WEBVTT - How the Great Movie Ride Worked 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:11.920 --> 0:00:14.600 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:14.720 --> 0:00:17.240 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio. 0:00:17.440 --> 0:00:20.280 And how the tech are you, y'all? I got something 0:00:20.360 --> 0:00:24.560 special today. I've brought in a special guest. I guess that. Frankly, 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:27.120 I could have asked to be on tech Stuff for 0:00:27.320 --> 0:00:29.400 numerous reasons. I could have asked him because he's a 0:00:29.400 --> 0:00:32.880 content creator. He's a podcaster, he's a co founder of 0:00:32.920 --> 0:00:38.760 an incredibly popular UH network of content. He is an 0:00:38.920 --> 0:00:42.280 organizer for massive charity events that work with organizations like 0:00:42.320 --> 0:00:44.000 Extra Life. I mean, the list goes on and on. 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:46.360 But the reason I asked him here is because he's 0:00:46.400 --> 0:00:50.920 also a lifelong connoisseur of theme parks and a former 0:00:51.000 --> 0:00:55.960 Disney cast member. Welcome to tech Stuff, Mr Jack Pattillo, Hey, 0:00:55.960 --> 0:00:57.840 thank you so much for having me on. Yeah, jeez, 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:00.760 thank you for all of the list of things I've done. 0:01:00.760 --> 0:01:03.880 I've never felt older than I do right now. How 0:01:03.880 --> 0:01:05.600 about how about I hit you with this, Jack, It 0:01:05.640 --> 0:01:08.759 has been twenty years since you worked for Disney. Oh 0:01:08.800 --> 0:01:13.200 my gosh, ye two thousand two, Man, it was it 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:15.240 was spring of two thousand two is when I was 0:01:15.280 --> 0:01:17.200 out there the first time I so I worked. I 0:01:17.240 --> 0:01:19.600 did the Walt Disney World College Program so, which is 0:01:19.600 --> 0:01:22.800 a fantastic program, highly recommended if you're a college kid 0:01:22.840 --> 0:01:25.679 looking to not have responsibility for a semester. I did 0:01:25.680 --> 0:01:27.880 it twice. I did back in two thousand two and 0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:30.440 again in two thousand and five. And both of the 0:01:30.520 --> 0:01:33.080 rides I worked on are shut down now, which is 0:01:33.120 --> 0:01:35.800 sad I worked over it. It was Disney MGM Studios 0:01:35.840 --> 0:01:38.240 now it's Disney's Hollywood Studios. I worked at the Great 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:40.960 Movie Ride, which is now Mickey Mini's Runaway Railway. And 0:01:41.000 --> 0:01:43.240 I worked at the back lot tour, specifically the water 0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:45.560 tank portion. I got to talk about Michael Bay in 0:01:45.560 --> 0:01:49.760 Pearl Harbor, and that is now where Batsu is where 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:52.240 all of the Star Wars stuff is, or so it's 0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:55.640 I think between there, maybe Toy story Land. It's kind 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:57.640 of like in that general area, it's basically it's just 0:01:57.800 --> 0:02:01.000 walking path now where I was right it's it's it's 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:03.800 one of the hottest sections of the park when you're 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:06.760 out there because there's absolutely no shade and it's it's 0:02:06.800 --> 0:02:11.639 just a massive cooking surface that has tourists on it. 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:14.640 Uh yeah, And I thought today we could talk a 0:02:14.680 --> 0:02:17.799 bit about the Great Movie Ride in particular and talk 0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:20.760 because there was some really cool innovative technologies that were 0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:23.480 incorporated into that experience. But I also want to hear 0:02:23.520 --> 0:02:26.680 from you, as a cast member who worked on the ride, 0:02:26.840 --> 0:02:30.000 what the cast member experience was, because as someone who 0:02:30.000 --> 0:02:33.639 has had been on that ride many times throughout its run, 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:38.880 including early on in the earliest days of Disney MGM Studios, 0:02:39.440 --> 0:02:41.560 I know what it's like to ride the ride. But 0:02:41.680 --> 0:02:44.200 what was it like to