up this ride on a Wild Mouse Coaster scale. The single car vehicles are mounted on a yolk with a vertical rotation. This keeps the riders upright when the vehicle flips to the inverted side of the track and gives it a little swing. Because of the geometry, this also means the vehicles travel backwards when inverted.

As always, there are tons of technical issues to work out with something like this (load and unload being a big one). Also, please forgive the jerky animation. I'm using the animation feature in Google Sketchup and there isn't a lot of fine control there. The flip-overs are especially wonky. I think the idea gets across though.

After I came up with this and figured out how to make it work, I did a little research. Turns out this Mobius Strip idea is not a first but I think my interpretation is unique. THIS is the most common Mobius interpretation. Just wanted to say I'm not stealing it. :-)

Enjoy the ride...

Old Drawing Makeovers

2010-10-30T23:05:00.000-07:00

I'm still dedicating some of my spare time to designing imaginary themed experiences for my own amusement. For the last project and the current one, I've been updating old ideas from my past and having a good time doing it. Now that I feel fairly comfortable with Sketchup, I'm finding it easier to get across some of the original ideas in a more detailed and 3-dimensional way. For your amusement (or probably just mine), I've included some comparisons of the old and new stuff below.

This first one was an old design for a waterpark based on Atlantis. I'm currently working on this one but thought it was far enough along to show a screenshot. I really like the idea of the waterslides moving in and out of the mountain, waterfalls, aqueducts and little Greek buildings. It's looking a little more Splash Mountain than I planned but it isn't done yet.

The next drawings are from an old project that has been recycled twice. The first incarnation was a lobby feature for a "Haunted Hotel". That feature (and drawings) got reused in a restaurant design called "Raven's Mansion". And finally, they got the Sketchup redo for my practice design called "Monster Mansion" a few weeks back.

Design for Fun

2010-10-11T23:04:00.000-07:00

I've decided to abandon my self-imposed aggressive schedule that I was calling Design-a-Week. I want to continue working on these little projects as skill development / brain exercise / hobby but the once a week thing wasn't really necessary and rarely worked out anyway. I feel like I can keep doing this without a deadline. Now, it's just Design-for-Fun or something like that.

My next one is certainly going to take more than a week. I want to do an entire waterpark. Way back in early 1990-something, I did some sketches of a waterpark based on an Atlantis theme. Not revolutionary, I know but the way I saw it was pretty cool, I thought. The images in my mind were very multi-leveled and complex with landscaping, attractions, pathways and buildings merging and twisting around each other. I also wanted to do this not as an ancient lost civilization but more like what it would look like if it were clean and new. As you can see from the drawing on the right, I did not have the skill to draw what I was thinking. Now that I'm more comfortable with Sketchup, I'm going to try again and see how close I can get to what I'm envisioning. I want to take my time and get it right.

This design is not going to be about the specific attractions as much as it is about the master planning. I'm going to use standard slides and even steal some attractions from existing waterparks. I doubt I'll bother with any interiors or back areas at all but the slides and pools will be complete. The landscaping and rockwork will be my big lesson to learn this time.

I've already started below. This shot shows 3 slides at different points in progress based off a Google Maps image of my first employer, Splashtown USA in TX. I'm pretty excited by the idea. Now, let's see if I can finish it without a deadline before a shiny object distracts me.

See the projects completed so far:

#1 - Rolling Flight Simulator
#2 - Cartoon Crash ‘n Smash Destruction Derby
#3 - Caverns of Charybdis
#4 - Seahorse Aquarium Courtyard
#5 - Scream: A Gravity-Defying Musical Experience
#6 - FerriX Wheel
#7 - Monster Mansion
#8 - Mobius Coaster
#9 - TRON: Adventures Thru Digital Space

Design a Week #7 - Monster Mansion

2010-10-08T23:03:00.000-07:00

Here is my latest "theme park design for my own amusement" project. This one started off as a simple update to an old design and kind of snowballed into something more ambitious than a single week and my computer's hardware would easily allow.

MONSTER MANSION

This attraction is a collection of 9 self-paced and interactive haunted attractions in a single building. They include a live special effects show, interactive games, haunted walk-throughs, a maze, a small ride and animatronics shows. The entire attraction is tied together with an overall mystery that has clues in each room. Guests are invited to solve the mystery in the finale.

"Welcome to the home of Victor Raven, Master of the Monster Movie. You may remember some of his classics like Attack of the 50 foot Librarian, Vegetarian Vampires from Venus, Curse of the Mummy’s Mommy and The Monster that Ate Des Moines. Mister Raven was more than just a monster creator... he was also a collector. Here in his mansion, you will encounter many of the creatures and magical artifacts that inspired his films. Your journey begins in the library where you will learn the history of Victor Raven and learn of his recent mysterious disappearance. Next, you will move into the hub of the house, the gallery. The gallery is hosted by the magical Jin, a giant floating purple head. He'll tell you about the 7 rooms, or adventures, you can experience at your own pace. And he tells it in the most poetic way. Enjoy the rooms but keep an eye out. There are clues to solve the mystery of Raven's disappearance in each. Finally, when your time with us is done, you'll exit through the study. On the way out, stop at a desk and make a guess about what happened to Raven. There's a reward. Now, let's begin our tour of Monster Mansion. Be afraid."

Pictures and Descriptions of each section:

LIBRARY: Monster Mansion begins with a short, live show filled with special effects. The butler tells the history of Victor Raven's movie career and the collection of monsters within the mansion. He also tells guests that Victor disappeared in the mansion and clues to what happened can be found throughout the house. As he talks, strange events occur like the piano playing itself, books rearranging themselves and images forming in the flames of the fireplace. The show ends with a giant monster smashing the windowed dome above the room and the painting of Raven stretching out at the guests. The lights flash out with a lightning strike and when they turn back on, everything is restored to normal.

GALLERY: The Gallery is the hub of Monster Mansion where guests choose their next adventures. It is a large rotunda with framed posters from Raven's movies. Occasionally, the images in the posters will change or move. Between the posters, doors lead to 7 small attractions, restrooms and the final exit. Guests can move around this room and try the various attractions at their own pace and in any order. In the center of the room, the large floating head of a genie named Jin recites short, comedic poems describing each attraction.

MIRROR ROOM: Filled with strange and magical mirrors, this room doesn't always reflect what you expect. Some of the mirrors are normal or distorted like a funhouse. Other mirrors are video screens that appear to reflect strange angles (like the back of the observer or a view from above) or have CGI enhancements like ghost images, blurring or tracing. On one wall, some mirrors are actually windows into a copy of the room, which makes it appear as though the observers aren't reflected at all.

CATACOMBS of the RED BANSHEE: This is an exploration maze game where players try to find the 5 skeleton rooms while avoiding the red banshees. Each group is given a small handheld guide device that draws a map of the maze walls as they discover them. An encounter with a red banshee temporarily erases part of that map while entering one of the 2 sanctuary rooms restores it. The teams with the best times of the day are displayed on the poster in the gallery closest to this attraction's door.

GREENHOUSE: The greenhouse is located "outside" in the mansion's gardens where it is dark and stormy all the time. Inside the greenhouse, rains pounds the glass as 5 giant man-eating plants perform for visitors. The plants tell jokes and sing harmonies but between acts, they speak to and interact with guests live.

SWAMP MONSTER: This area also appears to be outdoors at night. Guests walk on old wooden walkways over green, swampy water. This tour is a self-paced walk-through haunted attraction with animatronic monsters. Some of the encounters include mysterious bubbles, jumping alligators, giant spiders, swamp creatures (from the Black Lagoon) and zombies.

MONSTER HUNTER: Guests grab a shotgun and help control the monster population in this classic shooting gallery. This scene has the most cartoon-like style of the entire mansion. This shooting gallery includes plenty of mechanical and water effects but it also has targets that are video projected, including the entire back wall of the room.

MUSIC ROOM: In this room, floating instruments play music, following a guest conductor's every move. The instruments appear to be played by CGI-driven "Pepper's Ghost" musicians that are reflected from an opening in the ceiling. The platform that the guest conductor stands on senses their presence and cameras interpret their upper body movements. The ghosts change songs and speeds based on these movements.

THE VORTEX: In this part of the mansion, gravity is twisted. The queue for this attraction looks like various rooms of the mansion that have been turned sideways or upside-down. Furniture sticks to walls or hangs from the ceiling. In the last room of the queue, guests cross a bridge through a rolling room where the floor passes over their heads about once a minute. The actual attraction is a large round room where guests stand against the wall. The room spins causing guests stick to the walls as the floor drops out from under them. As the spinning stops, they slide down to meet the floor. The ride can be bypassed if guests just want to experience the queue rooms.

STUDY: Before they exit Monster Mansion, visitors pass through the study. There, they are invited to stop by one of the desks and guess the answer to the overall mystery of Monster Mansion. Did they figure out the clues to what happened to Victor Raven?

