1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:02,880 Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 2 00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:08,920 Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 3 00:00:09,080 --> 00:00:18,080 Speaker 1: tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello again, everybody, 4 00:00:18,079 --> 00:00:20,520 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff. My name is Chris Poulette. I 5 00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:22,800 Speaker 1: am an editor at how stuff works dot com. Believe 6 00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:25,520 Speaker 1: it or not, sitting across from me as he always does. 7 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:27,600 Speaker 1: Oh wait, I guess you could believe it. That'd be 8 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:32,840 Speaker 1: senior writer Jonathan Strickland. Guest, you gotta pull yourself together. 9 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:37,199 Speaker 1: You enjoy that, don't you. Yeah. So we have a 10 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:40,640 Speaker 1: little listener mail to lead into this podcast. So let's 11 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:48,400 Speaker 1: queue Liz with the sound effect. This listener mail comes 12 00:00:48,440 --> 00:00:51,479 Speaker 1: from Paul, and Paul says, Hi, I'm enjoying listening to 13 00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:53,479 Speaker 1: your podcast, and I wanted to add a new topic 14 00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:56,200 Speaker 1: to the tech stuff agenda. I'm a fan of theme 15 00:00:56,240 --> 00:00:58,400 Speaker 1: park rides and attraction show effects, and I always wanted 16 00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:00,480 Speaker 1: to know how some of them work. I love the 17 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:03,680 Speaker 1: ride Haunted Mansion at the Disney Parks. There's an effect 18 00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:06,480 Speaker 1: called the Pepper Ghost where they make the ghost appear 19 00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:08,760 Speaker 1: to come out of the wall and into your vehicle. 20 00:01:09,120 --> 00:01:11,840 Speaker 1: I would like to know the tech behind this effect. Thanks, 21 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:15,160 Speaker 1: and hope this topic is fun. Paul. Paul, you happen 22 00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:19,880 Speaker 1: to have sent this into at least one avowed Disney fanatic, 23 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:22,800 Speaker 1: which would be yours. Truly, I believe Chris is a 24 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:25,600 Speaker 1: bit of a fan as well. Yes, definitely so um. 25 00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:29,679 Speaker 1: I have been to the Walt Disney World Park more 26 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:34,920 Speaker 1: than thirty times. I've been to Disneyland probably around seven 27 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:37,759 Speaker 1: or eight times. I have not yet been to the 28 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:41,640 Speaker 1: ones in Europe or or in Asia. But yeah, clearly 29 00:01:41,720 --> 00:01:45,480 Speaker 1: I have a special place in my heart for the 30 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:48,840 Speaker 1: Disney um, the Disney Park attractions. So we're going to 31 00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:52,240 Speaker 1: answer your question about the pepper ghost effect. But actually 32 00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:54,200 Speaker 1: before we do that, we thought we'd talked about a 33 00:01:54,240 --> 00:02:00,440 Speaker 1: bigger topic, which is imagineering. Yes, well, imagineering um sort 34 00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:04,680 Speaker 1: of a it's sort of an obvious portmanteau, if you will, Yes, 35 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:07,960 Speaker 1: of imagination. It's always great to be able to use 36 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:11,040 Speaker 1: the word portmanteau. Yes it is. Yes, thank you very much, 37 00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:13,120 Speaker 1: and I'm sorry i interrupted you just as you were 38 00:02:13,960 --> 00:02:16,239 Speaker 1: explaining it. Please say it again that it is about 39 00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:20,280 Speaker 1: imagination and engineering. And I'm not even sure that Disney 40 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:23,399 Speaker 1: was the first to have come up with this term. 41 00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:25,840 Speaker 1: But they have embraced it wholeheartedly. Yes, to the point 42 00:02:25,919 --> 00:02:29,080 Speaker 1: where there's now actually Walt Disney Imagineering. It's a it's 43 00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:32,520 Speaker 1: an actual division within the company. Oh yes, yes, as 44 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:35,320 Speaker 1: a matter of fact, headquarters. Sorry I didn't mean enough. 45 00:02:35,320 --> 00:02:37,240 Speaker 1: That's okay, go ahead. And I have a had a 46 00:02:37,240 --> 00:02:39,320 Speaker 1: friend in high school who whose dream it was to 47 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:43,120 Speaker 1: become an imagineer. So I'm not sure how far he's 48 00:02:43,160 --> 00:02:46,079 Speaker 1: gone with that, but it's it sounds like any job. Yeah, 49 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:48,000 Speaker 1: it sounds like a pretty amazing job. Also sounds like 50 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:51,760 Speaker 1: it could potentially be a very frustrating job. But well 51 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:53,680 Speaker 1: we'll go into why that is in a minute. And 52 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:56,440 Speaker 1: when I say frustrating, I just mean that. Imagine that 53 00:02:56,520 --> 00:03:01,960 Speaker 1: your job is to come up with amaze attractions for 54 00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:04,760 Speaker 1: the Walt Disney Company. And we're talking about from top 55 00:03:04,800 --> 00:03:07,799 Speaker 1: to bottom, from every single element of design you can 56 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:10,880 Speaker 1: think of, including what sort of story it's supposed to 57 00:03:10,880 --> 00:03:13,120 Speaker 1: tell or what sort of mood it's supposed to evoke, 58 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:18,600 Speaker 1: and then knowing that there's a fairly good chance that 59 00:03:18,639 --> 00:03:23,680 Speaker 1: your idea will either only partially make it into reality 60 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:28,240 Speaker 1: or never make it into reality, because as we all know, 61 00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:31,000 Speaker 1: I mean, you can't. Not every idea is going to 62 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:33,040 Speaker 1: come to fruition. Some things are just going to fall 63 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:34,880 Speaker 1: down to budget, some things are going to fall down 64 00:03:34,920 --> 00:03:38,360 Speaker 1: to space issues or timing. So, um, you know, it's 65 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:41,960 Speaker 1: it's it's a job that gives you amazing opportunities, but 66 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:44,360 Speaker 1: you also have to realize that not everything you come 67 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:46,360 Speaker 1: up with is ever going to see the light of day. 68 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:52,000 Speaker 1: But let's let's talk about imagineering in a in kind 69 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:56,680 Speaker 1: of a broad sense. So Disney himself, uh kind of 70 00:03:57,040 --> 00:04:04,840 Speaker 1: fostered this. This a set of disciplines and his his 71 00:04:04,920 --> 00:04:08,200 Speaker 1: set of standards were very very high, very exact, and 72 00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:12,680 Speaker 1: he wanted to be able to create a park where 73 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:16,840 Speaker 1: he could have families come and and enjoy themselves as 74 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:23,600 Speaker 1: families and experience attractions that brought them into another world. Right, 75 00:04:23,640 --> 00:04:29,440 Speaker 1: So it's beyond the the basic uh amusement park, um 76 00:04:29,760 --> 00:04:36,479 Speaker 1: uh paradigm. I was gonna say, so the amusement park paradigm. 