Minicot - Building Epcot in our backyard

[TwoTinyWings]

Thanks so much for posting this and sharing the videos. You guys are very creative and clever, and it looks like you had a lot of fun putting everything together. Some of the highlights for me:

- the Soarin' queue, complete with pre-ride briefing video (very Warburton-esque)
- the clever editing in the rider load sequence
- the sync during Illuminations - not only in time with the music, but highlighting bits of the music as well
- the crowd reactions during Illuminations
- the Mexico decor/theming (serape, etc.)

Nicely done! We definitely had a great time watching the videos on youtube last night.

[BandMan]

I was particularly impressed with your Illuminations show, but I gotta ask:

Did you have a special permit or something because I know those fireworks are illegal in Minnesota.

[Mousemates]

Way too cute...

[buzznwoodysmom]

Wow, that was amazing. You should be very proud of that. I am sure it took tons of time and creativity! Well done!

[chrisb26]

That is very awesome! I loved both that and the Illuminations video both show all your hard work. It turned out great!

[trudisneygal]

That was completely fabulous! Now you've got us wanting to re-create WDW in our backyard! I especially liked the Sorin' pre-show, and the lighted walkway. Very nicely done!

[Bluesky481]

All I can say is BRAVO!!!

[Bethis26fan]

That's awesome.

[garthbarth1]

Woderful job!! Made me feel like I was on Soarin' again!

[TINKERBELL_82]

You guys did such a good job!! Bravo!!!

Thanks for sharing!

PS- I had to come back and edit this because I just watched the Illuminations/Mexico video! I can't believe how well everything turned out!! I know how much work that must have been- but what a fun hobby!!!

So whats next?? I can't wait to see more!!!

[CaptSmee]

That's classic! Your Illuminations video had my laughing so hard, yet at the same time I was so impressed with what you did! Thanks for sharing them!

[Sean Riley Taylor's Mom]

Awesome! I am really impressed!

[disneybob]

Thanks so much for posting this and sharing the videos. You guys are very creative and clever, and it looks like you had a lot of fun putting everything together. Some of the highlights for me:

- the Soarin' queue, complete with pre-ride briefing video (very Warburton-esque)
- the clever editing in the rider load sequence
- the sync during Illuminations - not only in time with the music, but highlighting bits of the music as well
- the crowd reactions during Illuminations
- the Mexico decor/theming (serape, etc.)

Nicely done! We definitely had a great time watching the videos on youtube last night.

Thank you all for the replies.

We will add some behind-the-scenes videos later showing more detail on the set-up. But in short, for Soarin we used a 13 feet wide by 10 foot tall screen and used rear-projection to allow us to get the chair right up next to the screen. We would have loved to use the actual Soarin video, but had to make our own to get the picture quality we needed.

The hallway was constructed using black poly (we were on a budget!), with blue string lights from Menards. We used a 13 inch TV attached to a TV mount for the queue video.

For the lights we used 48 channels of Lightrama christmas light controllers and strung a bunch of lights around trees, poles, gardens, etc. as well as the "leaping lights".

For the Fireworks we used a homemade 32 channel controller connected to a computer to synchronize the ignition. We wrapped the fuses with nichrome wire with the controller sending 12 volts to the ingitors in sync with the music.

Fireworks are a little tricky to get the timing right.

We didn't have the best of camera angles to catch everything...but did the best we could.

[disneybob]

I was particularly impressed with your Illuminations show, but I gotta ask:

Did you have a special permit or something because I know those fireworks are illegal in Minnesota.

Busted!

Minnesota has legalized ground based fireworks and fountains and such...but yes we went a little above the rules. However, we are in a rural setting with alot of firework nut neighbors....so they are always happy for a show.....

[2Epcot]

Great job on both Soarin' and Illuminations. I was very impressed with so much detail put into everything. Love they sync of the lights and fireworks. Where did you get all of your aerial footage for your Soarin' video? Reminded me a lot of the stuff my brother and I did when we were younger. We did a lots of stuff with multi-layered audio and video recordings, now we both work in those industries .... Keep it up!

[jiifigment]

[MickeyChick]

OHMYGAWRSH! That is so cool!

[disneybob]

Great job on both Soarin' and Illuminations. I was very impressed with so much detail put into everything. Love they sync of the lights and fireworks. Where did you get all of your aerial footage for your Soarin' video? Reminded me a lot of the stuff my brother and I did when we were younger. We did a lots of stuff with multi-layered audio and video recordings, now we both work in those industries .... Keep it up!

Thanks to all for the compliments, it's been most fun to share this with all of you WDW enthusiests!!!

It was tricky getting the lights and fireworks to sync, mainly because consumer fireworks are somewhat unpredictable...but we were happy with how it turned out. I only wish we could have had more video cameras trying to catch everything.....but we did the best we could.

The footage for the Soarin video was from a few different DVDs, but primarily from a series called "Over Arizona" and "Over California". We also used some footage from the Planet Earth series....namely the shot with the tall waterfall.

[TiggeRia]

They were both awesome--thank you so much for sharing!!!

[Soul_Power]

VERY cool and creative! Looks like a lot of hard work went into Minicot, but it is SO cool! Good job!