work on the ride? So 0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:46.079 first of all, can you kind of give us an 0:02:46.080 --> 0:02:50.600 overview of what the Great Movie Ride was? Sure my 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:53.000 my pitch for the Great Movie Ride after someone would 0:02:53.000 --> 0:02:55.040 walk up after after I guess we'll walk up and say, 0:02:55.120 --> 0:02:56.639 is this a ride? And it's like, it's called the 0:02:56.639 --> 0:02:58.400 Great Movie Ride. Yes, it is a ride. It's a 0:02:58.560 --> 0:03:02.600 slow moving tram ride through the movies. It's twenty two 0:03:02.639 --> 0:03:05.560 minutes long, uh never goes more than four miles per hour, 0:03:05.960 --> 0:03:08.560 and uh yeah, and there are live actors. It's it's 0:03:08.600 --> 0:03:10.639 one of the few. It's well at the time, I 0:03:10.680 --> 0:03:13.919 was one of the few UM Tour toured our excuse me, 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:18.440 guided attractions, so like Jungle Cruise, UM, the Kiloman Jari, 0:03:18.480 --> 0:03:20.560 Safari's over an Animal Kingdom, and those are really the 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:23.280 only ones left at the time. King Kong Over Universal 0:03:23.320 --> 0:03:25.919 Studios had it as well, and we were a guided tour. 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:27.640 You had a host that would stay in there and 0:03:27.720 --> 0:03:30.280 spiel and then at one point, you know what, it 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:32.640 would change up. But it was a slow moving ride 0:03:32.720 --> 0:03:34.920 that takes you through some of the most classic movies 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:38.280 of all time, from Singing in the Rains, Mary Poppins 0:03:38.280 --> 0:03:43.640 to kind of the Gangster era, h Westerns, Aliens, Uh Raiders, 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:46.560 The Lost Arc, Wizard of Oz, all all kinds of 0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:50.520 amazing things with us some really awesome animatronics. Um. Well, 0:03:50.520 --> 0:03:52.880 when I described the ride, I would always say, this 0:03:53.120 --> 0:03:55.240 is the ride that Walt Disney would have made if 0:03:55.240 --> 0:03:58.920 he had access to these fancy animatronics. Uh. It felt 0:03:58.960 --> 0:04:02.120 like very much a classic Disney ride, And I always 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:04.440 love that a lot of people they were fans, they 0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:06.200 weren't as big of fans because it's not a thrill ride. 0:04:06.200 --> 0:04:09.480 It's not a huge um you know, like, it's not 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:11.840 it's not you know, like rock and roller coaster. It's 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:14.840 nothing super super fast, But I liked it because it 0:04:14.920 --> 0:04:17.320 kind of it was informative, like informative you gotta learn 0:04:17.360 --> 0:04:19.640 a little bit about movies and uh. And also it 0:04:19.720 --> 0:04:22.679 was you got some spectacle some like these magical things 0:04:22.720 --> 0:04:25.080 happen and um, and it's all over the course of 0:04:25.120 --> 0:04:27.279 twenty two minutes, so it tells a nice little story 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:30.520 compact within the ride. And I really really loved it, 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:32.920 and it's sad to see it go. Mickey Many is nice, 0:04:33.000 --> 0:04:34.599 like it's it's a fun ride. It's it's kind of 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:37.560 cool that we got replaced by the very first Mickey 0:04:37.600 --> 0:04:40.680 Mouse theme park ride ever, which is kind of cool, 0:04:40.880 --> 0:04:43.680 and that's coming out to Anaheim as well now pretty soon. 0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:47.080 But but yeah, it's um, it was a very special 0:04:47.120 --> 0:04:49.680 attraction and I and I miss it. And but at 0:04:49.720 --> 0:04:51.479 least the facade is still there. I still have my 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:55.760 memories of the Chinese Theater out in Disney Hollywood Studios 0:04:55.839 --> 0:04:58.320 and so, and there's there's lots of little fun Easter 0:04:58.360 --> 0:05:00.720 eggs out in front, even like even things that are 0:05:00.760 --> 0:05:03.240 still there to this day. But I don't know if 0:05:03.240 --> 0:05:06.560 there's any any Easter eggs