"How did they do that?" - Attraction Special Effects REVEALED!

[metsfan11]

Disney doesn't do "special effects", it's all MAGIC !!!!

Of course! How did I forget?

 

[orljustin]

How do they do the whole elevator scene in the Haunted Mansion? Also, how do they make the ceiling dissapear when they show the hanging body on the top?

On Tower of Terror, in the second scene where your elevator moves forward through the glass-made room, how do they achieve this? Are you actually moving forward? Also, where is this room in relation to the tower? What I mean is when you go to drop, do you need to go up from there to the drop point, or do you just go straight out into the drop chute.

#1 - it's a scrim. A piece of fabric that looks solid when lit from one side, and see through when dark in the front and lit from the other.

#2 - Your "elevator", is actually a vehicle in two shafts. When you leave the load area, and go up, and then up, you leave the load shaft. The actual elevator goes back to the load area. Your car moves across the 5th dimension and into the elevator box in the drop shaft where the fun happens.

See, I like attention as much as Sonno.

 

[scasta86]

BuMp

 

[Lancer]

Ok, this one has always bugged me. First off, I am not sure if this was in the extraterrestial alien encounter or the new Stich version. Just after the qeue line you are in a waiting room where the alien/stich is tele transported from inside a clear tube. First you see him then you dont. I know it has to be something simple with the smoke hiding the actual transport mechanism. But everytime I see it, I stare at it trying to see some movement inside but I cant. Is it simply the smoke or something else?

Lancer

 

[goofyernmost]

Honestly, I really don't know. But I would imagine that it's like any other major public transportation network. I'm pretty sure they have a central dispatch center and the drivers follow scheduled routes and what have you.

That is absolutely correct, each bus and by default, each driver is assigned to a spacific route. For example they may start at the transportation center and go to All Stars resort, then from there they proceed to AK, then to MK followed by Epcot and so on. Each schedule is planned so that one bus will be at every location at the time it is scheduled to be there. It is not a situation where one (the same) bus just goes back and forth between, let's say, Pop Culture and MGM. They are constantly changing so that a bus that is running late because of traffic, breakdowns, etc. will not impact that one route. A completely different bus will be already scheduled for that run next.

Every driver is trained to do every single route in the system and probably, over time will actually drive each one routinely. This helps prevent driver brain death and goes a long way to insure that everybody gets where they want to go as efficiently as possible. It's a very complex system at WDW and I have been told that they employ over 1000 drivers full and part time. When you get on a bus you are only seeing the tip of the iceberg!

 

[David R]

Ok, this one has always bugged me. First off, I am not sure if this was in the extraterrestial alien encounter or the new Stich version. Just after the qeue line you are in a waiting room where the alien/stich is tele transported from inside a clear tube. First you see him then you dont. I know it has to be something simple with the smoke hiding the actual transport mechanism. But everytime I see it, I stare at it trying to see some movement inside but I cant. Is it simply the smoke or something else?

Lancer

Look under the tube, there is plenty of room to hide the alien in there. So when the smoke fills the tube, the alien is raised/lowered.

 

[David R]

Nice edit to the thread title!

In the parades (I'm thinking of Spectromagic), how are the floats directed? Is there somebody inside driving or are they pre-programmed for the route (or another option entirely)?

Each float has a driver. This is often a very small area and the visibility is very limited.

Each float has a device that contains what is basically the name of the float. Embeded in the pavement are small devices that read that information and transmit it to a parade control room underneath the MK. A computer then knows the exact location of each float through the parade route.

That computer can then send a signal back to a driver in a float to tell him/her to go faster or slower.

 

[cdrn1]

Each float has a driver. This is often a very small area and the visibility is very limited.

Each float has a device that contains what is basically the name of the float. Embeded in the pavement are small devices that read that information and transmit it to a parade control room underneath the MK. A computer then knows the exact location of each float through the parade route.

That computer can then send a signal back to a driver in a float to tell him/her to go faster or slower.

I saw something on the Travel Channel that said something to the effect that there are magnetic things beneath the pavement that keep the floats on a "track" so that they don't vary from the path they are supposed to be on.

 

[Robo]

I saw something on the Travel Channel that said something to the effect that there are magnetic things beneath the pavement that keep the floats on a "track" so that they don't vary from the path they are supposed to be on.

That's not what the "pucks" beneath the pavement are designed to do... and that's not exactly what the Travel Channel programs' info says, actually (as I have saved all of those programs in my video library).

The pucks' purpose is not to steer anything, but to feed INFO (as to exactly where each float is currently located on the parade route) back to the central parade-control computer... which then "tells" the human drivers of the floats to speed-up, or slow-down to keep pace with the audio track and the other parade entries along the route.

 

[careens]

This isn't an attraction question, but I've always wondered... How does DeVine keep her hat on? It's amazing all the bending/posing she does and it never falls off or slips back. Magic invisible chin strap?

 

[TAKitty]

How does Crush see and respond to everyone in the audience?

 

[PirateChick93]

ok not an attraction but how the heck do they do that trash can dude? i mean like i see the trash can and i look all over but don't see anyone controling or speaking sooo how do they do it???

 

[abamick]

TAKitty beat me to it!

I want to know how Crush does it, too.

I'm sure there is a person back there talking, but how do they manipulate the cartoon in response to what the audience does? For instance, a little girl in the audience asked what he eats. Crush went through the whole thing about sea grass and stuff. Then he asked her what she eats. She said turtle soup! Crush's eyes got REAL big and and he swam behind the coral real fast. then he stuck his head out after everyone finished laughing. I thought the girl was a "plant" but people who had seen Crush before said that the turtle soup thing didn't happen in their show.

 

[David R]

ok not an attraction but how the heck do they do that trash can dude? i mean like i see the trash can and i look all over but don't see anyone controling or speaking sooo how do they do it???

The person controlling PUSH (and Palm at the AK) is very close to it. Just step back and look around, usually behind the crowd. You'll see him wearing some kind of bag (like a messenger bag) and often a hat. He controls the movements through the control placed inside the bag. He then holds a tiny mic in the palm of his hand and he puts his hand in front of his mouth to talk.

 

[David R]

How does Crush see and respond to everyone in the audience?

There are cameras and mics in the room, and he can of course hear the question without a problem since Crush's assistant brings a mike to the person who is asking it.

 

[David R]

TAKitty beat me to it!

I want to know how Crush does it, too.

I'm sure there is a person back there talking, but how do they manipulate the cartoon in response to what the audience does? For instance, a little girl in the audience asked what he eats. Crush went through the whole thing about sea grass and stuff. Then he asked her what she eats. She said turtle soup! Crush's eyes got REAL big and and he swam behind the coral real fast. then he stuck his head out after everyone finished laughing. I thought the girl was a "plant" but people who had seen Crush before said that the turtle soup thing didn't happen in their show.

There's a puppeteer behind the scenes with multiple controls and a computer where he can choose different expressions, props and actions. It's all then rendered in real time.

 

[abamick]

There's a puppeteer behind the scenes with multiple controls and a computer where he can choose different expressions, props and actions. It's all then rendered in real time.

I kinda thought it had to be something like that. That is way cool, though!

 

[bytheblood]

Nope, it's all magic...Disney magic that is.