WEBVTT - What does an Imagineer do? 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.880 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.240 --> 0:00:08.920 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:18.080 tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello again, everybody, 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:20.520 Welcome to tech Stuff. My name is Chris Poulette. I 0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:22.800 am an editor at how stuff works dot com. Believe 0:00:22.800 --> 0:00:25.520 it or not, sitting across from me as he always does. 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:27.600 Oh wait, I guess you could believe it. That'd be 0:00:27.840 --> 0:00:32.840 senior writer Jonathan Strickland. Guest, you gotta pull yourself together. 0:00:34.080 --> 0:00:37.199 You enjoy that, don't you. Yeah. So we have a 0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:40.640 little listener mail to lead into this podcast. So let's 0:00:40.720 --> 0:00:48.400 queue Liz with the sound effect. This listener mail comes 0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:51.479 from Paul, and Paul says, Hi, I'm enjoying listening to 0:00:51.520 --> 0:00:53.479 your podcast, and I wanted to add a new topic 0:00:53.520 --> 0:00:56.200 to the tech stuff agenda. I'm a fan of theme 0:00:56.240 --> 0:00:58.400 park rides and attraction show effects, and I always wanted 0:00:58.400 --> 0:01:00.480 to know how some of them work. I love the 0:01:00.600 --> 0:01:03.680 ride Haunted Mansion at the Disney Parks. There's an effect 0:01:03.720 --> 0:01:06.480 called the Pepper Ghost where they make the ghost appear 0:01:06.520 --> 0:01:08.760 to come out of the wall and into your vehicle. 0:01:09.120 --> 0:01:11.840 I would like to know the tech behind this effect. Thanks, 0:01:11.840 --> 0:01:15.160 and hope this topic is fun. Paul. Paul, you happen 0:01:15.240 --> 0:01:19.880 to have sent this into at least one avowed Disney fanatic, 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:22.800 which would be yours. Truly, I believe Chris is a 0:01:22.800 --> 0:01:25.600 bit of a fan as well. Yes, definitely so um. 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:29.679 I have been to the Walt Disney World Park more 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:34.920 than thirty times. I've been to Disneyland probably around seven 0:01:35.000 --> 0:01:37.759 or eight times. I have not yet been to the 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:41.640 ones in Europe or or in Asia. But yeah, clearly 0:01:41.720 --> 0:01:45.480 I have a special place in my heart for the 0:01:45.560 --> 0:01:48.840 Disney um, the Disney Park attractions. So we're going to 0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:52.240 answer your question about the pepper ghost effect. But actually 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:54.200 before we do that, we thought we'd talked about a 0:01:54.240 --> 0:02:00.440 bigger topic, which is imagineering. Yes, well, imagineering um sort 0:02:00.480 --> 0:02:04.680 of a it's sort of an obvious portmanteau, if you will, Yes, 0:02:04.960 --> 0:02:07.960 of imagination. It's always great to be able to use 0:02:08.000 --> 0:02:11.040 the word portmanteau. Yes it is. Yes, thank you very much, 0:02:11.080 --> 0:02:13.120 and I'm sorry i interrupted you just as you were 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:16.239 explaining it. Please say it again that it is about 0:02:16.520 --> 0:02:20.280 imagination and engineering. And I'm not even sure that Disney 0:02:20.400 --> 0:02:23.399 was the first to have come up with this term. 0:02:23.440 --> 0:02:25.840 But they have embraced it wholeheartedly. Yes, to the point 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:29.080 where there's now actually Walt Disney Imagineering. It's a it's 0:02:29.120 --> 0:02:32.520 an actual division within the company. Oh yes, yes, as 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:35.320 a matter of fact, headquarters. Sorry I didn't mean enough. 