77 00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:37,520 Speaker 1: I was like, I was trying to come up with 78 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:39,479 Speaker 1: something besides paradigm because I didn't want to get to 79 00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:42,520 Speaker 1: uh to snooty. But I mean, I guess I'll just 80 00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:46,159 Speaker 1: embrace it. So yeah, the amusement park paradigm where you've 81 00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:48,920 Speaker 1: got all these different rides and and you know, maybe 82 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:53,000 Speaker 1: some food stalls and things like that. There's not really 83 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:54,880 Speaker 1: any rhyme or reason to the way it's laid out 84 00:04:55,120 --> 00:04:56,880 Speaker 1: other than the fact that you don't want to have 85 00:04:57,360 --> 00:05:00,400 Speaker 1: all the food areas right next to all the rides 86 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:03,279 Speaker 1: that spin you around and around and around. Yeah, that 87 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:06,239 Speaker 1: doesn't seem to stop people anyway. Well, yeah, some park 88 00:05:06,640 --> 00:05:09,560 Speaker 1: designers actually get that, and they don't put the stuff 89 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:13,680 Speaker 1: that makes you get nausea nauseated rather right next to 90 00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:16,720 Speaker 1: the food. At any rate, Disney wanted to go beyond that. 91 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:20,040 Speaker 1: He wanted to have a park where you had very 92 00:05:20,160 --> 00:05:25,280 Speaker 1: specific areas that kind of had a thematic continuity to them, 93 00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:27,880 Speaker 1: and that you would have a real experience as you 94 00:05:27,960 --> 00:05:30,600 Speaker 1: moved through the park and it wouldn't just be you know, 95 00:05:31,040 --> 00:05:33,240 Speaker 1: making a bee line from one ride to the next 96 00:05:33,640 --> 00:05:35,880 Speaker 1: and maybe stopping to eat some time along the way. 97 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:39,960 Speaker 1: And uh, this is really a revolutionary idea at the 98 00:05:39,960 --> 00:05:42,039 Speaker 1: time that we're talking about, the nineteen fifties right now, 99 00:05:42,839 --> 00:05:45,440 Speaker 1: back when Disney was was working on on the parks 100 00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:50,480 Speaker 1: the originally UM and he really stressed this to the 101 00:05:50,520 --> 00:05:53,960 Speaker 1: people who worked for him. Um, he said that this 102 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:58,960 Speaker 1: is something that really is important. He's not gonna compromise 103 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:01,400 Speaker 1: on this at all. Disney is not known for compromising, 104 00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:06,719 Speaker 1: and so that's kind of where the whole concept of 105 00:06:06,760 --> 00:06:09,240 Speaker 1: the imagineer came from. Now, at the time, there wasn't 106 00:06:09,240 --> 00:06:14,400 Speaker 1: really a formalized, you know, set of criteria that you know, 107 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:17,080 Speaker 1: what makes an imagineer apart from someone who's working for 108 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:20,480 Speaker 1: Disney is trying to create attractions. Well, yeah, as a 109 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:23,559 Speaker 1: matter of fact, I'm not sure that it is, uh 110 00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:25,840 Speaker 1: you could really call it a standardized thing. Now I 111 00:06:25,880 --> 00:06:30,800 Speaker 1: read uh some information on Disney's website about the the 112 00:06:30,839 --> 00:06:33,880 Speaker 1: imagineer core as they're calling it. I mean, there are 113 00:06:33,880 --> 00:06:37,680 Speaker 1: more than a hundred and fifty disciplines uh that make 114 00:06:37,800 --> 00:06:41,400 Speaker 1: up the imagineer group. So I mean with that, you've 115 00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:45,960 Speaker 1: got a very broad sense of you know, what an 116 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:49,640 Speaker 1: imagineer may be asked to do. Um. You know, there 117 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:53,760 Speaker 1: could be anything from design, visual design, to the mechanics, 118 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:56,800 Speaker 1: you know, the planning, the planning like Disney did, where 119 00:06:56,839 --> 00:07:00,520 Speaker 1: you were orchestrating the the entire environment and an immersive 120 00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:04,960 Speaker 1: experience for the park visitor. Uh, you know, those kinds 121 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:08,080 Speaker 1: of things. All sort of fall into the purview, the 122 00:07:08,120 --> 00:07:11,600 Speaker 1: overall purview of the here I am being snood the purview, 123 00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:17,120 Speaker 1: um but really into into their field of imagineering. So 124 00:07:17,240 --> 00:07:19,280 Speaker 1: they could be you could have a mechanical engineer and 125 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:23,440 Speaker 1: an electrical electrical engineer and somebody who's into the graphic 126 00:07:23,440 --> 00:07:25,360 Speaker 1: design of the whole thing, and they're all working together 127 00:07:25,440 --> 00:07:29,200 Speaker 1: within that whole unit. So it's really diversified quite a bit. 128 00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:31,880 Speaker 1: You could even have a writer, sure, because a lot 129 00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:34,920 Speaker 1: of you know, a lot of the attractions at at 130 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:39,440 Speaker 1: the Disney parks tell a story, and in some cases 131 00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:43,320 Speaker 1: it may be that the writer is not necessarily writing dialogue, 132 00:07:43,960 --> 00:07:48,440 Speaker 1: but is instead writing the progression of the story and 133 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:51,480 Speaker 1: how the story moves from one element to the next, 134 00:07:51,920 --> 00:07:55,080 Speaker 1: and that kind of defines the experience that the the writer, 135 00:07:55,320 --> 00:08:00,000 Speaker 1: that the guest in Disney terms, is going to experience. Well, 136 00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:03,160 Speaker 1: go ahead, and so I was gonna say that, um 137 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:06,360 Speaker 1: As I was preparing for the podcast, I watched a 138 00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:10,400 Speaker 1: video interview with um an imagine your named Asa Kalama, 139 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:13,520 Speaker 1: who has a whole series of DVDs out called The 140 00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:16,800 Speaker 1: Science of Disney Imagineering. It's a it's an educational series 141 00:08:16,840 --> 00:08:21,240 Speaker 1: for kids people who are interested in uh science, and 142 00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:24,360 Speaker 1: trying to trying to get kids interested in science in school. 