Orlando, FL, USA /PRNewswire/ — This fall, Universal Orlando Resort is unleashing hell by bringing to life LIONSGATE’s hit horror film, “The Cabin in the Woods,” at its award-winning Halloween Horror Nights event. Universal’s Entertainment team is partnering with LIONSGATE and film director and co-writer Drew Goddard to deliver a movie-quality haunted house experience that’s authentic to the film and places guests in the middle of an ancient fight for survival.
Additional details about this year’s event will be revealed soon, including more all-new, horrifying haunted houses.
Running select nights from Sept. 20 to Nov. 2, Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights has a more than 20-year history of creating an incredibly entertaining, horrifying Halloween experience that is consistently rated the nation’s best. The event features highly-themed, disturbingly-real haunted houses that are based on everything from hit films like “The Cabin in the Woods” to worst nightmares — and streets filled with hundreds of specially-trained “scareactors.” Tickets and vacation packages are on sale now and can be purchased at Halloweenhorrornights.com/orlando.
Available on Blu-ray, DVD and digital download, “The Cabin in the Woods” was directed and co-written by famed filmmaker Drew Goddard and co-written and produced by sci-fi and horror icon Joss Whedon. The film follows five friends on a college getaway to a remote cabin, and their fate is sealed the moment they walk through the door. They are pawns in a ritual sacrifice that demands blood.
“This is a twisted dream come true for me,” said Goddard. “The Universal team has done an amazing job making all the terrifying aspects of ‘Cabin’ come to life, and horror fans will not be disappointed. Also, they said they’d let me dress up like a merman and scare people, so I’ll see you guys there.”
At Halloween Horror Nights 23, guests will step inside the menacing cabin from the movie and fend off a malicious family of zombies. Just like in the film, guests will flee from the cabin and enter a hidden facility where a secret operative is plotting their sacrificial demise. Suddenly, a menagerie of bloodthirsty monsters is released — and they’re in the middle of all-out chaos.
“‘The Cabin in the Woods’ took the horror film genre and turned it on its head, and it’s a perfect fit for Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights,” said Michael Aiello of Universal Orlando’s Entertainment Team. “We’re collaborating with LIONSGATE and Drew Goddard to bring the iconic monsters from the film to our event. Guests will be assaulted by terrifying beasts taken right from the big screen — including the Hell Lord, the Dollfaces, the vicious Sugarplum Fairy, the Doctors and more.”
Cape Canaveral, FL, USA /PRNewswire/ — KENNEDY SPACE CENTER – On June 29, Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex opened the doors to the world’s most comprehensive and interactive attraction devoted to NASA’s 30-year Space Shuttle Program –Space Shuttle Atlantis.
More than 40 NASA astronauts participatee in the grand opening, many of whom made appearances and signed autographs throughout the Visitor Complex. The festivities also included more than 20 special NASA exhibits throughout the Visitor Complex.
Speakers included NASA administrator Charles Bolden, Kennedy Space Center director Bob Cabana, Delaware North Companies Parks & Resorts president Rick Abramson and Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex chief operating officer, Bill Moore.
Of the three space-flown orbiters distributed by NASA to science centers and museums throughout the country, only Atlantis is the focal point of a $100 million, 90,000-square-foot attraction containing four multimedia and cinematic productions and more than 60 interactive experiences that invite guests to “be the astronaut” and to celebrate the people, passion and patriotism behind the shuttle program.
At Space Shuttle Atlantis can guests come literally nose to nose with an actual space shuttle orbiter that flew in space 33 times and still bears the scars, scorch marks and space dust of its last mission. Only at Space Shuttle Atlantis can guests get a nearly 360-degree view of Atlantis as only astronauts have seen it before, tilted on its side at a 43.21-degree angle, seeming to float in space with its payload bay doors open and its robotic arm extended, as if it has just undocked from the International Space Station (ISS). And only at Kennedy Space Center can guests say they saw a shuttle at the home of human spaceflight, where all 135 space shuttle missions from 1981 to 2011 were launched and processed.
Developed by Delaware North Companies Parks & Resorts, operators of Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex for NASA since 1995, as well as St. Louis-based PGAV Destinations, in partnership with NASA, Space Shuttle Atlantisis the marquee element in a 10-year master plan for the Visitor Complex. Here, top-of-the-line audio/visual and show systems, theme park technology seen in Orlando’s newest and most popular attractions, seldom seen NASA images and footage, and reality-based astronaut training simulations combine to create a first-of-its-kind attraction.
“It’s true that there is more than one space shuttle orbiter out there, but there is nowhere else on Earth like Space Shuttle Atlantis,” said Bill Moore, chief operating officer of Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. “This completely immersive experience is about much more than seeing Atlantis close up. With hi-fi replicas, simulators and interactive activities touching on all aspects of the shuttle program and its accomplishments, including the Hubble Space Telescope and the International Space Station, it’s the closest guests can get to living and working in space – short of applying to the astronaut corps.”
Other highlights and thematic areas include:
The Entrance – Outside Space Shuttle Atlantis, guests are greeted by a full-scale,
184-foot-tall vertical replica of the space shuttle’s external tank and two solid rocket boosters, giving visitors a true sense of the awesome power needed to launch the shuttle into orbit. The entrance walkway is lined with river rocks from Kennedy Space Center’s crawlerway, upon which Saturn V rockets and space shuttles were transported to the launch pads.