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:37.240 That's okay, go ahead. And I have a had a 0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:39.320 friend in high school who whose dream it was to 0:02:39.360 --> 0:02:43.120 become an imagineer. So I'm not sure how far he's 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:46.079 gone with that, but it's it sounds like any job. Yeah, 0:02:46.080 --> 0:02:48.000 it sounds like a pretty amazing job. Also sounds like 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:51.760 it could potentially be a very frustrating job. But well 0:02:51.800 --> 0:02:53.680 we'll go into why that is in a minute. And 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:56.440 when I say frustrating, I just mean that. Imagine that 0:02:56.520 --> 0:03:01.960 your job is to come up with amaze attractions for 0:03:02.040 --> 0:03:04.760 the Walt Disney Company. And we're talking about from top 0:03:04.800 --> 0:03:07.799 to bottom, from every single element of design you can 0:03:07.840 --> 0:03:10.880 think of, including what sort of story it's supposed to 0:03:10.880 --> 0:03:13.120 tell or what sort of mood it's supposed to evoke, 0:03:14.120 --> 0:03:18.600 and then knowing that there's a fairly good chance that 0:03:18.639 --> 0:03:23.680 your idea will either only partially make it into reality 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:28.240 or never make it into reality, because as we all know, 0:03:28.440 --> 0:03:31.000 I mean, you can't. Not every idea is going to 0:03:31.080 --> 0:03:33.040 come to fruition. Some things are just going to fall 0:03:33.080 --> 0:03:34.880 down to budget, some things are going to fall down 0:03:34.920 --> 0:03:38.360 to space issues or timing. So, um, you know, it's 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:41.960 it's it's a job that gives you amazing opportunities, but 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:44.360 you also have to realize that not everything you come 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:46.360 up with is ever going to see the light of day. 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:52.000 But let's let's talk about imagineering in a in kind 0:03:52.000 --> 0:03:56.680 of a broad sense. So Disney himself, uh kind of 0:03:57.040 --> 0:04:04.840 fostered this. This a set of disciplines and his his 0:04:04.920 --> 0:04:08.200 set of standards were very very high, very exact, and 0:04:08.280 --> 0:04:12.680 he wanted to be able to create a park where 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:16.840 he could have families come and and enjoy themselves as 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:23.600 families and experience attractions that brought them into another world. Right, 0:04:23.640 --> 0:04:29.440 So it's beyond the the basic uh amusement park, um 0:04:29.760 --> 0:04:36.479 uh paradigm. I was gonna say, so the amusement park paradigm. 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:37.520 I was like, I was trying to come up with 0:04:37.520 --> 0:04:39.479 something besides paradigm because I didn't want to get to 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:42.520 uh to snooty. But I mean, I guess I'll just 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:46.159 embrace it. So yeah, the amusement park paradigm where you've 0:04:46.160 --> 0:04:48.920 got all these different rides and and you know, maybe 0:04:49.040 --> 0:04:53.000 some food stalls and things like that. There's not really 0:04:53.000 --> 0:04:54.880 any rhyme or reason to the way it's laid out 0:04:55.120 --> 0:04:56.880 other than the fact that you don't want to have 0:04:57.360 --> 0:05:00.400 all the food areas right next to all the rides 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:03.279 that spin you around and around and around. Yeah, that 0:05:03.320 --> 0:05:06.239 doesn't seem to stop people anyway. Well, yeah, some park 0:05:06.640 --> 0:05:09.560 designers actually get that, and they don't put the stuff 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:13.680 that makes you get nausea nauseated rather right next to 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:16.720 the food. At any rate, Disney wanted to go beyond that. 0:05:16.800 --> 0:05:20.040 He wanted to have a park where you had very 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:25.280 specific areas that kind of had a thematic continuity to them, 0:05:25.320 --> 0:05:27.880 and that you would have a real experience as you 0:05:27.960 --> 0:05:30.600 moved through the park and it wouldn't just be you know, 0:05:31.040 --> 0:05:33.240 making a bee line from one ride to the next 0:05:33.640 --> 0:05:35.880 and maybe stopping to eat some time along the way. 0:05:37.040 --> 0:05:39.960 And uh, this is really a revolutionary idea at the 0:05:39.960 --> 0:05:42.039 time that we're talking about, the nineteen fifties right now, 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:45.440 back when Disney was was working on on the parks 0:05:45.480 --> 0:05:50.480 the originally UM and he really stressed this to the 0:05:50.520 --> 0:05:53.960 people who worked for him. Um, he