Jeff Rudolph is president of the California Science Center

The California Science Center IMAX theatre is set to launch a new 3D experience showcasing the power of volcanoes and their impact on the planet.

Opened on 21 January 2019, Volcanoes 3D: The Fires of Creation takes guests on an epic journey with intrepid explorer Carsten Peter, as he scales an active volcano in Indonesia, descends to a lava lake in Vanuatu, and visits geysers, acid ponds and mineral deposit fields in Ethiopia. Peter also explores Pompeii, visits hydrothermal vents in the ocean and witnesses the 2018 Kilauea eruption in Hawaii.

"Volcanoes 3D offers the closest possible approximation to experiencing an eruption, while remaining safe," said Jeff Rudolph, president of the California Science Center.

"We can now show our audiences the incredible power of volcanoes, as they learn about the ways volcanic activity has shaped and affected our world."

SK Films developed the film in partnership with Digital Crossing Films, a company specialising in natural history documentaries for IMAX and giant screens.

"Audiences will see volcanoes up close and personal, like never before on the giant screen," said Wendy MacKeigan, CEO of SK Films. "Volcanoes 3D will take them to places they wouldn’t normally be able to go."

Michael Dalton-Smith, director and producer of Volcanoes 3D, said: "We often think of volcanoes as being destructive, but they also build and play a beneficial role on the planet."

"Dozens of volcanoes erupt each day. To witness one in action is awe-inspiring. I hope that the audience will come away with a better understanding of the forces that shaped the world we know today."

attractions-kit keyword: SK FILMS

Guests are invited to join intrepid explorer Carsten Peter as he explores some of the world’s most impressive active volcanoes

Matt Steedman, Amped Digital

Australian digital signage company Amped Digital has completed a major tech integration for the Real Madrid World of Football Experience, a touring exhibition set to visit 15 cities over the next five years.

Created by Interp, a company specialising in the development and installation of temporary experiences and exhibits, the Real Madrid World of Football Experience blends physical interactive experiences with spectacular AV displays and playable gaming elements to immerse visitors in the clubs history.

Housed inside a 2,000sq m (21,500sq ft) touring pavilion, the experience consists of four zones designed to take visitors behind the scenes to discover the culture, passion, players and victories of the football club. Memorabilia – including the club’s 13 UEFA Champions League Cups, the FIFA Club of the Century trophy, Golden Boot trophies and the Ballon d’Or trophy – are among the objects on display.

Two 18-screen video walls serve as a focal point at the exhibit’s entrance. Powered by 18 49-inch BrightSign HD panels and programmed by Amped Digital, the walls showcase video content designed by Tania Price from experiential design firm Immersive.

Due to the scale of the project, each screen had to be synchronised to ensure frame accuracy and seamless video playback, as a single discrepancy in the frames would ruin the overall effect. In addition, the company has had to ensure that the walls’ playback would continue to work faultlessly after being dismantled and reassembled while touring.

“We created an immersive audio video experience that gets visitors excited and sets the expectation for what’s to follow,” said Matt Steedman, director of Amped Digital.

attractions-kit keyword: AMPED DIGITAL

Real Madrid is taking its brand worldwide with the touring experience

The experience blends physical artefacts with AV installations

Tom LaDuke, Imagineering

Disney has released new details of its first-ever Mickey Mouse dark ride, ahead of its opening in Q3 later this year.

Coming to Hollywood Studios at the Disney World Resort in Florida, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway dark ride is billed as a “zany out-of-control adventure” where guests will find themselves transported into a Mickey Mouse cartoon (see p57).

In a collaboration with Panasonic, the ride will introduce a new kind of technology, presenting a 3D experience without the glasses in what is being dubbed “2.5D”.

Panasonic, the Japanese electronics giant, is supplying several new technologies, as well as special projectors to bring the Mickey Mouse world to life inside the immersive dark ride experience.

“The specific visual requirements of Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway require imaging systems that meet the highest technical requirements of precision colour rendition and brightness,” said Tom LaDuke, principal show systems designer for Walt Disney Imagineering.

“Panasonic’s laser illuminated projectors do that extremely well and we look forward to working with them to push technological boundaries that bring our guests to places only previously achieved in their imaginations.”

Named as the ‘Official Projection Technology’ for both the Disney World and Disneyland Resorts in 2016, Panasonic has a significant presence in attractions across the operator’s resorts, including the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage at Disneyland; the Radiator Springs Racers at Disney California Adventure Park; the Haunted Mansion and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at Magic Kingdom; Frozen Ever After and Gran Fiesta Tour starring The Three Caballeros at Epcot; and the Na’vi River Journey at Pandora - The World of Avatar at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

attractions-kit keyword: PANASONIC

Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway opens later this year

Louise Lennersten, Interspectral

Interspectral, a Swedish visualisation software company has announced two new projects with both the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities and the Universeum Science Centre in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Acting as visualisation partner for the Rijksmuseum since 2016, Interspectral will create exhibits on Ancient Egypt, featuring 3D scanned mummies, for a travelling exhibition to tour between 2020 and 2022.

"Interspectral has worked with the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities since 2016 and has been providing solutions for both permanent and travelling exhibitions," says Louise Lennersten, CEO of Interspectral.

"This time we will work to co-produce complete interactive exhibits to engage visitors in ancient Egypt."

At Universeum, Interspectral’s Inside Explorer software will be used as part of a permanent exhibition on human and animal anatomy. Used in museums, science centres and aquariums across the world, Inside Explorer uses scientific data to create interactive and dynamic learning experiences.

"Inside Explorer is a great tool for understanding and learning for our guests," says Håkan Sigurdsson, scientific leader at Universeum.

"At Universeum, our guests will be able to explore both animals and humans and we hope that together Interspectral will be able to develop more fun and interesting concepts for Inside Explorer."

attractions-kit keyword: INTERSPECTRAL

Universeum in Gothenburg has teamed up with Interspectral

Interspectral will produce exhibits featuring several 3D scanned mummies

Drew Hunter, Sally Corporation

OWA, an entertainment destination in Alabama, US, has announced a new partnership with Sally Corporation that will see the opening of a new dark ride at its theme park.

Billed as a ‘frightfully fun attraction’, the new ride will be a reimagining of Sally’s Ghost Blasters ride with a number of new surprises and a curated selection of the best scenes and gags from previous versions of the ride. It will feature 13 spooky and whimsical rooms, rendered in UV paint giving the ride a surreal and cartoon-like quality.

“It has a vibrantly distinct cartoonish look that screams fun,” says Drew Hunter, VP of Creative Design at Sally.

Seated in four-passenger cars, guests are taken on a thrilling adventure through a haunted mansion where they score points by shooting targets using their ‘boo blasters’.

"We knew we wanted an indoor attraction, something engaging and fun for families. When we decided on an interactive dark ride, there was no better choice than Sally," says Kristin Hellmich, director of Marketing/PR at OWA.

"Of course we want quality, something that will stand the test of time, but what we’re really after is having park guests leave with a memory that they will want to relive, time and time again."

Hunter says: "Ride repeatability is a major goal of any of Sally’s interactive dark rides, and a huge amount of the repeatability is due to the competitive element. No two guest experiences will be quite the same, depending upon the guest’s boo-blasting skills and how many points they accumulate."

attractions-kit keyword: SALLY CORPORATION

Ghost Blasters takes guests through a haunted mansion