The Building – Space Shuttle Atlantis features two sweeping architectural elements, or “wings,” representing the space shuttle’s launch and return. The outer layer of the building, cloaked in iridescent hues of orange and gold, represents the fiery glow of re-entry. The taller, internal wing of the building is covered in a shimmering gray tile pattern representing the tiled underside of the orbiter. The building is designed to meet LEED Silver sustainability standards.
The Preshow – Multimedia and cinematic presentations build anticipation by illustrating the evolution of the 30-year Space Shuttle Program and the thousands of people who took part in creating and maintaining NASA’s five space-flown shuttles – Columbia, Challenger, Discover, Atlantis and Endeavour.
Hubble Space Telescope Theater – A high-fidelity replica shows the Hubble Space Telescope in all its glory, 43 feet long and 14 feet in diameter, with its solar panels fully deployed. A cinematic production in the 40-seat theater shows highlights of the Hubble program, including its 1990 launch, subsequent repair missions and stunning images of deep space.
International Space Station Gallery – Guests can climb aboard a high-fidelity replica of ISS modules and experience the sensation of floating in space. An interactive touch screen offers a variety of topics about living and working aboard the ISS. The topics are then explained using real footage shot exclusively for the Microgravity Theater by actual ISS crewmembers, who are shown in zero gravity inside the ISS. Freestanding pods recreate components of the station, including upside-down astronaut sleeping quarters and the space potty. A 16-foot-long, 4-foot-tall interactive media wall tracks the location of the ISS and provides downloads from the crew’s Twitter feed, as well as exciting updates about the scientific research conducted.
Shuttle Launch Experience – Guests can “get vertical” and strap in to experience the sights, sounds and sensations of a space shuttle launch. Veteran NASA astronauts who helped develop the attraction call it the next best thing to an actual space shuttle launch.
Astronaut Training Simulators – Future astronauts can practice landing the orbiter, docking to the ISS and manipulating the robotic Canadarm on 21 consoles modeled after actual NASA training simulators.
On Orbit Gallery –The 24-foot-long interactive Space Transportation System (STS) Timeline brings NASA’s 135 space shuttle missions to life with details on every launch, landing, astronaut, payload and more. Banks of interactive monitors provide an “X-ray” view of Atlantis’s crucial systems and prerecorded views of its interior, including the cockpit, middeck and payload bay. At the rear of Atlantis, guests can see an actual 8,000-pound space shuttle main engine. Virtual reality simulators invite guests to test their spacewalking skills, while budding commanders can take the controls in a space shuttle cockpit replica.
Space Shuttle Processing Area –The authentic “beanie cap,” or vent hood, from Launch Pad 39B finds a new home at the “Blast Off” game in which guests can kick together virtual molecules of hydrogen and oxygen to create the space shuttle’s liquid fuel. They can also try their hand at virtually mating the orbiter to the shuttle stack in the Vehicle Assembly Building. The wheels and tires from Atlantis’ final mission, STS-135, are also available for guests to touch and spin.
The Re-entry Zone – Visitors can see what it takes for astronauts to land the orbiter as a high-speed glider, creating their own sonic booms and gliding, or rather, sliding, to a landing on the steep slope of the Re-entry Slide.
Shuttle Express Gift Shop – The 4,000-square-foot shop features a wide array of shuttle and space-related merchandise displayed amid youth artwork depicting their visions for the future of space flight.
There will be new landscaping, pathways and architectural features including a new entrance to The Museum of Westward Expansion, which is inside the Arch structure at ground level along with the Visitor Center.
By Judith Rubin — In Saint Louis, Missouri USA, the CityArchRiver 2015 project is set to be completed October 28, 2015 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Gateway Arch, part of Jefferson National Expansion Memorial National Park. This enduring icon of the city and the nation, designed by Eero Saarinen, symbolizes the city’s historic status as Gateway to the West.
CityArchRiver 2015 will reinforce the physical connections between the Arch, the Mississippi riverfront on which it sits, and the adjoining downtown areas including the Old Courthouse. It is also being tied in with the River Ring, an integrated city/county trail system of Great Rivers Greenway. The freeway dividing the Arch grounds from downtown will be overlaid with an extension of the park. There will be new landscaping, pathways and architectural features including a new entrance to The Museum of Westward Expansion, which is inside the Arch structure at ground level along with the Visitor Center. The project is being partly funded through a sales tax passed in April 2013 to support improvements to the Arch grounds along with parks and trails throughout the St. Louis region. Approximately $90 million will be bonded for the project from that revenue.
CityArchRiver 2015 will reinforce the physical connections between the Arch, the Mississippi riverfront on which it sits, and the adjoining downtown areas including the Old Courthouse. It is also being tied in with the River Ring, an integrated city/county trail system of Great Rivers Greenway. The freeway dividing the Arch grounds from downtown will be overlaid with an extension of the park.
CityArchRiver 2015 is a public-private partnership and the project price tag is estimated at $380 million. More than $57 million has been secured through federal, local and private sources (USDOT, MoDOT, and CityArchRiver 2015 Foundation), covering construction of the Park Over the Highway and I-70 connections associated with the project. Construction begins this summer on those elements. The Riverfront component of the project is fully funded and Great Rivers Greenway will start construction in early 2014. Additional fundraising is targeting $250 million worth of private gifts and grants.
Haley Sharpe Design is providing new exhibits for the Old Courthouse and the Museum of Westward Expansion – including the loading areas for the tram that takes visitors to the top of the Arch. Bill Haley, design director, reports that design development is nearly complete and that they are on schedule for completing the new exhibits by October 2015. His company has about 10 people working in-house on the project, with the core team made up of Haley, Alistair Hinshelwood, Nichole Mackereth, Dave Donoghue, Anthony Chadwick and project manager Ron Watson. David Willrich’s company DJW is subcontracted to provide the technical integration. Media production work will be bid out over the next 4-5 months, followed by fabrication work.
Ample visitor data has been collected in the nearly half-century since the Arch first opened, and Haley Sharpe’s team has studied it, especially the information of the past 20-30 years. “We’ve established new numbers for a Design Day and Peak Day,” says Haley. “The Arch gets at least 40 peak days annually, which is two to four times what most facilities get. July 4 is the busiest day. The profile stays about the same from year to year, even if overall numbers are down or up.” New visitation that CityArchRiver will elicit is being taken into account.
Part of Haley Sharpe’s job, in this age of connectivity, will be to interface their work with the data and IT end of things, for the sake of smooth and compatible operations and maintenance.
Rendering for new exhibit on the construction of the Gateway Arch.
As part of reconfiguring the queuing areas for what Haley calls the “1960s historic ride up the Arch,” the old displays and interactives are being removed and the area stripped back for a full AV and lighting retrofit. (The Arch opened in 1965; the ride was installed in 1967.) A visitor entering the Arch will typically either have a pre-purchased, timed ticket for the ride, or buy one on the spot. While waiting for their time to load, they usually browse in the Museum of Westward Expansion. The museum exhibit areas are being reorganized into a series of 6 themed zones with touch screens, animations and videos exploring significant events and locales of Saint Louis.
The new entrance will bring visitors in pointed Eastward, “but the experience is about going West,” Haley points out, “so there’ll be a big map on the floor to reinforce that message.” Westward travelers of frontier-settling times will be represented life-size on three very large, rear-projection screens, and appear to approach and greet visitors. “They will inhabit the space with you,” says Haley, “and continue to appear throughout the experience.” Throughout the exhibitions the designers are striving to evoke the grandness, the light, the sweep, the curves, the scale and dynamism of the Arch and the American landscape, reflecting those through scale, shape, lighting and content. “It’s all about big landscapes and preserving that feeling of scale,” says Haley. A dynamic, animated wall spanning the full width of the tram lobby will display the innovative construction of Saarinen’s and St Louis’s vision, telling the story of the city’s decision to embark on the great monument.
Throughout the exhibitions the designers are striving to evoke the grandness, the light, the sweep, the curves, the scale and dynamism of the Arch and the American landscape.
Historic currents and motifs that run through the guest experience include the founding of Saint Louis and its economic rise as Gateway to the West, Thomas Jefferson’s vision for Western expansion, the statue of Jefferson, the shift that happened when officially, in 1890, the frontier was deemed “closed,” and Saarinen’s architectural vision. Haley Sharpe has a track record with American history exhibits, including Jamestown 2007 , Fort McHenry National Historic Shrine in Baltimore, an exhibit in Topeka National Park detailing the story of the Brown vs Board of Education Supreme Court decision, and the new Hangar in Tuskegee relating stories of heroic Tuskegee Airmen during World War II. To ensure authenticity and accuracy for its CityArchRiver work, the design firm is working with various scholars’ groups as well as National Parks historian Bob Moore and other local experts.
A dynamic, animated wall spanning the full width of the tram lobby will display the innovative construction of Saarinen’s and St Louis’s vision, telling the story of the city’s decision to embark on the great monument.
For a century and a half, the Old Courthouse has been one of St. Louis’ most prominent architectural landmarks. As the site of the first two trials of the pivotal Dred Scott case in 1847 and 1850, and where Virginia Minor’s case for a woman’s right to vote came to trial in the 1870s, the Old Courthouse is a legacy of the 19th century judicial system in the US.
This grand venue contains four exhibit galleries, a rotunda and two courtrooms and is primarily a destination for tourists and school groups. The CityArchRiver updating, being done in partnership with the National Park Service, will include new wayfinding elements and accessibility points. Exhibits provided by Haley Sharpe will examine the Dred Scott case and its legacy, the role of law and courthouses in addressing complexities of human civilization such as frontier settlement, citizenship, probate and aspects of daily life, slavery (the Old Courthouse was a past location of slave sales) and the historic building itself.
The Old Courthouse from Kiener Plaza. Photo: www.NPS.gov
Haley indicates that the exhibits will engage visitors and draw them into key decision points, presenting multiple perspectives on issues to encourage people to formulate their own views. Contemporary AV and interactive technology will share space with artifacts and exhibit panels and provide flexibility for future updates. The rotunda will be the hub from which visitors can choose to enter any of the four galleries at their own pace and inclination.