Design a Week #6 - FerriX Wheel

2010-09-20T23:02:00.000-07:00

Ferrix Wheel: "Planet X" Version
Originally uploaded by Mike Brister

According to my self-imposed schedule, I turned in last week's Design-a-Week project late. So this week's is early.

This one is a simple concept with complicated geometry. I wanted to make the classic Ferris Wheel into something more 3-dimensional.

At IAAPA, I saw a company using a fixed wheel with a tank track-like belt moving the cars around it. I figured with something similar, the wheel could make turns around a more complicated shape (a sphere instead of a wheel, in this case). In my model, the 56 ball-shaped cars will swing but they stay upright by gravity and 2 axes of passive swivel.

I've mocked up 4 versions of this: basic structure, simple colors, "Atomic Sphere" and "Planet X". You can see some still shots of all 4 models HERE. And there are some short animations of each there too.

My favorite piece is the fly-around video of "Planet X" (the same one embedded above). It has some interesting color-changing properties depending on your angle. Also, if you find the track layout confusing, you can follow it in this short video.

Design a Week #5 - Scream: The Ride

2010-09-17T23:01:00.000-07:00

Here is my latest entry in my Design-a-Week project. It is several weeks late but there has been a lot of (good) things going on lately to keep me off track.

Scream: A Gravity-Defying Musical Experience
Starring Michael and Janet Jackson

“Board a Robotic Exploration Pod and launch to Spaceship J with Michael and Janet Jackson. Take a twisting and turning tour of the ship and enjoy its anti-gravity accommodations. Feel the heart-pounding pulse of the rhythm and the bounce of your Pod as it dances to the music. Experience the thrill of life in space and the energy of the Jacksons. It’ll make you want to Scream.”

The ride-through video is on YouTube and the music starts about 23 seconds in. Hopefully, the audio won't get stripped off. Still shots and maps are on Flickr and the scene descriptions are at the bottom of this post (behind the cut).

This time, I decided I wanted to do something based on someone else’s content. After considering and rejecting various stories, I decided it might be fun to base it on a music video. I chose “Scream” by Michael and Janet Jackson. While I am a fan, let me say that this is not intended to be some sort of fan tribute but a legitimate attempt to interpret this content as a physical experience.

As a result of this choice, I am faced with some unusual design elements. Firstly, like the video, the entire attraction is in black and white. Also, I really wanted to highlight the dance and “anti-gravity” elements. I had a different vehicle in mind originally but I found that the Kuka Arm on a Track system could best emulate the dancing and camera crane-like POV. The ride-through video attempts to simulate that as well as Google Sketchup’s simple animation can do. Please note that places where you see other vehicles is meant to show you where riders would actually see other moving vehicles.

That brings me to this week’s technical challenge. The ride vehicle is completely exposed and visible to other riders in certain scenes. In the Meditation and Gallery scenes, 2 to 4 vehicles are in the room “dancing” together in sync. This is tricky because each vehicle is dispatched separately and are playing the song at staggered points. To make this work, all song starts are evenly spaced and synchronized to a master beat throughout the building. When a vehicle enters one of the 2 “Dance Room” scenes it switches from its own on board movement choreography to the group choreography in the room. As the vehicle leaves the room, it switches back to its own movement. The group choreography is on an endless loop that is set to the master beat for the entire building.

I know this sort of thing would never get built... but I think it would be big in Japan.

Scene and Technical Descriptions:

Scene 1 - Load
Four seat vehicles called Robotic Exploration Pods slowly move around the room as passengers board from a turntable that moves at the same speed. The music begins as the Pod backs out of the room.

Scene 2 - Launch
The Pod turns skyward to witness Spaceship J flying across the moon.

Scene 3 - Into the Ship
The Pod flies down and into a large portal on the side of Spaceship J.

Scene 4 - Meet Janet and Michael
In the first corridor, passengers see Janet and Michael behind large glass windows.

Scene 5 - Gravity
Pods float freely down a corridor towards Michael as he spins and bounces off the walls in a room without gravity.

Scene 6 - Janet Sings
Janet sings from a video screen as Pods pass into the Meditation Room.

Scene 7 - Meditation (Dancing Vehicle Room)
Multiple Pods slowly rotate around the Meditation Room. Passengers can see the other Pods and the robotic arms they are mounted on as all of them perform graceful synchronized choreography to the music.

Scene 8 - Habitation
Pods rotate and glide past three large round rooms. It is impossible to tell which way is up as passengers watch Janet and Michael dance on the walls and ceilings.

Scene 9 - Media
Janet sings from a large video monitor as Michael dances in front.

Scene 10 - Gallery (Dancing Vehicle Room)
Multiple Pods rotate around the gallery room while performing synchronized choreography. The movements in this room are more thrilling than the Meditation Room and are in rhythm with images of Michael and Janet dancing on the walls.

Scene 11 - Game Room
Passengers pass an overhead view of Michael smashing vases with a futuristic racquetball game.

Scene 12 - Recreation (Film Domes)
The Pod moves into a wrap-around video screen that travels with it. The video shows a view from behind Michael as he smashes the vases. As the ball bounces back, the Pod twists and turns to avoid getting hit.

Scene 13 - Scream
The journey ends with the same blurred image of Michael screaming as the music video.

Scene 14 - Unload
Passengers disembark their Pods in the same room they originally loaded in.

MGM Grand Adventures Tour

2010-08-30T23:01:00.000-07:00

MGA Park Blueprint
Originally uploaded by Mike Brister

Some months ago, I passed on my old photos and documents of the (now demolished) MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park in Las Vegas to a guy at the theme park blog, News Plus Notes. Since then, he's been writing a series of posts about the park as a guided tour featuring all kinds of interesting facts, some of which I had forgotten and others I never knew... and I worked there when it first opened. He just completed Part 6 and the tour of the park lands. There is a part 7 coming out later going about the demise of the park. If you find old dead parks interesting, I recommend checking out these links:

A Look Back At MGM Grand Adventures Part 1
A Look Back At MGM Grand Adventures Part 2
A Look Back At MGM Grand Adventures Part 3
A Look Back At MGM Grand Adventures Part 4
A Look Back At MGM Grand Adventures Part 5
A Look Back At MGM Grand Adventures Part 6 (my old job is in this one)
A Look Back at MGM Grand Adventures Part 7

Design a Week #4 - Seahorse Aquarium Courtyard

2010-08-24T22:52:00.000-07:00

Seahorse Aquarium Courtyard
Originally uploaded by Mike Brister

For my personal design project / own amusement this week, I decided to do something simple. My focus was on a little piece of landscaping / area development. The subject is a large aquarium facility (like this one) and all I did was the front courtyard.

I wanted to try and make something that looked organic and didn't use the high saturation colors I usually go grabbing for. In this case, the shapes are "inspired" by a seahorse and the colors are intended to look natural. I also roughly split the courtyard in half with the sea represented on the left and land on the right. The two blend together in the open-air entrance to the building.

I put no thought at all to the contents of the building and only mocked up an entrance area. What building is here would be too small in reality. Maybe I'll try out some fancy external architecture another week. The unique element (that I personally haven't seen before) is that the pools inside the building for the large aquatic mammals extend into the courtyard as part of the landscape. I realize there are security, handrail and ADA issues with this but I'm trying to keep it conceptual and not too technical.

See more pictures at Flickr (which does not require a membership).

Design a Week #3 - Caverns of Charybdis

2010-08-18T22:48:00.000-07:00

Here is this week's design project for my own amusement. This one took 2 weeks because of my unusual work schedule and the Sketchup complexity. This time, I've figured out how to do a "ride-through" video. You can watch the video on the right or click HERE to see it without the vehicles and track. There are short scene descriptions behind the cut as well.

CAVERNS OF CHARYBDIS

The Charybdis Caves River Ride Company provides a unique adventure for the whole family! Our 4-passenger barrel boat rides combine the thrill of river rafting with the mystery of cave exploration. Hop on board our unique and unsinkable barrel boats and take a spinning journey through the legendary whirlpool caves of the Charybdis River.

In Ancient Greek mythology, Charybdis was the sea serpent goddess responsible for the creation of whirlpools. Local legend tells us that Charybdis sleeps below the river in these caves and the numerous whirlpools are the gateway to her realm. We’ve never seen her ourselves and our boats are specially designed not to get stuck in the whirlpools. Sorry, you probably won’t encounter any monsters on your ride today but the caves are spectacular. Time to board. Your swirling journey on the Charybdis River awaits.

The Caverns or Charybdis attraction is a combination of dark ride, river rapids ride and roller coaster. Although the boats are in contact with and propelled by the movement of the water, they are not floating. Instead, they are suspended from a single rail track hidden in the ceiling. This track keeps the boats upright and controls their path. However, the boats are free-spinning and swinging so they move in a unique way depending on rider weight distribution and contact with water and the sides of the flume. By moving the track out of alignment with the flume, spinning and tilting is intentionally created. The ride is also enhanced in several scenes by lifting the boat out of the water completely to allow for short “suspended roller coaster” effects like drops and banks.

