Walt Disney Imagineering Unveils the First Use of its Stuntronic
Walt Disney Imagineering has released a teaser video for what appears to be the first application of its Stuntronic next-generation animatronic figure:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Disney Parks & Resorts
Guests visiting Disney California Adventure park in the near future may be able to catch a glimpse of the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man himself swinging above the rooftops of Avengers Campus.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jycw3iiQN2w
Optimistic Me: This is the next awesome advancement in themed entertainment
Pessimistic Me: What are the chances this lasts longer than Luxo Jr.?
They're jumping the gun on this.
Several of my Disney-loving coworkers were discussing animatronic advancement just recently. (Granted, we're all engineers so the discussion got a bit geeky at times.:mickey:)
This whole "stunt double" thing sounds pretty cool, but from what I've been able to dig up, it's far too early in the development process to start hyping it to the general public. The technical & reliability issues have to be daunting. And then there are the dozens, if not hundreds, of variables to account for before debut.
Example: Spider-Man is going to leap over the crowd in the street from one building to the next, 100ft in the air. Developers set it up perfectly for success during a nice, calm day, then.....Showtime! :party: Spidey's on the roof all set to leap! The crowd waits with eager anticipation. The countdown begins - 3...2...1...Launch! Spidey leaps into the air, arcing gracefully across the sky in a perfect parabola towards the other building! Unfortunately, nobody factored in the 12MPH headwind Spidey is leaping into, and he comes up a wee bit short for landing,:eek: crashing to his "death" on the street below in front of everyone (especially kids) who are traumatized for a good long time. :faint: (Anyone else remember that incident in the '70s when Santa fell out of the helicopter he was riding in right in front of a couple thousand kids waiting for him to arrive?)
Once again, Disney Imagineers are being put under the gun to develop & release something before it's really ready. TPTB need to consider keeping development like this quiet until nearly all the bugs are worked out (or maybe they've done that, and I'm blathering foolishly about nothing - which is more likely since the video for this says "coming Summer 2020).
At least we all know that WDI (or whatever it's being called now) is still developing new, fantastic, innovative ways to entertain us. Oh, and BTW John, that flying dragon was awesome! Whatever happened to it? I only saw it once on the video posted here at Icot. Maybe it self-immolated like its land-based parade dragon cousin? :flame:
