Ride-Through Sample #1
The Sound of Music
Passage through the frames of an unspooling film reel leads to blue skies and white puffy clouds. Orchestral music swells as the theater dips to behold the majestic Austrian Alps in all their widescreen glory. Welcome to the world of 1965’s The Sound of Music, a heartwarming musical which was – in its day – the highest-grossing film in history.
As Julie Andrews starts to sing “The Sound of Music,” the theater dives towards the verdant grassy knolls. In imitation of the film’s famous opening helicopter shot, the theater sails and spins majestically around Miss Andrews. Her song crescendos as the theater sails through a rugged river canyon and enters another film reel.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Crashing ocean waves rush towards the screen, then envelop it! The theater dives underwater, into the deep, dark, moody subaquatic depths. Riders rest for a moment as, slowly but surely, headlights and nuclear humming emerge from the briny black. The Nautilus submarine from Disney’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea materializes. Filmgoers enjoy a quick peek-in at the Nautilus’ observation deck to glimpse Captain Nemo madly pounding at his organ.
The tranquility is shattered by a giant squid attack! Titanic tentacles wrap around the steampunk hull, while others grasp the theater. A struggle for survival ensues as the Nautilus ascends to the surface. Tossed about in the torrents of a thundering typhoon, the theater is a helpless witness to this battle of man versus nature. Captain Nemo activates the Nautilus’ electric defenses, which blast another film reel straight at the screen.
Fantastic Voyage
Where the Nautilus once was, now floats the diminutive ship Proteus. Welcome to the weird world of Fox’s 1966 Fantastic Voyage. In this science fiction stunner, we are miniature explorers encountering the bizarre “inner space” of the human body. The theater follows the Proteus on its surgical rescue mission down the bloodstream, in a sequence heavily reminiscent of Body Wars.
Tremendous heartbeat turbulence sends us off course! Rocketing through the heart’s atriums, we hurtle uncontrollably through the lungs. Reentering the aorta, white blood cells close in to attack. The theater hastens its escape from the patient’s body through the ear. We suddenly expand to normal size within the medical chamber, before entering a film reel on the operating table.
Tron
Light cycles rush past! This is the Grid from Disney’s 1982 Tron. Here inside a computer system, sentient programs battle to the death on motorcycles of pure energy. Our theater is now a contestant. Forced to rush headlong down the cyan blue battlefield, the theater ducks and weaves to dodge cycle’s walls.
A yellow light cycle cuts us off and crashes into a blue wall. The cycle spins out, leaving behind a bright yellow spiral ramp. Forced into the ramp, the theater goes airborne. From above, we see an escape route – a crack in the arena’s outer black void, at the edge of a winding cyberpunk maze. Crashing back to the Grid, the theater navigates this neon maze, racing rival cycles. A swift left, a swift right, left, right, left, right, then straightaway, successfully escaping through the crack, out from the Grid, and back to the backlot!