143 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:28,040 Speaker 1: Um by sort of putting it in the framework of 144 00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:30,120 Speaker 1: what an imagineer does and how they do cool stuff 145 00:08:30,120 --> 00:08:32,480 Speaker 1: for Disney. Well, um, he said, the very first thing 146 00:08:32,520 --> 00:08:34,920 Speaker 1: that they start out with is the story. That is 147 00:08:34,920 --> 00:08:37,560 Speaker 1: the most important part because that's basically where they jump 148 00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:41,640 Speaker 1: in and take off. So you know, you're right, I mean, 149 00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:45,080 Speaker 1: in a writer writer's perspective is one of the very 150 00:08:45,280 --> 00:08:48,199 Speaker 1: first things that they look at because it people come 151 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:50,439 Speaker 1: to them with ideas and say, we want to make 152 00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:54,440 Speaker 1: this happen. And it's a very cinematic kind of experience 153 00:08:54,640 --> 00:08:56,560 Speaker 1: with a lot of these attractions. So when you're talking 154 00:08:56,559 --> 00:08:59,880 Speaker 1: about a writer, you may have dialogue. For instance, they're 155 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:02,559 Speaker 1: plenty of rides that have lots of dialogue in them. 156 00:09:02,600 --> 00:09:04,880 Speaker 1: The Pirates of the Caribbean ride has lots and lots 157 00:09:04,880 --> 00:09:08,160 Speaker 1: of dialogue and and a lot of it is really funny, 158 00:09:08,200 --> 00:09:10,360 Speaker 1: clever stuff that you have to kind of listen for 159 00:09:10,440 --> 00:09:13,640 Speaker 1: it to pick up on because it's very directional. Right, 160 00:09:13,720 --> 00:09:15,720 Speaker 1: you know, there might be a pirate that's often one 161 00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:19,079 Speaker 1: corner who's muttering something and it's absolutely hysterical. But if 162 00:09:19,559 --> 00:09:21,640 Speaker 1: because there's so much other stuff going on in your 163 00:09:21,679 --> 00:09:24,000 Speaker 1: field of view, you may not even notice it, um, 164 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:25,720 Speaker 1: which is you know, you do tend to notice it 165 00:09:25,760 --> 00:09:27,679 Speaker 1: if you're like me and you have ridden parts of 166 00:09:27,679 --> 00:09:31,000 Speaker 1: the Caribbean more times than you can count, sometimes more 167 00:09:31,120 --> 00:09:33,880 Speaker 1: times than you can count in a single day. UM. 168 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:38,960 Speaker 1: So the writers will write not necessarily just the dialogue, 169 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:42,200 Speaker 1: but also the everything, like the action around it, and 170 00:09:42,200 --> 00:09:44,600 Speaker 1: you know, like there's a sword fight going on, like 171 00:09:44,640 --> 00:09:46,920 Speaker 1: if you if you ride the Disneyland version of Pirates 172 00:09:46,960 --> 00:09:49,559 Speaker 1: of the Caribbean. Uh, there's a point in the ride, 173 00:09:49,600 --> 00:09:52,520 Speaker 1: pretty early on in the ride where you can see 174 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:56,920 Speaker 1: the silhouettes of people fighting. Uh. And it's projected against 175 00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:00,679 Speaker 1: a sale. Uh. So it's in this you see this, 176 00:10:00,920 --> 00:10:03,520 Speaker 1: and you see the silhouettes of of figures fighting each other, 177 00:10:04,080 --> 00:10:06,080 Speaker 1: and it's actually a pretty amusing fight. And there's several 178 00:10:06,120 --> 00:10:08,760 Speaker 1: different sequences to the fight. It's not in the Disney 179 00:10:08,760 --> 00:10:10,800 Speaker 1: World version, or at least it wasn't the last time 180 00:10:10,800 --> 00:10:14,640 Speaker 1: I wrote it. Uh. But the that kind of thing 181 00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:16,920 Speaker 1: again is something that the writer would have to come 182 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:19,080 Speaker 1: up with. And then of course you've got things like 183 00:10:19,120 --> 00:10:21,520 Speaker 1: actors who are involved in this who have to record 184 00:10:21,559 --> 00:10:26,120 Speaker 1: all the different voices or act out the parts. And really, 185 00:10:26,120 --> 00:10:28,520 Speaker 1: when you when you factor in all the elements that 186 00:10:28,600 --> 00:10:31,920 Speaker 1: come into making an attraction work, you really start to 187 00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:34,840 Speaker 1: realize how huge a task it is for these imagineers. 188 00:10:34,840 --> 00:10:37,280 Speaker 1: And now, when when we talk about the early imagineers, 189 00:10:38,480 --> 00:10:43,160 Speaker 1: they were multitaskers, Like we have very specific kind of 190 00:10:43,280 --> 00:10:46,680 Speaker 1: roles that imagineers take up now, Like you've got like 191 00:10:46,720 --> 00:10:52,079 Speaker 1: an entire department of illustrators, departments of you know, graphic designers, um, 192 00:10:52,200 --> 00:10:54,640 Speaker 1: you know, the engineers, all that kind of stuff. The 193 00:10:54,720 --> 00:10:57,920 Speaker 1: early imagineers were sort of jack of all trades. A 194 00:10:57,920 --> 00:10:59,319 Speaker 1: lot of them, I mean a lot of them were 195 00:10:59,320 --> 00:11:01,720 Speaker 1: doing multiple roles in order to build the early early 196 00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:04,120 Speaker 1: attractions like Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion, 197 00:11:04,200 --> 00:11:06,559 Speaker 1: things like that, or it's a small world after all, 198 00:11:07,720 --> 00:11:10,679 Speaker 1: or just it's a small world that after all is 199 00:11:10,760 --> 00:11:15,680 Speaker 1: the song um any rate they had, those early ones 200 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:17,560 Speaker 1: had to do a lot of these things, all them 201 00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:21,000 Speaker 1: by themselves or in small groups. So it's actually kind 202 00:11:21,040 --> 00:11:23,800 Speaker 1: of a monumental task for a small group to to 203 00:11:23,840 --> 00:11:25,600 Speaker 1: be able to come together and design and build this 204 00:11:25,640 --> 00:11:29,880 Speaker 1: sort of thing. Um often as as Chris said, they'll 205 00:11:29,880 --> 00:11:32,360 Speaker 1: start with an idea for a story, for an attraction, 206 00:11:32,559 --> 00:11:35,640 Speaker 1: or for an area of a park. Because they don't 207 00:11:35,679 --> 00:11:39,840 Speaker 1: just design the rides. They also design everything that Disney 208 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:43,600 Speaker 1: does that has a physical presence. Right, So like if 209 00:11:43,640 --> 00:11:46,960 Speaker 1: you walk down Main Street, main Street was designed by imagineers. 