inside of Mickey and minis 0:05:06.600 --> 0:05:08.560 of the Great Movie Ride, you know, like, I'm sure 0:05:08.560 --> 0:05:10.719 there's something hidden away, squirreled away somewhere that I just 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:13.960 don't know about. But yeah, it's it's It was a 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:15.160 good time. It was a lot of fun time. It 0:05:15.200 --> 0:05:16.719 was it was one of my favorite sort of times 0:05:16.720 --> 0:05:19.080 in my life. I was, I think twenty years old. 0:05:19.160 --> 0:05:21.960 I had no responsibility. I drove out from Texas all 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:25.200 the way out to Orlando and had a great time. Yeah, 0:05:25.240 --> 0:05:29.800 and uh, you know, the the theming was phenomenal. You had, 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:32.640 like you said, the Chinese theaters the facade. Uh, they 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:36.159 couldn't actually use Grammins Chinese Theater as the name because 0:05:36.560 --> 0:05:40.279 Grammins wouldn't allow that, but it was the Chinese theater 0:05:40.400 --> 0:05:43.480 and it looked like it did back in the Golden 0:05:43.560 --> 0:05:49.520 age of Hollywood, complete with celebrity handprint and footprints outside 0:05:49.520 --> 0:05:52.839 in the in the sidewalk cement. And then you had 0:05:53.080 --> 0:05:57.080 actual movie memorabilia and props that were in the queuing 0:05:57.120 --> 0:06:00.520 area so you could actually see like the arc from Raiders, 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:03.880 Lost Arc and things of that nature. And you also 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:06.640 were shown trailers for some of the movies that we're 0:06:06.640 --> 0:06:10.080 going to be featured within the actual ride itself. And 0:06:10.120 --> 0:06:12.400 as you say, Jack, it told a story, which to 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:14.920 me was was the thing that Disney did better than 0:06:15.000 --> 0:06:17.279 anyone else for the longest time. Now we've started to 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:20.760 see other parks kind of pick up that torch and 0:06:20.839 --> 0:06:24.200 run with it, but for the longest time, Disney was 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:26.760 just that was the king when it came to an 0:06:26.800 --> 0:06:30.160 attraction that also tells the story, and not only that, 0:06:30.200 --> 0:06:33.560 but puts the guests into the story. You're not just 0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:35.680 watching it, you're kind of immersed in it as you're 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:38.720 going through all these different scenes. And Uh, as a 0:06:38.800 --> 0:06:40.760 cast member, what what were some of your duties, Like 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:43.360 what roles did you work when you were working on 0:06:43.360 --> 0:06:46.240 that ride? Yeah, So when I was there, they actually 0:06:46.240 --> 0:06:48.640 were just bringing in a new system. I think it's 0:06:48.680 --> 0:06:52.560 called c r S. It was a computer system that 0:06:53.320 --> 0:06:54.800 they would give you a list of roles. So they 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:57.039 had input a list of rolls into this computer and 0:06:57.080 --> 0:06:59.119 the computer would track who needs to go on break, 0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:00.720 who needs to go on lunch, and stuff like that. 0:07:01.000 --> 0:07:03.000 So if you're on break, you know, once you're done, 0:07:03.040 --> 0:07:04.839 you would go to this machine and say I'm back, 0:07:05.120 --> 0:07:07.160 and it would print out a slip and that slip 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:10.000 would say you go to Position A, and then you 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:11.800 go there hand the slip off to that person. They 0:07:11.840 --> 0:07:14.720 would then move to position B and the waterfall down 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:16.920 so the person at the bottom wouldn't take break, which 0:07:16.960 --> 0:07:19.360 actually was pretty cool because you never stood in one 0:07:19.400 --> 0:07:21.280 spot for too long. You were always moving around. It 0:07:21.280 --> 0:07:23.080 was always kind of fresh. You never really got tired 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:25.920 of it. Um. But I mean we did everything on 0:07:25.960 --> 