SIM SPOTLIGHT: Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey (2010)

Image: Universal

In 2010, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter debuted at Universal’s Islands of Adventure. Now, just steps away from the Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man resides a ride that may have dethroned it. Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey uses the same basic backbone (an open-air motion-simulating vehicle advancing through physical scenes interspersed with screens) and adds an almost indescribable technological flair. Ask a disembarking guest to explain the ride mechanics and you’re likely to get a lot of arm and hand motion without much clarity.

The truth is that the KUKA Robo-Arm ride system that Forbidden Journey employs is nothing short of magical, holding four guests in the “fist” of a robotic arm that’s traveling along a dark ride track, able to bend at the “wrist” and “elbow,” occasionally swinging into small, personally-sized domes to project action sequences.

Image: Universal / Warner Bros.

Like Spider-Man, Potter was praised for its ambitious advances in technology and its commitment to keeping simulators “real” by incorporating physical sets, animatronics figures, and more. Even if it’s a mad-dash, non-sequitur race through the Wizarding World, Forbidden Journey has naturally become a Mecca for Potter fans; a must-see adventure, and one of the world’s leading examples of what a 21st century simulator can do.

Refining and reimagining (2010 - 2019)

Largely, you might consider the last 10 years to be otherwise lacking any major breakthroughs in simulator technology. And it’s true that, at least for the most part, the 2010s have been an era of refining what works.

Whether it’s Soarin’ Over California’s rebirth as Soarin’ Around the World, its unfortunate spin-off as the Declassified Disaster: Europe in the Air knock-off at Busch Gardens, or the numerous flying theaters appearing at theme parks, malls and entertainment centers around the globe…

Image: Universal

The re-use of Spider-Man’s SCOOP technology in Transformers: The Ride or Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts…

The rebirth of STAR TOURS as the HD, digital, random-sequence Star Tours: The Adventures Continue or the 2016 application of the thirty year old technology in Hong Kong Disneyland’s headlining Iron Man Experience…

And that’s probably for the best! Between ATLAS simulators, EMVs, SCOOPs, 360 projection tunnels, flying theaters, and more, it may very well be that designers have all the physical tools they need to transport guests to new worlds and – more often than not – to “ride the movies.”

And it has to all lead up to the debut of today’s leading simulators…

SIM SPOTLIGHT: Flight of Passage (2017)

Image: Disney / Lightstorm

It's interesting... Any discussion of Pandora - The World of AVATAR at Disney's Animal Kingdom will always have to begin with the footnote that fans vehemently and vocally objected to the 2009 film AVATAR as a candidate for permanent inclusion in its own full Disney Parks land when it was announced... The five years of development hell that followed didn't exactly warm them to the concept. However, the 2017 opening of Pandora – The World of AVATAR seemed to assure fans that the land would work at Disney's Animal Kingdom, even if it was in spite of the intellectual property and not because of it. 

Smartly, designers severed the land from the film, outright skipping the action film's militaristic human-led assault on the planet (in search of Unobtanium) and instead set the land forward in time to the moon of Pandora long after humans' attempts to mine Pandora out of existence have been thwarted. In the land, guests play the role of thoughtful eco-tourists, visiting the verdant moon to gaze in awe at its flora and fauna, collectively rolling our eyes at some distant, anonymous ancestors who thought they ought to strip it for profit.

Image: Behind the Thrills

That's why we're invited into an old military base (cleverly being consumed by the planet's alien foliage) to participate in the time-honored, coming-of-age tradition of the native Na'vi people: a ride on the back of a Mountain Banshee – dragon-like creatures who soar around the planet's floating mountains. This is AVATAR Flight of Passage, the land's undisputed E-Ticket.

The brilliance of the concept is a thousand-fold, but there are a few things worth celebrating: first of all, our physical bodies will remain inside the military base, with our mind simply being linked to an "avatar" doing the riding. That explains the industrial set-up, our mounting of an obviously-mechanical device, and the necessary 3-D glasses.

Image: Disney / Lightstorm Entertainment

But once the real world falls away, Flight of Passage becomes – to not say too much of the experience that many have yet to see firsthand – one of the most joyful, surprising, and moving experiences Disney has ever Imagineered. Fusing the power and beauty of Soarin' with the thrills of Star Tours, it's a near perfect mix that truly must be seen to be believed... by all means, a headlining E-Ticket that completely and totally redefines the role and abilities of a simulator yet again. It's practically indisputable at this point that Flight of Passage is simply the reigning "magnum opus" of the "simulator" ride genre.

In fact, is AVATAR Flight of Passage the best theme park ride on Earth? For some people, it may be. Just at the time when it seemed that the simulator genre had again gone stale, Flight of Passage reinvigorated the concept by reminding naysayers of the power and grace that these rides can contain. Far from merely "faking it," simulators can be spectacular. 

SIM SPOTLIGHT: Millennium Falcon - Smugglers Run (2019)

Image: Disney

Perhaps the perfect capstone to the "refining era" of the simulator in the 2010s is one of the last additions of the decade. When the two Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge lands opened in Disneyland and Disney's Hollywood Studios in 2019, both were without their headlining, E-Ticket attractions. (That ride, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, was the subject of troublesome tech issues that delayed its opening on both coasts, but which is widely heralded as an industry-defining experience that redefines the word "epic" in dark rides.) 

Instead, the two Star Wars lands opened with only their "supporting" attraction – Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. Behind-the-scenes, this interstellar smuggling operation combines elements of Star Tours, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, and Mission: SPACE. Yet Smugglers Run is entirely unique. It's actually less a ride than a moving video game.

Image: Disney

Aboard the Millennium Falcon, guests are assigned roles (each cockpit seats two pilots, two gunners, and two engineers) who are responsible for certain aspects of the ship during the mission. The pilots make out with the starring role by literally controlling the side-to-side and up-and-down movement of the simulator pod, respectively, but engineers and gunners can improve (or destroy) the ship's performance by pressing flashing buttons during the ride's course. 

Using a gaming engine, the ride reacts in real time to the performance of riders, creating an experience that can be laugh-out-loud fun, or teeth-grindingly frustrating depending on your preferences... especially since, with its six-person design, your results and experience depend on the performance of strangers who may or may not be interested in participating in such an immensely-interactive experience.

Image: Disney

While riding in the Millennium Falcon may be a lifelong dream for some, ending up with crash-happy eight year olds as the pilots, a confused grandma as a gunner, or non-English speaking engineers who don't understand they're supposed to repair the ship probably wasn't what you had in mind. Hence why a ride that seemed cued up to be a homerun hasn't really risen to be a star at either park it inhabits...

Pros and cons...

And that harsh reality brings us to our final look at the three "plusses" and three "minuses" of simulators that both Disney and Universal will have to carefully consider as they balance their parks with this growing sub-set of attractions... Read on...