said that this 0:05:54.000 --> 0:05:58.960 is something that really is important. He's not gonna compromise 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:01.400 on this at all. Disney is not known for compromising, 0:06:03.120 --> 0:06:06.719 and so that's kind of where the whole concept of 0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:09.240 the imagineer came from. Now, at the time, there wasn't 0:06:09.240 --> 0:06:14.400 really a formalized, you know, set of criteria that you know, 0:06:14.440 --> 0:06:17.080 what makes an imagineer apart from someone who's working for 0:06:17.120 --> 0:06:20.480 Disney is trying to create attractions. Well, yeah, as a 0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:23.559 matter of fact, I'm not sure that it is, uh 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:25.840 you could really call it a standardized thing. Now I 0:06:25.880 --> 0:06:30.800 read uh some information on Disney's website about the the 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:33.880 imagineer core as they're calling it. I mean, there are 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:37.680 more than a hundred and fifty disciplines uh that make 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:41.400 up the imagineer group. So I mean with that, you've 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:45.960 got a very broad sense of you know, what an 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:49.640 imagineer may be asked to do. Um. You know, there 0:06:49.680 --> 0:06:53.760 could be anything from design, visual design, to the mechanics, 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:56.800 you know, the planning, the planning like Disney did, where 0:06:56.839 --> 0:07:00.520 you were orchestrating the the entire environment and an immersive 0:07:00.560 --> 0:07:04.960 experience for the park visitor. Uh, you know, those kinds 0:07:04.960 --> 0:07:08.080 of things. All sort of fall into the purview, the 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:11.600 overall purview of the here I am being snood the purview, 0:07:12.240 --> 0:07:17.120 um but really into into their field of imagineering. So 0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:19.280 they could be you could have a mechanical engineer and 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:23.440 an electrical electrical engineer and somebody who's into the graphic 0:07:23.440 --> 0:07:25.360 design of the whole thing, and they're all working together 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:29.200 within that whole unit. So it's really diversified quite a bit. 0:07:29.320 --> 0:07:31.880 You could even have a writer, sure, because a lot 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:34.920 of you know, a lot of the attractions at at 0:07:35.000 --> 0:07:39.440 the Disney parks tell a story, and in some cases 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:43.320 it may be that the writer is not necessarily writing dialogue, 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:48.440 but is instead writing the progression of the story and 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:51.480 how the story moves from one element to the next, 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:55.080 and that kind of defines the experience that the the writer, 0:07:55.320 --> 0:08:00.000 that the guest in Disney terms, is going to experience. Well, 0:08:01.040 --> 0:08:03.160 go ahead, and so I was gonna say that, um 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:06.360 As I was preparing for the podcast, I watched a 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:10.400 video interview with um an imagine your named Asa Kalama, 0:08:11.000 --> 0:08:13.520 who has a whole series of DVDs out called The 0:08:13.520 --> 0:08:16.800 Science of Disney Imagineering. It's a it's an educational series 0:08:16.840 --> 0:08:21.240 for kids people who are interested in uh science, and 0:08:21.240 --> 0:08:24.360 trying to trying to get kids interested in science in school. 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:28.040 Um by sort of putting it in the framework of 0:08:28.080 --> 0:08:30.120 what an imagineer does and how they do cool stuff 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:32.480 for Disney. Well, um, he said, the very first thing 0:08:32.520 --> 0:08:34.920 that they start out with is the story. That is 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:37.560 the most important part because that's basically where they jump 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:41.640 in and take off. So you know, you're right, I mean, 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:45.080 in a writer writer's perspective is one of the very 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:48.199 first things that they look at because it people come 0:08:48.240 --> 0:08:50.439 to them with ideas and say, we want to make 0:08:50.520 --> 0:08:54.440 this happen. And it's a very cinematic kind of experience 0:08:54.640 --> 0:08:56.560 with a lot of these attractions. So when you're talking 0:08:56.559 --> 0:08:59.880 about a writer, you may have dialogue. For instance, they're 0:09:00.000 --> 0:09:02.559 plenty of rides that have lots of dialogue in them. 0:09:02.600 --> 0:09:04.880 The Pirates of the Caribbean ride has lots and lots 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:08.160 of dialogue and and a lot of it is really funny, 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:10.360 clever stuff that you have to kind of listen for 0:09:10.440 --> 0:09:13.640 it to pick up on because it's very directional. Right, 0:09:13.720 --> 0:09:15.720 you know, there might be a pirate that's often one 0:09:15.800 --> 0:09:19.079 corner who's muttering something and it's absolutely hysterical. But if 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:21.640 because there's so much other stuff going on in your 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:24.000 field of view, you may not even notice it, um, 0:09:24.040 --> 0:09:25.720 which is you know, you do tend to notice it 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:27.679 if you're like me and you have ridden parts of 0:09:27.679 --> 0:09:31.000 the Caribbean more times than you can count, sometimes more 0:09:31.120 --> 0:09:33.880 times than you can count in a single day. UM. 0:09:35.000 --> 0:09:38.960 So the writers will write not necessarily just the dialogue, 0:09:39.000 --> 0:09:42.200 but also the everything, like the action around it, and 0:09:42.200 --> 0:09:44.600 you know, like there's a sword fight going on, like 0:09:44.640 --> 0:09:46.920 if you if you ride the Disneyland version of Pirates 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:49.559 of the Caribbean. Uh, there's a point in the ride, 0:09:49.600 --> 0:09:52.520 pretty early on in the ride where you can see 0:09:52.600 --> 0:09:56.920 the silhouettes of people fighting. Uh. And it's projected against 0:09:57.000 --> 0:10:00.679 a sale. Uh. So it's in this you see this, 0:10:00.920 --> 0:10:03.520 and you see the silhouettes of of figures fighting each other, 0:10:04.080 --> 0:10:06.080 and it's actually a pretty amusing fight. And there's several 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:08.760 different sequences to the fight. It's not in the Disney 0:10:08.760 --> 0:10:10.800 World version, or at least it wasn't the last time 0:10:10.800 --> 0:10:14.640 I wrote it. Uh. But the that kind of thing 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:16.920 again is something that the writer would have to come 0:10:17.000 --> 0:10:19.080 up with. And then of course you've got things like 0:10:19.120 --> 0:10:21.520 actors who are involved in this who have to record 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:26.120 all the different voices or act out the parts. And really, 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:28.520 when you when you factor in all the elements that 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:31.920 come into making an attraction work, you really start to 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:34.840 realize how huge a task it is for these imagineers. 0:10:34.840 --> 0:10:37.280 And now, when when we talk about the early imagineers, 0:10:38.480 --> 0:10:43.160 they were multitaskers, Like we have very specific kind of 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:46.680 roles that imagineers take up now, Like you've got like 0:10:46.720 --> 0:10:52.079 an entire department of illustrators, departments of you know, graphic designers, um, 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:54.640 you know, the engineers, all that kind of stuff. The 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:57.920 early imagineers were sort of jack of all trades. A 0:10:57.920 --> 0:10:59.319 lot of them, I mean a lot of them were 0:10:59.320 --> 0:11:01.720 doing multiple roles in order to build the early early 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:04.120 attractions like Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion, 0:11:04.200 --> 0:11:06.559 things like that, or it's a small world after all, 0:11:07.720 --> 