Rough Road

Each of the four probe vehicles weighs 27,000 pounds fully loaded (that’s before miniaturization, of course) and can hold forty guests, just like the ones used on Star Tours. And like Star Tours, each is supported by six hydraulic servo-actuators offering six degree of freedom movements (planes in heave, surge, and sway; axes in pitch, roll, and yaw).  The ride film cues the physical motions of the pod, as each frame generates a time code pulse with an associated positioning for the ride’s motion base arms.

Given that structurally each Body Wars vehicle is operated within the same constraints as Star Tours, it may be odd that pretty quickly after it opened, Body Wars gained a reputation for a rough ride, leaving riders sick and queasy and causing a few too many “protein spills.”

We suspect there are three reasons why:

1) A ride program of “lub-dub” pulses. Like Star Tours, the motion program of Body Wars was set by an Imagineer sitting on board with a joystick, manually creating what would be the ride’s motion profile. The designers responsible for the ride’s motion added an extra bit to detail to Body Wars... throughout the ride, the vehicle rhythmically bucks and thrusts to match the pulse of the human bloodstream. Even when the vehicle is meant to be "floating" in place, the ebb and flow of the heartbeat jostles the cabin. Things get even worse in the lungs where the patients inhale and exhale lift and drop the pod over and over. This continual throbbing was a thoughtful and clever detail... but a debilitating programming choice.

Image: Disney

2) “Discombobulation.” Your brain uses a lot of sensory information to make sense of the world around it. In a moving car, for example, your eyes tell you that you’re moving while your sense of proprioception (your understanding of your own place in space) controlled by your inner ear says you’re sitting, stationary. For some, this contradiction leads to motion sickness (The very opposite effect is what unsettles stomachs on Mission: SPACE, as your eyes tell you you're hovering in place while your inner ears sense extreme motion.)

While this disconnect is inherent in many thrill rides anyway, motion simulators make it even worse. It's for that reason that programmers have to be very, very careful that each motion syncs up perfectly to its corresponding film frame. And some allege that Body Wars’ more aggressive ride cycle also made it prone to glitching the ride video, skipping a few frames and throwing off the careful choreography that, subconsciously, would cause major motion sickness in riders as their eyes and ears battled to make sense of their location.

3) Humans are gross. Perhaps the simplest excuse is the most true. Blood, splinters, pulsating organs, flapping valves, and networks of veins can simply be… well… sickening.

Be it one or all three of those reasons, Body Wars left riders pale and quesy. Cast Members in control booths would be charged with carefully watching each pod during its cycle to look for signs of motion sickness so that the ride could be E-stopped with the touch of a button. Slamming, swaying, thrusting, richocheting, and pulsing through the grossest inner workings of the human body simply proved a recipe too poisonous to overcome.

The problems were so severe that, shortly after opening, 20-seconds of the ride were edited out with an on-screen fade between frames. The push and pull of the lungs were simply too intense. Maybe it helped a little. Maybe the jump cut only exascerbated number 2, above. 

Body Wars was simply too intense, especially for those who witnessed the same technology in action on the much smoother new ride that opened down the road just a few months later... Which brings us to... 

Lost Legend or Disaster File?

Image: Disneyana by Max

Two months after the grand debut of Wonders of Life and its starring Body Wars, Star Tours opened at the brand-new Disney-MGM Studios, bringing the runaway wild success of Disneyland’s E-Ticket to Disney World. We make the case in Lost Legends: STAR TOURS that the Disney / Lucasfilm collaboration changed everything at Disney Parks. And frankly, Body Wars didn’t stand a chance.

It was inevitable that visitors would quickly discern that Body Wars and Star Tours were sisters, and given that realization, it was also inevitable that they'd compare them and that, by-and-large, they'd prefer the latter. Star Tours was the brand-new ride at the brand-new park. It was thrilling yet smooth, powered by a Disney-quality plot and story, and packed with beloved characters and settings from one of the most popular film franchises of all time. Even if Body Wars weren't nauseating in its motion and content, it couldn't compete with that.

It wasn't long before Body Wars was all but obsolete. As multi-hour queues built for Star Tours, Body Wars was a walk-on. It certainly didn't help that it was tucked away inside of a tucked-away pavilion. The often overlooked ride was a would-be E-Ticket whose popularity had crashed. 

Maybe that's why it's tough to decide if Body Wars fits in with our other Lost Legends, or if it would be more at home among the very opposite, with our in-depth Disaster Files: The Enchanted Tiki Room: Under New Management, Stitch's Great Escape, Tomorrowland's Rocket Rods, or Epcot's own Journey into YOUR Imagination. In any case, things did not bode well for Body Wars. But what would Disney do to make the ride the star it deserved to be? You won't believe the answer. Read on...