I was listening to Rico's commentary on "The Tholian Web" and heard him talk about doing an adventure where his ship was under attack by aliens from inner space. Well, that got me to thinking about an extinct attraction at Disneyland that had a big impact on me. For those of you who've ever experienced "Adventures Through Inner Space", check out:
http://www.atommobiles.com
It was significant in that it was a dark ride with educational overtones. This was also the first implementation of the Omnimover ride system which can be found in The Haunted Mansion. It was very simple and did not feature a whole bunch of audio animatronics, but was about the content; the story.
I remember that ride. It was my first memory of Disneyland. I remember thinking that we were all going to be shrunk in that cool laser deal......
Thanks for the awesome memory.
My pleasure. I remember how I first felt when I came across the website. I actually bought the DVD of the 3D ride-through he created. It's amazing how simple the ride was. It used some basic projections and creative set design. Most of the excitement was in the Paul Frees soundtrack. I can send you the audio for that if you'd like (I also have audio for The Carousel Of Progress). What I used to love about the ride was that it made you think and engaged the imagination. Also, it was free. Now, Star Tours is in that space. Did you see the comparisons of the ATIS and Star Tours blueprints at the site?
I'm not sure how much you're into the whole Disney ride thing, there's a great resource in The Extinct Attractions Club:
http://www.extinct-attractions-club.com/
There you can view preview videos of their DVDs. They also have a podcast on iTunes. There are a few really cool episodes, like the one on ATIS, one on the creation of the monorail system and one on Disney's involvement in the 1964 World's Fair.