I have some still shots in a Flickr Set as well:

The 12 show scenes are described below with brief technical notes after each.

Scene 1: Load
Riders board boats that look like large half-barrels with a fake sail mast mounted on top. The boats seat 4 passengers on 2 benches that are back to back.

Tech: The spinning mechanism is locked in this scene for ease of boarding. Boats are advanced through the load stations by chain drives on the overhead track.

Scene 2: Caves
The boat bob and spin through the iridescent caves. The boat also tilts and bounces slightly off the rocks at the edge of the river.

Tech: The boats are propelled by the movement of the water but the tilting and bumping is caused by moving the overhead track out of alignment of with the flume.

Scene 3: The Whirlpool
The boat enters a large chamber with a swirling whirlpool in the center. Instead of passing around it as planned, the boat gets caught in the whirlpool and sucked down through it.

Tech: The overhead track lifts the boats just above the water for this scene. This circular drop to the lower floor is gravity driven like a roller coaster.

Scene 4: Temple of Charybdis
Riders splash down into a decaying underground temple made of Greek columns. Suddenly, the tail of a giant sea serpent snaps one of the columns in half over the boat. As riders pass the tail, they see another barrel boat that crashed into this temple long ago.

Tech: The boats land back in the water after the drop and are propelled by the water movement again.

Scene 5: A Rock and a Hard Place
In a large chamber filed with rocks and whirlpools, the boat spins and bounces around the large green humps of the sea serpent.

Tech: The boats briefly lift out of the water and are driven by inertia and gravity over the whirlpools.

Scene 6: Wonders of Water
In another chamber of the underground temple, Charybdis displays her power over water. The boat twists and turns through the rooms while surrounded by a spectacle of dancing water spouts and overflowing vases.

Tech: This room features small choreographed dancing fountains integrated into the scenery between the flumes.

Scene 7: From the Depths
The boat swings violently as it is pulled toward a large vertical whirlpool on the wall. The sea serpent erupts from the center of the whirlpool and leads the boat around the corner into a large chamber.

Tech: The boats are lifted above the water and gravity driven through a sharp turn, which causes the boat to swing toward the whirlpool.

Scene 8: The Monster
In a large chamber, the monster Charybdis reveals herself as a 30’ tall monster. She grabs the boat, lifts it high up to her face and tells the riders that they don’t belong in her realm. She then throws the boat into a spinning vortex.

Tech: The large animatronic Charbdis moves her hand in sync with a chain drive that pulls the boats out of the water and up to the top of the room.

Scene 9: The Vortex
Riders fall from Charybdis’ hand into a spinning tunnel of water created by her spiraling serpentine body.

Tech: This is a gravity driven drop back to the 2nd floor.

Scene 10: The Tail End
The boat splashes down into cave where the barrel ride started. Charybdis reminds them of their encounter with a quick wave of her tail before they leave.

Tech: After the splash down, the rest of the ride is propelled by the movement of the water in the flume.

Scene 11: Back to the Caves
Riders pass through the last of the iridescent caves of the Charybdis River before returning home.

Scene 12: Unload
Riders disembark the boats in a similar room to Scene 1.

Tech: The spinning mechanism is locked in this scene. Boats are advanced through the unload stations by chain drives on the overhead track.

Design a Week #2 - Cartoon Crash ‘n Smash Destruction Derby

2010-08-04T22:47:00.000-07:00

Here is this week's Design a Week project. This time, I took the idea of a shooting gallery and tried to see if I could create one that didn't use guns. The overview is shown below with most of the game details at the bottom. I freely admit that this design contains copious amounts of Googled cartoon clip-art. I'm not a cartoonist.

Cartoon Crash ‘n Smash Destruction Derby

Otto Rex, 5 time World Champion Demolition Derby Driver and owner of the Crash ‘n Smash Driving School, invites you to be a driver in the Cartoon Crash ‘n Smash Destruction Derby!

Get behind the wheel of one of Otto’s state-of-the-art Smash Buggys and collide your way through 3 levels of cartoon destruction. There’s no accelerator and no brake but there’s lots of stuff to bump and break. You’ll be competing in 3 unique, 360 degree arenas against other Smashers for the most destruction and the most points. There are no guns in this shooting gallery. Just drive at the prize and what you hit is what you get. You know you think about it every time you’re in the antique store. We say it’s OK by us. Take your inner “10-year old boy” out for a destructive test drive in a warehouse storing delicate artifacts or a museum filled with priceless works of highly breakable art. Next, help bounce the critters back in to their pens at the farm or cages at the zoo. And if you’re good enough, you may be called upon to test your smashing skills against an army of cartoon ninjas or the zombie apocalypse!

Cartoon Crash ‘n Smash Destruction Derby is a new attraction that combines the fun and skill of a shooting gallery with the exciting chaos of classic bumper cars. In each of the 3 game arenas, 8 Smash Buggy vehicles are completely under the control of the passengers. On the inner and outer wall of the donut-shaped arenas, cartoon scenery and targets of varying point values run for their lives. The Buggy drivers accumulate points by colliding with the cartoon images. Sensors in the walls detect the hits and misses so the animation is fully interactive with the vehicles. Each arena has 3 possible games chosen at random and played for 2 minutes and each level introduces a new element of complexity. After each game, the vehicles autonomously drive to the next room before the games resume. After the final game, scores, ranks and replay video of the best smashes play on a large video screen as the vehicles return to 1st floor for the drivers’ exit.

RIDE EXTERIOR

RIDE INTERIOR

GAME DESCRIPTIONS

The first level of Cartoon Crash ‘n Smash Destruction Derby takes place on the 1st floor of the building and is the easiest game. In this arena, the drivers attempt to crash in to as many static items as they can and build up points. There are 3 possible games for this level:

1. JUNKYARD DERBY - Smash your way through an old junkyard stacked high with rusty old cars and appliances. As items are bumped into oblivion, cranes drop new stacks of junk to be destroyed.

2. MYSTERIOUS WAREHOUSE - This arena is loaded with piles of unmarked crates. Crashing in to these crates busts them open to reveal mysterious artifacts with strange (and often amusing) properties from around the world. As the crates are demolished, new ones drop in from overhead conveyor belts.

3. MUSEUM MAYHEM - Priceless works of art are so delicate and breakable. We think they’re that way for a reason! Smash as much fine art as you can. Helpless Curators do their best to replace all of the art quickly.

The second level of Cartoon Crash ‘n Smash Destruction Derby happens in the 2nd floor arena and the game gets a little more complicated. This time, the targets are moving. The faster they move, the higher the points. This level also has 3 possible games:

1. OLD MCSMASHY’S FARM - Try to help the farmer retrieve the animals that have escaped their pens... by crashing in to them, of course! Using the over-sized bumper on the Buggys, bounce the cartoon critters safely back into their enclosures.

2. ZOO BREAK - Animals are running free everywhere and it’s chaos at the zoo! Help the Keepers by bouncing the escaped beasts back to their cages. The faster the animal, the higher the points. Look for gazelles and cheetahs!

3. CRASHING WAVES - Did you know that the Smash Buggys are amphibious? That’s right, they’re boats too! Smash your way through the open sea, sinking ships and fighting off sharks and sea monsters.

The final level of Cartoon Crash ‘n Smash Destruction Derby is on the 3rd floor and the game changes here. Drivers must try to hit the correct targets while avoiding bad ones that will cause them to lose points. The 3 possible scenarios on this level are anybody’s game:

1. INVASION - You are called upon to save the world from aliens and robots from Outer Space. Squash the little green invaders with your Buggy and watch the green goo splatter. Be careful not to hit Earth’s Military forces though. It makes them mad.

2. NINJA ASSAULT - Take out the lightning quick Ninjas with a swift kick from your front bumper. Don’t knock over any of the priceless vases and statues though. It’ll cost you.

3. ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE - Living dead cartoon characters are rising from the grave and chasing the living. How can we stop them? By smashing them to bits and pieces! Don’t hit the survivors though. We’re here to save them.

SCRIPT SAMPLE (Load Introduction)

“Greetin’s folks! The name’s Otto Rex. I’m the 5 time World Demolition Derby Champion ‘n owner of this here Crash ‘n Smash Driving School. Welcome to the world’s finest establishment for learnin’ how to bust some stuff up real good. By the time I finish stuffin’ your heads full ‘o skills, you’ll be the best of the best at crashin’ into things ‘n makin’ a whole lot a mess. Come to think of it, some a y’all might git good enough so as they take away your drivin’ license. Probably better off anyways.

“Today’s trainin’ is made up of three games of skill ‘n mayhem. Each one’ll be harder than the last but the awesome destructiveness gets bigger too. The goals are simple. Drive your car straight at the targets. What ya hit is what ya git! Everything ya smash into gits ya points. But be careful, in the final game, some things take ‘em away too. Oh, feel free to knock other Drivers around in the spirit of friendly competition but ya don’t git no points for that. In the end, be the Driver with the most points ‘n you’ll be our new Champion.

