#Reddit enchanted portals how to#

Themed to a flight on the back of a Mountain Banshee on the moon Pandora from James CameronвЂ™s вЂњAvatar,вЂќ Flight of Passage helps sell its illusion by confessing it. To get all the way there вЂ“ to buy into the illusion вЂ“ we need a restraint system that we cannot see as we lean forward into the abyss.ДЄnd that is why my favorite вЂњflyingвЂќ experience in a theme park to date has been Walt Disney WorldвЂ™s new Avatar Flight of Passage ride in DisneyвЂ™s Animal Kingdom. We might be twisting through the air, but weвЂ™re not yet really flying. They remind us that we remain physically connected to a track. The real flying sensation comes when we feel like Superman, arms extended, our bodies stretched, and our ever-grounded feet nowhere to be seen.ДЄs much as I love flying coasters such as Six Flags Magic MountainвЂ™s вЂњTatsu,вЂќ though, their pesky (yet very necessary!) restraints undermine the illusion. ItвЂ™s not enough to slice through the air, stories above the ground. The best вЂњflyingвЂќ theme park rides put us into that prone position. YouвЂ™re not sittingВ вЂ“ youвЂ™re sprawling, headed for a face plant, your arms pushing forward to break the fall, and your feet trailing somewhere behind. So think about the position that youвЂ™re in when you throw yourself at the ground. ThatвЂ™s nice, but hardly special enough to send my heart and imagination soaring. If I am sitting upright in a chair on a вЂњflyingвЂќ ride, then I feel like I am just on another airplane ride. The first step in creating the illusion of flying for theme park designers is to place us into a physical position where we feel like weвЂ™re falling вЂ“ like we are throwing ourselves at the ground.

#Reddit enchanted portals how to#

The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.вЂќ In вЂњLife, the Universe and Everything,вЂќ the third book of the five-volume HitchhikerвЂ™s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy (yes, I know вЂ“ thatвЂ™s part of the joke), Douglas Adams wrote, вЂњThere is an art to flying, or rather a knack. Like with all acts of magic, the key to success with theme park rides lies in getting us to buy into their illusion. But how do the best attractions trick us into believing? Or, at least, to engage our imaginations to pretend that weвЂ™ve taken flight. ThatвЂ™s why theme parks provide us so many different ways to fly. How wonderful would it be to soar above all that? Even as we grow, thereвЂ™s still someone, or something, blocking our view, even if itвЂ™s just the limit of the horizon. Being a short a little kid stinks, having your view of the world restricted to the legs of the adults around you. Why do we love flying so much?Д«ecause from the time we first entered consciousness, weвЂ™ve wanted a better view of the world around us. Whether we are riding on the back of a flying elephant, knifing through the air like Superman or soaring around the world, we can find flight-themed attractions in all of the worldвЂ™s top theme parks.

Of all these trips, flight might be the most popular theme in the parks. They move us through enchanted portals, allow us to travel through time, defeat robot armies, survive attacks by mythical beasts, and escape the bounds of gravity to fly. At their most compelling, theme parks grant us the power to do the incredible.