0:11:10.679 or just it's a small world that after all is 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:15.680 the song um any rate they had, those early ones 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:17.560 had to do a lot of these things, all them 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:21.000 by themselves or in small groups. So it's actually kind 0:11:21.040 --> 0:11:23.800 of a monumental task for a small group to to 0:11:23.840 --> 0:11:25.600 be able to come together and design and build this 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:29.880 sort of thing. Um often as as Chris said, they'll 0:11:29.880 --> 0:11:32.360 start with an idea for a story, for an attraction, 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:35.640 or for an area of a park. Because they don't 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:39.840 just design the rides. They also design everything that Disney 0:11:40.000 --> 0:11:43.600 does that has a physical presence. Right, So like if 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:46.960 you walk down Main Street, main Street was designed by imagineers. 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:50.520 You know, it's it's not necessarily that you don't just 0:11:50.559 --> 0:11:52.400 think of the rides. You gotta think about every single 0:11:52.440 --> 0:11:54.840 element of the park. Or the Disney cruise ships. The 0:11:54.880 --> 0:11:57.920 cruise ships were designed by imagineers who were working with 0:11:58.040 --> 0:12:00.960 ship designers because clearly you can't just you know, you 0:12:01.000 --> 0:12:03.920 can't just take someone who has great ideas and tell 0:12:03.960 --> 0:12:06.920 them build a boat. They need to know the principles 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:09.160 behind the cruise ship industry in order to really design 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:13.679 it properly. Right. But at any rate, uh, everything Disney does, 0:12:13.720 --> 0:12:18.320 even to the Disney stores, imagineers are involved in credit 0:12:18.360 --> 0:12:20.960 there has made Disney stores now as there used to be. Well, 0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:24.439 the Disney has decided to end its contract with the 0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:27.200 company they were using to outsource the stores too. So 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:30.160 the Disney stores now, uh, as far as I know, 0:12:30.240 --> 0:12:32.840 are all being run by Disney itself. But they cut 0:12:32.840 --> 0:12:34.880 down the number of the stores results of that, which 0:12:34.920 --> 0:12:38.000 I imagine is part of the imagineering. Um, it's not 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:39.760 quite as much of a tangent as you might think, 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:43.760 because I think it's probable that the imagineers will have 0:12:43.800 --> 0:12:46.680 a greater hand in the Disney run stores than they 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:49.240 wouldn't necessarily have had with a third party to be 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:51.360 able to guide that experience, and that it actually is 0:12:51.400 --> 0:12:56.920 representative of what Disney, the Disney philosophy is. UM. Once 0:12:56.920 --> 0:12:58.959 they have the story idea, then they have to start 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:02.160 thinking what what kind of direction are they going to 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:05.120 move in? Like when it comes to coming up with 0:13:05.120 --> 0:13:09.679 an attraction, UM, usually they'll they'll try and think of, well, 0:13:09.720 --> 0:13:12.040 what sort of experience do we want the guests to have? 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:16.320 And then how can we achieve that? And uh, there 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:19.240 are a lot of really interesting examples of that out 0:13:19.280 --> 0:13:22.480 on the parks. I mean, Sore in California is a 0:13:22.480 --> 0:13:25.760 good one. Oh, that's an excellent that's an excellent example. 0:13:26.000 --> 0:13:29.840 They wanted to create a ride that would give guests 0:13:29.920 --> 0:13:34.040 the the feeling that they were flying over the California countryside. 