“Before we start with the smashin’, lemme tell ya what’s what. That contraption your sittin’ in is my own special design: the Smash Buggy! It’s easy enough to drive. There’s just one steerin’ wheel in the middle ‘n where ever you point it, that’s where you’ll be headin’. There are 3 games ‘n up to 3 of ya in the Buggy. Y’all oughta play nice ‘n share. Plenty of smashin’ for everyone. I betcha some of y’all are wonderin’ where the accelerator ‘n brake pedals are. Well, there ain’t none. This ain’t no Sunday drive. There’s only one speed and that’s full blast. Since the pencil-necks said we gotta play it safe, I left the seatbelts in. Keep those fastened so as I don’t git yelled at. I also put a great big bumper around your whole Buggy too. Ya hit somethin’ with that ‘n it’ll go a flyin’.

“All right, Drivers. Time to shine. I’m gonna take you to the first arena on auto-pilot ‘n then it’s all yours.”

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Zombies!

2010-07-07T22:40:00.000-07:00

Last week, my friend Dave () posted a link about a remarkably detailed and faithful recreation of the now closed Adventurers Club from Pleasure Island at WDW that someone built as a Half-Life 2 mod (a map for a video game). In the comments that followed, he also made me aware of this recreation of the long lost Disneyland attraction, Adventure thru Inner Space.

This week, my friends over at Geek Week Central (moderated by my old WDW cohort, ) discovered this: Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye ride as a Left 4 Dead 2 map! The linked video includes the entire queue line but you can skip to the start of the ride at 4:40. For the gamers out there, download the map here.

But wait, there's more. The same guy also did Pirates of the Caribbean with zombies as the ride characters. Download that map here.

It seems like very soon, we won't have to go to the parks at all. We can just visit the rides at home on our game consoles. Can't wait to start shooting the Small World dolls...

Design a Week #1 - Flight Simulator

2010-06-28T22:41:00.000-07:00

This is my first stab at doing a quickie Design a Week attraction. I set a due date of each Wed but only had 2 days this first time so I did something purely technical. Let me state for the record that it is a complete coincidence that I chose to start with a simulator ride during the same week that Star Tours closed. For reals. I kind of forgot about that. Weird.

My goal was to try and create a flight simulator that functioned differently from any I’ve personally seen before. I wanted this to move more like an actual aircraft and be more physically thrilling. Instead of an X / Y tilt axis, this simulator has front tilt and 360 degree horizontal roll. Small-scale simulator inversions have been done before but I went for a large scale. This vehicle seats 64. When you look at this, it will be obvious that I’m not an engineer. This is intended to be just a concept mock-up. For example, I realize that the entire vehicle will slide off the tires on tilt but the guide and support assemblies should be assumed.

In the case of a simulator, just about any story will work. However, since this vehicle is capable of inversions and there is no gravity in space, I think a space travel theme would be inappropriate (sorry Star Tours). I thought it would be kind of cool if the theme was simply joy-riding. Maybe while waiting in the load area, the riders could vote on the experiences and locations they are heading to (again, this has been done on a small scale). I placed screens on the ceiling and side walls because I think the barrel rolls would be enhanced by seeing the ground above the riders. Of course, cleaning puke off the ceiling screens might suck a bit too.

That’s week #1. Now I’ll start on something story-oriented and a bit more complicated for week #2.

Design for Fun / Design a Week

2010-06-26T22:41:00.000-07:00

Sketchup Practice
Originally uploaded by Mike Brister

I'm going to try a little experiment. I've seen a lot of meme posts where you take a photo or create art or write every day. I've been wanting to try something like that - creativity as an exercise on a schedule. I think I've come up with something that's a good fit for me and will help me use my spare time more productively.

I am going to try and design a themed attraction or something similar each week. Because of the short due date, these won't be polished presentations but my plan is to create enough that the entire concept is clear without me having to explain it in person. I'll post the results each Wed. I'm imposing some guidelines to work by as well:

- Each design must have a story, hopefully a good one.
- I can base designs off stories from other sources (book, TV, movies) but not more than 50% of the time.
- The attraction must contain a unique technical element that I've never seen or heard of before.
- I cannot use any ideas I've heard from other sources. The 10,000 NDAs (and implied NDAs) that I've signed still count.
- I can use parts of old ideas of my own that need a refresh or re-purpose.
- I still have to get all of my regular work done.

I'm going to try to get something finished by this coming Wed but I'm not sure if I can pull it off that quick. Worth a try though.

Projects done so far:

Fantasmic Showtechniker

2010-06-02T22:37:00.000-07:00

Showtechniker Guy
Originally uploaded by Mike Brister

While doing a boredom search of the web tonight, I came across this weird little blast from my past. In 2004, Fantasmic's Show Director, Lighting Designer, Special FX Crew Chief, and Show Control Crew Chief (that's me) were interviewed for a German TV show called Disney Filmparade. This particular episode was a look behind the scenes of Fantasmic at WDW. Tonight, I discovered that the episode is on Youtube. I'd never seen it there before.

This show has some really great behind the scenes and running show footage. If you'd like to hear what I sound like dubbed into German, I first appear at 3:26. I also have a bunch of good quality screen captures from the episode HERE or by clicking on the picture.

We also did some filming backstage for a Travel Channel HD show that I have never seen anywhere. Anyone ever see that? Maybe I'll search for it next.

Wow, this really makes me miss being a Showtechniker...

MGM Grand Adventures in News Plus Notes

2010-05-21T22:36:00.000-07:00

MGM Grand Blueprint
Originally uploaded by Mike Brister

Check it out: A Look Back at MGM Grand Adventures Part 1

Some old photos and swag of mine are getting featured in a theme park blog I follow called News Plus Notes. After reading a couple of their entries about the now demolished MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park in Las Vegas and seeing the reporter lament about the fact that there aren't really many pictures out there of the place, I sent him the link to my park photos on Flickr. Now, he's doing a multi-part history and tour of this weird little bit of Vegas and theme park history.

He actually seems to know more about the place than me and I worked there for the first year of operation (doing THIS). It's a nice little trip down memory lane for me. If you're a theme park or Vegas history nerd (like me), this might be for you too.

Lost and Found: Caesar's Magical Empire

2010-05-19T22:08:00.000-07:00

Caesar's Magical Empire
Originally uploaded by Mike Brister

I was doing some digging in my "Old Vegas" box today and came across some delightful little treasures. I found a description and an attraction map for the now defunct Caesar's Magical Empire. On Flickr, click "All Sizes" above the photos to make them readable.

The Empire was Caesar's Palace's answer to the Magic Castle. You started with a small scale dinner show in one of the special dining rooms where food was served by a Wizard and 2 helpers. Magic and music was blended into dinner with some in room special effects. After that, you were free to wander the many other chambers and presentations in the main part of the attraction. I got to do this once or twice. I also had the pleasure of a backstage tour when I interviewed to be a tech in one of the theaters. I lost the job to Union politics but I got the tour so I was happy.

I also found an ad featuring one of the Wizards, who also happens to be a friend and former co-worker from my performance days at Excalibur. He was the King. I was a goofball with a sword.

Back from Vacation!

2010-04-16T22:09:00.000-07:00

Paradise Pier
Originally uploaded by Mike Brister

I'm back from 2 weeks of visitors followed by vacation. It's been a blast.

First up, my parents came to visit for a week. I didn't see much of them at first because I was still working but I did manage to start my vacation a couple of days early to improve that a bit. This was kind of a whirlwind Vegas show tour for them. While they were here, they saw KA, Zumanity (which they were picked to be the finale dance couple in), Phantom (with Danny and I), King Arthur's Tournament (with Danny), Cher, and Crazy Girls. Danny and I also saw Lion King without them because we got free tickets from Cirque that happened to fall in the same week.

During the same week, we were also visited by friends from the UK, Dave and John. We had a nice lunch with them and, as a result, Danny and I now want to move to England.

A few days later, we were joined by friends, Keena and Erik from Orlando. I worked with them at Walt Disney World and they are still there. For a couple of days, Keena, Erik, Danny, myself, my parents, and local friend Sara (who is also ex-WDW) all hung out in Vegas and did the tourist thing. We went to the Venetian / Palazzo, MGM Grand, The Mirage, Caesar's Palace, and The Bellagio. I posted some pictures as things happened on Flickr and more pictures from all of the Vegas antics on Facebook (you don't have to be a member of either to see them).

Lastly, it was time for my vacation. Danny, Keena, Erik, and I jumped in the car and drove to Anaheim, CA for 3 days at the Disneyland Resort. My last trip there was in 2007 so it was overdue. We spent the first evening at Disney's California Adventure, the next day at Disneyland, and the final day at both. I posted some pictures as we went along on Flickr and the rest ended up in Facebook galleries: DCA and Disneyland.

