Walt Disney Imagineers Make Perfect Pair

[imported_PolyGirl40]

I know we are all aware of the Tower of Terror changes - but this is an article of what goes on "Behind the Attraction" with the Imagineers.


From Disney News:

Walt Disney Imagineers Make Perfect Pair To Turn Up Terror At Walt Disney World Thrill Ride

Their Left Brains, Right Brains Meet in Middle

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – At first glance, many guests might think that Walt Disney Imagineers -- the wizards responsible for envisioning and creating the Walt Disney World Resort theme park attractions -- are all creative masterminds with blue-sky ideas that constantly bubble over like nervous energy.

Looking closer, however, one discovers that complex mathematics, physics and science are a major part of Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) projects. And that a slide rule, calculator and computer are vital tools complementing the out-of-the-box dreaming for which Disney is famous.

Left Brain, Right Brain
The most recent -- and "terror"fying -- example of this unique talent blend is the latest incarnation of The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror™, the 13-story thrill ride at Disney-MGM Studios that features high-speed, fright-filled ascents and descents within a haunted hotel façade.

When Walt Disney Imagineers suggested the idea of adding more terror to the Tower, they knew it would require a perfect marriage of creativity and mathematics.

Enter Theron Skees and Michael Tschanz, the WDI "dream team" designated to make it reality.

As the WDI creative show producer for Disney-MGM Studios, Skees works with lighting and interior designers, conceptualists, writers and architects on every creative aspect of the theme park. Skees also has an extensive background in sculpting, thematic painting and design.
Tschanz, who has a master's degree in electrical engineering, found his calling in applied mathematics and started his career at a large technology corporation in Texas where he developed simulations and performed systems analyses on graphics supercomputers.
Also an accomplished pianist and music director, Tschanz joined Disney in 1997, working for the Scientific Systems arm of WDI. He's a self-described hi-tech "geek" who tackles a world of probabilities, algorithms and software systems. As a principal software engineer for Scientific Systems, Tschanz works with three-dimensional simulations, real-time control algorithms and systems modeling.

"Some have called us a two-headed monster," laughs Tschanz, "but it is a great complement of left brain and right brain skills."

The combination of those skills produced what Skees and Tschanz call "Tower of Terror 4," signifying the fourth time (since its debut in 1994) that the attraction has reopened with a new ride and drop sequence. Each time, more thrills and special effects were added.

The Tower is in Control
This time, Skees and Tschanz actually placed the attraction in control, as the complex computer system randomly chooses which ups and downs guests will experience. In addition, more special effects were added, making Tower of Terror one of the most advanced multi-sensory attractions anywhere in the world.

While Skees and his team brainstormed ways to surprise guests like never before -- with ghostly apparitions, 3-D sounds, surprising smells and making the elevator vehicle move in different ways -- Tschanz kept his computer running non-stop, inputting data and meticulously measuring variables such as ride time, drop time and -- his personal favorite -- "air time."

Math + Creativity = Terror
Call it "math-magic," but Tschanz's meticulous studies resulted in the technology and capabilities of Tower of Terror being pushed farther than ever before. Knowing Skees was busy pumping more surprises than ever into the attraction's storyline, Tschanz's mission from the outset was to create an out-of-this-world experience using digits and denominators to complement the illusion and effects.

"Through analysis, you want to push these systems and get as much as you possibly can out of them because you're going to get a better guest experience out of them. Also, creative (Skees' team) is going to be happier with the final product, and then our guests will be really happy," Tschanz says. "Everybody's going to win. It's certainly harder and takes more time to do that, but you end up with a much better product in the end."

Skees and Tschanz, along with their respective teams, spent approximately two years on the redesign of Tower of Terror, pouring through multiple mock-ups, computer models, creative designs and reams of data.

Since the attraction was open to park guests during the day, the teams had to work around the clock, spending many late nights inside the dark elevator shafts. Skees and Tschanz often found themselves strapped inside the elevator cars for up to three hours at a time as new drop sequences were tested and studied. Tschanz estimates he rode the attraction nearly 3,000 times during the project.

The result, they agree, exceeded even their lofty expectations.

Like proud parents of a New Year's baby, Tschanz and Skees proudly watched as their attraction debuted on Dec. 31, 2002.