Saint Louis is home to many great, long-established museums and one of the goals for Haley Sharpe is to tell the story at the Arch in a way that complements what the other institutions have to offer. Naturally all the local institutions have their eye on the Arch and many are also sprucing up: The Saint Louis Art Museum has just opened a major new wing, the Zoo is expanding, the 100-year-old downtown library recently reopened after an elaborate, $70 million restoration, the Missouri History Museum will be served by the new Loop Trolley (expected to be complete in 2014), and there’s talk of an upgrade at the James McDonnell Planetarium at the Saint Louis Science Center, which just turned 50.
Rendering of the view looking West from the lobby of the Museum of Westward Expansion as it will look in 2015. The Museum is inside the Gateway Arch in Saint Louis.
More about the Gateway Arch – from the book “Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future” edited by Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen and Donald Albrecht (ISBN 0-9724881-2-x)
In 1947-48, a local nonprofit corporation sponsored an open national design competition in two stages for the United States Jefferson National Expansion Memorial… The winning design was to be recommended to the United States Department of the Interior… The event brought Eero [Saarinen, who won the competition] national renown and launched his career as an independent architect. The main feature of the eight-acre site he designed was the Gateway Arch. Issues arising from a railway line on the site delayed its realization for a decade. Saarinen oversaw preparations for construction, which did not begin until 1963, two years after his death, and was completed on October 28, 1965. The arch was a weighted, rather than a pure or perfect, catenary, 630 feet tall and 630 feet wide at the base. Constructed of concrete shells clad in stainless steel that formed equilateral triangles in cross-section, each of its legs tapered from 54 feet at the base to 17 feet at the top. The fuselage-shaped Observation Platform held up to 140 people and was reached by two trams specially devised for the structure. Severud, Elstad, Krueger Associates was the structural engineering firm. The landscape was designed by Dan Kiley.
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fngvxyYk8nU/US_Ae2Q3YyI/AAAAAAAAGqo/954GDEqn0-g/s200/DSC01396.JPG[/author_image] [author_info]Judith Rubin, co-editor of InPark Magazine, is based in Saint Louis. She will be reporting regularly on CityArchRiver 2015 with an emphasis on the creative companies involved. ([email protected]) [/author_info] [/author]
Filming with the Phantom 65 in Strathmore, Alberta
FlyOver Canada, a next-generation attraction simulating the sensation of flight, opened June 29, 2013 at Vancouver’s Canada Place. Rick Rothschild of FAR Out! Creative Direction served as Creative Director on the project. A former President of the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) and Senior VP – Executive Show Director at Walt Disney Imagineering, Rothschild previously had served as Show Director on Soarin’ Over California, a flagship attraction at Disney California Adventure park.
Joe Kleiman spoke with Rick Rothschild for InPark Magazine:
Star Tours: The Adventures Continue (C) Disney
JK: FlyOver Canada is a next-generation flying/gliding, media-based motion attraction in the style of Soarin’. What are the key elements that make this experience distinct from earlier genres of motion theater such as represented by Star Tours and Back to the Future – The Ride?
RR: With rides like Star Tours, the idea is that you’re in a vehicle. You view the world through a window while moving through an environment. In contrast, FlyOver Canada gives you the opportunity to look around the world you are flying across, without the intermediary of a vehicle. The experience is much more like that of a bird flying forward and moving around as it flies – or like being Peter Pan – which was in fact much of the inspiration for me. Guests can move their head to view the world around them much like a bird while the sensation of surrounding motion is created by our camera, attached by a gyro mount to the helicopter.
Another important distinction is the live-action capture. With FlyOver Canada as with Soarin’, the action is all live action as compared to a large number of simulator experiences that are principally produced as CG fantasy based environments. FlyOver is about experiencing real places and extraordinary environments in a way not seen before. It ends up being a very personal experience.
Soarin’ Over California (C) Disney
JK: In terms of technology and technical design, how would you compare Soarin’ and FlyOver Canada?
RR: Here are some of the similarities. Guests view a dome-based experience while suspended in nine, open-air, flying vehicles. The orientation of the guest in relation to the dome screen, the idea of having image below you, to the side, in front of you, and somewhat truncated at the top are all quite similar.
Now for the important differences. What distinguishes FlyOver first is that the production is all-digital. Soarin’ was shot on film in the IMAX 15 perforation/70mm format; we filmed and projected at 48 frames per second (fps). FlyOver was captured and is presented digitally; shot and projected in 4K digital at 60 fps. With high resolution and higher frame rate, it’s like watching 3D without glasses. The closest objects we captured in FlyOver are probably 15-20 feet from you, but for the most part, everything’s beyond the surface of the screen, out beyond 30 feet in the actual shot, which is beyond the projection surface of the dome from the guest’s eye. Everything you look at feels natural and real with appropriate parallax. Being able to experience this attraction with no glasses also adds to the sense of reality, given we have added effects like mist and wind.
We filmed with a Phantom 65 digital camera with a Nikon spherical lens. We are projecting with the first commercial installation of a Christie 4K 60 frame projector in the world, with a specially designed and manufactured lens from Schneider Optics. Given our principal capture was digital, it opened up the creative opportunity for us to do a number of unique transitions and effects in post production.