210 00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:50,520 Speaker 1: You know, it's it's not necessarily that you don't just 211 00:11:50,559 --> 00:11:52,400 Speaker 1: think of the rides. You gotta think about every single 212 00:11:52,440 --> 00:11:54,840 Speaker 1: element of the park. Or the Disney cruise ships. The 213 00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:57,920 Speaker 1: cruise ships were designed by imagineers who were working with 214 00:11:58,040 --> 00:12:00,960 Speaker 1: ship designers because clearly you can't just you know, you 215 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:03,920 Speaker 1: can't just take someone who has great ideas and tell 216 00:12:03,960 --> 00:12:06,920 Speaker 1: them build a boat. They need to know the principles 217 00:12:06,920 --> 00:12:09,160 Speaker 1: behind the cruise ship industry in order to really design 218 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:13,679 Speaker 1: it properly. Right. But at any rate, uh, everything Disney does, 219 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:18,320 Speaker 1: even to the Disney stores, imagineers are involved in credit 220 00:12:18,360 --> 00:12:20,960 Speaker 1: there has made Disney stores now as there used to be. Well, 221 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:24,439 Speaker 1: the Disney has decided to end its contract with the 222 00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:27,200 Speaker 1: company they were using to outsource the stores too. So 223 00:12:27,720 --> 00:12:30,160 Speaker 1: the Disney stores now, uh, as far as I know, 224 00:12:30,240 --> 00:12:32,840 Speaker 1: are all being run by Disney itself. But they cut 225 00:12:32,840 --> 00:12:34,880 Speaker 1: down the number of the stores results of that, which 226 00:12:34,920 --> 00:12:38,000 Speaker 1: I imagine is part of the imagineering. Um, it's not 227 00:12:38,120 --> 00:12:39,760 Speaker 1: quite as much of a tangent as you might think, 228 00:12:40,400 --> 00:12:43,760 Speaker 1: because I think it's probable that the imagineers will have 229 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:46,680 Speaker 1: a greater hand in the Disney run stores than they 230 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:49,240 Speaker 1: wouldn't necessarily have had with a third party to be 231 00:12:49,240 --> 00:12:51,360 Speaker 1: able to guide that experience, and that it actually is 232 00:12:51,400 --> 00:12:56,920 Speaker 1: representative of what Disney, the Disney philosophy is. UM. Once 233 00:12:56,920 --> 00:12:58,959 Speaker 1: they have the story idea, then they have to start 234 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:02,160 Speaker 1: thinking what what kind of direction are they going to 235 00:13:02,280 --> 00:13:05,120 Speaker 1: move in? Like when it comes to coming up with 236 00:13:05,120 --> 00:13:09,679 Speaker 1: an attraction, UM, usually they'll they'll try and think of, well, 237 00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:12,040 Speaker 1: what sort of experience do we want the guests to have? 238 00:13:12,160 --> 00:13:16,320 Speaker 1: And then how can we achieve that? And uh, there 239 00:13:16,360 --> 00:13:19,240 Speaker 1: are a lot of really interesting examples of that out 240 00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:22,480 Speaker 1: on the parks. I mean, Sore in California is a 241 00:13:22,480 --> 00:13:25,760 Speaker 1: good one. Oh, that's an excellent that's an excellent example. 242 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:29,840 Speaker 1: They wanted to create a ride that would give guests 243 00:13:29,920 --> 00:13:34,040 Speaker 1: the the feeling that they were flying over the California countryside. 244 00:13:34,240 --> 00:13:35,440 Speaker 1: But then they had to figure out, well, how are 245 00:13:35,440 --> 00:13:38,480 Speaker 1: we going to do this? And uh, it was one 246 00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:41,720 Speaker 1: of those things where various imagineers were working on the 247 00:13:41,760 --> 00:13:45,120 Speaker 1: problem trying to come up with a viable solution, and 248 00:13:45,160 --> 00:13:48,280 Speaker 1: several were proposed, and the one that was ultimately chosen 249 00:13:48,360 --> 00:13:52,280 Speaker 1: was this interesting arrangement where people would sit down and 250 00:13:52,320 --> 00:13:56,120 Speaker 1: what looks like a theater, but then uh would be 251 00:13:56,240 --> 00:14:01,000 Speaker 1: raised up off the floor in tears. So each row 252 00:14:01,040 --> 00:14:04,240 Speaker 1: would become a level of of this ride. We're not 253 00:14:04,520 --> 00:14:07,640 Speaker 1: we're not talking crying here, no no t I E 254 00:14:07,880 --> 00:14:12,520 Speaker 1: R S tears. But it was it was a really 255 00:14:12,559 --> 00:14:16,280 Speaker 1: neat approach to that idea, I mean, because you really 256 00:14:16,280 --> 00:14:19,120 Speaker 1: do start thinking like, well, how do we achieve this 257 00:14:19,120 --> 00:14:21,760 Speaker 1: this effect? Um And there have been a lot of 258 00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:25,640 Speaker 1: proposed Disney attractions that never went anywhere that I still 259 00:14:25,680 --> 00:14:28,440 Speaker 1: would love to see. The one that I still kind 260 00:14:28,480 --> 00:14:30,680 Speaker 1: of want to see, and I can understand why it 261 00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:35,880 Speaker 1: would Disney has not done it yet is a Villain's Land. Yeah, yeah, 262 00:14:36,360 --> 00:14:39,200 Speaker 1: there there. There's been talked before about creating a Disney 263 00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:43,040 Speaker 1: Villain Park or a Disney Villain Land within an existing 264 00:14:43,080 --> 00:14:45,440 Speaker 1: park that would have a lot of thrill rides in it. 265 00:14:45,440 --> 00:14:47,440 Speaker 1: They were themed after the Disney Villains, and I have 266 00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:50,000 Speaker 1: a soft spot in my heart for the Disney villains. UM, 267 00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:53,600 Speaker 1: Captain Hook in particular, I can't imagine why it's a 268 00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:55,840 Speaker 1: bad form shooting a man in the middle of his candenza. 269 00:14:56,240 --> 00:15:01,160 Speaker 1: But yeah, and I would love to see that happened. Uh. 270 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:05,840 Speaker 1: But again, that's one of those things where imagineers have 271 00:15:05,880 --> 00:15:07,920 Speaker 1: worked on these ideas for years and years and years. 272 00:15:07,920 --> 00:15:10,280 Speaker 1: It may never happen. So that's kind of that frustration 273 00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:14,280 Speaker 1: element we were talking about. Um. Now, Disney's coming through 274 00:15:14,280 --> 00:15:17,040 Speaker 1: the imagineering program, They've come up with a lot of technology. 275 00:15:17,640 --> 00:15:22,640 Speaker 1: They've developed technologies that were pioneered by Disney. Imagineers were 276 00:15:22,640 --> 00:15:27,720 Speaker 1: talking about things like audio animatronics. Well, yeah, because I 277 00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:29,840 Speaker 1: mean that's one of the earliest, right. Sure, they use 278 00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:32,440 Speaker 1: audio animatronics and a lot of their early early attractions 279 00:15:32,440 --> 00:15:36,000 Speaker 1: like the Tiki Room, parts of the Caribbean Haunted Mansion. Um. 280 00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:38,160 Speaker 1: I believe you didn't mention a Lincoln I was going 281 00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:43,240 Speaker 1: to get their Hall of Presidents. Um. Yeah. The this 282 00:15:43,360 --> 00:15:49,480 Speaker 1: audio animatronic technology was was revolutionary and um, it's also 283 00:15:49,520 --> 00:15:54,200 Speaker 1: really complicated. It was mechanical as opposed to electrical. Um. 284 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:57,720 Speaker 1: We since have moved beyond sort of the audio animatronic 285 00:15:57,840 --> 00:16:01,360 Speaker 1: age to more of a digital age. But that's that 286 00:16:01,480 --> 00:16:03,920 Speaker 1: technology is still in use in many of the Disney parks. 