All righty! I'm back at my computer and I thought I'd share the spoils of my victorious adventures around but not in Disneyland. As I mentioned before, I was in Downtown Disney for a showing of
WALL·E at the AMC, and I thought it'd be nice to snap some photos of backstage from the parking structure while I was there. Here are a few of my favorites; the rest can be seen on
my Flickr photostream. Make sure to check out the
Disneyland Backstage Photos collection, where I put all of my interesting and unorthodox backstage shots (none of which have been taken through illicit means).
As you can see, the fireworks were finishing up as I set up my camera on its teensy tripod on the skinny handrail. In my excitement, I must have bumped the precarious camera, because the fireworks shots are all slightly blurry. =( You get the idea, though, and the later shots are quite sharp, for the most part. Although I must say I'm sorry about the increasingly steep angles. My group was waiting for their resident backstage nerd, so didn't really have time to get the tripod to work correctly. I'm just glad my Digital Rebel XT didn't fall and shatter on the ground far below. [EDIT: I've now decided to begin modeling this area. I'd already gotten a fair amount of work done on many back-of-house areas, but some of the areas shown here don't exist at all in my model. I'm now working on reproducing them, starting with the transportation facility in the center of shots like
this. I'll share my progress as I go.]
In addition, we were driving past Disneyland on I-5 today—er, yesterday, I suppose—and I snapped some shots of the roundhouse and IASW show building.
Anyways, enough with the photos. We must press on to the real topic of this whole blog, after all—the model. I wasn't going to post any renders of the Indiana Jones spike room yet, but I figured I'd waited long enough. Just one spike so far, but the other elements are mostly in place. Still a little more lighting to add, as well as the remaining bamboo along the path. Beyond is the half-finished hall of descending blocks, with the (currently) gray interior walls of the show building beyond
that. This whole queue area is progressing rather nicely, and it's making me feel a lot better about eventually tackling the attraction itself. In the mean time, we have the fabulous work of
Ryan Batcheller and MiceChat's
BurtGummer to keep us entertained and make my work on the attraction look pathetic...whenever I actually get it done. ;D
6 comments:
I've always had a little trouble trying to figure out how we are supposed to interpret the "mechanisms" of the spike rooms operation.
Is the ceiling divided into three sections that run lengthways through the room and can descend independently of each other?
Or are some of the spikes fixed position, whilst other triggered spikes extend through holes in the masonry?
Sadly, I've only been able to visit the attraction in the later years of its life and have therefore done all my queuing outdoors followed by a quick walkthrough to the ride itself. Not enough time to stand and stare.
Great to hear of updates. Keep at it! =)
Yeah, I know what you mean. (And I'm overjoyed whenever I'm reminded that I'm not the only person in the world who gives a crap about that sort of reverse-Imagineering! =D) I suppose my current preferred theory is that there are three independently descending sections of the ceiling—or perhaps more than three. The side walls could be the sides of other similar segments, after all. (Fictionally, that is. The exit corridor is beyond the left wall, and if you broke through the right wall, you'd be underground.) As far as the differing spike positions go...hmmm, I guess the spikes themselves are triggered once the ceiling gets closer, so that the burst of speed is more likely to impale the unfortunate guests. =D The other sections already descended, so the spikes were triggered, but our section hasn't been allowed to descend far enough for the spikes to protrude.
I'll bet the bendy bamboo pole was the first one you put in huh? Great stuff, Data!
Haha, yep, it was. =D Oddly enough, it actually doesn't show up in the blueprints. WDI included the spikes, walls, lights, bamboo along the path, etc...but not the interactive bamboo pole. Maybe it wasn't originally part of the plan.
Thanks!
After giving it more thought, I'm starting to imagine system where the spikes protrude from the weight block prior to it falling.
That covers the issues of the spikes moving when the block is still propped up. Plus the ancients who first built the temple wouldn't have wanted their craftmanship ruined with visible traps =)
Either way...
Incidently, I've only just noticed you've put a message on my own (somewhat still hidden) blog. I haven't been ignoring you. Thanks for the response =)
Mmm, it's a possibility, certainly, but because the ceiling budges if you push on the bamboo pole, I'm under the impression that the trap has already been triggered—the ceiling was coming down, and Indy quickly propped it up with a bamboo pole he was carrying to the hall of descending blocks...something like that. That would mean that the spikes do not come down as soon as the trap is triggered. That happens later. In my theory, they come out at the perfect moment to skewer anyone in the chamber, once the ceiling has lowered a bit more.
...or maybe the Imagineers just couldn't have the spikes overhead be protruding for safety reasons. ;D
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