Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Disney's Philharmagic by Kodak

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Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 10-13-2003, 01:08 AM:

If any of you make it to Walt Disney World...do yourselves a favor and check out their new attraction in the Magic Kingdom.

The attraction is sponsored by Kodak and is a film-based attraction.

The set up is you are going to watch an orchestra and are issued "opera glasses" (3-D specs in Kodak Yellow) prior to entering the hall (theatre).

What you see when you sit down is a beautiful red curtain and a stage arch. You are instructed to put on your "opera glasses" and the show begins...the red curtain rises and a 3-D blue curtain is "behind" that. Mayhem quickly ensues as Donald Duck, who is supposed to get the orchestra ready takes things a bit far....

Before you know it...you are treated to what would best be described as a 3-D Cinerama presentation! (the arch flys away under the cloud of darkness after the calamity begins). Thats right they have a mosaic presentation going on. The Left and right panels are only 2-D but on that deeply curved screen it is often not apparent. The center planel is about a 2.2:1 ratio (I am presuming that it is 70mm film being used like on Muppet Vision 3-D...also Kodak Sponsored). So you have four projectors putting on the show. One for the Left panel, one for the right and two for the center panel in 3-D.

No here is the kicker...I, for the life of me couldn't pick up any discontinutity as an object moved between the panels! No awkward image matching apparent on all other mosaic presentations. I had to see the thing several times, some with, some without the 3-D glasses to try to figure out how they did it!

The overlap area between the panels is quite large (a couple of feet)...they clearly are fading the panels into each other so there is no hard line. I think the 3-D part actually helps with the matching of the panels since your eyes are already trying to morph the image together. It just gets depth as an object moves into the central panel. Even so, the alignment and attention to detail on this was as perfect as I've ever seen film. Color matching is spot-on, lamp intensity, even through a panel transistion was unbelievable.

So there you have a wonderful 3-D experience with a deep-curve screen and Cinerama-like show...but wait, there is more. Smell-O-Rama is represented in the show too. As are other off-film effects.

Technically, the show is quite a treat. The content features the music and characters of some of Disney's more recent anaimated musicals ...Lion King, Aladdin...etc.

Kudos to the Imagineers for this attraction.

Steve

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 10-13-2003, 09:46 AM:

Thanks for the comments about the attraction:

Other links to information:

http://www.screamscape.com/html/walt_disney_world.html

http://www.wdisneyw.co.uk/atmphil.html

http://laughingplace.com/News-ID10012160.asp

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 10-15-2003, 01:57 PM:

Well it sounds so good are you sure it isn't digital? [evil]

...ducks [Eek!]

Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 01-09-2004, 07:27 PM:

Just received e-mail from my brother who saw this at Disney World. He loved it, and he saw it 3 times with his family. He tells me that the center and stage-left panels were very much out of alignment, but still very enjoyable.

He was also curious as to how the proscenium flies out to reveal the surround screens. He tells me he's never seen anything move out so fast. Any details would be appreciated.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-06-2004, 01:11 AM:

We just saw this over the weekend and I agree, it is awesome.

There is a slight "darkening" of the picture where the three panels overlap, but it's very subtle and didn't detract. The sound in the theatre was awesome. My favorite was the Aladdin sequence...it was almost a ride in itself!

We never saw the proscenium fly out -- too busy watching for other details -- but it's quite easy to see it fly back in as the film is ending. It's amazing how fast the thing drops back into place, and completely silent. Maybe it's made of styrofoam or something.

We saw it twice because there was an IDIOT lady behind us who screamed "OOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH!!!" to her stupid baby every single time something 3-D happened. SHIT it was annoying. (That's the only thing I don't like about Disney World...all the idiot parents with their babies who won't remember a damn thing they've done five minutes after they leave. But I'm ranting.) So we went around and saw it again, with a better crowd the second time.

Posted by Dean Kollet (Member # 1789) on 06-08-2004, 07:47 PM:

I've seen it about 4 times....and the last two times (including this past weekend) it's been out of focus...It's a great show sound is amazing....

I don't know if anyone remembers but they advertised it as the world's largest seemless screen during the opening...I could see at least two seems...

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-08-2004, 10:26 PM:

Maybe it only SEEMS to have SEAMS.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 06-09-2004, 09:07 AM:

Screen material can be coated in widths that are limited by the equipment (e.g. 6 feet wide). Ultrasonic welds are usually used for modern screen seams, and can be quite "invisible".