Monday, February 26, 2018

Balloon Simulator Attraction

The post this month is an attraction concept that I am really excited about, and if you've been around my projects for a while, one you have seen a version of before.

This is I think my third full version of my idea for a balloon simulator attraction. Think Soarin, but with a hot air balloon and inside a 360 degree screen, showing panoramic views over some kind of landscape.

I've had this idea for so long that I really don't even know where it came from. I guess just wanting to make my own unique version of the so common flight simulators. But one of the reasons that I stick with it is because the idea of a 360 degree experience is interesting to me and I think could solve some of the problems of current flight simulators: that if you look exactly where you are supposed to, its a perfect experience, but once you see the edges of the screen, your pulled out of the flight.

The idea has been the same all along, but the mechanics of the ride system changes with each version. Though I am not an engineer, I like problem solving through how a ride system like this could work.

I have designed this as just the generic ride system for now, not as a specific attraction. However, I included this attraction in my Worlds of Exploration 3rd Gate for Disneyland as a hot air balloon safari, and in the past used it for a Australian Outback ride in previous Animal Kingdom plans. It will likely return to my next Animal Kingdom in some form. In all the cases I have imagined it, it has been for landscape based flying experiences.



So I'll start with the layout of the building. I've designed it with 3 theaters in one building, but I guess it really could be modified for whatever amount is needed. The main attraction building is 80' wide, 245' long, and something like 55' tall. That doesn't really include queue or exit space, I imagine that would be customized to each version use of the attraction.

In this concept, you load on one floor level, called the 2nd level above, and unload on the level below. How the necessary stairs/ramps/elevators would work to move guests up or down before or after the ride is also outside of this building. I have it drawn as just an entry on the second level and an exit on the first level.

After the queue, guests enter the main showbulding portion down a hall, with one line for Fastpass+ and one for standby. At the end, guests are distributed to two preshow holding rooms. The one on the left serves two theaters, the one straight ahead serves the third. It would be possible to do a 4 theater version of this as more of a square building, two theaters and one preshow on each side of the center hall.

The left side room would reload twice as frequently as the other room, since it serves two theaters, so guests in the second room would have twice as long a preshow. So there could be some kind of passive introduction to the subject of the attraction that could last a variable time and then the actual preshow content before your room moves on to the next step in the attraction.

Out of the preshow room, the group of guests are grouped onto numbers in four single file lines, split into two halves with a railing. Here would be the final preshow and the safety instructions. The the doors at the end of the room open and markings on the floor lead around the bend into the main theater. Guests walk across an elevated gangplank platform to the balloon platform in the center of the theater. Above the seating, through what appears to be a round opening in the ceiling, guests can see the bottom of the giant balloon above, tied to the seating platform with a series of ropes and cables meant to look authentic.



The actual theater "vehicle" has three stadium seating rows split into half with aisles on either side. The far left and right of the four numbered lines lead to the front row on either side, and the other two lines feed to the second and third rows. Guests sit and strap in with a seatbelt like Soarin and then the attraction begins. The balloon theater rises up from the gangplank and up and out of that opening in the ceiling and into the sky. The trick is that the theater has not yet moved. To end the attraction, the theater descends 10' and rejoins the gangplank at the lower level to exit. Guests then leave out a pair of doors to an exit hallway and then leave the building. The attraction then resets for the next group of guests.



Now how the theater actually works. Follow along with the animation.


There are three moving pieces to each theater. The "gangplank" loading platform, the seating platform, and the projection dome. Each are independent but synchronize to create the illusion that you are flying up and away.

The moving seating platform also includes a small portion of fake balloon above the guests to frame the view of the screen. It visually merges with another stationary continuing section of fake balloon above that, which actually holds some of the projectors. The other projectors are below the seating platform.

The attraction load begins with the dome elevated and the load platform aligned with the seating. Then in synchronization, they both descend and the projections begin on the lowering dome, making it feel like you are actually going up. Both move up and down along 4 large "column" structures, so the system is in a way freestanding and independent of the building.

Once the dome is lowered into place, it should fill the full field of view of guests in the vehicle. The front row may be able to see above and below if they try hard, but with the average view, you are fully in the immersive dome.

There could also be some environmental effects in the attraction, like smells, wind, or light mist, all coming from the fake balloon canopy above.

The seating platform at the center can move slightly up and down during the attraction to simulate flight movement, and then can descend 10' on scissor lifts to unload on the lower floor. It can also rotate to add to the sensation of movement.

After unloading, the whole system moves 10' back up to reset and the attraction cycle begins again.



Each theater seats 62 guests per cycle. There could potentially be 8 cycles an hour, which I believe is the same amount as Soarin. So that means about a 4.5 minute ride and 3 minutes load and unload, again basically the same as Soarin. 

So each theater gets through 496 guests an hour and the total project moves 1,488 guests an hour. Not bad. Better than 2 theater Soarin, slightly less than the 3 theater version. If it needed to be a people eating E ticket, it could be modified to 4 or more theaters easily.



That is it for this ride system concept. This is the third big ride system that I've worked out and I really like it, even if its a little different than the architecture style stuff I normally do. It also lets me play around with Blender, which is a fun challenge every time. 

Not sure what will be up next month, but hopefully soon I will be ready to post my plan for my redesign of Hollywood Studios, or whatever it is called by then. 

Thanks for reading and check back next month for something brand new! 

4 comments :

  1. Wow, that's a really amazing concept. Bravo.

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  2. Holy cow I am so happy I stumbled accross your blog. It is really something special, particularly this concept; you’ve got a real talent.

    I had been working on a similar design actually, but you took it to a more realistic and smarter level I think. Mine started off by toying with a “lift/elevator” type mechanism, almost like a free fall drop tower that would move slowly.
    Then came what was essentially a Circle-Vision Soarin’. The vehicles surrounded a lifting mechanism in a circle, so that all seats became “front row seats” and none were behind the other (as they currently are). While “in flight,” the seats would revolve around the lifting mechanism at the center of the room. Does that even make sense? Lol
    I had also toyed with literally hanging hot air balloon vehicles from a carousel mechanism attached to the ceiling, which would enable the vehicles to circle the room and move up and down, thus simulating a hot air balloon’s movement.
    Ultimately though, I find your idea to be much more feasible and realistic. It’s so beautifully simple. I love it!

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    Replies
    1. Glad you found it too!

      What you say makes perfect sense to me, and actually a little like one of my old versions of this idea. This was version 3 at the least. First one was the car on a giant elevator going up into a dome, and second one was vehicle suspended being lifted up. Then it hit me that it would be easier to just move the dome instead of the people, and I ended up here.

      The idea of a 360 degree soarin type ride makes a ton of sense to me and I'm surprised no one has tried it for real somewhere. A lot of different ways you could do it well enough.

      Thanks for reading and leaving a comment. Hope you keep on reading!

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  3. Gah sorry to comment again, but can you imagine how much this concept would enhance Soarin’ Around the World at Epcot? This idea is just BEGGING to be implemented!!

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