287 00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:08,080 Speaker 1: But yeah, that was that was pioneered by Disney imagineers, 288 00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:10,760 Speaker 1: and and that's not the only technology that Disney kind 289 00:16:10,800 --> 00:16:17,600 Speaker 1: of really pushed forward and developed. That's true. Um yeah, 290 00:16:17,640 --> 00:16:20,400 Speaker 1: I mean they're they're the examples that they use on 291 00:16:20,440 --> 00:16:23,560 Speaker 1: the on the website to um. Another would be the 292 00:16:23,800 --> 00:16:26,640 Speaker 1: Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, although I don't know that 293 00:16:26,640 --> 00:16:29,040 Speaker 1: I'll ever Actually I've never been a fan of the 294 00:16:29,040 --> 00:16:30,800 Speaker 1: free fall ride, so I'm not sure that I will 295 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:33,440 Speaker 1: go to see it in person. It's really not as 296 00:16:33,480 --> 00:16:35,920 Speaker 1: bad as you think, because I had a really bad 297 00:16:35,960 --> 00:16:39,200 Speaker 1: experience on a free fall ride and I was reticent 298 00:16:39,520 --> 00:16:42,840 Speaker 1: to ride Detailer of Terror, and then I went ahead 299 00:16:42,840 --> 00:16:44,680 Speaker 1: and wrote it and realized, you know what, this is 300 00:16:44,680 --> 00:16:47,680 Speaker 1: actually a fun ride, and it it's way more gentle 301 00:16:47,720 --> 00:16:49,520 Speaker 1: on your system than you would expect it to be. 302 00:16:49,600 --> 00:16:54,400 Speaker 1: The breaking system in particular, there's really really gradual and 303 00:16:54,400 --> 00:16:56,280 Speaker 1: and gentle on you, so you don't feel like that 304 00:16:56,360 --> 00:16:59,240 Speaker 1: horrible jerky motion that you usually get with free fall 305 00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:02,200 Speaker 1: rides once you get to the bottom. Yeah, I'm more 306 00:17:02,240 --> 00:17:06,520 Speaker 1: familiar with the haunted mansion style, you know, which we're 307 00:17:06,520 --> 00:17:10,120 Speaker 1: going to get into in just a second. So we've 308 00:17:10,119 --> 00:17:13,000 Speaker 1: we've kind of talked about what imagineers do in the 309 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:19,120 Speaker 1: sense that you know that they they embrace many different disciplines. Uh, 310 00:17:19,160 --> 00:17:22,359 Speaker 1: they're all about telling a story or creating a show. 311 00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:27,400 Speaker 1: Because Disney parks are supposed to be a show. That's why. Uh, 312 00:17:27,480 --> 00:17:31,080 Speaker 1: the employees are not called employees at Disney parks. They're 313 00:17:31,080 --> 00:17:34,560 Speaker 1: called cast members because they're part of a show. And 314 00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:38,680 Speaker 1: they even will refer to things being on stage versus backstage. 315 00:17:39,320 --> 00:17:42,800 Speaker 1: So you can take backstage tours of some of the 316 00:17:42,840 --> 00:17:45,760 Speaker 1: Disney parks. I've taken one and it was fascinating, But 317 00:17:45,840 --> 00:17:49,480 Speaker 1: you can't take pictures. You not in most areas. Yes, 318 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:54,240 Speaker 1: in most areas you are not allowed to take photos. Also, uh, 319 00:17:54,520 --> 00:17:57,960 Speaker 1: a backstage tour is not recommended for people who don't 320 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:00,800 Speaker 1: want the magic ruined, and a sense that if you 321 00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:03,000 Speaker 1: know how it works, if that's going to ruin it 322 00:18:03,040 --> 00:18:06,120 Speaker 1: for you, you should not go take the tour. Also, 323 00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:08,120 Speaker 1: I should mention that when we get into talking about 324 00:18:08,119 --> 00:18:11,320 Speaker 1: the Haunted Mansion, if you don't want to know how 325 00:18:11,359 --> 00:18:15,359 Speaker 1: the effects on the Haunted Mansion work, stop the podcast 326 00:18:16,400 --> 00:18:18,679 Speaker 1: because we are going to talk a little bit about 327 00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:20,639 Speaker 1: some of the things that Disney does in order to 328 00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:22,760 Speaker 1: give you those effects. And if you don't want to 329 00:18:22,800 --> 00:18:25,440 Speaker 1: know it, please stop, because I don't want to spoil 330 00:18:25,480 --> 00:18:27,200 Speaker 1: it for you. There are some people out there who 331 00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:28,639 Speaker 1: just you know, they don't want to know how the 332 00:18:28,640 --> 00:18:32,840 Speaker 1: magic trick works, and I completely respect that. So, but 333 00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:34,480 Speaker 1: the backstage tour does give you a lot of the 334 00:18:34,520 --> 00:18:36,800 Speaker 1: information about what the imagineers had to do in order 335 00:18:36,840 --> 00:18:40,359 Speaker 1: to to create these effects. And uh, and I do 336 00:18:40,480 --> 00:18:43,159 Speaker 1: highly recommend it for anyone who is interested in that. Also, 337 00:18:43,600 --> 00:18:46,520 Speaker 1: they have a very good intern program and what I understand, 338 00:18:47,240 --> 00:18:50,280 Speaker 1: so for students, college students, if you are in California, 339 00:18:51,160 --> 00:18:54,080 Speaker 1: the headquarters is in Glendale, California. UM. If you're a 340 00:18:54,080 --> 00:18:57,719 Speaker 1: college student, you may and you're interested in engineering, graphic design, 341 00:18:57,800 --> 00:19:00,760 Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. Uh, and you want an internship, 342 00:19:00,880 --> 00:19:04,560 Speaker 1: an interesting internship, you can look into interning with the 343 00:19:04,600 --> 00:19:09,000 Speaker 1: imagineering program at Walt Disney UM company. They from what 344 00:19:09,040 --> 00:19:12,480 Speaker 1: I understand, it is a really intense but very rewarding 345 00:19:13,359 --> 00:19:15,840 Speaker 1: program as far as you know, really getting an idea 346 00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:20,680 Speaker 1: of what goes into these designs. UM. No, granted I'm 347 00:19:20,720 --> 00:19:23,240 Speaker 1: not eligible for that. I haven't been a student student 348 00:19:23,440 --> 00:19:27,480 Speaker 1: for many, many years, so I can't really take advantage 349 00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:33,400 Speaker 1: of it. Yeah, but you certainly couldn't choose a program 350 00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:36,600 Speaker 1: with a better pedigree, because they have won thirty four 351 00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:39,400 Speaker 1: awards over the course of the years for from the 352 00:19:39,400 --> 00:19:43,639 Speaker 1: Themed Entertainment Association for their different rides, most recently for 353 00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:48,400 Speaker 1: Toy Story Mania at Disney's California Adventure Park, which, since 354 00:19:48,440 --> 00:19:50,359 Speaker 1: I haven't been to any of the California parks, i'd 355 00:19:50,400 --> 00:19:52,199 Speaker 1: really like to see at some point. Well, they have 356 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:54,679 Speaker 1: it at Disney World, do they really? Yeah, it's in 357 00:19:54,720 --> 00:19:57,200 Speaker 1: the Disney Hollywood studios, but is it the same one? 358 00:19:58,200 --> 00:20:01,879 Speaker 1: I believe. So it's a right which you walk through. Uh. 359 00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:05,480 Speaker 1: The the Q theme is that you're in a big 360 00:20:05,520 --> 00:20:07,679 Speaker 1: toy box. You're in Andy's room and you're in a 361 00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:10,600 Speaker 1: toy box you're walking through, and there's a big audio 362 00:20:10,600 --> 00:20:14,840 Speaker 1: animatronic Mr. Potato Head or actually animatronic Mr potato Head, 363 00:20:15,320 --> 00:20:19,359 Speaker 1: who is pretty phenomenal as far as the sophisticated movement 364 00:20:19,440 --> 00:20:21,679 Speaker 1: movements he can do and things he can't do. And 365 00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:24,840 Speaker 1: then you go through a ride where you see three 366 00:20:24,920 --> 00:20:30,480 Speaker 1: D images and you shoot little darts at targets and stuff. Um, 367 00:20:30,520 --> 00:20:34,280 Speaker 1: it's cute, cool, it's it's kind of a digital version 368 00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:38,639 Speaker 1: of the buzz Lightyear ride that that preceded it. So 369 00:20:38,680 --> 00:20:40,479 Speaker 1: it's another one of those rides where you ride and 370 00:20:40,640 --> 00:20:44,840 Speaker 1: you you shoot stuff. But it's cute. Um. Yeah, all right, 371 00:20:45,240 --> 00:20:51,199 Speaker 1: So we're going to talk about the Haunted Mansion now again. 372 00:20:51,320 --> 00:20:53,919 Speaker 1: If you don't want to know how it works, stop 373 00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:58,840 Speaker 1: the podcast now. So, Haunted Mansion had an interesting history. 