0:07:29.040 the attraction. The the main tour guides are the people 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:31.920 the suspenders and the hat um. They would do everything 0:07:32.000 --> 0:07:34.640 from running the vehicles like dry or like driving the 0:07:34.680 --> 0:07:37.840 vehicles doing the spiel um, to all the to working 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:40.160 the fronts like working entrance as well. So we would 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:42.400 put on this orange jacket that would go on over 0:07:42.480 --> 0:07:44.840 our tour guide outfit and change our hats like this 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:48.800 orange hat and that was like our our host spot basically. Um. 0:07:48.880 --> 0:07:51.840 The only thing in a typical cast member wouldn't do 0:07:52.280 --> 0:07:55.280 on Great Movie Ride was be the bandit or the gangster. 0:07:55.400 --> 0:07:58.040 Those were specialized roles that if you were the bandit, 0:07:58.080 --> 0:07:59.640 you were the bandit all day. If you were the 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:01.320 gangster you were something. I mean, you were the gangster 0:08:01.360 --> 0:08:03.720 all day. But basically those roles, but they would be 0:08:03.760 --> 0:08:06.000 trained for both of them. The cast members would be 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:08.440 trained for both of those roles. Um, at the time 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:12.160 when I was there, college program, Uh, employees are cast 0:08:12.200 --> 0:08:15.520 members couldn't be they bandit or the gangster. I think 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:18.720 they changed that later on just due to staffing stuff. Um, 0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:20.480 but that which was which was sad because I always 0:08:20.480 --> 0:08:22.520 wanted to be the bandit or gangster. But you actually 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:25.880 had to be firearm trained in order to be either 0:08:25.960 --> 0:08:28.280 of those characters because they did have an actual pistol 0:08:28.560 --> 0:08:32.160 that fired blanks. And um, yeah, that that was the 0:08:32.200 --> 0:08:33.440 one thing that I ain't gonna do. But you know, 0:08:33.640 --> 0:08:37.040 everyone everyone there was family. Everyone knew everyone. Like the 0:08:37.280 --> 0:08:39.880 it was. It was a healthy mix of these old 0:08:39.920 --> 0:08:41.520 timers that have been around. I say old timers, but 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:42.920 the people that have been around, you know for like 0:08:43.000 --> 0:08:45.480 five to ten years. We had a gentleman there who 0:08:45.480 --> 0:08:47.600 opened the attraction back in eighty nine, who was still 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:50.880 there in two thousand two, um, and then a bunch 0:08:50.920 --> 0:08:52.760 of college kids. So like basically they would keep it. 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:54.760 We would keep it fresh because every six months or 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:57.679 so there'd be new new blood and so it never 0:08:57.720 --> 0:08:59.960 got really boring. And uh and even when I was there, 0:09:00.000 --> 0:09:02.120 I did they extended one so I went from January 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:04.160 all the way to August. So I saw like summer 0:09:04.240 --> 0:09:06.240 kids coming in and like the new batch of people 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:09.400 coming in for the fall semester, and it was just fun. 0:09:09.480 --> 0:09:12.840 It was it was just a blast. And um yeah, 0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:14.720 I mean there's some really cool things that that the 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:17.920 castombers gotta do. Now. One one my first bit of 0:09:18.040 --> 0:09:21.040 trivia for you. So the vehicles themselves, they were on 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:24.120 a track. You couldn't see the track. It was actually 0:09:24.559 --> 0:09:27.120 a m There was like sensors in the vehicle and 0:09:27.160 --> 0:09:29.880 that the vehicle would turn and there was invisible track 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:32.320 kind of in between. There was nothing connecting the actual 0:09:32.440 --> 0:09:34.840 vehicle to the floor, but it would just kind of 0:09:34.840 --> 0:09:36.360 stay on top of it. I don't know