The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera (ride)
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| The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera | |
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| Entrance to The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera | |
| Universal Studios Florida | |
| Area | Production Central |
| Designer | Universal Studios |
| Manufacturer | Ride Trade |
| Attraction type | Motion Simulator |
| Theme | Hanna-Barbera cartoons |
| Soft opening date | May, 1990 |
| Opening date | June 7, 1990 |
| Closing date | October 20, 2002 |
| Vehicle type | Motion Car |
| Vehicle capacity | 8 |
| Cars per vehicle | 2 |
| Guests per car | 4 |
| Ride duration | 8 minutes |
| Height requirements | 40" (102 cm) |
| Replaced by | Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast |
The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera was a simulator ride at Universal Studios Florida, and one of the park's original attractions. The story line was that Dick Dastardly (of Wacky Races fame) has kidnapped Elroy Jetson, Yogi Bear gives chase and the audience is in for the ride of their lives. Peter N. Alexander was the creator and executive producer, Mario Kamberg was the director, and Paul Van Camp was in charge of the programming software. The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera was the very first ride film to be done entirely with computer graphics[citation needed] (except the characters were the traditional cel animation).
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[edit] The attraction
[edit] Queue
The facility which housed the ride featured several areas in which the guests were moved throughout. The outside queue area, where people waited in line, featured several TV's that showed Hanna-Barbera cartoons on a loop. The guests were then taken into a preshow area where the storyline for the ride was revealed.
[edit] Pre-show
Inside the preshow, there were 3 projection screens. Two oval shaped screens and a regular square screen. On one of the oval screens, Yogi Bear appeared pestering guests for food, Boo Boo shows up to inform him that the guests are here for an animation demonstration by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. The two (live-action) appear on the square screen and begin talking about animation, leading to drawing Elroy Jetson, who magically comes to life and jumps out of the paper three dimensionally. Hanna goes on to talk about computer animation using Dick Dastardly's airplane (in this case, a spaceship). Dastardly and Muttley soon show up from inside the spaceship's depths, requesting that they be a part of Hanna-Barbera's next project. Barbera informs him that the Jetsons are next (coincidentally, at the time of the ride's opening, the release of Jetsons: The Movie was only several weeks away) followed by The Flintstones and Scooby-Doo. In a fit of rage, Dastardly kidnaps Elroy by forcefully pulling him into the computer using the sunction of a toilet plunger gun, claiming "If I can't be the star of the next project, then nobody can! I'm taking Elroy where you'll never find him!" The computer begins to self-destruct and the two run away. Yogi and Boo Boo, feeling they should do something, go (with the ride guests) into a rocketship (the main theater) to go save Elroy from the evil plans Dastardly and Muttley have in store for him.
[edit] Ride
When we entered the main theater, we go off in a rocket ship with Yogi as the captain. Our power source is a large rubber band.
The force is so strong we end up going back in time to Bedrock. We fly off a cliff and through Mr. Slate's construction site before flying into the main city. We chase after Dastardly through the streets, dodging cars, residents of Bedrock (including Wilma and Betty), and Yogi ends up chasing Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble (who are driving Fred's car) down a street by accident. We fly up after Dastardly into the skies, and through a vortex into another world.
We end up chasing Dastardly through a cemetery in the middle of the night, and we are on a near-collision near the Mystery Machine that Scooby-Doo and Shaggy are driving, leading all of us into a castle where we encounter ghosts. We fly looking for Dastardly down hallways and corridors, dodging Scooby and Shaggy who are left hanging on a chandelier when we chase after Dastardly into another vortex.
This time we end up in the future into Orbit City, dodging flying cars and buildings. It's not long before Elroy's family (except Judy who is absent from the ride) appear and see Elroy captured, and chase after Dastardly with us, going into Coney's Skyland, a futuristic amusement park. We fly on a roller-coaster track after the villain, and end up going down a steep drop when Rosie the Robot (flying with the Jetsons) opens up Dastardly's rocket, and George grabs and saves Elroy. Dastardly and Muttley then get surrounded by thousands of flying cop cars, and both are dropped in a flying jail cell. The Jetsons thank us, and we fly back home through a vortex and crash land back at the station on a giant inflated bumper reading "END". Yogi gives us a farewell message. "So folks, thanks for joining in the ride, I'll see you on the outside!" A lamp comes down from the top, from which Yogi pulls the light switch. The screen goes black and the ride ends.
There was a 40-inch height requirement for the simulator, requiring smaller children to sit in a non-motion seat. Expectant mothers, people with motion sickness, heart problems, back or neck problems, were all encouraged to sit in a non-motion seat. Occasionally people on the ride would panic because of the intense motion, and the ride would be stopped by one of the operators.
The ride consisted of 12 bases, each of which held 8 people for a total of 96 riders. The front row consisted of a bench in which people who did not want a motion seat could enjoy the show.
