Pick your jaw up off the floor. You are allowed to continue composing your angry tweet/email/comment.
Calling it right now: this will be the single most shocking inclusion in the top 50. I'm willing to guess almost no one reading even thought about this attraction's existence, let alone if it was going to top some of the (justifiable) legends that are left in the cold.
I will die on the hill, however, that this was a phenomenal experience, not just for the "ride" portion itself, but for the entire design and experience, and how it fit into the concept of Futureworld perfectly.
It's likely a lot of people didn't even realize it existed, because Sum of All Thrills was quietly tucked away in Innoventions with no big marquee or advertisement outside. In case you didn't, here's a summary of the experience:
Thrills was sponsored by defense contractor Raytheon, with the intention of educating guests on how math and science were used in advancing technology. While it wasn't the deepest lesson, it did a good job of showing how math and science were used to make things that are fun, and a surface level idea of what a mechanical engineer does. Getting people hype about math and science is, of course, important, and perfectly aligns with the edutainment vision of Futureworld.
How Thrills put that lesson into practice was the real sweetheart deal. After a brief preshow letting you know the gist of the experience, you were taken to an engineer's bench where you were given tools to design your own rollercoaster. This table was extremely cool. Essentially a giant touch screen, it also came with a modular dial and ruler. The whole system was fairly simple to keep from being overwhelming; you couldn't really do whatever you wanted. However, the use of the dial and ruler, and the interactive table to build the blueprint for a ride was extremely satisfying and felt ultra-modern and cool. It also felt, again, like being shown how these concepts could be used in real-world application, and in a fun way.
The table is hard to describe, the best to do is watch the video below. It was a highlight of the attraction, though, and not merely something to occupy you in the queue.
Riders could choose their thrill level, based on comfort with speed and inversions, and pick a sequence of track elements based on what they thought could be fun. Because of the different kinds and levels of experience here, that also added a lot of re-rideability; the attraction could be different every time you did it.
Also, in keeping with the concept of real-world engineering, you weren't able to just put together literally whatever you wanted without thought for physics. Though certainly not perfectly beholden to real-world laws, a set of meters on the side told you how much energy your ride vehicle would have at your current point of design, and how much you needed for your next element. Balancing energy creation and conversation was a key part of the design, and just helped hammer home the application of math and science to fun.
With your coaster designed -- and saved to a card -- you next went up the stairs to the load station itself. There you'd load a little simulator where your legs dangled freely to simulate an inverted coaster, and a personal screen was brought down with a large hood to block out the outside world. After that, you rode through your coaster design and that was that. The effect was solid, and the thrill of whipping around in different directions with your legs kicking through the air, all while knowing you're actually inside a building, was pretty neat.
The ride experience itself was fun, but there's not a whole lot to say about it, and it was only a small part of what made Sum of All Thrills special. Contrary to almost everything on this list, the ride system and its operation was never hidden from you at any point. In fact, the entire operation is purposefully exposed to you the entire time. Huge glass windows display the Sum ride "vehicles" as people are thrown through the air to the guests walking by. As you approach following your time at the design bench, you fully see what's happening on this ride. Epcot was not trying to hide anything from you with tricks and "magic," but wanted you to see the ride, because the engineering itself was important to the concept.
You see, keeping with the theme of math, science, and next-gen engineering, what your personal simulator was strapped to was, itself, a fantastically inventive and exciting concept. Each two-man simulator pod was attached to the business end of a giant robot KUKA arm.
KUKA, a German robotics manufacturer, produces these genious robots for factory automation. They have a massive range of movement, and can be programmed to perform an endless variety of tasks. They are really cool pieces of machinery, and watching them move is incredibly fun. Nearby in Innoventions, there was a set of these arms that guests could manipulate with button presses, and that helped to educate you on what this system was and why it was cool. Then, you could go stand by Sum of all Thrills and watch their exciting, powerful movements with legs at the end of them. Watching alone, even without riding, was honestly pretty cool all on its own, and getting you excited about the possibility of robotics and how cool they are is perfect for Epcot.
Quoting Werner Weiss -- whose website you should frequent -- upon the opening of Sum:
Some Disney fans might object that there’s a lack of immersion here. In other words, if you chose the bobsled, there’s no attempt to make you feel as if you’re at an Alpine mountain resort until the hood comes down in front of you. However, the theme here is engineering and simulation, not the activities that are being simulated. And this is, after all, an INNOVENTIONS exhibit, not a free-standing “E” ticket attraction.
There's another Central Florida attraction that also places you on the end of a KUKA arm for its simulated movement, and I love it for that, but it doesn't let you see what's happening. That makes sense for an immersive experience, but it's also fantastic getting to see the machinery, and Sum of All Thrills gave you that.
It was fun to ride, it was fun to watch, and it tried to make you care about math and science. There have been so many great Walt Disney World attractions, but that's enough for me to consider this among their ranks.
Comments