Finally, there’s the length of the attraction. At almost a full 8 minutes, its nearly double the length of Soarin’. Because of this, we were able to shoot in more locations. Conceptually, we wanted to create something that appropriately showcased the landscape and the diversity of the breadth of Canada. Not constrained by capacity and hourly numbers that theme parks demand, the longer experience also allowed us to have sequences that are a little bit longer than the individual sequences in Soarin’.
The Phantom 65 camera
JK: What were some other reasons you elected to shoot digitally with the Phantom? In the field, how did it compare to shooting Soarin’ in IMAX?
RR: In the dozen or so years that separated the Soarin’ production from FlyOver, technology provided us with a completely new set of opportunities to think about in regard to what we could do with production and how we could go about doing it.
Using the Phantom added tremendous flexibility. An IMAX camera can hold only a very limited amount of film at one time, and when shooting in 48 fps it gets used up twice as fast as at the standard frame rate. With the largest IMAX film canister available, we were able to get a full 90 seconds shot before having to land the helicopter and reload the camera. So essentially, we were filming two 45-second sequences at a time while shooting Soarin’.
With FlyOver, even shooting at the higher rate of 60 frames per second, the digital magazine on the Phantom 65 camera still allowed us to shoot 11 minutes before we had to reload, and it was easy to carry extra magazines on the helicopter. We were able to land, reload within a minute, and be in the air filming again without having to return to our base production camp. It was a very different approach from a production standpoint and it allowed us a lot more creative freedom and spontaneous opportunity.
There are a number of cameras that we evaluated before coming to our production decision. The thing that led us to the Phantom 65 was the belief that the chip being the largest chip physically in any 4K camera on the market would help us technically capture in our spherical format. Its physical chip size is equivalent to a 65mm film negative as compared to other digital cameras that are more the size of a 35mm film negative. Capturing the image spherically was found to be benefited by pushing it to a larger sensor. We also found the Phantom provided us appropriate creative options to capture at different speeds, both over-cranking and under-cranking.
Stephen Geddes conducts a final walkthrough of the attraction before testing.
JK: How is FlyOver Canada owned and operated?
RR: FlyOver is a separately ticketed, standalone attraction in Canada Place in downtown Vancouver. Soaring Attractions is the Canadian entity that created and operates it. The two principals in this company are Stephen Geddes and Andrew Strang. They’re both Canadians and Vancouver residents.
Moment Factory at work on UPLIFT, the pre-show to FlyOver Canada
JK: How did you collaborate with pre-show producer Moment Factory and the dome show production team, Sherpas Cinema, to unify the themes of the pre-show and main show?
RR: The overarching idea of FlyOver was to feature the diversity of Canadians and the expansive Canada landscape. If the state of California was a big subject for Soarin’ to tackle, the country of Canada is even bigger. Our “pre-show” – Moment Factory’s UPLIFT experience, was actually looked upon from the beginning more as “Chapter One” of a two-chapter guest experience. UPLIFT lasts around seven-and-a-half minutes, nearly as long as the main show.
We were very happy to collaborate with a company having such a rich background. Moment Factory has worked on an acclaimed projection show on the Parliament building in Ottawa and did the Madonna Superbowl halftime show in 2012. They’re currently in the final stages of installing a unique large scale multimedia installation at LAX’s new international terminal.
We met with the Moment Factory team a number of times to discuss how their piece would connect with the dome show experientially, connecting both emotionally and conceptually. Our approach from the start was that their team and the dome show team (Sherpas Cinema) would work together with our core creative team to produce a guest experience that properly and appropriately connected the pre-show with the dome’s FlyOver ride, in particular with reference to locations across Canada. We made a few discoveries and a few changes as a result while we were filming, but nothing that drastically changed our conceptual view of the project.
We hired Sherpas out of Whistler, BC as our principal media capture team for the dome ride show. Dave Mossop was our director and was in conceptual discussions with us and with Moment Factory as the two “chapters” were developed. In part, it was these discussions between the two parties and us that made this whole concept succeed.
Andrea Wettstein with Six Degrees Music out of Calgary was our principal composer for the ride and Vincent Letellier, who works with Moment Factory, was the composer for the pre-show. Vincent was farther along when Andrea joined the process; however, when Andrea began her independent work composing the ride score, we were delighted to discover that the two scores had common musical themes, drawn from the Canadian cultural personality. As we were moving along, the two composers were encouraged to share with one another. So, in the end a bit of intended thematic bookending and connection exists, while the compositions themselves are very unique and appropriately different.
The pre-show we did for Soarin’ was much different. The story of flight in California is the subject of that pre-show, so setup context was there for the ride, and it helped place the show in the context of the California Adventure theme park as a whole. It’s done through photos on the walls and is more a queue line experience than a true pre-show, if you will.
Canada Place originally served as the home of the Canada pavilion during Vancouver’s Expo 86. The portion of the complex that once housed the world’s first IMAX 3D theater is the new home to FlyOver Canada.
JK: With Soarin’ you had the luxury of new construction. What were some of the challenges and solutions of retrofitting the building at Canada Place to house FlyOver Canada?