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:35.440 But then they had to figure out, well, how are 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:38.480 we going to do this? And uh, it was one 0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:41.720 of those things where various imagineers were working on the 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:45.120 problem trying to come up with a viable solution, and 0:13:45.160 --> 0:13:48.280 several were proposed, and the one that was ultimately chosen 0:13:48.360 --> 0:13:52.280 was this interesting arrangement where people would sit down and 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:56.120 what looks like a theater, but then uh would be 0:13:56.240 --> 0:14:01.000 raised up off the floor in tears. So each row 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:04.240 would become a level of of this ride. We're not 0:14:04.520 --> 0:14:07.640 we're not talking crying here, no no t I E 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:12.520 R S tears. But it was it was a really 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:16.280 neat approach to that idea, I mean, because you really 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:19.120 do start thinking like, well, how do we achieve this 0:14:19.120 --> 0:14:21.760 this effect? Um And there have been a lot of 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:25.640 proposed Disney attractions that never went anywhere that I still 0:14:25.680 --> 0:14:28.440 would love to see. The one that I still kind 0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:30.680 of want to see, and I can understand why it 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:35.880 would Disney has not done it yet is a Villain's Land. Yeah, yeah, 0:14:36.360 --> 0:14:39.200 there there. There's been talked before about creating a Disney 0:14:39.280 --> 0:14:43.040 Villain Park or a Disney Villain Land within an existing 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:45.440 park that would have a lot of thrill rides in it. 0:14:45.440 --> 0:14:47.440 They were themed after the Disney Villains, and I have 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:50.000 a soft spot in my heart for the Disney villains. UM, 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:53.600 Captain Hook in particular, I can't imagine why it's a 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:55.840 bad form shooting a man in the middle of his candenza. 0:14:56.240 --> 0:15:01.160 But yeah, and I would love to see that happened. Uh. 0:15:01.960 --> 0:15:05.840 But again, that's one of those things where imagineers have 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:07.920 worked on these ideas for years and years and years. 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:10.280 It may never happen. So that's kind of that frustration 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:14.280 element we were talking about. Um. Now, Disney's coming through 0:15:14.280 --> 0:15:17.040 the imagineering program, They've come up with a lot of technology. 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:22.640 They've developed technologies that were pioneered by Disney. Imagineers were 0:15:22.640 --> 0:15:27.720 talking about things like audio animatronics. Well, yeah, because I 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:29.840 mean that's one of the earliest, right. Sure, they use 0:15:29.920 --> 0:15:32.440 audio animatronics and a lot of their early early attractions 0:15:32.440 --> 0:15:36.000 like the Tiki Room, parts of the Caribbean Haunted Mansion. Um. 0:15:36.080 --> 0:15:38.160 I believe you didn't mention a Lincoln I was going 0:15:38.200 --> 0:15:43.240 to get their Hall of Presidents. Um. Yeah. The this 0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:49.480 audio animatronic technology was was revolutionary and um, it's also 0:15:49.520 --> 0:15:54.200 really complicated. It was mechanical as opposed to electrical. Um. 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:57.720 We since have moved beyond sort of the audio animatronic 0:15:57.840 --> 0:16:01.360 age to more of a digital age. But that's that 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:03.920 technology is still in use in many of the Disney parks. 