"With the different ride profiles, this was like having multiple attractions in one project," says Skees. "We are extremely fortunate to have a very flexible storyline and a reprogrammable ride system on this attraction. Those two elements gave us a great opportunity to reinvent the way we tell that story and gave us a greater canvas to paint on.

But Can it Predict Lottery Numbers?
As Tower of Terror sends thrills and chills through brave Disney guests, Tschanz and Skees hear their share of shrieks and screams coming from the cavernous elevator shafts. And they're also hearing lots of questions. The number-one question people ask? "Which ride profile will be next?"

"When we say the Tower is now in control, that is 100 percent accurate," Tschanz says. "The very moment that the elevator is entering the shaft, the computer decides what is going to happen. It decides which experience it picks.

"As far as which one is next, the sequence does not go in any order and then just start over. The Tower actually has a random number generator that's based on modulo functions," he says. "It is a totally random set of numbers. We don't know and even the ride operators don't know. Really, only the Tower knows."

[brownie]

Sort of like Walt and Roy, the creative guy and the numbers guy.

[Mufasa]

Theron and Michael are like a 2 headed monster when they get together (some of the ideas and things they want to do are just INSANE)- we haven't seen the last of the changes to the tower and what they've been able to pull off with Tower 4 is just mind-blowing. Just the fact that the tower can do a half drop, stop on a dime and then continue the drop full speed in a heartbeat really adds to the excitement of the attraction.

It's also a lot of fun to work on an attraction like Tower and the amount of integration work on it truly is remarkable (the fact that the attraction is really a hybrid of two distinct ride systems). I think even the folks at Otis elevator and Eaton-Kenway (the AGV or horizontal motion components) were a little shocked at what the Imagineers were able to pull off by combining the technologies together. And there's still so much more that can be done with AGV (hint, hint... the dark ride is far from dead and tired).

[Figment!]

Originally posted by PolyGirl40:

"As far as which one is next, the sequence does not go in any order and then just start over. The Tower actually has a random number generator that's based on modulo functions," he says. "It is a totally random set of numbers. We don't know and even the ride operators don't know. Really, only the Tower knows."

Well, having done allot of research into psuderandom number generation algorithms, I would be very interested in seeing what type they picked, linear congruence is very common, then there are some other known methods, but modulus algorithm is not something I ran across unless maybe it would be a variation of linear congruence. Anyways I highly doubt is is truly mathematically random, to really find out a number of chi-square tests would need to be ran. I am sure however the mathematical randomness is enough that the rider will not be able to tell...

[StarRanger4]

Originally posted by Mufasa:
And there's still so much more that can be done with AGV (hint, hint... the dark ride is far from dead and tired).

Heh. Two Tokyo parks rides come immediatly to mind Mufasa... Auqatopia and Pooh's Hunny Hut. Shame that the OLC's people are more willing to get behind Walt's vision (spend the money and do it right, and the crowds will respond!) than the locals. [img]graemlins/mixed.gif[/img]

[Mufasa]

Originally posted by Figment!:
]Well, having done allot of research into psuderandom number generation algorithms, I would be very interested in seeing what type they picked, linear congruence is very common, then there are some other known methods, but modulus algorithm is not something I ran across unless maybe it would be a variation of linear congruence. Anyways I highly doubt is is truly mathematically random, to really find out a number of chi-square tests would need to be ran. I am sure however the mathematical randomness is enough that the rider will not be able to tell...

Aaaugh... the flashbacks of college and a former, secret life (as if my current life isn't secret enough). I did a lot of work with cryptography so I've dealt with techniques to implement random number generation in hardware (both psuedo random generation techniques through LFSRs and real random generation).

Linear congruence wasn't efficient, or truly random enough for most crytographical needs.

Figment, I can picture that you would sit for days at a time watching in an electronic Keno lounge at some Casino, mapping out and trying to break the pseudo-random generator through statistical analysis. (of course this would have been a few years ago, and assume that the casino reset the keno systems every day, given that these were older units that used the same seed value). Finally I think they realized that someone could very well be bored enough to sit there and figure things out like that and they quickly changed the methods to use a real-random number generator.

Now, knowing Michael and his team (and many other Imagineers), I wouldn't be surprised if they did go way overboard on their implementation of a random sequence generator. (hey, a lot of these guys are former defense/aerospace folks and a lot of the technology is modified in some way from origins like this or industrial applications).