RR: Any challenge one faces, whether a blank piece of paper or a preexisting facility, comes with constraints that you begin to work with. In the case of FlyOver Canada, the constraints started with the facility. This was not just a preexisting facility, but a preexisting facility on a large harbor pier several floors above pilings that also support a full convention center that sits directly below the original theater space. So there were both spatial and structural challenges to integrating our dome and ride system.
The space dictated that we could only have a dome 19m (60ft) in diameter. For comparison, each of the Soarin’ domes is around 84 ft in diameter, and the capacity of Soarin’ is 87 people. Due to the smaller dome, FlyOver‘s capacity is 61 people. There are nine vehicles (3 tiers, each with 3 vehicles) with both systems.
There are key differences between FlyOver and Soarin’ in how the dome is entered and the size of the vehicles. Soarin’ has single-level boarding, which is proprietary to that attraction. Everything at FlyOver is a bit smaller and our guests first take stairways to one of three levels outside the dome ride experience to board. The FlyOver ride support structure looks a lot like the old Hollywood Squares set, with each of the “squares” containing one of the ride vehicles.
The FlyOver building originally housed an IMAX theater. We removed the concrete floor and support structure of the theater, and drove several new columns below the convention center to support the ride.
The size of the building wasn’t the only constraint on the size of the dome. With current digital video projection technology, we would be unable to do a Soarin’ size ride without tiling multiple projectors. Practically speaking, our 60-ft dome is the maximum size for the state-of-the-art, single-projector technology we have in place to operate efficiently.
Brogent ride system as seen at E-DA park in Taiwan.
JK: Tell us about the ride technology you selected.
They have an association with Vekoma, which allows them to leverage Vekoma’s substantial expertise in ride manufacturing as well as its sales and marketing resources. Brogent developed the vehicle on their own, and E-DA park in Southern Taiwan is the site of their first system installation. Brogent, which is also based in Taiwan, has a strong background in advanced flight simulator technology.
Each of our ride vehicles has a full six degrees of movement, with all the benefits of advances in engineering and technology since Soarin’ was first created to help us provide a step up in flying ride experiences.
FlyOver Canada from behind the dome screen. The dome is comprised of over 400 lightweight, perforated, powder coated, aluminum panels.
JK: Do you have any thoughts on FlyOver now occupying the space that once housed the world’s first IMAX 3D projector?
RR: I was actually involved in Disney’s participation with Telcom Canada as the executive creative producer when Disney agreed to create a special Circlevision experience for Telcom’s pavilion at Vancouver Expo 86. We developed and produced a film experience entitled Portraits of Canada, which featured 13 “stories” drawn from the diversity of Canada and its unique multicultural peoples.
For me to be able to come back to Canada a quarter-century later and take a tiny bit of what I learned about this country back then to help create something that is inspirational to Canadians and to visitors from around the world has been a wondrous and most pleasurable experience.
The way I see it is that one of the highlights of Expo 86 – the old IMAX theater – has ended up providing a great opportunity for Andrew and Stephen 26 years later – to bring a completely fresh but still equally special and unique entertainment venue to Vancouver. With their tenacity and vision, they’ve brought the next generation of Canadian entertainment and media technology to Canada Place. It’s been an honor and so exciting for me to be a part of their dream.
Rick Rothschild (R) directs Jeff Leyland, a Vancouver actor and sports reporter, in the pre-flight briefing video., According to Rothschild, “It was fun doing that because our pre-launch video is very Canadian. Canadian’s have a self-effacing type of humor which we put to good use.”
JK: Did O Canada at Epcot have an influence on this attraction?
RR: It’s interesting how life plays out. Back in 1981-82, I was at Epcot during its “birth” – as an Imagineer in charge of show programming for a number of attractions, including The American Adventure, France and Canada. I spent a lot of time watching the Canadian Circlevision show O Canada come to life. Watching it during final installation in part led me to make the decision with several other Imagineers that when Epcot was finished, we needed to take a vacation and visit Canada. In the early summer of 1983, we drove a motor home up from California spending most of our 30-day trip in Western Canada – up into Alberta, through Calgary, up through the Rockies, and out across British Columbia and out onto the islands. I was hooked on Canada as a wondrous place from that trip.
So there’s been a personal journey for me – getting interested in Canada through Disney in the early 80’s, learning about Canada with Expo 86, finding it to be such an extraordinary place – and then to return and do FlyOver Canada. As a personal journey of one American, it’s been quite interesting and rewarding.
Louisville, KY, USA (June 207, 2013) — Ed Hart, President of Kentucky Kingdom, LLLP, along with his partners Ed Glasscock, Bruce Lunsford, and the Al J. Schneider Company, today announced the biggest expansion in Kentucky Kingdom’s 25-year history. The announcement was made just an hour after representatives of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Metro Louisville, the Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Kentucky State Fair Board, and The Bank of Kentucky signed the agreements required for the official reopening of Kentucky Kingdom.