There were several new things we wanted to see since our last visits:

Captain EO Tribute: I actually got goosebumps when "We Are Here to Change the World" started. This was a great moment of nostalgia for me and I'm glad I got to see it again. It sounded awesome! However, seeing it again, I agree it was right to close it. It's time is way over. Seeing it without the lasers was a bit odd and the floor shakes were novel but a bit annoying after awhile. Still, I enjoyed it a lot.

Monster's Inc.: This cute little dark ride was just that - cute. Every time I have ever been to DCA, either this or its predecessor, Superstar Limo, have been closed. I mostly wanted to see it just because I never could before. It was cute. That's about it.

Nemo Submarine Voyage: This was new to Keena and Erik. I really like this ride. It is visually interesting and there are some very tricky technical things going on here. I really want to know more about how the audio and video synchronization are set up.

Midway Mania: Mr. Potato Head is impressive. That animatronic does some crazy tricks. I really want to know how the "recognition" systems work for him. Super cool. I really enjoyed the ride as well. We went twice - very fun. And there are some very clever track management things going on in this building. I need a tour of this facility. Someone get on that please.

Haunted Mansion: The new attic stuff is neat. Nice upgrade without upsetting a classic.

Fireworks: For the first 5 minutes I was watching Wishes from WDW. But, it turned out to be a lot more than that and it was a great show. It was also cool to finally see the multi-axis Tinkerbell flight. Nice!

The only new-ish thing we didn't get to see (because I forgot about it, honestly) was the character-enhanced it's a small world. I wanted to see the "controversy" for myself. Next time. I hope we can go back when Fantasmic and World of Color are back up and running too. The exposed equipment for both looked cool enough.

Now back to real life, already in progress...

Disneyland Vacation and Visitors

2010-04-04T22:33:00.000-07:00

Today is day 2 of 12 of April visitors and vacation. Even though I am still working today and the next 2 days, I'm already having fun and am looking forward to the rest of it.

For lunch today, Danny and I met up with friends from the UK named John and Dave at Blueberry Hill. I met them a year ago when another friend named Dave ( ) asked me to get them in to see LOVE with a tour the theater. We had a great chat that night and I've kept in touch with them online since. Danny got to meet them for the first time today. Now, we're both ready to move to the UK.

After that, we were able to briefly meet up with my parents before I headed out to work. We met with them yesterday for a couple of hours as well. The visiting will get easier later in the week when my vacation kicks in.

Speaking of which, we have quite a busy schedule of Vegas and Disneyland-related activities happening. My parents went to see both KA and Zumanity last night (they are hardcore as you can see). And I saw the pictures today - Mom and Dad were the "volunteer dance couple" for the end of the show. Tuesday, Danny and I are going to see Lion King thanks to free tickets from work and then we'll see Phantom the next day with my parents. Finally, my parents will be going to see Cher (the original inspiration for this trip) on one of their last days here. A lot of shows are getting squeezed into this visit.

On Thursday, Keena and Erik ( ), our good friends from Orlando, are coming out to Vegas as well. We'll hang out with them and the parents for a couple of days doing fun Vegas things and probably a lot of Wii and then Keena, Erik, Danny, and I will drive off to Anaheim for 2 1/2 days.

Disneyland! Disneyland! Disneyland! I haven't been since 2007 and the Disney nerd in me is about to go nuts, especially after 2 aborted trip plans in the past year or so. There is a whole bunch of new stuff (and sort of old stuff) there that I can't wait to see: Captain EO Tribute, Midway Madness, Monster Inc. (which was always closed on previous visits), and all of the construction on the new DCA elements. I'm a little sad that both Fantasmic w/ new dragon and World of Color will not be open. However, the construction walls for WoC should be down so we can at least check out the gear and Fantasmic is drained so we can do the same there. It's a reason to come back later anyway. :-)

We arrive sometime on Sunday the 11th and will do something in the Disneyland area - Downtown Disney, maybe a park evening, or just hotel sloth. We'll be in the parks for full days on the 12th and 13th then drive home early on the 14th. There won't be any room for side trips and visits this time but if any California people happen to be in Disneyland, feel free to give me a text or Twitter DM (@mkbrister). And if any Disneyland folk have a break to come out and say hello, we'd love to see ya!

For now, it is back to work. Happy Chocolate Bunny Droppings Day!

Singapore Pictures!

2009-12-12T22:32:00.000-08:00

I've been home from my work trip to Singapore for a couple of days now and I finally found some time to put up some pictures.

SINGAPORE CITY - These are pictures that I either snapped from the car as I was shuttled around the city or that I took on the one evening I got to wander around Clark Quay and China Town.

HOTEL RE! AND FRIENDS - The hotel I stayed in was an absolutely bizarre (but nice) 1970's themed hotel. Also, I ran into 6 different people I know but haven't seen in 5 to 15 years on this trip. Quite a bizarre set of spontaneous reunions.

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS AT SENTOSA - Here are some pictures from Sentosa Island where U.S.S. is located. I also included the U.S.S. park and backstage pictures that I can get away with showing because they were in public areas or backstage areas that didn't "give anything away".

Now it's time to catch up on sleep. :-)

IAAPA 2009

2009-11-18T21:50:00.000-08:00

I am a very happy camper. Yesterday and today, I attended the yearly convention of the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions. Anyone who has known me for longer than a couple of minutes knows that I'm fascinated with the theme park industry and its various extensions. This convention is my Mecca. I've been to it twice before in 1997 and for part of a day back when I worked for Disney. This visit was overdue.

What made this time so unique was that I explored the convention with some of my favorite like-minded folk. The fun actually started after work Monday night when I met up with my friends (and former WDW cohorts), Kristin and Greg at the Wynn for "drinks" and pre-IAAPA conversation. We were actually in the Wynn's new extension, Encore. It was nice to see it. Very red in there.

The next day, I briefly caught up with Kristin and Greg again at IAAPA. However, I spent most of the day walking the floor with my friend, Dave (

e_ticket

), from Los Angeles. He's a themed attraction designer / writer / creator for a company called Thinkwell and he's a great guide. That first day was a pretty casual walk. There were lots of stories and insider explanations of the various booths and their often bizarre displays. Check out the pictures on my Facebook to see some of it for yourself. Tacky plastic palm trees, creepy dancing costume characters, free food guaranteed to cause a heart attack, lots of weird / very Japanese plush, carnival rides, special effects and animatronics manufacturers, and (my favorite) design firms. I collected lots of company names to send resumes to later. In the last hours, I walked with Kristin and Ray ( ). We took time to visit out friends and contacts at the Medialon booth as well. The night ended with a nice dinner at Gordon Biersch with Dave and his friend Marty from Disneyland.

The second day, I was part of a larger group that seemed to continually add and lose members. It was mostly Kristin, Dave, Marty, Ray, and myself. We had a much more frantic walk through the place but I got to meet and / or see lots of cool people and things. One of the more unique things we did was sit in on the 1st hour (of 3) of a panel discussion by 5 "Disney Legends" that actually worked directly with Walt: Marty Sklar, Blaine Gibson (who was 91 years old), Bob Gurr, Richard Sherman, and Buzz Price. The stories were fascinating because they were first person accounts of the history of what essentially amounts to the creation of this industry as it is today. At the same time, they were unscripted stories told by old men that sometimes felt like Grandpa's boring old war stories. Gurr and Sherman were the most interesting to me.

Overall the IAAPA experience was wonderful. I certainly didn't see everything due to maintaining my night schedule and showing up at lunch time both days. I had no plan and no goals. It was just random exploration mostly dictated by others. Truth is, I've seen all this stuff before but there is something amazing about being in a huge building full of people who share my interests. That doesn't happen to me very often. There was a touch of economic desperation in the air that mostly became clear when vendors saw the default title of "buyer" on my badge. Thankfully, I put my freelance company name (Logic Box) on there. I'm sure I would have been stopped a lot more if I put Cirque du Soleil. Plus, Dave knows a lot of people in the industry and I think that helped deflect a lot of attention away from me as I explored the booths unnoticed. Sales people make me kind of uncomfortable. It was nice watching him do the interacting while I just absorbed the scene. In fact, this arrangement made for a very unique point of view. I saw the convention through the eyes of a new arrival and a seasoned pro at the same time. For me, it was the best of both worlds.

It was convenient this year since it was in Las Vegas but I really want to try to attend more often in the future. I didn't go very far this time, but it still felt like a great vacation.

My Ghost Hosts

2009-10-14T21:59:00.000-07:00

My friend

e_ticket

posted a cool little Halloween decoration today featuring the Hitchhiking Ghosts from Disney's Haunted Mansion attraction. This reminded me of a moment from my childhood that I thought I'd share.

Most of you who know me also know that I've had a nearly lifelong fascination with theme park design and technology. That fixation began suddenly when I was (I think) 10 years old. Up until then, I always said I wanted to grow up to be an Inventor. Specifically, I wanted to build robots.

