Hello fellow aeronautic enthusiasts, this week we bring you an episode on FLYING ENTERTAINMENT VEHICLES, a patent awarded to Walt Disney Imagineering R&D unit. Can you say, flying audio-animatronics?!? We can. And we shall talk about it.
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To me the flying entertainment vehicles in the patent reminds me of the Ikran (Flying Dragons) from the Avatar movie. Do a google search for them and compare to the patent drawings and you’ll see a lot of similarities including a pilot riding the vehicle. Could the huge success of the WW of Harry Potter at Universal be prompting Disney to license a major IP like Avatar to add to one of the parks? The idea would fit in extremely well with Animal Kingdom’s conservation theme or even Hollywood Studios. Avatar Part 2 and 3 are already being worked on and will probably be more successful than the first installment. Just wishful thinking but that’s what came to mind when I looked at the patent.
A survey went out this week about a new Cirque show for downtown disney. I thought it was very interesting that a certain movie was specifically named as a show concept. I’ll repost an excerpt from screamscape.com below:
…Show concepts “that Cirque du Soleil could open in Downtown Disney”. The very interesting list of options has been posted below, verbatim.
A show created specifically for kids ages 6-14
A Water Show
An adult sensual cabaret
Another family-friendly show (comparable to La Nouba)
A true classic Cirque du Soleil production
A magic show
A show based on a Hollywood blockbuster movie (like Avatar)
A show based on the Disney characters.
This Flying Entertainment Vehicles patent may have been a continuation of “Skyleidoscope” and “Surprise in the Skies”, two different daytime shows in EPCOT Center’s World Showcase Lagoon. There are some pictures from “Skyleidoscope” on AllEars here http://allears.net/tp/ep/skyleido.htm and “Surprise in the Skies” here http://allears.net/tp/ep/e_sky1.htm. Notice in one of the “Surprise in the Skies” pictures on AllEars there are a couple powered parachute craft being piloted by Mickey Mouse costumed cast members. Also, at one time, Disney World property had an ultralight airport for launching the aircraft used in the shows. The Wikipedia entry for “Epcot Center Ultralight Flightpark”, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epcot_Center_Ultralight_Flightpark, provides detail about where it was located.