Standing just inside the front entrance to the theme park, Mr. Hart remarked, “The highlights of the new Kentucky Kingdom will be the addition of the first new rollercoaster in 17 years and a large expansion of the Hurricane Bay water park. We are doubling the size of the water park, adding three new waterslide complexes, a 12-000-square-foot wave lagoon, and an adventure river, which is six times faster than the existing lazy river. All in all, we will have one of the largest water parks in the region.”
“We will also reopen such signature rides as the Thunder Run wooden coaster, the Mile High Falls giant spill ride, the 150-foot-tall Giant Wheel, the rapid river raft ride, and the Thrill Park Theatre, as well as all of the park’s remaining rides and attractions.”
Added Hart, “We’re not stopping there. In 2015, we will unveil a complete makeover of our suspended looping coaster, T2, and we are well on our way to converting the two intertwined wooden coasters known as Twisted Twins into a much superior ride, which will debut in 2016. We will continue to introduce new attractions each season. In fact, per our lease with the state, we have an obligation to invest as much as $2.5 million each year for as many as 70 years. That would equal an investment of more than $200 million, including our initial outlay of $43.5 million.”
The partners in Kentucky Kingdom, LLLP will provide $28.5 million in capital for the purpose of redeveloping the theme park. Of this total, $18.5 million is equity and the remaining $10 million is a loan. The partners have formed Themeparks II, LLC as a special purpose entity to make that $10-million loan. In addition, The Bank of Kentucky is providing a $15-million loan.
Altogether, Kentucky Kingdom, LLLP has arranged for $43.5 million in funding for the redevelopment of Kentucky Kingdom. Of this sum, $36 million will be spent in the first year and $7.5 million in years two and three as the park ramps up to its full potential.
Linköping, Sweden — Dataton was recognized by the industry for its unrivalled excellence in multi-image display. The company received four innovation and project awards at InfoComm 13, the largest annual event for the international audiovisual and electronic communications industry.
WATCHOUT multi-image display and presentation software won the Best Show Control category of the 2013 Rental and Staging Awards. InfoComm 13 was also the platform where Dataton launched the latest WATCHOUT software version 5.5. New features include hardware-assisted synchronization, frame blending, display computer and cluster naming and web image display.
The big new product for Dataton in 2013 is the WATCHPAX solid-state media server, which made its InfoComm 13 debut as well as taking the Media Server Category of the 2013 Commercial Integrator BEST Awards. The award was received by Dataton’s Lars Sandlund together with Jim Testa and Molly Davis, representing Show Sage, the Dataton Premium Partner in North America.
WATCHPAX combines all the show-timeline, control and image-manipulation of the company’s successful Dataton WATCHOUT™ software with a compact, embedded computer. WATCHPAX can be used in information points or to drive content in kiosks in corporate showrooms, digital signage and visitor center applications.
The View from The Shard won the 2013 PRO AV Award in the Best Museum AV Project category and 2013 AV Technology Award for Most Innovative Rich Media Data Management System.
The View from The Shard project utilizes Dataton WATCHOUT multi-image display and presentation software across the new attraction’s pre-show area, ticketing and signage systems.
The winning project was jointly submitted into the awards program by Dataton, DJ Willrich, Event Communications, Mirage Associates and The View from The Shard.
In addition, The View from The Shard project was shortlisted for a People’s Choice Award during InfoComm 13.
In speaking about the success of receiving four awards, Lars Sandlund, Chief Operations Officer at Dataton says: “Dataton is gaining tremendous momentum as the premium provider of multi-image display technologies that are changing the way the world sees and interacts with video.
“These awards are not only testament to our innovation but they are also recognition of the excellence of our valued partner and customer ecosystem.”
Tokyo, Japan — Christie has introduced the Christie Mirage 4K25 and Christie Mirage 4K35 projectors for 3D applications for advanced visualization in automotive, location-based entertainment, government, military, oil and gas, and more. These new 3-chip DLP projectors, anchored by the new Christie TruLife electronics platform with proprietary 1.2 Gigapixel per second, floating point architecture, offer full 4096 by 2160 resolution at 120Hz for 3D. The world premiere of these new solutions took place at the 21st 3D & Virtual Reality Expo (IVR), at Tokyo Big Sight, Japan’s largest exhibition for 3D technology and high definition image technology, June 19-21.
“Christie, as the global leader in the visualization market, is the first and only projector manufacturer in the world to provide full 4K DLP resolution at 120Hz. This industry-leading image processing performance is complemented by the world’s leading Xenon lamp technology from Ushio in Japan. With these two new Mirage projectors, Christie has truly set the bar high for visualization solutions currently available on the market,” said Larry Paul,senior director of Technology and Visualization Solutions, Christie.
The Christie Mirage 4K25 and 4K35 provide outstanding flexibility in brightness from 10,000 to 35,000 lumens, a variety of input options includingDisplayPort, HDMI and HD-SDI, and built-in Christie Twist for curved screens and blended array visualization applications.
Mamoru Hanzawa, director of Christie Digital Systems, Japan, added, “Christie designs the most functionally-advanced and intuitive 3D projection for visualization display solutions. With the launch of the Christie Mirage D4K25 and D4K35, Christie continues to demonstrate its leadership position and dedication to customers with solutions and services that our customers have come to expect. Our mission at Christie is to help our customers create and share the world’s best visual experiences.”
