As they fly on a "space ride," then ride on a moving walkway past a Disney World's new Space Mountain attraction, which opens next those designers are not electronics month, will be able to catch their engineers-they are mostly breath to appreciate the role electronics plays in the entertainment.
But electronics plays two roles at Space Mountain; first, the here and now, manifested by computer control of the ride; and second, the Tomorrowland, presented in the Home of Future Living that follows the ride. Space Mountain marks the culmination of almost 10 years of design and construction involving Disney organizations and RCA Corp. Together with the futuristic people-mover, called WED-Way, and General Electric's Carousel of Progress due later next year, as well as the Star Jets ride, the mountain completes for now the major attractions at the $500 million-plus Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom.
Statistics for Space Mountain are impressive-it's 183 feet high, contains more than 4.5 million cubic feet, and cost more than the original Disneyland. But the main objective here, as elsewhere in Walt Disney keeping the cars evenly spaced. World, is to put on a good show. In so doing, the designers and builders have come up with an unusual blend of electronic controls and audio-visual effects. Interestingly, those designers are not electronics engineers-they are mostly film people and animators whose interest IS in entertaining, not advancing the state of the art. They use a great deal of electronics only because it gives them what they want.
[…]