0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:08.080 But yeah, that was that was pioneered by Disney imagineers, 0:16:08.120 --> 0:16:10.760 and and that's not the only technology that Disney kind 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:17.600 of really pushed forward and developed. That's true. Um yeah, 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:20.400 I mean they're they're the examples that they use on 0:16:20.440 --> 0:16:23.560 the on the website to um. Another would be the 0:16:23.800 --> 0:16:26.640 Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, although I don't know that 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:29.040 I'll ever Actually I've never been a fan of the 0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:30.800 free fall ride, so I'm not sure that I will 0:16:30.840 --> 0:16:33.440 go to see it in person. It's really not as 0:16:33.480 --> 0:16:35.920 bad as you think, because I had a really bad 0:16:35.960 --> 0:16:39.200 experience on a free fall ride and I was reticent 0:16:39.520 --> 0:16:42.840 to ride Detailer of Terror, and then I went ahead 0:16:42.840 --> 0:16:44.680 and wrote it and realized, you know what, this is 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:47.680 actually a fun ride, and it it's way more gentle 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:49.520 on your system than you would expect it to be. 0:16:49.600 --> 0:16:54.400 The breaking system in particular, there's really really gradual and 0:16:54.400 --> 0:16:56.280 and gentle on you, so you don't feel like that 0:16:56.360 --> 0:16:59.240 horrible jerky motion that you usually get with free fall 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:02.200 rides once you get to the bottom. Yeah, I'm more 0:17:02.240 --> 0:17:06.520 familiar with the haunted mansion style, you know, which we're 0:17:06.520 --> 0:17:10.120 going to get into in just a second. So we've 0:17:10.119 --> 0:17:13.000 we've kind of talked about what imagineers do in the 0:17:13.000 --> 0:17:19.120 sense that you know that they they embrace many different disciplines. Uh, 0:17:19.160 --> 0:17:22.359 they're all about telling a story or creating a show. 0:17:22.640 --> 0:17:27.400 Because Disney parks are supposed to be a show. That's why. Uh, 0:17:27.480 --> 0:17:31.080 the employees are not called employees at Disney parks. They're 0:17:31.080 --> 0:17:34.560 called cast members because they're part of a show. And 0:17:34.760 --> 0:17:38.680 they even will refer to things being on stage versus backstage. 0:17:39.320 --> 0:17:42.800 So you can take backstage tours of some of the 0:17:42.840 --> 0:17:45.760 Disney parks. I've taken one and it was fascinating, But 0:17:45.840 --> 0:17:49.480 you can't take pictures. You not in most areas. Yes, 0:17:49.600 --> 0:17:54.240 in most areas you are not allowed to take photos. Also, uh, 0:17:54.520 --> 0:17:57.960 a backstage tour is not recommended for people who don't 0:17:58.000 --> 0:18:00.800 want the magic ruined, and a sense that if you 0:18:00.840 --> 0:18:03.000 know how it works, if that's going to ruin it 0:18:03.040 --> 0:18:06.120 for you, you should not go take the tour. Also, 0:18:06.320 --> 0:18:08.120 I should mention that when we get into talking about 0:18:08.119 --> 0:18:11.320 the Haunted Mansion, if you don't want to know how 0:18:11.359 --> 0:18:15.359 the effects on the Haunted Mansion work, stop the podcast 0:18:16.400 --> 0:18:18.679 because we are going to talk a little bit about 0:18:18.720 --> 0:18:20.639 some of the things that Disney does in order to 0:18:20.680 --> 0:18:22.760 give you those effects. And if you don't want to 0:18:22.800 --> 0:18:25.440 know it, please stop, because I don't want to spoil 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:27.200 it for you. There are some people out there who 0:18:27.240 --> 0:18:28.639 just you know, they don't want to know how the 0:18:28.640 --> 0:18:32.840 magic trick works, and I completely respect that. So, but 0:18:32.880 --> 0:18:34.480 the backstage tour does give you a lot of the 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:36.800 information about what the imagineers had to do in order 0:18:36.840 --> 0:18:40.359 to to create these effects. And uh, and I do 0:18:40.480 --> 0:18:43.159 highly recommend it for anyone who is interested in that. Also, 0:18:43.600 --> 0:18:46.520 they have a very good intern program and what I understand, 0:18:47.240 --> 0:18:50.280 so for students, college students, if you are in California, 0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:54.080 the headquarters is in Glendale, California. UM. If you're a 0:18:54.080 --> 0:18:57.719 college student, you may and you're interested in engineering, graphic design, 0:18:57.800 --> 0:19:00.760 that kind of stuff. Uh, and you want an internship, 0:19:00.880 --> 0:19:04.560 an interesting internship, you can look into interning with the 0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:09.000 imagineering program at Walt Disney UM company. They from what 0:19:09.040 --> 0:19:12.480 I understand, it is a really intense but very rewarding 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:15.840 