So one day when I was 10, I was exploring the attic for lost treasures when I found some old postcards from my parents' previous visit to Disneyland. Then I flipped to a postcard that looked a lot like this picture. I made my Mom explain to me what they were. Translucent robot puppets in a ride that looked like a giant funhouse of special effects. Something snapped in my head. From that moment on, there was no way for me to get enough information about Disney. Suddenly, I wanted to design and build my own parks which eventually turned into a desire to become a Disney Imagineer.

By the time my family made my first trip to Walt Disney World a year later, I had already collected tons of articles and books and photos of the parks. I already had the maps of the parks memorized and had detailed knowledge of the contents of most attractions (including names of some of the designers). It was everything I hoped it would be and more.

15 years later, I got to work for both Walt Disney World and Imagineering. I've taken many side-trips in my career but that goal of being a theme park designer has never changed. Even my decision to leave Disney was made as a step towards achieving that goal by varying my experience and moving closer to California where most of that work happens. I'm still working on it.

I've been asked many times throughout the years why I have this apparent obsession. I don't really know for sure (but it's probably this). All I know for certain is that moment when it started. I think it's strange, wonderful, and a bit scary that most of the direction of my life was dictated by a chance encounter with a postcard.

I'm just grateful my parents didn't have pictures of car dealerships in the attic.

Sea World's Journey to Atlantis

2009-10-10T22:01:00.000-07:00

The Journey to Atlantis attraction was installed in Sea World Orlando while I lived in Florida but I never got the opportunity to check it out. I heard that it had unique ride systems and the reviews were mixed. However, I never let anybody that had ridden it tell me much. I honestly wanted it to be a surprise and I've been excited to see it for a long time.

Years later, I live in Vegas but this past week, Danny and I took a trip to Sea World San Diego where I was pleased to discover the ride existed there too. Finally! Due various boring logistics, we didn't get to ride it until the very end of the day... twice. Now I understand the mixed reviews.

This ride has a great deal of potential. The ride systems are technologically very interesting. It switches between a traditional water flume ride and a simple roller coaster. It also has a cool tilting elevator. Really neat. I must say that Atlantis is one of my favorite mythological themes and the architecture of the structure is pretty cool. Finally, as an element that is very unique to Sea World, the attraction has a large, nicely themed aquarium housing Commerson's Dolphins. These small black and white dolphins are very energetic, interactive, and amusing. They spend about 50% of their time swimming around upside-down. They are the best part of the attraction and you don't have to get in line or ride the ride to see them.

However, this attraction is very disappointing in some respects. It is almost entirely devoid of any recognizable story. They did put some effort into a storyline in the form of a disembodied female voice that talks to you from great big obvious speakers sitting on the sides of the track. She says something about talking to dolphins and "redemption for Atlantis". The implication is that the ride is a series of challenges to survive. The dolphin element is tied in via some CGI versions of them that appear on a video screen in the elevator. I think they saved us or something. My personal opinion is NEVER use a CGI animal when riders have just seen the real thing up close mere minutes before. Finally, this ride lasts what feels like about 30 seconds.

So close! Honestly, I think this same ride system (and even the theme) would be best served in an indoor attraction. Perhaps a dark ride that has a surprising and sudden thrill ride element that you don't see coming. I'm thinking of something like a Splash Mountain 2.0. From what I've read, the Orlando version of this ride does have more dark ride-like elements to it but I can't really judge that version yet.

Anyway, I'm glad I finally got to do this. There were great elements that I enjoyed immensely but as an entire attraction it felt unfinished. Now they just need to build a Kraken and Manta in San Diego so I can try that out.

Click here for more pictures from our Sea World visit...

CSI: The Experience in Las Vegas

2009-09-08T21:48:00.000-07:00

I have mourned the los s of my favorite bit of Vegas theme parkiness in the past. Star Trek: The Experience died almost exactly a year ago. Since then, there have been rumors of it being reborn and moving to something called Neonopolis in the long suffering Downtown area of Vegas. According to a Screamscape article today, it looks like this potential move is still in the works with a target opening of 2010. I have 2 things to say about this:

1. Squeal!

2. Do they need a Show Control Programmer to help with the installation?

In other related news, the new CSI: The Experience attraction is opening at the MGM Grand Casino on September 13th. While not exactly kid-friendly, this is an encouraging sign that Vegas might be swinging back towards having attractions that are not solely based on drinking and boobs. I guess this permanent attraction at MGM Grand is based on touring versions already operating in a big city near you. There is some information about this new attraction and some other Vegas news in the same Screamscape article about Star Trek. Good times...

Lost and Found: Hunchback Parody Show

2009-08-07T21:49:00.000-07:00

Back in 1998, I spent a few months working as a Technician backstage at "The Hunchback of Notre Dame: A Musical Adventure" in the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park at Walt Disney World. It was a fun show and got great reviews. It was unusually artistic for 32 minute long theme park show and all of the singing / acting was live. It finally closed in 2002 and last I saw, it was a storage facility for Spectacle of Lights.

Anyway, while I worked there, they would put on a parody show once a year for employees. Inspired by the one I watched, I wrote a line-by-line parody for the cast and crew including alternate lyrics to every song. Unfortunately, the parody was never performed but the script circulated backstage for a couple of more years.

I dug out that script again today and thought I might post it for those of you who might enjoy that sort of thing (or were directly involved with it). The parody is definitely centered on the stage show version and the dialog has a lot of in-jokes. The song parodies are more generic to the theme park stage show experience though so I made a separate copy with just the songs (sample at the bottom of this post). Musically, it is exactly the same as the movie.

HUNCHBACK PARODY SONGS (word doc)
HUNCHBACK PARODY FULL SCRIPT (word doc)

Need Air (to the tune of Out There)

QUASIMODO:
Trapped behind this rubber mask, and hump made out of foam,
Singing to the people right before me.
Sweating out electrolytes, and wanting to go home,
knowing that I really have to go pee.
All day long I suffer through this heat and do this show
Fighting off the urge to stop and then flee
All my life I've wanted to perform upon the stage.
Not like this though
Is this a heat show?

I'm out there,
Melting in the sun.
Hot inside this orange hair,
This really isn't fun.
I hate this weather.

Out there.
Does anybody care?
What I'd give,
Who's butt I'd kiss,
If I could get out of all this.

Out there are all the people who don't have to wear this crap.
The audience is sitting there and sighing.
Everyday they sit and stare and act like they are warm,
Heedless of the fact that I am dying.

Each time I hit these notes,
I swear my head explodes

I need air.
Please call 911.
Put me on the stretcher.
Please turn off the sun.
How long 'til Winter? - Need air!
I'm working off my buns.
I swear I'm in real pain.
Feeling faint.
Rubber face.
Hot-ass place.
Plastic hair.
It's not fair.
Ox-y-gen.
Please give me air!

Blizzard Theme Park Contest Results

2009-04-13T21:30:00.000-07:00

Well, the results of the Blizzard Theme Park Contest are in... and we didn't win. But that's cool, I still had a lot of fun doing it. They did post our entry on the website under the heading of "Honorable Mentions" along with 18 other entries. For all I know, that is everybody that submitted but it's still nice to see it posted there. The actual winners can be seen here (until this news story drops off the website front page).

So speaking of this, I've decided I do want to do it again. I'm going to try to convince my friends

erik_moore

(who did the contest entry with me) and (another theme park design geek friend) to design a new park just for our own amusement. No contest rules or time limits and we can flesh things out in more detail. I'm going to write them shortly after I finish writing this...

So that is that. The contest is over but the park designing goes on!

Blizzard Adventure Park

2009-03-30T21:43:00.000-07:00

So now that our entry is in and the contest is closed, I wanted to show anyone interested what and I have been working on. This is our theme park that we designed for the Blizzard contest. I'm actually really happy with it considering the constraints. There was a lot more we wanted to do but the deadline happened too fast. Feel free to look it over and let us know what you think. Just bear in mind that we didn't have the best working conditions. This entire thing was conceived and drawn in our spare time over 15 days and we coordinated it exclusively by e-mail and instant messenger. Also, everything I know about Blizzard Games, I learned in the past 2 weeks. That's Erik's expertise. I've still never even watched them being played.

Anyway, it was a really fun challenge and I'm glad we did it. We enjoyed it so much that we're thinking about doing another one just for fun / portfolio fuel. In the next one, we want to actually flesh out the attractions (which we had to force ourselves not to do too much here), take our time, and do all the technical work we skipped over here. For example, this park doesn't take sight lines into account very much and the scale is extremely fudged. I also wanted to avoid a standard hub and spokes layout but the concept and time limit sort of dictated it. And we never did think of a more clever name... Oh well.

It's now in Blizzard's judges' hands. We should know how we did within the next 15 days. Regardless of the results, I think it was worth the time. I haven't had a project that's this much fun in a long time.

