{"id":19618,"date":"2017-05-25T17:18:37","date_gmt":"2017-05-25T21:18:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/somosorlando.com\/?p=19618"},"modified":"2017-05-25T17:22:44","modified_gmt":"2017-05-25T21:22:44","slug":"technology-elevates-new-theme-park-experiences-in-orlando","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/somosorlando.com\/es\/technology-elevates-new-theme-park-experiences-in-orlando\/","title":{"rendered":"Technology elevates new theme park experiences in Orlando"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"volcano\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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ORLANDO \u2014 For more than a moment, you feel the way \u201cAvatar\u201d hero Jake Sully felt plunging down the side of a floating mountain and coming just close enough to a giant wave to feel the mist on your face \u2014 all while on the back of a flying banshee that then swoons and soars high above the land of Pandora.<\/p>\n

Flight of Passage, the new signature ride of Disney World\u2019s $500 million Pandora-World of Avatar experience, has been designed to make riders feel like they are in an alien land. And it delivers.<\/p>\n

Not to be outdone, however, all of the major theme parks in Orlando are using technology this year to give park-goers that immersive feel of a simulated reality. Guests can speed through the streets chasing \u201cTonight Show\u201d host Jimmy Fallon at Universal Orlando on the new Race Through New York attraction. Young theme park visitors can karate-chop their way to victory at Legoland\u2019s Ninjago World. And next month SeaWorld will unleash its first virtual reality roller coaster when Kraken reopens.<\/p>\n

\u201cTechnology is really playing a key role,\u201d said Arthur Levine, a theme park expert for About.com. \u201cAll of these things are really incorporating technology to be able to tell stories in very unique ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Easily the most powerful and immersive experience is Disney\u2019s Flight of Passage, where riders are thrust into the land of gigantic Na\u2019vi aliens with the use of state of the art 3-D simulated technology. Sure, you are strapped onto a motorcycle-shaped seat in front of a blue screen, wearing 3-D glasses, but you feel like you are there in Pandora experiencing a Na\u2019vi rite of passage.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt creates a new sense of immersion for guests where they really have a sense of place,\u201d said Jon Landau, executive producer of the movie \u201cAvatar,\u201d which inspired Disney\u2019s Pandora land, located at Animal Kingdom. \u201cYou are literally going to another world, figuratively and literally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Levine says without question Disney has raised the technology bar with Flight of Passage.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike all motion simulations, you really don\u2019t move more than a couple of inches in any direction, but the experience is so convincing,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is the ultimate to this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the technology revolution isn\u2019t just on the rides. Visitors to Universal\u2019s new water park Volcano Bay will get an experience they\u2019ve never had in a packed amusement park: No lines! There are no areas to stand in line because park-goers will be in line virtually, thanks to new wearable technology, TapuTapu, that will allow them to enjoy the rest of the park until it\u2019s their turn. The Jimmy Fallon ride will also have virtual line capability.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Here\u2019s a look at some of the best new attractions in Florida this summer:<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

WALT DISNEY WORLD<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pandora-World of Avatar<\/strong><\/p>\n

Walt Disney World\u2019s 12-acre land inspired by the \u201cAvatar\u201d movie opens in Florida in late May at the Animal Kingdom park. The marquee attraction at the half-billion-dollar land is Flight of Passage, where a 3-D simulator plunges riders into a cinematic world. You feel like you\u2019re riding on the back of a banshee, a bluish, gigantic, winged predator that resembles something out of the Jurassic era. At night, Pandora transforms into a sea of color with glowing lights on artificial plants and even in the pavement. The enormous blue Na\u2019vi aliens from the \u201cAvatar\u201d movie appear sparingly, really just on Flight of Passage and a second attraction called Na\u2019vi River Journey.<\/p>\n

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\"pando\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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UNIVERSAL ORLANDO<\/strong><\/p>\n

Volcano Bay<\/strong><\/p>\n

Volcano Bay is Universal Orlando\u2019s new water-themed park with a huge, exploding volcano as its centerpiece. The resort is calling Volcano Park its \u201cthird park,\u201d after Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. Universal closed the nearly-40-year-old Wet \u2019n Wild water park to make way for the more intensely-themed Volcano Bay, whose story line is that visitors are entering a Pacific island belonging to the Waturi people. The opening of the water park in May marks the debut of the TapuTapu wearable wristband which can pay for food, open lockers, trigger special effects, set spending limits on the kids and eliminate waiting in lines by sending alerts when it\u2019s your turn for a ride.<\/p>\n

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\"tapu\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the Jimmy Fallon attraction, which opened in April, visitors enter an area made to look like the lobby of a Rockefeller Center building. On display are photos, videos and memorabilia from decades of past \u201cThe Tonight Show\u201d shows. The ride is pioneering the use of virtual lines, which allows visitors to watch live entertainment or hang out in a lounge instead of waiting in line. When it\u2019s their turn to go on the ride, visitors are alerted. The 3-D simulator ride gives visitors the experience of drag-racing through the streets and in the clouds above New York City.<\/p>\n

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\"jimmy\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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SEAWORLD ORLANDO<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kraken<\/strong><\/p>\n

Virtual reality is coming to a roller coaster at SeaWorld\u2019s Orlando\u2019s Kraken 17-year-old ride. Visitors wanting the virtual reality experience can choose to wear a virtual-reality headset that make them think they\u2019re going on a deep-sea mission alongside sea creatures. It is SeaWorld\u2019s first digitally-enhanced ride experience and is set to debut June 16.<\/p>\n

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\"kraken\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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By TERRANCE HARRIS \/ Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  ORLANDO \u2014 For more than a moment, you feel the way \u201cAvatar\u201d hero Jake Sully felt plunging down the side of a floating mountain and coming just close enough to a giant wave to feel the mist on your face \u2014 all while on the back of a flying banshee that then swoons and soars high above the land of Pandora. Flight of Passage, the new signature ride of Disney World\u2019s $500 million Pandora-World of Avatar experience, has been designed to make riders feel like they are in an alien land. And it delivers. Not to be outdone, however, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[15,39],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/somosorlando.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19618"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/somosorlando.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/somosorlando.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/somosorlando.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/somosorlando.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19618"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/somosorlando.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19618\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19627,"href":"https:\/\/somosorlando.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19618\/revisions\/19627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/somosorlando.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/somosorlando.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/somosorlando.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}