Discovery theme park ride technology

Thursday, May 08, 2008 Delivering the Wow! & the Pow! The Recce Period. Blooloop Blog II. What great fanfare! One hour after posting the blog I was on the phone to an industry contact and she said, “I just read your blog”. I also received a handful of useful e-mails. Thanks to everyone who took the time to write.

It’s a funny old business TV production but I feel right at home within the theme park industry, as your projects are equally difficult to get off the ground and just as dependent on a million variables. This week I have been reaching out to some of the potential rides to try to get more information of the technology involved. It’s often a catch22, “Can’t tell you, it’s top secret but we want to be in the show.” “Can’t include you if I don’t know anything about the ride.” Nothing a few non-disclosure agreements can’t solve, for now. Our biggest challenge ahead is going to be how to film experiences that are, well, meant to be experienced. My instinct tells me to surrender. White flag. There is no way that we can make a show that delivers the WOW POW of riding no matter how virtual -- we can’t reach through the telly and shake the sofa under the viewers bum, dropping them backwards through black tunnels and then spin them 360 degrees. Am writing right now from an outdoor café in the States, just having gotten off the phone about to get on the road to visit potential rides. This is what we call the recce period: research, research and more research. We get to meet with the engineers, compile information and see the rides for ourselves before we make a call on what to include. Can’t wait for the challenges ahead and figuring out where we will place the camera to capture the experience and how we will visualize some of the physical principles behind the magic. Next time you see a solo passenger on a ride near you, she might just be researching.
Posted By Alicia Peyrano -- At 11:16 PM \| Comments (1) \| Trackbacks (0)
Categories Amusements Parks, Attractions Business Tags Discovery, rides, technology, TV
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Comments :

Alicia,
I can really appreciate the connection you've made between theme park rides and movies... my company feels like the little independent film company must feel in Hollywood. We are new (02/2006) but it had been a struggle to get noticed and I hope that you will be on the way to review one of our rides someday. Even though we have experienced a 400% increase in web traffic since we started... we know it's still going to be a long and windy road. Take care.

Denny

Comment By Denny Magic At 5/11/2008 6:45 AM