AA's as guide on spiel rides

[Uncle Bob]

I’ve been thinking about the Mr. Potato Head AA and it got me to thinking about something I’ve always thought was cool, which is the Rex AA in ST. I have always thought that the concept of an AA guiding a “spiel” ride was a very cool idea. The limitations of the 80’s technology however, prevented any interactivity or even changing the spiel, resulting in less repeatability, and the ongoing jokes about it being his first flight.

Now with improving technology for creating interactive AA’s with multiple speech options, and with trackless technology, it would seem that an AA could guide you on virtually any attraction. I’m interested to see what kind of attractions people might come up with where you could use this concept of interactive AA led spiel rides. Obviously this would be expensive, so practical ideas would probably require large capacity ride vehicles, but I’d also be interested in ideas for smaller ones as well.

A couple ideas I’ve had are a ride for Frontierland where your ride vehicle is a wagon with an old stagehand AA and horse AAs that would interact with guests on the ride. I also had an idea for a boat ride for that a few of us have been talking about for DCA, that could have Steamboat Willie as the captain. I’ve got a few more but I’m interested in seeing what creative ideas others might have.

[Datameister]

I think the idea of using an AA Captain Rex as a "real" pilot in Star Tours was a stroke of genius. He's the real deal, in a way--while Rex's actions and dialogue are prerecorded, the mechanics of his motion are very much like what a robot's would be. That makes him highly believable and so much more entertaining and immersive than a mere voice over the intercom or an image on the screen. It's a concept that could definitely be spread to other new attractions. That being said, I don't have any other specific ideas, at least off the top of my head.

[techskip]

I was thinking it would be interesting to have an AA of Teddy Roosevelt, or Mr. Lincoln... which ever you deem appropriate for the theme... to give a rousing speech in an Opera House style attraction on Main Street.

[Datameister]

That's a stupid idea, skip. No way Disney would ever build anything like that.

[Wally]

Actually, chronologically speaking, Teddy Roosevelt is a much better fit for Mainstreet U.S.A than Lincoln. Roosevelt was the exact president during the turn of the 20th century that Mainstreet U.S.A represents.

[Uncle Bob]

It would be kind of neat to do a Teddy. But on the other hand, Lincoln is so much more revered. I think a wildness adventure type ride with a Teddy AA would be awesome, but I'm sure if some might be offended by that. I guess that movie Night at the Museum didn't offend anyone as far as I know, so maybe it would be ok. It could be cool if he took you on an a modern NWL type train ride. If there's any history of him in Cali that would be a cool ride for DCA. Like Teddy's taking you on a trip to survey the Grizzly Peak area to possibly add it to the national park system.

[Not Quite Cpt Jack]

It would be kind of neat to do a Teddy. But on the other hand, Lincoln is so much more revered. I think a wildness adventure type ride with a Teddy AA would be awesome, but I'm sure if some might be offended by that. I guess that movie Night at the Museum didn't offend anyone as far as I know, so maybe it would be ok. It could be cool if he took you on an a modern NWL type train ride. If there's any history of him in Cali that would be a cool ride for DCA. Like Teddy's taking you on a trip to survey the Grizzly Peak area to possibly add it to the national park system.

Sounds quite perfect I must say.

[techskip]

Actually, chronologically speaking, Teddy Roosevelt is a much better fit for Mainstreet U.S.A than Lincoln. Roosevelt was the exact president during the turn of the 20th century that Mainstreet U.S.A represents.

I actually took a lot of flack on here for pointing out this historical inaccuracy. I even posted dates to prove my knowledge of American History! TR is a controversial figure. He did wonders for National Parks, but at the same time removed a lot of Native Americans from their lands. He completely revamped the government policies against Big Business, but also promoted war believed America should have it's own colonies. Abe by comparison has a much cleaner, much more "PC" image. That said TR has always been my boyhood hero.

"That man is a Steam Engine in trousers"- White House servant commenting on TR.

Sounds quite perfect I must say.

I believe the word you are looking for is Bully!

I would attend the speech if only to hear the word "Deeeeeeeeelighted" in his classic sharp syllable cutting speech impediment. As to a choice of speeches, how about the rousing one he gave shortly after being shot. That's right, with bullet still in his chest, broken spectacles, blood stained shirt and speech with a bullet hole... he gave his speech... how's that for a tough guy! For anyone wondering his glasses and speech were in his left breast pocket when he was shot, and even modern doctors credit this as the reason he lived, it slowed the bullet down enough to keep it from hitting his heart.

