CREATING DISNEYÃS FANTASY WORLD
Contact: John Varrasi 212-705-8158 [email protected]
Walt Disney World has achieved immense fame by provoking wonder and amazement. The allure of this sprawling resort in sunny Florida is its completely fantastic world set apart from the here and now, where Mickey Mouse and other characters emerge from the storybooks and television screens to touch wide-eyed boys and girls, bringing their childhood dreams to life.
For parents perhaps, the wonder and fascination focus on how the many Disney robots, floats and other moving systems are designed, built, tested and operated. Answers lie not in fantasy and magic, but in the here and now -- in the real world of mechanical engineering.
For to create the statue of Zeus which turns its head to watch the Nine Muses perform, engineers from Walt Disney turned to the same fundamental technology used for decades in elevators and many other mechanical systems: hydraulics. To achieve movement in Zeusà wrist, engineers borrowed a technology from the area of robotics, namely the linear actuator.
To bring life to Chernobog, the Disney demon that bursts from a mountain in the animated film, Fantasia, engineers applied computer-aided design (CAD) techniques and 3-D modeling. CAD is used today to design everything from running shoes to airplanes. And the Magical Fountain Monster, for many years the nemisis of Minnie Mouse and Mickey Mouse before its removal as a regular Disney attraction, was built with redundant systems, the basis of many of todayÃs engineered products.
While some of DisneyÃs robots and toy monsters might breathe smoke and fire, they certaintly did not appear from a puff of smoke out of some magical lanturn. Quite the contrary, they are the products of some highly developed engineering methods put into practice by trained and experienced professionals. In a recent article, Mechanical Engineering magazine points out that engineering is essential to Walt DisneyÃs shows and attractions which ìhave to be built from scratchî and which must ìwithstand duty cycles much tougher than other entertainment venues.î
Mechanical Engineering, a publication of ASME International (American Society of Mechanical Engineers), reports monthly on the new developments in the field which are making the lives of people safer and more enjoyable. The report on Walt Disney World shows that mechanical engineering is hardly a backroom function; rather a discipline which intersects daily in peopleÃs lives and can even warm a childÃs heart.
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