the full 0:09:36.360 --> 0:09:39.000 technology behind it. Um. So it's kind of like Rise 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:41.720 of Resistance where there's just like a trackless course, except 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:44.000 there was like a line of metal or something. There 0:09:44.040 --> 0:09:47.000 was something keeping it where it needed to go. But 0:09:47.440 --> 0:09:49.480 the tech guys there then the engineers who worked in 0:09:49.520 --> 0:09:52.160 the attraction, which they actually we had a whole engineering 0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:54.400 bay where they would fix up vehicles and fix animatronics 0:09:54.400 --> 0:09:57.440 and stuff. Um, those guys could actually disable that and 0:09:57.520 --> 0:09:59.840 literally drive it around. Like hypothetically, they could have taken 0:09:59.880 --> 0:10:01.400 one the things out into the park and it's driven 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:04.160 it around if they wanted to, which would have been amazing, 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:07.000 but uh but no, it's so that was kind of cool. 0:10:07.040 --> 0:10:10.120 And the vehicles themselves they were uh seven rows. There 0:10:10.160 --> 0:10:12.679 was there was two two vehicles. There's basically it's technically 0:10:12.679 --> 0:10:16.199 a tractor trailer where you have the front vehicle had 0:10:16.200 --> 0:10:18.800 all the motors and everything in it, and the back trailer. 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:21.040 The back vehicle was literally just a trailer, had nothing 0:10:21.040 --> 0:10:23.040 in it other than wheels, and so the front one 0:10:23.080 --> 0:10:25.880 would pull it. Um. There were four speeds on it, 0:10:26.240 --> 0:10:28.640 so it was either stopped one to three or four 0:10:29.000 --> 0:10:31.000 and depending on where we were in the track, we 0:10:31.000 --> 0:10:33.600 would go with those different speeds and um and also 0:10:33.640 --> 0:10:37.000 the track could it could it could actually activate different speeds, 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:39.120 so like at some points, if you put it on four, 0:10:39.600 --> 0:10:41.480 it would just go and then there were sensors that 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:44.120 would trigger it to actually slow down the vehicle to 0:10:44.200 --> 0:10:47.000 a stop. So like you know, you could be focused 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:49.520 on speeling and the ride itself would come to a 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:51.440 stop and then you would throw it into park. Like 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:53.000 it wouldn't just kick off on its own. You have 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:54.520 to throw it in a park and restarted to get 0:10:54.559 --> 0:10:56.560 it to go again, and that was important when you 0:10:56.600 --> 0:10:58.640 were speeling going is like you know, the like gangster 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:02.320 alley or banded area and um but yeah, god man, 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:03.800 I'm I'm trying to think of all the easter eggs 0:11:03.840 --> 0:11:05.840 has been. It's been twenty years, been two decades as 0:11:05.840 --> 0:11:08.920 I've been out there, man, So well, you're doing great. 0:11:08.960 --> 0:11:11.200 I mean, I can give a little more context with 0:11:11.320 --> 0:11:16.360 the ride system. So the system that was under essentially 0:11:16.480 --> 0:11:19.280 under the floor, really embedded in the floor was a 0:11:19.320 --> 0:11:23.800 guide wire that would emit radio frequency radiation. So just 0:11:23.920 --> 0:11:29.599 radio waves. Radiation is radiation because it is part of 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:34.400 the electromagnetic frequency, but it's not like radioactive. There is 0:11:34.400 --> 0:11:38.840 a difference. Um, yeah, we're talking non ionizing. Don't worry, Jack. 0:11:39.040 --> 0:11:42.319 The gray ride did not did not doom, you know. 0:11:43.360 --> 0:11:46.280 The It's just radio frequency radiation. So it's it's r F. 0:11:46.360 --> 0:11:47.679 It's like the same sort of thing you would use 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:50.880 for walkie talkies or radios or anything along those lines. 