From some research I was doing on Horizons:
From George McGinnis -
“At the time there was talk in technical journals of using technology to project images on subway tunnel walls. They would travel with the trains and be used for advertisements. I suggested it for an element in the Horizons post show. It was to be a ‘tunnel’ of moving images that the guest viewed while standing on a moving belt. GE's businesses would be highlighted. It was a short experience but had good capacity—ideal for a post-show experience. Its weakness, as I had conceived it, was that there was no sequential story, much as in the Omnimax theatre. So the post show was eliminated, and the show ideas with it.”
“After the Omnimax experience was moved to mid-story, Marty Sklar asked me to come up with an ending, so I suggested this idea to the team. The first thought was to use it for polling, but a GE team member said, “I could get all the information I need from just 1,000 guests leaving the pavilion.” It then evolved into the guest voting for a choice of simulation experiences.”
The other technology making this possible was GE's Talaria Light Valve projectors, which could project images in great detail onto screens 12 feet and larger. The close viewing position of the vehicle called for this. The GE team was concerned about the visual intrusion of the adjacent vehicle's screens, so shields were added to separate each screen.
“WDI Engineer Marty Kindel worked out the complicated logistics that would enable each car to see a different environment. There were many other disciplines involved in its creation, but I credit him with the concept's survival. It's an example of how the creative team works, one person suggests an idea and before it gets thrown out, another team member sees something more in it. Without the fear of being told “it will never work” or other discouraging words, great things happen.”
Essentially, after selecting the choice on the panels in front of guests, a 6x5ft screen appeared in front of guests. The screen was shaped to fit the ride vehicle alone - making it like a simulator. On the screen a video was displayed corresponding to whichever flight path the majority chose. Each one was 30 seconds long. Additional technology enabled the ride vehicles to tilt ten degrees, and there were also low-frequency transducers built into the base of the vehicles. Combined with all the visual effects, it created the feeling of accelerating through space, the desert, or under sea.
