
Day 3 - October 21, 2013
The 1964 World's Fair was a huge
stepping stone in Disney's history. While some
of the highlights consisted of attractions like
it's a small world, Carousel of Progress, and
Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, miniaturized
triumphs occurred which would help mold the look
and feel of Disney to this very day.
One of the biggest steps was the idea of omni-mover
styled attractions. Prior to this, Disney didn't have an attraction
which allowed guests and the ride vehicle to move on a conveyer belt
side by side, which in turn allowed for more efficient loading and
unloading for attractions. Up until this point, the Haunted Mansion
was fully intended to be a walking tour. Thanks to the 1964 World's
Fair and the perfection of omni-mover technology the original plans
for the attraction were changed and the idea of the Doom Buggy was
first put into play.
The design of the Doom Buggy was actually based off
of the first attraction in Disneyland to fully use the omni-mover
technology: Adventures thru Inner Space. While the ride vehicles
were blue, to fit in with the theming of the attraction the blue
domed ride vehicles would be painted black to fit in with the theme
of the Haunted Mansion.
Imagineers decided to take the Doom Buggy one step
further than the Adventures Thru Inner Space vehicles. While the
ATIS vehicle would have each vehicle constantly facing the vehicle
in front of it, the Doom Buggy introduced new technology which would
actually allow guests to view items in front of, to the side, and
behind the ride vehicles movement.
While this gave Imagineers a clear view of what they
wanted guests to see there was one hurdle left standing in the way:
several ideas originally intended for the attraction would only work
for a walk through attraction and not a constantly moving
attraction. Due to this several ideas had to be dropped on the
cutting room floor. What ideas were dropped and which ideas would
eventually come back into play? Stop by tomorrow to find out!
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