Molly Martens, Joe Rothenberg and Jannae Fong, the USC students that you can see on the picture above, got the first prize in the ImagiNations competition sponsored by Walt Disney Imagineering, with a proposal of a ride for Shanghaî Disneyland based on Pixar's movie “Up”.
500 college students competed for an opportunity to present their ideas for a new ride and just 20 finalists were invited to WDI campus in Glendale last week for the 20th annual ImagiNations design competition. The winners represented University of South California, North Carolina State University and San Diego State University, and were first, second and third winners, respectively. The winners won also an interview for a paid internship at Walt Disney Imagineering.
And these winners are really talented as you will see below with screen captures of a video that you can see on the Orange County Register web site. Mario Salazar and Aileen Ung from Woodbury University proposed an Aladdin dark ride with a ride vehicle designed like the magic carpet...
A two-person team from San Diego State University presented an idea for a western-style roller coaster for Disneyland that would be powered by an enhanced-motion vehicle system. Dylan Olson said that “The Curse of Mythica Mine,” was not based on a Disney movie, but on the myths and folklore of the old west during the Gold Rush era as the two partners love the old frontier and the wild west. You can see below a model of their ride project.
But it is the project presented by Molly Martens, Joe Rothenberg and Jannae Fong that won the first prize. They proposed a ride based on Pixar's movie “Up”.
The attraction named “Adventure Is UP There” "integrates aspects of Chinese culture, and is a roller-coaster-style ride that would give riders the feeling of flying in chairs kept aloft by balloons, and powered by leaf blowers, through the jungles of South America".
The next pictures will show you some of the scenes they envisioned for their “Adventure Is UP There” ride concept, all inspired by Pixar's beloved animated movie.
This UP! coaster ride looks exciting, isn't it? Unfortunately Soledad Boyle, program manager of the ImagiNations competition for Walt Disney Imagineering said “We’ve never built any of the projects”. Well, i hope that in this case they will make an exception as an UP! coaster ride based on this concept would be very enjoyable! Your thoughts?
Pictures: copyright their respective designers
LOVE IT! Very Disney in the sense it works like other 'exhibition' rides such as Peter Pan's Flight and the latest Little Mermaid. The scenes that have been chosen are the best for the ride and a lot of thought has gone into the concept. Would work well in any Disney Resort.
ReplyDeleteI agree.
ReplyDeleteThis is really a great concept for a ride and, most of all, it's totally makeable. They say that at WDI "a good idea never goes away", time to prove it Imagineers!
ReplyDeleteI've participated to the ImagiNations Competition in 2009. My idea was an interactive dark ride with Roger Rabbit. Even if I finished only as a semi-finalist, it was a great opportunity to learn more about design and storytelling.
Then, I've used those skills for a personnal project: Disney's Explorers World.
Congrats to all the winners, especially the Viterbi winners!! My dream would have been to design rides for Disney. Wow! Very professional job.
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