By introducing the world’s first stereoscopic 3-chip DLP projector in 2001, Christie set new standards for 3D performance and changed the way people looked at stereoscopic images. For 12 years Christie has led numerous Mirage innovations to facilitate the use of 3D visualization for multiple applications, including visualization of advanced computer-generated models, and presentation of engaging content at location-based entertainment venues, opening the doors to enhanced human perception and understanding.
The latest in the Mirage product line, the Christie Mirage 4K25 and 4K35 projectors offer significant benefits to the global business and visualization markets that rely on both 3D and single or multiple channel immersive displays. Their image quality, color and uniformity enable visual accuracy in the vehicle development process, which can reduce risk and costs for research and prototyping, from concept to final design. The reliability and durability of these projectors deliver consistent, repeatable performance with no down time for the most demanding theme parks environments, where projectors operate up to 24 hours a day, creating fully immersive virtual experiences. The stereoscopic capability of the Mirage 4K25 and 4K35 enables engineering work collaboration and visualization of the most complex data sets for oil and gas, military or aerospace, museums, academia, government, national labs, heavy machinery and science and biotechnology industries.
Miami Beach, FL, USA — Smart Monkeys, Inc. has designed and published a series of five MxM plug-ins for the Medialon Show Control product line. The SMI MxM Series redefines the way Medialon users program shows and installations by offering easier programming, shorter code and faster computation.
“For the first time since Medialon Manager has become available to programmers around the world, an independent company is offering additional tools to improve the capabilities of Medialon Show Control software,” says Smart Monkeys co-founder, Stephan Villet. “We’re pleased to be the first third-party company providing Medialon MxM plug-ins. Our collection of MxMs is a powerful toolkit that allows programmers to be more flexible and work a lot faster.”
The SMI MxM Series consists of SMI Lists MxM, SMI Media Info MxM, SMI Tables MxM, SMI Strings MxM and SMI Variables MxM. Although Medialon users need a license to register each of the SMI MxM plug-ins and use them in programs, the software can be downloaded immediately from the Smart Monkeys, Inc. online store for testing features in the Medialon Manager Demo mode.
SMI Lists MxM gives extended power over List objects manipulations. Simple and easy to use, this plug-in enables users to search, resize, reverse and merge lists in seconds. They can sort a list and automatically keep associated lists synched to it. Commands such as “Convert to Medialon List” and “List Adjust Position” save time and many lines of code. Simple calculation (min, max, sum, average) is included and duplicates or empty items can be removed quickly. The plug-in is priced at $149.
SMI Media Info MxM is a very easy to use Media Metadata aggregator supporting numerous audio, video and picture codecs and formats. Users just select a media file and retrieve hundreds of metadata that can be used in programs and/or simply displayed on panel designs. The plug-in is priced at $49.
SMI Tables MxM brings the power of arrays, tables, databases and more inside Medialon Manager Pro or Lite with no additional software required. This MxM creates an advanced data structure natively within Medialon Manager. An SQL backend supports table functionality with quick sorting, filtering and a range of output options. Since the plug-in is based on SQLite, programmers experienced with SQLite can use standard SQL queries. The plug-in is priced at $299.
SMI Strings MxM makes strings manipulation even more powerful, offering a complete new set of commands never available before in Medialon Manager. Users can split, swap and trim strings; count substrings; convert or remove non-print characters; and check string format. It also introduces Regex (regular expressions) to Medialon programming. This codified method of searching is extremely powerful and well known to developers worldwide. With SMI Strings MxM and the Regex syntax, string computation is limitless. The plug-in is priced at $199.
SMI Variables MxM implements pointers and more for Medialon Manager changing the way users manage variables in projects and saving hundreds or thousands of lines of code. Correction, modification and improvement of projects are fast and efficient; users can loop, iterate, convert and manage variables with incredible ease. Distance, speed and temperature conversions are included. The plug-in is priced at $249.
In addition, Smart Monkeys, Inc. offers the SMI MxM Pack, which bundles all five plug-ins for $749, a greatly reduced price compared to individual purchases.
“”Medialon’s technical team is impressed with the powerful functionality Smart Monkeys’ new MxMs bring to the table,” said Eric J. Cantrell, North American Sales Manager for Medialon, Inc. “Opening up our system for third party developers to create plugins introduced the possibility for advanced functionality that even we hadn’t envisioned. It’s exciting to see power users like Smart Monkeys finding new and more advanced ways to adapt our software to make it even easier to use and more powerful.”
As part of its continuing effort to improve service to its customers, WhiteWater has opened a new e-store allowing customers to quickly and easily order spare and replacement parts for their WhiteWater products online.
The e-store will make it easy to find and order factory authorized Spare and Replacement parts such as nets, hose jets, platforms, hand wheels, water guns etc., for WhiteWater’s AquaPlayand SCS interactive play structures. Customers will also find parts including shock absorbers, springs, etc. for our waterslides including the AquaLoop. More products will be added to the e-store in the future.
By visiting the WhiteWater’s e-store, customers can set up their own account, log in and start shopping. pre-payments can be made with Visa and MasterCard or customers can upload a purchase order for billing purposes. Once placed, the order will be processed promptly, securely and efficiently.