I do not believe Disney should re-create the exact moment... but the speech is an amazing testiment to political fire and brimstone meets pure American Patriotism.

[Datameister]

I definitely didn't know Teddy was that hardcore. Yes, I think an exact re-creation of that would be marvelous!

[techskip]

I definitely didn't know Teddy was that hardcore. Yes, I think an exact re-creation of that would be marvelous!

Can't find my copy... but the book River of Doubt opens with that scene. At most I think it was a couple days after he'd been shot, they couldn't get the bullet out and the doctors warned him not to get too excited. In typical TR fashion he smiled and promised he would only be as excited as the crowd... then he riled them up!

[Datameister]

Nice.

[GhostHost2]

It would be kind of neat to do a Teddy. But on the other hand, Lincoln is so much more revered. I think a wildness adventure type ride with a Teddy AA would be awesome, but I'm sure if some might be offended by that. I guess that movie Night at the Museum didn't offend anyone as far as I know, so maybe it would be ok. It could be cool if he took you on an a modern NWL type train ride. If there's any history of him in Cali that would be a cool ride for DCA. Like Teddy's taking you on a trip to survey the Grizzly Peak area to possibly add it to the national park system.

That's a good idea for a DCA national park ride. I would like some thrill factor in it though. No, something doesn't have to go horribly wrong and it doesn't have to be a high speed ride, but I would like some things to occur during the ride that would get some excitement going. So you can get an idea where I'm coming from, I'll say that POTC and HM are very exciting rides, even if they are very slow in terms of vehicle speed.

About Teddy R being too contorversial, I will say that coming from the south, Lincoln isn't view in a neccesarily squeaky clean manner either. I'm not trying to be anti-Lincoln, cause I'm not, I'm just stating a fact of how the south sometimes views him.

Back to the main topic, what makes Star Tours so special is the Rex AA. The Rex AA is one of the major factors in why Star Tours has stood the test of time IMO. There are many motion simulator rides throughout America, but the only one with an onboard AA is Star Tours. The Rex AA is a great example of what makes Disney special. It's something you can't find anywhere else on a simulator.

[techskip]

About Teddy R being too contorversial, I will say that coming from the south, Lincoln isn't view in a neccesarily squeaky clean manner either. I'm not trying to be anti-Lincoln, cause I'm not, I'm just stating a fact of how the south sometimes views him.

I had a History Teacher who basically summed up how I feel on the ABE/TR subject. Under Lincoln we became a nation again, under TR we became a world power.

[Disneyphenom]

Now with improving technology for creating interactive AA’s with multiple speech options, and with trackless technology, it would seem that an AA could guide you on virtually any attraction. I’m interested to see what kind of attractions people might come up with where you could use this concept of interactive AA led spiel rides. Obviously this would be expensive, so practical ideas would probably require large capacity ride vehicles, but I’d also be interested in ideas for smaller ones as well.

Despite how good AAs can be nowadays, I still think one of the best places for "host" AAs for attractions is still Tomorrowland.

Although they can do some pretty darned good human or realistic non-human AAs, for the most part they're still seen at a distance and for a limited period of time. If one is done as a host, though, you're paying a lot of attention to an AA for a long part of the ride.

Even though we all think the Auctioneer in Pirates of the Caribbean is a pretty fancy AA, if he was standing at the front of... say... a Jungle Cruise boat for an entire trip, he probably wouldn't come across as well. That, and if a joke didn't go over well, he'd just motion to his henchman who would fire a few shots into the crew. But I digress...

In Tomorrowland, at least, you can have a robotic looking and moving AA because WDI can get away with making it an actual robot. Sure, it's sort of a cheap way to cheat... but at the same time, it works well with the theming. It'd be a real kick to see an AA robot giving the spiel on a reformatted PeopleMover, instead of a disembodied voice.

Wow... that took me a long time to get to my point and idea. Meh.

[Uncle Bob]

DP-
Well even if the technology isn't quite there it's getting close. I agree robotic characters are easier to do, but I also don't think WDI is pushing its limits. I think animated characters would be a good next step, but they have been doing real people for a long time, and they're getting better. I think they could do even better now and much better in the coming years if there was serious interest in the technology shown by management. Hopefully some major advances will come during the develpment of Carsland as it seems to promise to be pretty AA intensive, although it won't be in human AA's specifically. In many cases a real person is superior to an AA anyway for many roles obviously, but in some cases AA's are advantagious for obvious reasons as well.