374 00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:03,000 Speaker 1: It was part one of the original concepts for Disneyland 375 00:21:03,040 --> 00:21:06,720 Speaker 1: before Disneyland even opened, but it did not. Um, it 376 00:21:07,320 --> 00:21:10,560 Speaker 1: wasn't there when Disneyland open because it it was one 377 00:21:10,600 --> 00:21:14,160 Speaker 1: of those that had kind of a contentious history. Uh. 378 00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:17,480 Speaker 1: The original idea was sort of a walk through haunted 379 00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:21,680 Speaker 1: house attraction, and there was some arguments within Walt Disney 380 00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:26,840 Speaker 1: Imagineering between imagineers rather since the Walt Disney Matineering was 381 00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:30,440 Speaker 1: not a formal institution at that point, whether it should 382 00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:34,560 Speaker 1: be a legit, legitimately scary attraction or if it should 383 00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:38,919 Speaker 1: be whimsical and funny. Ultimately, it kind of became a 384 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:41,880 Speaker 1: mix between the two. Yeah, I really did. Yeah, there's 385 00:21:41,920 --> 00:21:44,560 Speaker 1: some scary elements to it, especially if you're a little kid. 386 00:21:45,160 --> 00:21:47,120 Speaker 1: There's some of the things that happened that are kind 387 00:21:47,119 --> 00:21:50,080 Speaker 1: of freaky, and then there's some really silly stuff that 388 00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:53,240 Speaker 1: kind of helps you, you know, relieve some of the 389 00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:55,680 Speaker 1: tension that you would get from from looking at the 390 00:21:55,720 --> 00:22:00,440 Speaker 1: scary stuff. Um. The original idea kind of came from 391 00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:04,200 Speaker 1: Ken Anderson. Um. Actually, well, I guess Harper Gooff really 392 00:22:04,200 --> 00:22:06,399 Speaker 1: had the original idea, but Ken Anderson kind of picked 393 00:22:06,800 --> 00:22:09,439 Speaker 1: took the ball and ran with it and came up 394 00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:13,320 Speaker 1: with a lot of the concepts that that eventually made 395 00:22:13,320 --> 00:22:16,560 Speaker 1: their way into the ride. Uh. And there was a 396 00:22:16,600 --> 00:22:20,280 Speaker 1: story to the ride originally which kind of has come 397 00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:25,280 Speaker 1: back in recent years and in recent updates to the ride. 398 00:22:25,480 --> 00:22:29,840 Speaker 1: This original story involved a sea captain, a ghostly sea 399 00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:35,320 Speaker 1: captain who had jilted his his wife, his lover, and 400 00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:38,440 Speaker 1: she had killed herself as a result, and they are 401 00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:42,240 Speaker 1: both ghosts now and and the wife is actually I believe, 402 00:22:42,320 --> 00:22:44,560 Speaker 1: haunting the ghost of the husband. So you have a 403 00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:48,720 Speaker 1: double hunt going on. And uh. And as you progressed 404 00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:51,680 Speaker 1: through the ride, you would learn more about the family. Uh, 405 00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:57,200 Speaker 1: you'd find more about the story behind the the two 406 00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:01,240 Speaker 1: the husband and wife. You would also discover more about 407 00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:04,399 Speaker 1: Madame Leota the gypsy who whose head is in a 408 00:23:04,400 --> 00:23:06,720 Speaker 1: crystal ball as you make your way through the ride, 409 00:23:07,760 --> 00:23:10,520 Speaker 1: and all these elements kind of tied together. Once the 410 00:23:10,640 --> 00:23:15,120 Speaker 1: ride eventually made it to construction, most of those elements 411 00:23:15,119 --> 00:23:18,119 Speaker 1: were abandoned. Um, you can still see hints of it. 412 00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:21,360 Speaker 1: There would be little bits and pieces where you'd say, oh, well, 413 00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:23,880 Speaker 1: that was supposed to be the bride at the very 414 00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:27,440 Speaker 1: end of the ride when you know come back, Uh, 415 00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:33,479 Speaker 1: that was supposed to be the wife. Um. Recently, at 416 00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:36,199 Speaker 1: least in the Disneyland and Disney World versions, they've kind 417 00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:38,920 Speaker 1: of reincorporated some of those elements, and now you've got 418 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:42,000 Speaker 1: sort of a black Widows storyline. There's a woman who 419 00:23:42,040 --> 00:23:45,240 Speaker 1: has been marrying men and offering them for their money 420 00:23:45,359 --> 00:23:47,919 Speaker 1: and uh, and so there's a little bit of a 421 00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:51,640 Speaker 1: story element inserted back in. But really now it's it's 422 00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:54,480 Speaker 1: still just uh, mostly a ride where you're going through 423 00:23:54,520 --> 00:23:57,760 Speaker 1: room by room and seeing all these various ghostly apparitions 424 00:23:57,760 --> 00:24:00,920 Speaker 1: and effects. So let's talk about a few of them now. 425 00:24:01,040 --> 00:24:03,399 Speaker 1: The one we were specifically asked about was the pepper 426 00:24:03,440 --> 00:24:07,680 Speaker 1: ghost effect, which uh, they use a couple of times 427 00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:10,639 Speaker 1: in the ride, but the most famous, I would I 428 00:24:10,680 --> 00:24:13,960 Speaker 1: would say. Version of the effect is the ballroom sequence. 429 00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:17,600 Speaker 1: On the ballroom sequence, if you're not familiar with the ride, 430 00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:19,880 Speaker 1: what happens is you're you're writing in these things called 431 00:24:19,960 --> 00:24:22,280 Speaker 1: doom buggies, which is a version of the omni mover. 432 00:24:22,840 --> 00:24:26,240 Speaker 1: It's this never yeah, it never stops moving unless they 433 00:24:26,240 --> 00:24:29,840 Speaker 1: have to load in someone who has a mobility issue. 434 00:24:30,359 --> 00:24:33,879 Speaker 1: Otherwise they're constantly moving, and you step on a moving 435 00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:37,199 Speaker 1: sidewalk in order to get into the ride. All right, 436 00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:39,840 Speaker 1: so you're you're riding through this attraction is no longer 437 00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:42,959 Speaker 1: walk through, so that that was abandoned. Um, and you 438 00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:47,920 Speaker 1: come along a you're you're going along a ballroom sequence 439 00:24:47,960 --> 00:24:50,879 Speaker 1: where you're looking down into a ballroom. You can see 440 00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:53,720 Speaker 1: a long table where there's a apparently a birthday party 441 00:24:53,760 --> 00:24:57,560 Speaker 1: going on. There are ghostly dancers dancing through the room. 442 00:24:58,119 --> 00:25:01,080 Speaker 1: You can see a couple of ghosts. Uh. There's two 443 00:25:01,080 --> 00:25:04,280 Speaker 1: portraits of men holding pistols and occasionally ghosts pop out 444 00:25:04,280 --> 00:25:06,520 Speaker 1: of the portraits and fire pistols at one another. There's 445 00:25:06,520 --> 00:25:09,760 Speaker 1: a ghostly organist playing the organ at one end. Um. 446 00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:11,840 Speaker 1: So there's a lot going on in this scene, and 447 00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:15,000 