Saturday, November 28, 2009
Technology vs. Longevity
Re-Imagineering: "Throughout history Disney has consistently been at the technological forefront of theme park design. From introducing steel roller coasters (Matterhorn) to being the first to implement linear induction motors for urban transportation (the People Mover), Disney has always been a leader in world class technology. However, the more recent technology Disney has been using in their attractions seems to lack a certain wow-factor so prevalent in the parks earlier history."
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8 comments:
Its not that surprising that Disney would release a ride that was low on technology. While there are plenty of rides at Disney that have created a lot of technological advances there are a lot of your everyday rides. How can anyone expect for Disney to just produce technological advancing rides?
I agree with Kelli that Disney rides don't need to be high on technology. However, what makes their rides so good (with or without lots of technology) is the story and theming supporting the ride. This article makes a good case that Disney opted to wow people solely with the technology instead of putting good entertainment behind it like other rides. Some Disney rides, like Matterhorn, are based a lot around the new technology that was used, but for Matterhorn, Disney still themed it, and the technology was something that was the first of its kind. For the Toy Story Mania, the technology wasn't particularly innovative, and since the attraction was based around the technology, I agree with the author that the ride will probably flop in a few years.
Mr. Clayton seems really upset about this ride easily being replicated by home systems, but it had a reported budget of over $80 million. I don't want to say that Mr. Clayton is incorrect in his analysis of this ride (because I will admit having not been on a Disney ride in the last 15 years) but perhaps the Disney objective is changing to accommodate a different audience that grew up with different entertainments available to them.
It is apparently a daring new step for Disney technology, but perhaps the issue is that Disney is no longer able to stay at the utmost forefront in ride technology because it is competing with home entertainment which was limited during the creation of these ride experiences. It could be that Disney hasn't developed the right computer corporation to take care of their rendering needs. Hewlett-Packard may have the largest imaging/printing technology group in the world, but they aren't specialized in graphics renderings like ATI and nVidia are doing.
http://www.designnews.com/article/46702-Disney_Rides_on_Wireless_Ethernet.php
The ride is a step in an interesting direction for the parks. Although it was opened nearly a year and a half ago, it is still a very popular ride for the guests at the parks. It is a step in a different direction for the attractions they have been putting out recently. A similar ride to this one is Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin. This ride is much older, but is still a very popular attraction. It is still a game, but is a "low tech" solution. It would be great if the Midway Mania attraction could have been either longer or had more interactivity with the guests. It will be interesting to see how the interactive nature of the rides continues as new attractions develop.
Disney is smart to not put all their eggs into one basket with this attraction. Part of what theme parks survive off of is not only visitors returning to ride their favorite roller coaster from their childhood, but by introducing new attractions at a regular rate. It sounds like the ride can easily be adapted to another storyline based on the article and I don't think this is a bad thing since Disney could change it every couple years based on the new current movie that everyone is familiar with. We must not forget this ride is primarily designed for kids who will see the technology and brilliant and there really isn't a need to over-engineer a theme park ride just because the technology is available.
Disney is smart to not put all their eggs into one basket with this attraction. Part of what theme parks survive off of is not only visitors returning to ride their favorite roller coaster from their childhood, but by introducing new attractions at a regular rate. It sounds like the ride can easily be adapted to another storyline based on the article and I don't think this is a bad thing since Disney could change it every couple years based on the new current movie that everyone is familiar with. We must not forget this ride is primarily designed for kids who will see the technology and brilliant and there really isn't a need to over-engineer a theme park ride just because the technology is available.
It's not too surprising when you look at the underlying "numbers in the accountant's book" that the article speaks about. They may try to make the argument but, it the technology still works, why try to change it. Yes, there are plenty more opportunities that can be made with this but, don't sacrifice the idea of the story for it.
I think the article misses the concept that the focus on the ride appears to be more about doing 3D then anything else. The economy is in the tank and I'm betting even the all powerful Disney is feeling that. The fact that they played a new attraction more on the safe side is not a total surprise given that if this ride did not do well, it would probably just prove to be a money hole rather then worth the space. The fact that the ride was basically release for the Wii however, just seems like someone was not thinking on this one.
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