Here is the park concept:

"Welcome to Blizzard Adventure Park! It's not just a park, but an all-day adventure. Visit the Central Hub where you will suit up with your armor and weapon. Here you will also receive your Adventure Pass which will identify you throughout our 3 worlds. You are free to explore the lands of Tristram, Azeroth, and Koprulu Sector and enjoy the attractions within them but beware. Enemies wander the streets waiting to ambush so be on guard and keep your weapon ready. Each enemy defeated gains you points in an all-day competition with everyone else in the park. High scores and quest information are displayed on big screens throughout the lands. Never let your guard down, the adventure knows no safe area. You never know when or where mobs may attack and every element in the park is part of the game. Scan your Adventure Pass while shopping to gain strength (increasing the points your weapon collects per hit) or while having a snack or lunch to gain health (increasing your resistance to hits from enemies). You can even gain points on Special Quests (interactive attractions, rides, and shows). You don't just sit and watch our shows, you play them. You don't just ride our rides, you battle them. For a change of pace, try one of our Live Instances where you explore mazes and solve riddles alone or as a team. Anything and everything in Blizzard Adventure Park is a game. Can you collect enough points to be the best warrior of the day? Fight our enemies, take our quests, become a hero or a villain. Blizzard Adventure Park, it's not just a theme park... it's war!"

Theme Park Design Contest... Squeal!

2009-03-15T21:44:00.000-07:00

When I first saw this contest on 's blog, I thought it was a dream come true. Of course, it didn't take long for me to realize 2 big issues:

1. It is due on March 30th, which is now 15 (already very busy) days away.

2. The bigger issue - I don't know anything about the games this company makes.

That being the case, I sort of wrote off the whole thing as a bummer. And that's when my good friend (and former co-worker at Disney World) said, "Check it out. Blizzard is having a 'Design a Blizzard Theme Park Contest'! I thought you might be interested in entering with me (tell me you're not foaming at the mouth already!)". That was what I needed to hear (and yes, there was some foaming). The month is still busy and the deadline is still close but Erik is an expert in the source material and we have a long history of working very well together (we designed and programmed big chunks of the show control systems for Fantasmic and Lights Motors Action together at WDW). Even though we are on opposite sides of the country, we decided to go for it.

We got off to a slow start because of our equally busy lives but the ideas started going back and forth today and that momentum I was hoping for came back as though we haven't been apart for 2 years. Wow, has it been that long? Anyway, I think we've got a good plan now and it looks like Erik got our friend, Vic (a professional graphic artist) to lend some "final touches" assistance. Win or lose, I think we've got a good entry in the works. We'll see if the Blizzard folks agree.

I am so happy to be doing something like this. Even if it is totally pretend, this is exactly the kind of outlet I live for. I really miss doing these sorts of things at the open design forum at WDW and the Cirque one isn't really the same. This is my idea of fun.

Now, I guess I better get to work on it.

Captain EO... Fine Aged 80's Cheese!

2009-01-13T21:20:00.000-08:00

Super major serious I-ain't-freakin'-playin'-around bigtime DISNEY NERD warning. If you are "cool" or even just "socially acceptable", simply reading this topic could possibly tarnish your reputation or irreparably burn your retinas.

While wandering around on fan pages and groups on Facebook today, I made a wonderful discovery. I found a full length video of the Captain EO film, formerly a 3D film attraction at various Disney Magic Kingdoms around the globe and EPCOT Center in WDW. I watched a bit of the beginning and all of the musical portions today. Wow, it is just beautiful and awful all at the same time.

This attraction was a must see for me as a child and I probably tortured my family by making them see it over and over again. I even had the "making-of" TV special on video and watched it over and over too. It's not quite the same experience without the 3D, "in-theater special effects", and the cool mystical crystal pre-show music noises but my memory filled in the blanks well enough. I still remember clearly waiting in line for about 3 days to see it and being entertained by the world's funniest Operations Host after the show ended. He said, "You wanna see that again? Well go get back in line! Please grab your children firmly by the hair and move towards the nearest exit." Hey, that's hysterical when you are 10 years old and deleriously exhausted.

So apparently, I'm not the only fan out there. They aren't exactly packed with members but there are quite a few Captain EO fan pages on Facebook. Maybe by the time you've read this, I'll have become brave enough to join one.

I'm sendin' out a major love and this is my message to you...

Lost & Found - MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park

2009-01-13T21:19:00.000-08:00

Kaleidoscope Theater
Originally uploaded by Mike Brister

Last week, a random stranger spotted this picture on my Flickr account and recognized that it was from the now closed and demolished MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park (of Las Vegas). I worked at the park as a performer when it opened in 1993. Anyway the stranger asked if I had any more photos from the park because apparently these photos are very rare. A quick Google search confirmed for me that there really aren't many pictures around. This leads me to 3 possible conclusions:

1. They don't exist.
2. Nobody has put them online.
3. Nobody cares.

In the event that it is either option 1 or 2, I decided to do this stranger a favor and put all of my MGA pictures on photobucket. These pictures are kind of unique not only because they are rare shots of a dead park but they are from the first 6 months of operation and include backstage shots. If you are a theme park geek like me, I think you might enjoy them.

And if anyone happens to have any pictures from this park I would love to get copies. Thanks! Here are my links:

MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park Photos
MGM Grand Casino "Oz" Photos (Opening Year)
Kaleidoscope / 3 Stooges Show & Backstage Photos

Mike's Theme Park Design Manifesto

2008-12-05T21:21:00.000-08:00

Attention theme park design industry! I have taken your most precious human resource hostage and will kill him if the following demands are not met in the next 60 seconds or so. You heard me correctly. Comply with the following list or Michael Eisner goes head first into the chipper / shredder. Look at the picture - you can clearly see I have him in my clutches! I know how important he is to you and how much some of you miss his direct leadership so you better take me seriously or else! Behold my manifesto:

These are things I’ve been meaning to get off my chest for a long time regarding some things I feel are basic design flaws (unintentional and sometimes otherwise) in American theme parks (this isn't just about Disney). It’s nothing particularly trailblazing or industry revolutionizing but I figure that my readership here consists mostly of me and my Mom (and few would really stop me from mulching Mr. E anyway) so I can feel free to express my unsolicited opinions with impunity. As a disclaimer, I know all about guest flow, hourly ride capacities, synergy, merchandising product placement, and other miscellaneous practical evils. I worked at WDI long enough to have those necessities hammered into me. This is a list of things that drive me nuts as a guest. Things that I wish there was a way to either eliminate or soften the blow. Maybe one day I’ll get the opportunity to help solve these problems. Until then, I shall rant in no particular order as I fuel up the Binford.

1 - DOES MY CAR HAVE TO BUY A TICKET?

This is such an evil scam to me. On some level, I suppose the idea is to discourage the parking lot from being used for purposes other than for visiting the parks but the reality is that this is the theme park equivalent of “shipping and handling”. It is just a cruel way of tricking unsuspecting guests into giving up more money last minute when they often don’t expect it and have no other choice. The attractions can certainly survive without the revenue or simply make it up with a SLIGHT increase in the ticket prices (since multiple tickets generally equate to a single vehicle). It just irks me that something so clearly hitting below the belt comes from companies claiming to put guest service first.

2 - CATTLE CALLS

“Please fill in all available space”. No, dammit. Make the room bigger. There are a few places where this makes sense. A few. For example: the stretch room in Disney’s Haunted Mansion dictates this by necessity of what is happening not because actual space concerns. Outside of these rare situations, there are 2 reasons why this bothers me. Firstly, it should never happen in a queue line. The average American feels a sense of order and security from a place in line. By filling in all available space, this sense of order is disturbed and suddenly jockeying for position starts to take hold. Instead of enjoying the experience, the experience becomes a minor threat or challenge. The goal of these attractions should never be to create stress, no matter how small. And secondly (speaking of stress), filling in all available space in a static environment like a preshow or waiting area creates a cattle pen sensation that is naturally unpleasant and shouldn't require explanation. Regardless of your personal level of hygiene, everyone visiting a theme park stinks by lunch. We don’t want to squeeze together in tight spaces.

3 - THANKS FOR RIDING OUR NEW STORE’S PRESHOW

Synergy. I get it. Everything has a tie-in these days. Merchandising is king. Profits are good. Profits do keep the park open. However, not every new attraction has to exit into a store. It’s tacky and it really messes with traffic flow, especially on rainy days when nobody wants to go outside. Maybe a compromise? Can we exit into the side of a store with a semi-clear path out but have a view that may still entice us with shiny, pricy, candy-like, melamine-tainted goods? That way there is a choice to exit or stay instead of feeling like the lapbar goes up and we are ejected face-first into the nearest plush mountain fixture.

4 - LAND CRACK

This is something I saw only once and it was at a park that is closed now but it was so offensive to me that it’s going on the list. NEVER split a land in half. Astroworld in Houston, TX had a land called Oriental Village. It literally had a wall built right down the middle of it that split it in half. The wall looked vaguely like the Great Wall of China and had a gate in it that remained closed most of the year (except peak days). On the guide maps, it looked like one continuous land and it was not uncommon to see bewildered and frustrated guests standing on either side of this gate yelling at park employees about it being closed. So what was the deal? By closing the gate, guests were forced to walk all the way around through another land called Nottingham Village. Aside from one small coaster, Nottingham was home to most of the park’s midway games... a huge profit center.