Speaker 1: all the ghosts look really amazing. You can see through them, 448 00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:18,879 Speaker 1: and they appear to have physical presence, but at the 449 00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:22,080 Speaker 1: same time, you know you can you can see through them, 450 00:25:22,080 --> 00:25:24,640 Speaker 1: and they can pass through objects. So it's a very 451 00:25:24,680 --> 00:25:30,119 Speaker 1: interesting effect. It's also incredibly simple. Really, the technology is 452 00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:35,159 Speaker 1: not that complicated. It's not even recent. No. Pepper's ghost 453 00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:38,520 Speaker 1: is a trick that dates back to the nineteenth century, 454 00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:42,800 Speaker 1: and what it involves is you take a pane of 455 00:25:42,840 --> 00:25:46,040 Speaker 1: glass as clean as you can possibly make it so 456 00:25:46,119 --> 00:25:50,080 Speaker 1: that it looks practically invisible if you're looking straight at it. 457 00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:54,719 Speaker 1: Then with lighting you can create make it a reflective 458 00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:57,800 Speaker 1: surface so that only reflects certain parts. That depends on 459 00:25:57,840 --> 00:26:01,879 Speaker 1: how you've lit the scene correct. So the ghosts that 460 00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:04,400 Speaker 1: you're looking at when you're looking down into the room 461 00:26:04,440 --> 00:26:08,720 Speaker 1: are actually below you and above you physically where you 462 00:26:08,760 --> 00:26:11,119 Speaker 1: are in the omnimover right, you can't see them because 463 00:26:11,119 --> 00:26:13,600 Speaker 1: the floor and the ceiling block your view of them, right, 464 00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:16,239 Speaker 1: So so they're not at the same level. No, they 465 00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:17,879 Speaker 1: can't be at the same level because if they were 466 00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:19,280 Speaker 1: at the same level, you'd be able to see your 467 00:26:19,320 --> 00:26:21,719 Speaker 1: own reflection. That the reason why you can't see your 468 00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:25,359 Speaker 1: reflection is because you are not lit the way they are. Okay, 469 00:26:25,520 --> 00:26:28,480 Speaker 1: So those ghosts are really just mannequins or animatronic figures, 470 00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:33,639 Speaker 1: and they are moving in a very well lit area, 471 00:26:33,760 --> 00:26:37,200 Speaker 1: and just by changing the lighting levels, you can make 472 00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:39,520 Speaker 1: the ghost fade in and fade out of existence. And 473 00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:42,520 Speaker 1: so what you're looking at is a reflection. You're not 474 00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:46,560 Speaker 1: looking at the real figures that are creating the effect. 475 00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:51,240 Speaker 1: So the the dancing ghosts that are dancing in a circle, uh, 476 00:26:51,600 --> 00:26:53,679 Speaker 1: towards the right end of the ballroom if you've just 477 00:26:53,840 --> 00:26:55,640 Speaker 1: entered it. At least it's the right end for both 478 00:26:55,640 --> 00:26:59,280 Speaker 1: Disneyland and Disney World. I can't speak for the other parts. Um, 479 00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:02,720 Speaker 1: those are actually dancing directly below you or dancing they're 480 00:27:02,720 --> 00:27:06,760 Speaker 1: moving in a circle directly and as they increase or 481 00:27:06,880 --> 00:27:10,040 Speaker 1: decrease the level of lighting, they start to fade in 482 00:27:10,119 --> 00:27:13,680 Speaker 1: and out of your vision. As you go through the ballroom. 483 00:27:13,760 --> 00:27:15,640 Speaker 1: All the figures are that are that way as well. 484 00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:20,439 Speaker 1: So technology actually is pretty simple. It's the lighting and 485 00:27:20,480 --> 00:27:23,360 Speaker 1: it's the glass. You would think that would be way 486 00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:25,800 Speaker 1: more complicated because they look like holograms and you're like, 487 00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:28,280 Speaker 1: how did they have achieve this effect? And it's actually 488 00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:34,200 Speaker 1: deceptively simple but really cool. It's amazing how sometimes the 489 00:27:34,359 --> 00:27:37,680 Speaker 1: simplest effects can turn out to be the most effective 490 00:27:37,800 --> 00:27:41,680 Speaker 1: use of your of your imagineering dollars, if you will. 491 00:27:42,240 --> 00:27:44,000 Speaker 1: I mean, because you didn't need to go into c 492 00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:46,479 Speaker 1: G I or anything fancy like that. It's just you know, 493 00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:49,880 Speaker 1: the pain of very very clean glass and a couple 494 00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:51,880 Speaker 1: of well placed lights. I can give you. I can 495 00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:54,480 Speaker 1: give you one other really cool, actually two others. I'll 496 00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:56,280 Speaker 1: just do it really quickly because we're running out of time. 497 00:27:58,080 --> 00:28:01,920 Speaker 1: There are a series of rotating but busts of people 498 00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:04,960 Speaker 1: who are who they appear to turn these you know, 499 00:28:05,040 --> 00:28:08,720 Speaker 1: busts being like the stone statue, right, they appear to 500 00:28:08,800 --> 00:28:12,120 Speaker 1: turn and watch you as your omnimover passes by. Yeah, 501 00:28:12,119 --> 00:28:15,560 Speaker 1: I remember those. Uh you know how they do that effect? 502 00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:18,159 Speaker 1: It's actually pretty cool. Okay. So instead of being a 503 00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:21,639 Speaker 1: bust where it projects out towards you, they're actually recessed 504 00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:25,080 Speaker 1: into the wall. It's an optical illusion again by the 505 00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:28,160 Speaker 1: lighting and and it's recessed in, so it's carved into 506 00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:31,040 Speaker 1: the wall. Because the way it's carved in and the 507 00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:32,840 Speaker 1: way the lighting hits it, it gives you the optical 508 00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:35,200 Speaker 1: illusion that you're looking at an object that's pointing at you. 509 00:28:35,520 --> 00:28:38,160 Speaker 1: And that's why it looks it appears to turn I 510 00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:43,320 Speaker 1: guess because your perception. You're it's all about angles. Yeah, 511 00:28:43,360 --> 00:28:45,240 Speaker 1: it's all about angles. I had I had a thought 512 00:28:45,240 --> 00:28:47,560 Speaker 1: and then it just erupted. There are actually several videos 513 00:28:47,560 --> 00:28:51,040 Speaker 1: on YouTube that show various ways of creating this effect 514 00:28:51,160 --> 00:28:54,560 Speaker 1: by by making an origami figure or whatever, and it 515 00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:57,400 Speaker 1: looks like it looks like a head of a dragon 516 00:28:57,520 --> 00:28:59,840 Speaker 1: or whatever that's that's biting at you. And then if 517 00:28:59,840 --> 00:29:02,280 Speaker 1: you just move a little bit off to the right 518 00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:04,479 Speaker 1: or to the left enough so that you are at 519 00:29:04,520 --> 00:29:07,840 Speaker 1: a completely different angle of viewing, you can see that 520 