Fantasmic23
A little nonsense now and then is relished by the
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2008
- Messages
- 1,531
I'm not the only one who remembers this ride, right? The first time I went to WDW was in the summer of 1977 or 1978 (I was 5 or 6). I do not remember much about my visit to the Magic Kingdom, but I remember the "If You Had Wings" ride vividly (Well, with help from Wikipedia, of course).
The ride was in Tomorrowland (where Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin now sits) and it was sponsored by Eastern Airlines (remember them?). From Wikipedia: "If You Had Wings" was an undisguised promotion for the then-giant Eastern Air Lines, whose slogan at the time was "The Wings of Man." It was a two-person "Omnimover" ride in the dark. The ride featured images of some of Eastern's tourist destinations including Mexico City, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas and New Orleans.
The four-and-a-half-minute ride conveyed seated passengers slowly, steadily, and smoothly through a series of rooms. The experience began with a vaguely-simulated "takeoff" in which the ride ascended a slope, while projections of animated silhouettes of seagulls and airplanes swept past on the walls, enhancing the feeling of motion and gently suggesting flight. Riders observed various theater-like sets embedding small screens showing rear-projected filmed scenes. Thirty-eight 16mm projectors, were used in the attraction. The rooms illustrated various Eastern destinations and presented tourist experiences such as straw-hat markets, fishermen, limbo dancers, and steel drum bands. The omnipresent music featured singers tunefully chanting, "If you had wings, if you had wings, if you had wings, had wings, had wings, had wings." The music did not succeed in masking the sound of the hidden projectors, which were audible throughout most of the ride.
Viewers passed through a sequence of colorful scenes corresponding to the following locations: Mexico, Bermuda, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas (where a traffic cop directed a flock of flamingos as well as pedestrians and vehicles), Jamaica (where a pod of bathing-suit-clad young people clambered up the rocks at Dunn's River Falls), Trinidad, and New Orleans (where shadows of blowing jazzmen flickered on the wall). Eastern Air Lines had, uncoincidentally, a vested interest in travel to all of these places. Many of the scenes had their own sound effects that mixed with the ceaseless music.
Having passed through this sequence of site sets, riders entered the "speed room", an ellipsoid onto the interior of which were projected snippets of first-person movies of an airplane taking off, a train, waterskies, motorcycles, airboats, and a few other scenes. The clips were projected on the walls by a 70 mm projector. The ovoid screen encompassed the viewers' peripheral vision. Furthermore, the vehicle reclined in the speed room, and a breeze was blown on riders. The wraparound images, in combination with the motion and reclining angle of the vehicle and a blast of air, arguably constituted an early attempt at virtual reality. The images were to some extent blurry and distorted, unlike Disney's sharper Circle-Vision 360 technology; it rather resembled the fuzzy Cinema 180 shows featured in many contemporary amusement parks. Nevertheless, the projection effect combined with the motion of the ride produced a genuinely exhilarating sense of speed, and the long, egg-like shape of the room allowed plenty of time to experience the effect. The speed room was followed by the "mirror room", where two more 70mm projectors produced images of snow-covered mountains appearing on large screens and were reflected in enormous floor-to-ceiling mirrors, and the music changed to a wordless symphonic swell of harmonies.
The ride "descended" after the mirror room, and a buttery baritone voice of Orson Wells gave riders the following soothing assurance:
You do have wings.
You can do all these things.
You can widen your world.
Eastern. We'll be your wings.
(In the earlier years of this attraction, the voice's closing words ended with the phrase, "Eastern: the Wings of Man.") Subsequent to hearing this message, riders disembarked to an area containing an Eastern Air Lines reservation desk. Agents stood ready to assist riders, presumably inspired by what they had just experienced, with travel arrangements. Few seemed to take advantage of this opportunity.
In 1987, Eastern withdrew its sponsorship and the attraction closed on June 1 of that year. Although remembered affectionately by many, a fan website devoted to the attraction notes, "If you can't remember the public uproar surrounding the closing... one possible reason is that there was none."[/I]
Subsequent to the closing of IYHW, Disney removed all references to Eastern, changed the name of the ride to If You Could Fly, and re-opened it on June 6, 1987. The sets and films were intact, but the theme music had been replaced. For many fans of the ride the absence of the infectious original music had taken much of the fun out of the attraction, and the opening scene which originally had a film about Eastern had been replaced with footage of flying birds. On January 4, 1989 If You Could Fly was permanently closed.
Delta Dreamflight
Soon, Delta Air Lines[3][4] took over sponsorship and made plans to update and remodel the attraction. The replacement was Delta Dreamflight, which made use of the same ride system and floor layout, but all new scenery and music.
Disney's Take Flight
Delta dropped its sponsorship in June 1996. WDW removed all references to Delta and renamed the attraction Disney's Take Flight. The ride lasted two years, closing in January 1998. Unlike the wholesale musical change from If You Had Wings to If You Could Fly, Take Flight 's music was the same as Dreamflight 's except for some tweaks to the lyrics.