5 - LINE UP PEOPLE

It amazes me that the same companies that are so good at creating state of the art queue line experiences for their attractions can’t seem to create even the simplest proper queues for fast food locations and shops. During peak meal times, lines in most food locations are closer to mob scenes even up to the registers. It’s not always clear how the line system is supposed to work. At major shops, especially at closing time, lines for the registers are equally confusing and almost like battle lines. It seems like both of these situations might be mitigated with some line distinction. Maybe some stanchions? Even temporary ones during peak times? Just saying...

6 - TURN BACK NOW

This is typically not something done in the design process. It usually results from parks being modified over time... but it still causes suck. Dead ends. Nothing causes a clusterflock of tourists faster than a dead end. If you want to see an awesome example of how bad this can get, go to Splash and Thunder Mountains at Walt Disney World. Again, this wasn’t done intentionally and they’ve made attempts to relieve the stress but the traffic patterns are still pretty messed up.

7 - NOT EVERYTHING HAS TO STAR KRUSTY THE CLOWN

Alien Encounter at the Magic Kingdom park was a personal favorite of mine. For the record, I like it’s replacement too but that isn’t where I’m going with this. Alien (and it’s predecessors for that matter) represented something fairly rare with some of the bigger name players like Disney and Universal (and to a lesser degree Six Flags). Original material or content created specifically for that attraction. I love all the attractions these companies have created based on movies and existing characters but I’d like to see more original work being created. There have been some wonderful gems when they do it. Islands of Adventure, Tokyo Disney Seas, and Disney’s California Adventure all contain great examples. However, these great attractions tend to arrive with new parks. It would be nice to see the old parks get a couple of original pieces once in a while (and I mean other than Epcot).

8 - THEATERS ARE FOR BUTTS

This is pretty simple. People don’t want to go into a theater, even a short preshow theater, only to discover that they can’t sit down. It is cruel to say, “thanks for standing in line all this time in order to keep standing”. And you can’t sit on the floor? Are you making fun of us? The safety thing does make sense. There is the issue of tripping and being stepped on. Benches! A token gesture really. Oh, and “leaning rails”. This torture device is a fixture of the Circle-vision theater. It looks like you can sit on it, but you better not. Just endure. Again, I realize the idea is to be able to look all around you but my torso and neck are relatively flexible. Again, I say... benches. Help a brother with beat feet out.

9 - GREAT BIG WALL MAPS, WHERE ARE THOU?

Once upon a time, I was a collector of a wonderful space eating monstrosity known as the theme park wall map. Both Disney and Six Flags (and others) produced huge cartoon “Where’s Waldo”-like incarnations of their park maps. Each year, they’d release a new version and often they would even include little hidden scenes and vignettes among the depictions of the rides. They were like time capsules. And did I mention they were huge! I have a bunch of these and I love them all. Alas, I can’t find them anymore. This is a lost art and I wish they’d bring it back.

10 - I’M PEEING IN THIS RESTAURANT, TELL ME WHERE

Every major food location should have restrooms. All input produces output. This is simple biology or am I the only one that took that class? Anyway, it really bothers me when the answer to the question, “where is the restroom?” starts with, “exit the restaurant and go...”. No, wrong! This is a violation that happens in casinos (which I see as an extension of the theme park industry) a lot but I’ve seen it happen in the parks to a lesser degree as well. Don’t make me put down a newspaper and scare the other patrons. You know I will.

OK, I’m done now. Please feel free to tell me how I’m wrong. I’m ready to be debated. Just know that you are too late and the blood of your leader is making my roses grow right now...

The City of Sin and Family Fun

2008-10-05T21:18:00.000-07:00

I saw a lady puking in the Mirage parking garage last night and it got me thinking. I really miss the old Vegas. No, I’m not speaking of the typical Rat Pack and “holes in the desert” Vegas. I’m talking about Disneyland for grown-ups AND their kids.

I moved here the first time at the end of 1993 to open the MGM Grand Adventures theme park. At that time, all the hotels were trying to be theme parks. It was great for me. There were rollercoasters everywhere, a giant pyramid filled with simulators and detailed theming, an entire hotel that was like Pirates of the Caribbean 2.0 (with a freakin’ ship that sank!), the very first and only Cirque permanent show, a Roman mall replete with animatronic laser shows and magic caverns, and a chance to beam aboard the Starship Enterprise. It was theme park nerd heaven.

Despite the fact that Vegas is a relatively small and historically young city, I think it has had more facelifts than just about any other. You are hard pressed to find any original parts. Name any other city that the average person has heard of and you can find it still contains elements from it’s past. In Vegas, that is predominantly relegated to archival photos. I’ve now experienced it firsthand.

I spent 4 years here, gained a wealth of experience in my industry, and found the love of my life. Then I ran off to Florida to chase my dreams for a bit (bit = decade). So here I am, back in the city 10 years later and the atmosphere is different. It doesn’t even look the same. It’s not bad but I do miss the old version. Now the rollercoasters are falling apart, the pyramid is filled with Criss Angel, the pirate ship still sinks (but it is caused by bad lip-syncing instead of cannons), there will soon be 7 Cirque shows here (not a complaint), the Roman mall has gone “high end”, and the Enterprise was recently decommissioned.

The current vibe of the city is nightclubs. Guys in carefully untucked “going out” shirts with girls wearing minimized dresses and maximized heels rule the strip right now. Loud music, lots of booze, and pretty clones in various VIP lines with velvet rope. The main side effect is the aforementioned puking in the parking garage. The secondary effect is the homogenization of the city. Everything is going high end club culture and anything remotely unique in appearance is being flattened into the same marble floor and wood panel with tangerine accents “look”. Seriously, when did the ugly furniture that your parents finally threw out in 1979 become hot again?

OK, I’ll stop now since this sounds more ranty than I actually want it to be. I’m just feeling nostalgic again. I know I’m in the minority and I clearly don’t know what is best for making money in this city but I swear there is a market for people like me. We don’t want to puke in the garage – we want to experience warp speed, dammit!

Back from Disneyland

2007-12-08T20:55:00.000-08:00

Let me start with a warning. I am a hardcore Disney nerd. I have loved the company since I was 10 and my ultimate goal has never wavered from becoming a Disney attraction / show designer since then (even though I left WDW recently). As such, you should know that I am about to talk major Disney nerd style in this blog about my recent trip to Disneyland. Proceed with caution...

Everything was great. Danny and I took a quick 2-day trip to do the parks with almost no itinerary and no cameras (though Danny did buy a disposable on the 2nd day). The idea was to wander free and unencumbered and just be spontaneous. It worked and it was great. The weather was decent and the crowds were too. Perfect conditions.

Having worked for Disney World for almost a decade, Disneyland is kind of the untainted Disney Mecca for me. I can go there and see it as old memories and new experiences without thinking about "work stuff". And they have so much new stuff to see since my last visit in 2003. My review:

Tower of Terror really misses having the load shaft and 5th dimension but the mirror trick and larger boiler room are very cool.

Haunted Mansion Holiday is simply too amazing to describe. This is an update to a classic that out-performs the original to me (and I love the original). I know they've been doing this seasonally for a while but I hadn't caught it before. We did this twice. Amazing.

Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage really beat my expectations. I wasn't sure what to expect but the visuals seemed almost impossible in places. Very entertaining and worth the 50 minute wait (although I understand it gets much longer sometimes).

The Space Mountain is perfect. Basically a new skin in the queue line but it really updates without fundamentally changing anything. The new music is cool too. Oh, and the glass load gates are SO Tron.

The Small World Holiday is worth seeing the ride inside once but it wasn't that big of a change for me. The music is clever and some of the decorations are cool (especially in the Central and South American scenes). The best part is outside though. The lighting and video projections on the facade are awesome.

The Aladdin show was fun. The sets were good and the Genie was very funny (they keep his humor topical). The flying carpet was a nice piece of automation and the elephant puppet was cool too. Of of the spot ops was apparently drunk though.

The Buzz Lightyear out here has several improvements over WDW including tethered guns and more advanced gameplay. Fun! The new Pooh ride is basically a short and out of order version of the one in WDW with a strange outdoor loading room. Eh. The update to Pirates is also the same as WDW but the Pirates ride here was always better than Florida anyway so it still wins!

Of course, Danny and I hit Indiana Jones twice (still one of the best things Disney has ever done), Roger Rabbit, California Screamin' (with louder audio so you can hear it now), Matterhorn, etc. All the memories from our once and twice yearly trips while I lived in Vegas the first (94 - 97) time came rushing back.

We had a lovely dinner at Yamabuki at the Paradise Pier Hotel and the classic lunch at Blue Bayou in Disneyland as well. Both were excellent.

So we are back now and my creative juices are flowing again. It was a bit like a battery recharge for me. In a moment of convenience, the Cirque du Soleil design competition just started today as well. Cosmic timing?

Anyway, back to the day (night) job.