00:29:07,960 --> 00:29:11,280 Speaker 1: it's not pointing at you the way you thought it was. 521 00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:14,840 Speaker 1: It's pretty cool. Um. And the other one was I 522 00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:18,200 Speaker 1: was going to talk about the scrim and the stretching room. Yeah, 523 00:29:18,320 --> 00:29:21,600 Speaker 1: the stretching room. By the way. Interestingly enough, in half 524 00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:25,000 Speaker 1: the parks, the floor moves down, and the other half 525 00:29:25,040 --> 00:29:29,800 Speaker 1: of the parks the room moves up. That's that's weird. Yeah, well, 526 00:29:29,800 --> 00:29:31,280 Speaker 1: it seems like it would be easier for the floor 527 00:29:31,320 --> 00:29:34,800 Speaker 1: to move down, well, and it would, except and here's 528 00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:37,240 Speaker 1: another reason why imagineers have a tough job. They have 529 00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:40,160 Speaker 1: to consider the space they're working in, all right, So 530 00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:45,080 Speaker 1: for instance, in Disneyland, they could dig down and so, 531 00:29:45,360 --> 00:29:48,920 Speaker 1: and they needed to because the the the mansion that 532 00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:52,520 Speaker 1: houses the ride is not big enough to house the ride. 533 00:29:53,040 --> 00:29:56,200 Speaker 1: The actual ride building is kind of behind the mansions, 534 00:29:56,240 --> 00:29:58,360 Speaker 1: behind the wall. You can't see it from where you are, 535 00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:01,960 Speaker 1: so you have to take an elevator down to get 536 00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:04,200 Speaker 1: to the point where you can move into that other building. 537 00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:07,720 Speaker 1: That's why the floor goes down in Disneyland. You can't 538 00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:11,240 Speaker 1: do that disney World. But because of one major geographic 539 00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:15,959 Speaker 1: feature of Florida swamps the water table. Yeah, if you 540 00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:19,000 Speaker 1: dig down in Florida, you hit water, So you can't 541 00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:23,520 Speaker 1: have rides that go down in uh in in disney World. 542 00:30:23,760 --> 00:30:26,040 Speaker 1: So the instead what they did was they made the 543 00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:30,600 Speaker 1: wall go up. Well, the top of the of the 544 00:30:30,720 --> 00:30:35,960 Speaker 1: room is not a solid wooden uh ceiling the way 545 00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:38,200 Speaker 1: it appears when you first walk in. It's actually something 546 00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:42,320 Speaker 1: called a scrim which is a sheet of fabric that, 547 00:30:42,680 --> 00:30:46,320 Speaker 1: when lit one way, looks like it's you know, opaque, 548 00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:49,920 Speaker 1: but lit another way, becomes transparent or at least translucent. 549 00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:53,120 Speaker 1: So at the end of the stretching room sequence, you 550 00:30:53,160 --> 00:30:55,240 Speaker 1: hear a scream you look up and you suddenly see 551 00:30:55,600 --> 00:30:58,440 Speaker 1: someone hanging from the very from the rafters at the 552 00:30:58,440 --> 00:31:00,320 Speaker 1: top of the room. The way they achieve that as 553 00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:02,560 Speaker 1: they turned the lights off at the bottom, they turned 554 00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:05,120 Speaker 1: the lights up at the top, and the light coming 555 00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:09,680 Speaker 1: through the scrim allows you to see the figure. Neat stuff. 556 00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:13,640 Speaker 1: As as a matter of fact, imagineering sort of uh 557 00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:16,720 Speaker 1: is behind Walt Disney World anyway, because because you can't 558 00:31:16,800 --> 00:31:21,160 Speaker 1: really dig down, they had to they built the underground 559 00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:24,640 Speaker 1: level on the main people floor around and then built 560 00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:27,320 Speaker 1: the park on top of it. Right, Yeah, that's that's 561 00:31:27,320 --> 00:31:29,520 Speaker 1: pretty fancy stuff, and you never know. I don't think 562 00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:31,840 Speaker 1: the average visitor knows that. Yeah, they built they built 563 00:31:31,880 --> 00:31:38,160 Speaker 1: one whole administrative system uh on the ground floor, and 564 00:31:38,200 --> 00:31:40,239 Speaker 1: then they dumped a whole bunch of sand that they 565 00:31:40,320 --> 00:31:43,000 Speaker 1: dug up in order to create the lagoon system. They 566 00:31:43,080 --> 00:31:45,840 Speaker 1: dumped all of that on top of it and built 567 00:31:46,160 --> 00:31:51,480 Speaker 1: the Magic Kingdom on top of the system of corridors, 568 00:31:51,520 --> 00:31:55,560 Speaker 1: the Utilo doors. Yeah, I've been through those. They're pretty cool. 569 00:31:55,720 --> 00:31:57,840 Speaker 1: Like I said, that was part of the backstage tour, 570 00:31:57,920 --> 00:32:01,440 Speaker 1: which again really really a neat to are. Yeah, So 571 00:32:01,720 --> 00:32:04,840 Speaker 1: that kind of wraps up our discussion about imagineers. Uh. 572 00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:07,200 Speaker 1: I think it's a really awesome job. I would if 573 00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:11,479 Speaker 1: I were more you know, architecturally minded or design minded, 574 00:32:11,480 --> 00:32:14,640 Speaker 1: I would definitely want to try it out. Sadly, I 575 00:32:14,680 --> 00:32:18,200 Speaker 1: can't draw with a flip. Yeah, I found myself wanting 576 00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:20,360 Speaker 1: to read a bunch of books that I found, uh, 577 00:32:20,440 --> 00:32:24,080 Speaker 1: including um, the Imagineering Field, Guide to Magic Kingdom and 578 00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:30,240 Speaker 1: Walt Disney World and uh another one hold on Designing 579 00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:32,840 Speaker 1: Disney looks interesting and I mean for other people who 580 00:32:32,840 --> 00:32:34,600 Speaker 1: are interested in learning more about this, and the Walt 581 00:32:34,600 --> 00:32:37,560 Speaker 1: Disney Imagineering Behind the Dreams look at making More Magic Real. 582 00:32:37,680 --> 00:32:39,040 Speaker 1: I added all three of those two my cue with 583 00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:41,400 Speaker 1: Good Reads, so I will be checking those out sometime. 584 00:32:41,480 --> 00:32:44,880 Speaker 1: And if you want to know more about this great, um, 585 00:32:45,040 --> 00:32:47,800 Speaker 1: pretty specialized field, you know, you might might check them out. 586 00:32:47,800 --> 00:32:49,000 Speaker 1: I don't know how good they are, they seem to 587 00:32:49,040 --> 00:32:50,920 Speaker 1: get pretty good ratings. Yeah, if you get a chance 588 00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:53,320 Speaker 1: to see some of the old wonderful World of Disney 589 00:32:53,640 --> 00:32:56,360 Speaker 1: shorts as well that Disney would actually walk through and 590 00:32:56,400 --> 00:33:00,000 Speaker 1: talk about the design of these attractions, um, those are 591 00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:03,400 Speaker 1: also very useful. Yeah. But anyway, that wraps up this 592 00:33:03,480 --> 00:33:05,920 Speaker 1: discussion about imagineering. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Paul, 593 00:33:05,960 --> 00:33:08,200 Speaker 1: Hope that answer your question. 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