Disney has a lot Pictures of an impressive sound-animatronic theme parkbut its latest robot may be the most unusual: It’s the first to use motion-capture technology in a Muppet.
The Muppets are the new stars of the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida. Walt Disney Imagineering wanted to create an animatronic version of Scooter, the wise-cracking right-hand man to Kermit the Frog and the stage manager of a gang of performers.
Watch this: Imagineers Share the Secrets of Disney’s New Ride Technology
But instead of building a robot shaped like a scooter, the team built one that worked like a doll. Imagineers recorded the movements of a real-life Muppet actor and built a robotic system that mimics the hand gestures used to control Scooter’s mouth and arm stick. Scooter is also said to be the first Disney audio-animatronic to use 3D printing technology in its shell.
Disney invited me to check out some of the latest high-tech developments starting this week for guests at Walt Disney World parkswhich you can see more of in the video embedded above. Several Imagineers I spoke to shared details of the equipment needed to power this development.
But it’s clear that our technology culture is also shaping storytelling. For example, on the Muppets coaster line, guests watch “live streaming” video clips that mimic social media feeds displayed live, scrolling-style as they get updates on the story and the absent Muppet band, Electric Mayhem.
Meanwhile, other attractions are upgrading their gameplay and scoring systems with the same technology used to produce today’s high-quality video games.
Nvidia’s latest processors and devices running Unreal Engine 5 power a new experience in the Star Wars attraction Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. Here, the journey itself is designed like a giant video game, with guests sitting at the controls of the Falcon, determining the outcome of the missions as they pilot the ship, blast enemies in space and watch over the beautiful Grogu. The visuals are now made in 4K at 60 frames per second, from 3K at 50 frames per second, shown in real time through a combination of five projectors.
The story of the ride is taken from The Mandalorian and Grogu — a change introduced the same weekend their film premiered — and with improved image processing, guests can now choose from three planets to jump to at the end of their mission, adding more variety than when the journey began seven years ago.
The Star Wars ride also offers a new twist for Fortnite fans: If you connect your Disney account to your Fortnite account, the actions you take on the ride can affect your game back home.
In another galaxy, not so far away, in the Magic Kingdom theme park, the spaceman from the Toy Story universe also benefits from Unreal Engine technology. But instead of Disney using the machines to render real-time images, the company is using them to keep score in the updated Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin shooting game.
Each rider picks up a laser blaster from the moving vehicle, firing at targets that now include dynamic animations. The blaster also makes aiming and scoring easier with improved haptic feedback.
But to keep real-time score with this new dynamic system, each rider’s blaster is tied to its own Unreal Engine machine. With 100 moving vehicles, that means there are 200 Unreal programs running on the attraction.
I have been visiting these parks with my family for decades. I’ve been on these rides both as a kid and as a parent to my kids, and all of these updates have been significant improvements, especially the re-playable Millennium Falcon and Buzz Lightyear rides. What I also appreciate is that new technology has been added in a way that never feels intrusive, helping the attractions retain a timeless quality that will keep them classic for another generation for the next 30 years.