[edit] Post show
After the show, guests were escorted into an interactive area where they could interact with various technologies geared towards children.
[edit] Hanna-Barbera's Store
Following this area, was a gift shop where Hanna-Barbera merchandise could be purchased.
[edit] Cast and Crew
- Greg Burson - Yogi Bear
- Patric Zimmerman - Elroy Jetson
- Paul Winchell - Dick Dastardly
- Don Messick - Boo-Boo Bear, Muttley and Scooby-Doo
- Jim Cummings - Dinosaur
- John Stephenson - Mr. Slate
- Henry Corden - Fred Flintstone
- Frank Welker - Barney Rubble
- Jean Vander Pyl - Wilma Flintstone
- B.J. Ward - Betty Rubble
- Casey Kasem - Shaggy Rogers
- Hal Smith - Ghosts
- Jeff Bergman - George Jetson
- Penny Singleton - Jane Jetson
- Jean Vander Pyl - Rosie the Robot Maid
- Unknown - Robot
- William Hanna - as Himself
- Joseph Barbera - as Himself
- Universal Studios Florida Employee - H-B Rocket Attendant
- Director - Mario Kamberg
- Producers - Peter N. Alexander, Sherry McKenna
- Art Director - Allen Battino
- Visual Effects Designers-William Powloski, Trey Stokes, Paul Van Camp, Triad, Ride Trade
- Music Composer - James S. Levine
- Amimators - David Steinberg, Athanassios Vakalis, deGraf/Wahrman, Rhythm & Hues Studios, Sullivan Bluth Productions
- Distributors - Universal Studios and Hanna-Barbera Productions
[edit] History
William Hanna died in 2001. The ride subsequently closed on October 20, 2002, and was replaced by Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast, featuring the Nickelodeon TV channel's Jimmy Neutron, in spring 2003.
In 2006, the year Joseph Barbera died, Paramount Parks acquired the rights to this simulator for use in their parks, such as Canada's Wonderland. It is now a featured attraction for 2006 at Paramount theme parks, including Paramount King's Dominion. The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera will be placed in all five park's Action FX Theaters. The film is also shown at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom with its original name and The Park at MOA under the name of Yogi's Big Rescue. It also is at Dollywood for the 2007 Kid's fest and in Gatlinburg, TN under the name Yogi's Wild Ride.
[edit] Film
The animation for the characters was animated by Sullivan Bluth Productions and directed by David Steinberg. Universal wanted the ride film to have a classical animation look, with full feature-quality using the Hanna-Barbera characters. So Universal contacted Bluth's company, whom worked with Universal in the past to do animation for the ride. Some of the animators went to the Burbank facility with several other freelance animators while Bluth's team in Dublin, Ireland went on with Rock-A-Doodle, the current project at Bluth's company at the time.
The director, Mario Kamberg, and art director, Allen Battino, were also the principal creative forces behind its replacement ride "Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast". By the end of the Nicktoon run in 2008, both filmmakers will have had their films continuously playing in the same theater for over 20 years.
Rhythm & Hues Studios created the 3D Jetsons sequence for the ride film. [1] deGraf/Wahrman created the 3D Flintstones and Scooby-Doo portion of the film.[citation needed]
[edit] Simulator
Unlike most traditional simulator rides (such as Star Tours or Body Wars) the entire ride takes place inside an auditorium, with the audience in chairs that move. Non-moving chairs were also available for those who only wanted to watch the film.
In Universal Studios Florida, the ride vehicles themselves were created by Ride Trade. [2] The vehicles had 4 degrees of freedom and had 8 seats, the motion was programmed by Trey Stokes, with software programmed by Triad and Paul Van Camp. [3]
[edit] Advertising
In 1990, to promote the opening of the attraction, Universal released various series of Hanna-Barbera cartoons on VHS tapes which included the theatrical trailer for Jetsons: The Movie, a commercial for the attraction which had a child tourist sitting in the Hanna-Barbera office from the pre-show, explaining the attraction, and a commercial for Universal Studios Florida.
[edit] Homages
As a homage to the attraction, In the opening scene of Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast ride film, The Jetsons and Yogi Bear can be seen flying in a Hanna-Barbera rocket through one of the Nicktoon sound stages. It seems that there is Scooby-Doo and his Mystery Machine right before you get to the slime tower. Also, Dastardly and Muttley can be seen outside the rocket lab while Goobot makes you do the chicken dance.
[edit] References
- ^ "Rhythm & Hues created the 3D Jetsons sequence for this simulator ride at Universal Studios, Florida." http://www.rhythm.com/film/theme_parks.shtml
- ^ "Customized Simulators: Hanna Barbera" http://www.ridetrade.com/r_products_simulators.htm
- ^ Hanna-Barbera Simulator
[edit] External links
- The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera at Orlando Rocks
- The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera (ride) at the Internet Movie Database
- The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera at Trudang
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