0:11:51.360 --> 0:11:55.760 And the trams had within them essentially sensors that could 0:11:55.760 --> 0:12:00.800 pick up that frequency. And if the frequency start to drift, 0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:03.160 like if it started to get two weak on one side, 0:12:03.240 --> 0:12:05.520 that was a signal to the tram that it needed 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:08.360 to make an adjustment and turn in order to return 0:12:08.440 --> 0:12:11.600 the signal to its strongest point in the center of 0:12:11.640 --> 0:12:14.000 its sensors. So it gets a little weak on the 0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:15.720 right side. That means it's time for you to turn 0:12:15.800 --> 0:12:18.120 left because of your signal is actually moving to your left. 0:12:18.600 --> 0:12:21.000 That was the basic idea. So it was really just 0:12:21.240 --> 0:12:24.520 following this this wire all the way through the attraction, 0:12:24.520 --> 0:12:28.880 which was almost like, uh, something like two thousand feet 0:12:28.920 --> 0:12:31.439 long something like that. It was crazy how long it was, 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:34.319 Like you said, twenty two minutes for the whole thing. Yeah. 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:37.640 The vehicles themselves too, they were all electric, and so 0:12:37.800 --> 0:12:40.160 there were paths throughout the attraction at different points where 0:12:40.200 --> 0:12:44.640 you would stop that magnets would actually connect the batteries 0:12:44.679 --> 0:12:47.480 to the chargers. So at the dock, the vehicles will 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:50.160 park and an actual like magnet would pull the charger 0:12:50.320 --> 0:12:52.320 up to the bottom of the vehicle in order to 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:54.040 actually charge up the vehicle. And then there there were 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:55.760 different spots throughout the ride that it would do that. 0:12:55.880 --> 0:12:57.960 So it would do it there dock, it would do 0:12:58.000 --> 0:13:00.439 it in front of the gangster area, in front of 0:13:00.440 --> 0:13:03.640 the bandit area, in front of a Nubis, which was 0:13:03.720 --> 0:13:07.320 the scene where the like the bandit or the gangster 0:13:07.360 --> 0:13:10.120 would go up and turn back into the the cast member. 0:13:10.679 --> 0:13:14.480 And um, I want to say, Wizard of Oz had one, 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:17.800 and then in the finale had one that maybe too many. 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:19.439 I think we got a five vehicles running at the 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:22.560 same time, so maybe not a Nubis, but um, but yeah, 0:13:22.559 --> 0:13:24.439 there were. There were a whole lot of them, and 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:26.680 we would park them at night, so like they were 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:28.480 basically when we were shutting off for the night, you 0:13:28.480 --> 0:13:30.160 would take all the vehicles and put them in spart 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:32.760 certain spots, park them and then they wanted to recharge 0:13:32.800 --> 0:13:34.880 overnight like I don't. When I was there, we never 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:37.880 had a vehicle die due to battery loss. Um, So 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:40.400 that's I imagine it was a good sign. Because those 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:42.840 things were big and they were very heavy, so moving 0:13:42.840 --> 0:13:45.959 them without power would be pretty tricky. I imagine, right 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:49.320 when you think of fourteen rows filled with people, that's 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:51.520 a lot of extra weight on top of the fact 0:13:51.559 --> 0:13:54.840 that these things are so big and bulky, so especially 0:13:54.880 --> 0:13:57.679 if there's a guest like me. Pandemic has not been 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:01.000 kind jack carrying around extra pounds. But that is a 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:03.280 great point. I love that you brought that in, because 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:05.120 that was something I did not actually come across in 0:14:05.160 --> 0:14:06.960 my research. It didn't even think about it, but of 0:14:07.000 --> 0:14:08.599 course it makes sense. I mean, if you're running on 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:11.160 