[Mufasa]

Originally posted by StarRanger4:
Heh. Two Tokyo parks rides come immediatly to mind Mufasa... Auqatopia and Pooh's Hunny Hut. Shame that the OLC's people are more willing to get behind Walt's vision (spend the money and do it right, and the crowds will respond!) than the locals. [img]graemlins/mixed.gif[/img]

Ah, well I'm of course somewhat biased (I worked on Pooh's Hunny Hunt) and the attraction really showcases what the ride vehicles are capable of.

Aquatopia just didn't quite have the punch that was intended (you look at it and see these people riding around and it's like- oh that's cool), but then you see that they're not in control and are just kinda riding around and there's not much of a storyline to it, so the attraction just loses impact (yes, essentially same underlying technology as Pooh, but goes to show that again, a cool ride vehicle on it's own without a good story just can't stand on it's own).

There's so much more that the teams wanted the AGVs to do in the original Tower of Terror that really would have blown people away. (meanwhile, that mirrored floor/ceiling in the fifth dimension was a REAL PAIN to install, and was really cutting it close right before opening day).

OLC is willing to spend the money, but there's some talk that for a 3rd park for the Tokyo resort, they may actually not have Imagineering do the work, and go with hiring/contracting the work out to other groups (there's a lot of background/political history on this, and now's not the time to go into all of that). Of course, Imagineering is still working on some projects for OLC like the Tower to be built there along with another new, exciting attraction.

[Figment!]

Originally posted by Mufasa:
Aaaugh... the flashbacks of college and a former, secret life (as if my current life isn't secret enough). I did a lot of work with cryptography so I've dealt with techniques to implement random number generation in hardware (both psuedo random generation techniques through LFSRs and real random generation).

Linear congruence wasn't efficient, or truly random enough for most crytographical needs.

Actually this is exactly why I was doing the research, yes Linear congruence is a horrible method for cryptography, really nothing worked well alone the integer method, the square method I think is the worst generator in the world. Actually though my research lead me to my second patent, which is for an Unbreakable* Cryptography system (which my own variation of a generator algorithm plays a very important role in).

*It can be mathematically proven unbreakable by linear algebra, and no one has found any other cipher attacks or number theories so far... at the very least it is more secure than anything else out there at the moment, well expect for quantum cryptography but that is ungodly impractical


oh sorry for the thread drift [img]graemlins/doubleeek.gif[/img]

[ March 29, 2003, 08:42 PM: Message edited by: Figment! ]

[Mufasa]

Yes, sorry for the thread drift...

That's really cool stuff Figment (well, at least to a techno-geek like me). When I was really into possibly making, well computer security a potential career field (curious hacker in me) was intrigued by the concepts with probabilistic encryption schemes (although they are flawed in that they are totally insecure against a chosen-ciphertext attack).

I'm intrigued by your work- of course, unbreakable in the public domain (LOL who knows what techniques or tools NSA has in their arsenal). Then again, as far as NSA goes- this is the organization that put out Skipjack. [img]graemlins/doubleeek.gif[/img] Trying to get this back on topic, of course, there's Eric Haseltine- the former R&D Executive VP at Imagineering who is now at NSA as their Associate Director of Research which did cause a stir at the time of his appointment.

[Doug]

You two make my head hurt... [img]graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]

[imported_PolyGirl40]

Originally posted by Doug:
You two make my head hurt... [img]graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]

[img]graemlins/rotfl.gif[/img]

[StarRanger4]

Originally posted by Mufasa:

There's so much more that the teams wanted the AGVs to do in the original Tower of Terror that really would have blown people away. (meanwhile, that mirrored floor/ceiling in the fifth dimension was a REAL PAIN to install, and was really cutting it close right before opening day).

OLC is willing to spend the money, but there's some talk that for a 3rd park for the Tokyo resort, they may actually not have Imagineering do the work, and go with hiring/contracting the work out to other groups (there's a lot of background/political history on this, and now's not the time to go into all of that). Of course, Imagineering is still working on some projects for OLC like the Tower to be built there along with another new, exciting attraction.

Now that is a truely scary thought Mufasa... 'Disney' magic that wasn't created by Imagineers? :eek

Come to think of it, this is the second time you've mentioned effects that were thought of for ToT then not used... I think I recall hearing something about some of them going into DCA's version, somewhere. I don't suppose there is much you can say about that...