Animatronics/practical theming discussion

[SonofBaconator]

I thought I’d create a large thread solely focused on the discussion of all animation that’s basically  “non screen”.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated with animatronics, practical affects, and optical illusions seen at parks like Disney, on old KI attractions like Phantom Theater, Enchanted Voyage, the old and new train figures, and non park attractions like what you see at those family shooting galleries with Daniel’s Woodland or even Chuck E Cheese. 
 

Happy discussing!

[Snowball]

I could talk about animatronics, lighting, lasers, and tech stuff all day. Not only is it my job, it's my hobby when I'm not working. I can't answer specific tech questions about KI or any other CF parks for obvious reasons, but I can talk about all of my hobby work. I've built 3 custom animatronics, and I bought one from Poison Props last year. I also have a small laser / lighting setup at home.

If anyone is interested, I can post some videos or pictures of my props, lasers, lighting, any of that stuff. I can also go in depth on how the props work, down to what each valve does or even programming. Just let me know what you want to see. This thread is the perfect opportunity for me to talk about my hobbies outside of theme parks, which I don't usually get to talk about on here. 

[Buckeye Brad]

“Practical effects and optical illusions”

 One of my favorites is the beginning of the Peter Pan ride at Disney World. Specifically the ride through the bedroom, out the window, through the alley, and into the sky over London. 

It’s such a simple, low tech effect. There’s no mystery or “How’d they do that?”.  But I love it. It has charm and it brings a smile to my face every time. In fact I’d love an entire ride of “flying over London” in the same style. 

[beastfan11]

Ah, a thread for me. This post is just going to be a disorganized collection of thoughts. 
 

I have to agree with a lot of what’s being said here. As a kid I was absolutely fascinated by all this type of stuff. I still am, I guess. Haha. 

I’ve been/still am lucky to have made it to the Disney parks quite a bit. My wife and I did our honeymoon in Disneyland this past December because we’re both super into it. I love all of the animatronic shows/rides, but have a special love for the older style dark ride attractions. If even most of the figures are static, those Fantasyland dark rides are top tier in my book. It’s remarkable how well you can tell a story with such simple props, sets, figures, and lighting. Something about it is super cozy and fun. Totally immersive. Totally memorable. 
 

I’d love to check out Knoebel’s  Haunted Mansion. Looks like an absolute classic.
 

And of course, I feel like these days I can’t pop into a thread like this without obnoxiously droning on and on about Phantom Theater. I’m sure there are some who are sick of it, but I feel like this thread is the place for it. Haha. But yes, I can’t explain how incredible of an experience it was to have a ride of that caliber in Mason, Ohio. It was truly up there quality-wise with some of the year round parks. Maybe not quite on the Disney/Universal level, but absolutely impressive for a seasonal park. It definitely brought a level of magic to the park that I feel has been lost. I’m sure the same can said about the two previous Enchanted Voyage rides, but that was before my time! 
 

Anyway, my love for the ride runs deep. Ironically enough I just had this shirt delivered yesterday: 

Anyone have any insight of the ultimate fate of our Phantoms? A while back someone on a Facebook group claimed to have a picture of them in the boneyard before they were ultimately scrapped. I never saw any pics before they were removed for some reason. I definitely miss seeing them around during Haunt season. 
 

Oh, also. Bring back Phantom Theater. 

 

[SonofBaconator]

If we get a return of Phantom Theater, I personally hope some things change; for the better. 

I was 5 when I rode it so my knowledge is solely based off of old POVs, images from here, concept art found in books, and so I’m in no way an expert on this stuff, just appreciate a good dark ride. I’m also going to be basing some of this off of other dark rides and my own “fan fiction” so bare with me:

A more interactive que

One of the first nitpicks I had about the original layout of the que was how the natural light shown in from the outside based on how guests entered the building. This could easily be fixed by simply re-angling the entry way to prevent the natural light.
 

I think it was cool how you saw Maestro interacting with guests from his balcony, but personally I think it would be an improvement if he never turned around and kept playing his organ, never addressing the onlookers. This would make him seem more demented and “stuck” in his past state so when you do see him later on, it really makes it seem like you distributed the spirits (plus the park wouldn’t have to animate him swiveling in his chair and moving his mouth).

I’d also have portraits with moving eyes that follow guests as they move through the que (this is a practical affect that can easily be done at home.)

I’d put more details into the hallway where the busts are just to give people more things to look at which would take their concentration off of the busts thus making the affect stand out more when you realize the head has been following them.

The ride itself

My biggest nitpick about how the Phantom Theater was done comes down to how heavily they relied on animatronics. Granted when building the ride I’m sure they didn’t anticipate the park was going to be sold to Paramount and that the upkeep was going to go downhill…

If you look at what Haunted Mansion does at Disney, you don’t really see animatronics until the second half of the ride as it relies on practical affects for the first half like 2d portrait scrims as opposed to having a character behind them like ours did. I’m fine seeing Maestro at the beginning of the ride but personally I felt like we shouldn’t see actual figures until about halfway through to give you that “you’ve distributed us now we’re going to materialize and wreak havoc” vibe. Again a nitpick but I’m sure that would save money and upkeep if they did this.

This nitpick will probably get me tarred and feathered but I wouldn’t have the soundtrack playing throughout the whole ride. I’d have the vehicles have audio that would sync to ride to where you could be hearing Maestro talking to you. You could bring in the soundtrack when you would start to see the characters in their physical form and have it play through the rest of the ride (recall in Beetlejuice when you didn’t hear his music until he appeared with his antics.)

I’ve started this before but it would be cool to see the ride vehicles swivel to face different directions, allowing riders to see something different each time they ride (similar to the shed.) Imagine the cars are numbered and the odd numbered cars are facing a scene on one wall while the even numbered cars are seeing a different scene.

Thanks for listening to my nitpicking and fan fiction. If the ride comes back and is 100% like it was I won’t complain in the slightest, just thought I’d give my 2 cents.