an electric vehicle, you have to be able to at 0:14:11.240 --> 0:14:13.120 least top off the charge a little bit so that 0:14:13.160 --> 0:14:14.839 you can run it for as long as the park 0:14:14.960 --> 0:14:16.800 is open, and as we know, Disney parks can be 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:20.720 open for many, many hours. We'll be back with more 0:14:20.880 --> 0:14:24.520 about the Great Movie Ride and Disney Theme parks after 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:37.160 this quick break. This ride system was originally developed over 0:14:37.240 --> 0:14:39.960 at the Universe of Energy and Upcot, another attraction that 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:43.000 no longer exists. UH The Guardians of the Galaxy has 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:47.200 has replaced that area, but it was called the Traveling Theater, 0:14:47.640 --> 0:14:51.280 and for the Universe of Energy, it was more it 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:53.760 was more of a necessity because they had so many 0:14:53.840 --> 0:14:58.840 different uh moving theaters. These did not have an actual 0:14:59.080 --> 0:15:02.080 like tour guide as part of it either. That they 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:04.320 needed to be able to orient themselves properly to become 0:15:04.400 --> 0:15:07.960 kind of like theater seating for the movie sections of 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:12.040 the attraction and then go back into a configuration where 0:15:12.080 --> 0:15:14.520 they can move through the rest of it. So you 0:15:14.520 --> 0:15:16.960 had to have almost the sort of ballet of these 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:21.560 large pieces moving, and they determined they couldn't use physical tracks. 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:23.640 If they did, they would have to have a switching 0:15:23.680 --> 0:15:27.240 system to switch each one physically to where it needed 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:29.080 to go. And it was just going to be too complicated, 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:32.640 too loud, and too expensive, and so they had to 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:36.360 invent a technology. So necessity is the mother of invention. 0:15:36.640 --> 0:15:38.920 Later on, as I understand it, they actually replaced the 0:15:38.960 --> 0:15:42.720 guide wire with electronic pucks that essentially did the same thing. 0:15:43.080 --> 0:15:46.360 It just wasn't a continuous wire anymore, but served the 0:15:46.400 --> 0:15:49.160 same purpose. And I'm glad that you were able to 0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:52.080 work on it in that span of time. Obviously, it 0:15:52.120 --> 0:15:53.880 was a little different from when it first opened. The 0:15:54.040 --> 0:15:58.160 very first uh sequence that you encounter when you're on 0:15:58.200 --> 0:16:01.840 the ride, after you've entered into the movie section is 0:16:02.040 --> 0:16:08.320 uh Buzby Berkeley footlight parade experience. When that originally opened, 0:16:08.520 --> 0:16:13.280 the characters that you see behind a scrim birthday cake, 0:16:13.480 --> 0:16:17.680 the birthday cake, originally those rotated, right you had, Yeah, 0:16:17.960 --> 0:16:20.560 every other one would rotate. Yeah. Buzby Berkeley he was 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:22.160 he was known for doing. He was actually a drill 0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:24.400 sergeant in the military and he ended up making movies 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:27.080 in Hollywood when they were all about spectacle, and so 0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:31.880 he would do these elaborate choreograph numbers with hundreds of people, 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:34.600 and uh in Footlight Parade, there was a scene where 0:16:34.640 --> 0:16:36.760 it was a whole like it was a pole scene. 