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
Disney decided to use the ride space to promote its popular film, Pixar's Toy Story. The new attraction, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, again makes use of the original ride system and floor plan, but now riders can control the rotation of their vehicle via joysticks, and are armed with "laser guns" to shoot at targets stationed throughout the attraction.
The ride was in Tomorrowland (where Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin now sits) and it was sponsored by Eastern Airlines (remember them?). From Wikipedia: "If You Had Wings" was an undisguised promotion for the then-giant Eastern Air Lines, whose slogan at the time was "The Wings of Man." It was a two-person "Omnimover" ride in the dark. The ride featured images of some of Eastern's tourist destinations including Mexico City, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas and New Orleans.
The four-and-a-half-minute ride conveyed seated passengers slowly, steadily, and smoothly through a series of rooms. The experience began with a vaguely-simulated "takeoff" in which the ride ascended a slope, while projections of animated silhouettes of seagulls and airplanes swept past on the walls, enhancing the feeling of motion and gently suggesting flight. Riders observed various theater-like sets embedding small screens showing rear-projected filmed scenes. Thirty-eight 16mm projectors, were used in the attraction. The rooms illustrated various Eastern destinations and presented tourist experiences such as straw-hat markets, fishermen, limbo dancers, and steel drum bands. The omnipresent music featured singers tunefully chanting, "If you had wings, if you had wings, if you had wings, had wings, had wings, had wings." The music did not succeed in masking the sound of the hidden projectors, which were audible throughout most of the ride.
Viewers passed through a sequence of colorful scenes corresponding to the following locations: Mexico, Bermuda, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas (where a traffic cop directed a flock of flamingos as well as pedestrians and vehicles), Jamaica (where a pod of bathing-suit-clad young people clambered up the rocks at Dunn's River Falls), Trinidad, and New Orleans (where shadows of blowing jazzmen flickered on the wall). Eastern Air Lines had, uncoincidentally, a vested interest in travel to all of these places. Many of the scenes had their own sound effects that mixed with the ceaseless music.
Having passed through this sequence of site sets, riders entered the "speed room", an ellipsoid onto the interior of which were projected snippets of first-person movies of an airplane taking off, a train, waterskies, motorcycles, airboats, and a few other scenes. The clips were projected on the walls by a 70 mm projector. The ovoid screen encompassed the viewers' peripheral vision. Furthermore, the vehicle reclined in the speed room, and a breeze was blown on riders. The wraparound images, in combination with the motion and reclining angle of the vehicle and a blast of air, arguably constituted an early attempt at virtual reality. The images were to some extent blurry and distorted, unlike Disney's sharper Circle-Vision 360 technology; it rather resembled the fuzzy Cinema 180 shows featured in many contemporary amusement parks. Nevertheless, the projection effect combined with the motion of the ride produced a genuinely exhilarating sense of speed, and the long, egg-like shape of the room allowed plenty of time to experience the effect. The speed room was followed by the "mirror room", where two more 70mm projectors produced images of snow-covered mountains appearing on large screens and were reflected in enormous floor-to-ceiling mirrors, and the music changed to a wordless symphonic swell of harmonies.
The ride "descended" after the mirror room, and a buttery baritone voice of Orson Wells gave riders the following soothing assurance:
You do have wings.
You can do all these things.
You can widen your world.
Eastern. We'll be your wings.
(In the earlier years of this attraction, the voice's closing words ended with the phrase, "Eastern: the Wings of Man.") Subsequent to hearing this message, riders disembarked to an area containing an Eastern Air Lines reservation desk. Agents stood ready to assist riders, presumably inspired by what they had just experienced, with travel arrangements. Few seemed to take advantage of this opportunity.
In 1987, Eastern withdrew its sponsorship and the attraction closed on June 1 of that year. Although remembered affectionately by many, a fan website devoted to the attraction notes, "If you can't remember the public uproar surrounding the closing... one possible reason is that there was none."[/I]
Subsequent to the closing of IYHW, Disney removed all references to Eastern, changed the name of the ride to If You Could Fly, and re-opened it on June 6, 1987. The sets and films were intact, but the theme music had been replaced. For many fans of the ride the absence of the infectious original music had taken much of the fun out of the attraction, and the opening scene which originally had a film about Eastern had been replaced with footage of flying birds. On January 4, 1989 If You Could Fly was permanently closed.
Delta Dreamflight
Soon, Delta Air Lines[3][4] took over sponsorship and made plans to update and remodel the attraction. The replacement was Delta Dreamflight, which made use of the same ride system and floor layout, but all new scenery and music.
Disney's Take Flight
Delta dropped its sponsorship in June 1996. WDW removed all references to Delta and renamed the attraction Disney's Take Flight. The ride lasted two years, closing in January 1998. Unlike the wholesale musical change from If You Had Wings to If You Could Fly, Take Flight 's music was the same as Dreamflight 's except for some tweaks to the lyrics.
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
Disney decided to use the ride space to promote its popular film, Pixar's Toy Story. The new attraction, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, again makes use of the original ride system and floor plan, but now riders can control the rotation of their vehicle via joysticks, and are armed with "laser guns" to shoot at targets stationed throughout the attraction.
