Walt Disney Imagineering Labs, Epcot ’94

Concept design and development, story development, media scipting, development of interactive storytelling and characters, final live presentation script.

Walt Disney Imagineering.

The (intentionally) overly dramatic DisneyVision logo. Our motto: “This Ain’t No Dark Ride.”

Concept art of the WDI Labs exterior queue.

The final exterior area. Guests waiting underneath large photos of Disney entertainment technology breakthroughs such as the multiplane animation camera and early Audio-Animatronics.^©.

Concept art of the main WDI Labs space.

The demo space was a fairly accurate recreation of the DisneyVision team studio in the Bowling Alley building at WDI in Glendale. The Imagineers who ran the presentations also used the space to work on side WDI projects as well as addition work on the Aladdin Adventure (as the future, ultimate planned attatraction was to be called).

Concept art of the DisneyVision testing area.

DisneyVision testing area. Several random guests were selected to test fly a carpet through a very limited Aladdin environment. Guest reactions to using the equipment as well as variations on optics and controls were actually tested. The “slick” show space was balanced by the practical drop-down cabling, ladders for accessing equipment, and so forth.

The live DisneyVision presentation was based around the endless presentations to applicable WDI personnel and studio weasels. Instead of Orlando actors, interns from a variety of artistic and technical backgrounds were hired to be actual Imagineer presenters (a Disney theme park rarity that echoed Bell Telephone employees who once upon a time presented America the Beautiful CircleVision^© attraction in Anaheim).

Real process was a key element in the presentation; feature animation reference, DisneyVision concept art, and thumbnail storyboards set in a far-from-slick studio recreation.

NOT a conventional Epcot show, NO formal seating; guests sat at desks, in regular office chairs, on the floor, or stood in the back. Guests were remarkable respectful of the space as they were aware of it being the place that people actually worked and wasn’t just a corporate “shill” show.

Video shown as a part of the presentation appeared on two big monitors at the front of the room and on Silicon Graphics, Inc. monitors here and there throughout the room (OK, a little bit of “shilling” went on).

SGI provided the big, purple “apartment refrigerator-sized” Onyx IG (image generator) computers used to host the DisneyVision data. Some were empty shells that housed the video playback and wireless audio amp for the introduction presentation.

Storyboards at the back of the test area showed the basic branching choices used in this DisneyVision / Aladdin Adventure demo.

The VR helmet (containing 3D optics and binaural audio gear) perched onto top of the “carpet,” the hand controls used to fly through the Aladdin environments. The monitor showed the image as seen by the guest using the controls and helmet.

A selected guest being readied for their test flight.