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:40.160 So it's all these women in matching swimsuits and they 0:16:40.200 --> 0:16:42.320 would do choreograph dances and water and stuff. And one 0:16:42.360 --> 0:16:44.520 of the scenes that they came out of the water 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:47.080 in this sort of birthday cake looking thing. It was 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:50.200 three tiers with women, you know, like in circles around it, 0:16:50.680 --> 0:16:52.360 and so we had that. It was the first thing 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:54.440 you saw when you first pulled into the Gray movie 0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:56.160 right back in eighty nine when it open, you would 0:16:56.200 --> 0:16:58.400 that was like you would go in, go through this 0:16:58.440 --> 0:17:00.920 beautiful procenium all in knee on of you know, like 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:02.960 because the ideas you're entering the movie, so it's like 0:17:03.000 --> 0:17:04.560 you go through the screen and you're part of the 0:17:04.600 --> 0:17:07.520 movie now, and uh yeah, right there on your right side. Initially, 0:17:07.520 --> 0:17:10.800 apparently there was water and there were bubbles and these 0:17:10.840 --> 0:17:13.359 these things would spin and it was awesome. They actual 0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:15.919 they weren't animatronics because they were just mannequins. Because there 0:17:15.920 --> 0:17:18.359 were so many of them. But yeah, apparently that was 0:17:18.400 --> 0:17:21.040 the big thing that would falter the most. They kept 0:17:21.040 --> 0:17:23.760 breaking over and over and over again. So ultimately they 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:26.240 just ended up kind of walking in place, and I 0:17:26.280 --> 0:17:29.199 think initially they just they left the bubbles going, and 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:31.240 then ultimately they ended up putting a scrim in front 0:17:31.280 --> 0:17:34.560 of it and projecting images of them kind of doing 0:17:34.560 --> 0:17:38.120 their different dances and stuff. So yeah, I would imagine 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:41.720 that trying to rig up a rotating fountain, which is 0:17:41.800 --> 0:17:45.760 essentially what you had there, uh, is complicated on the 0:17:45.800 --> 0:17:49.240 best of days, and and there are stories that there 0:17:49.240 --> 0:17:52.240 were frequent issues where there would be flooding and that 0:17:52.280 --> 0:17:57.520 would obviously be a problem for moving giant electric trams through. 0:17:57.680 --> 0:18:01.359 And yeah, you can understand and why they nixed that 0:18:01.840 --> 0:18:05.160 after some some troubles. But it is kind of sad 0:18:05.200 --> 0:18:09.280 because it was one of those um nifty effects that 0:18:09.320 --> 0:18:11.800 you couldn't see anywhere else, and it also was the 0:18:11.840 --> 0:18:14.080 first thing you saw on this journey to the movies. 0:18:14.440 --> 0:18:17.160 Scaled back has slightly less of an impact, I think, 0:18:17.600 --> 0:18:20.679 uh as far as the effect goes, But then you 0:18:20.760 --> 0:18:23.720 move on and you start to encounter the various animatronics 0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:28.160 and they're there are two major types uh in the ride, 0:18:28.200 --> 0:18:32.439 the most famous arguably being the Wicked Witch of the 0:18:32.440 --> 0:18:35.199 West and the Wizard of Oz segment, because she was 0:18:35.280 --> 0:18:40.480 the very first A one hundred animatronic that Disney ever used, 0:18:40.520 --> 0:18:45.639 So like the terminator, there are designations for different generations 0:18:45.680 --> 0:18:48.600 of animatronics, and this was was the first of the 0:18:48.680 --> 0:18:53.080 A one generation, which I'm sure you got schooled on 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:56.760 all of that as you were joining the attraction a 0:18:56.840 --> 0:18:59.240 little bit. I mean, we knew she was special because 0:18:59.320 --> 0:19:01.399 the amount of a movement and like she had like 0:19:01.480 --> 0:19:03.600 dexterity in her fingers. That was a big thing, because 0:19:03.640 --> 0:19:06.199 she would point at you, which was great. Um. It 0:19:06.280 --> 0:19:08.160 was interesting though because she was by far the most 0:19:08.359 --> 0:19:10.760 elaborate animatronic at any of the parks for a while, 0:19:11.359 --> 0:19:15.160 and she was saddled up next to the Munchkins, who 0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:19.239 were some of the most basic animatronics anywhere. And one 0:19:19.560 --> 0:19:22.119 fun one fun story is when before we opened, or 0:19:22.160 --> 0:19:24.160 when we were closing for the night, we'd still rotate 0:19:24.200 --> 0:19:26.800 the vehicles through and the show scenes will still happen, 0:19:26.800 --> 0:19:29.199 would it be no sound? And so if you know 0:19:29.240 --> 0:19:33.120