program as far as you know, really getting an idea 0:19:15.880 --> 0:19:20.680 of what goes into these designs. UM. No, granted I'm 0:19:20.720 --> 0:19:23.240 not eligible for that. I haven't been a student student 0:19:23.440 --> 0:19:27.480 for many, many years, so I can't really take advantage 0:19:27.520 --> 0:19:33.400 of it. Yeah, but you certainly couldn't choose a program 0:19:33.400 --> 0:19:36.600 with a better pedigree, because they have won thirty four 0:19:36.640 --> 0:19:39.400 awards over the course of the years for from the 0:19:39.400 --> 0:19:43.639 Themed Entertainment Association for their different rides, most recently for 0:19:43.800 --> 0:19:48.400 Toy Story Mania at Disney's California Adventure Park, which, since 0:19:48.440 --> 0:19:50.359 I haven't been to any of the California parks, i'd 0:19:50.400 --> 0:19:52.199 really like to see at some point. Well, they have 0:19:52.320 --> 0:19:54.679 it at Disney World, do they really? Yeah, it's in 0:19:54.720 --> 0:19:57.200 the Disney Hollywood studios, but is it the same one? 0:19:58.200 --> 0:20:01.879 I believe. So it's a right which you walk through. Uh. 0:20:02.080 --> 0:20:05.480 The the Q theme is that you're in a big 0:20:05.520 --> 0:20:07.679 toy box. You're in Andy's room and you're in a 0:20:07.720 --> 0:20:10.600 toy box you're walking through, and there's a big audio 0:20:10.600 --> 0:20:14.840 animatronic Mr. Potato Head or actually animatronic Mr potato Head, 0:20:15.320 --> 0:20:19.359 who is pretty phenomenal as far as the sophisticated movement 0:20:19.440 --> 0:20:21.679 movements he can do and things he can't do. And 0:20:21.720 --> 0:20:24.840 then you go through a ride where you see three 0:20:24.920 --> 0:20:30.480 D images and you shoot little darts at targets and stuff. Um, 0:20:30.520 --> 0:20:34.280 it's cute, cool, it's it's kind of a digital version 0:20:34.400 --> 0:20:38.639 of the buzz Lightyear ride that that preceded it. So 0:20:38.680 --> 0:20:40.479 it's another one of those rides where you ride and 0:20:40.640 --> 0:20:44.840 you you shoot stuff. But it's cute. Um. Yeah, all right, 0:20:45.240 --> 0:20:51.199 So we're going to talk about the Haunted Mansion now again. 0:20:51.320 --> 0:20:53.919 If you don't want to know how it works, stop 0:20:54.000 --> 0:20:58.840 the podcast now. So, Haunted Mansion had an interesting history. 0:20:59.520 --> 0:21:03.000 It was part one of the original concepts for Disneyland 0:21:03.040 --> 0:21:06.720 before Disneyland even opened, but it did not. Um, it 0:21:07.320 --> 0:21:10.560 wasn't there when Disneyland open because it it was one 0:21:10.600 --> 0:21:14.160 of those that had kind of a contentious history. Uh. 0:21:14.200 --> 0:21:17.480 The original idea was sort of a walk through haunted 0:21:17.520 --> 0:21:21.680 house attraction, and there was some arguments within Walt Disney 0:21:21.800 --> 0:21:26.840 Imagineering between imagineers rather since the Walt Disney Matineering was 0:21:26.880 --> 0:21:30.440 not a formal institution at that point, whether it should 0:21:30.480 --> 0:21:34.560 be a legit, legitimately scary attraction or if it should 0:21:34.560 --> 0:21:38.919 be whimsical and funny. Ultimately, it kind of became a 0:21:39.000 --> 0:21:41.880 mix between the two. Yeah, I really did. Yeah, there's 0:21:41.920 --> 0:21:44.560 some scary elements to it, especially if you're a little kid. 0:21:45.160 --> 0:21:47.120 There's some of the things that happened that are kind 0:21:47.119 --> 0:21:50.080 of freaky, and then there's some really silly stuff that 0:21:50.280 --> 0:21:53.240 kind of helps you, you know, relieve some of the 0:21:53.240 --> 0:21:55.680 tension that you would get from from looking at the 0:21:55.720 --> 0:22:00.440 scary stuff. Um. The original idea kind of came from 0:22:00.800 --> 0:22:04.200 Ken Anderson. Um. Actually, well, I guess Harper Gooff really 0:22:04.200 --> 0:22:06.399 had the original idea, but Ken Anderson kind of picked 0:22:06.800 --> 0:22:09.439 took the ball and ran with it and came up 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:13.320 with a lot of the concepts that that eventually made 0:22:13.320 --> 0:22:16.560 their way into the ride. Uh. And there was a 0:22:16.600 --> 0:22:20.280 story to the ride originally which kind of has come 0:22:20.320 --> 0:22:25.280 back in recent years and in recent updates to the ride. 0:22:25.480 --> 0:22:29.840 This original story involved a sea captain, a ghostly sea 0:22:29.880 --> 0:22:35.320 captain who had jilted his his wife, his lover, and 0:22:35.560 --> 0:22:38.440 she had killed herself as a result, and they are 0:22:38.480 --> 0:22:42.240