Themed Design and Engineering: Disney Imaginations Design Competition

A Major Qualifying Project Submitted to the Faculty of Worcester Polytechnic Institute In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree in

Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering By Megan Mueller

Advisor: Pradeep Radhakrishnan

Date: December 11th, 2018

This report represents work of WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its web site without editorial or peer review. For more information about the projects program at WPI, see http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Projects

1 Abstract

Themed entertainment is a innovative way to apply design engineering to projects and experiences that are for the purpose of entertaining people. Theme parks, roller coasters, interactive experiences are just a few examples of themed entertainment projects. This project looks into the design process that a team of students went through to design a project for the Disney Imaginations Competition. Following the prompt for the competition, the team chose to revitalize the 2008 Beijing Olympics venue but encouraging guests to “Relive, Unite, and be Inspired” by attractions and experiences that are located at the project site. Among other attractions, the Relive section allows guests to watch virtual reality videos of the opening ceremonies, the Unite section provides a boat ride from guests to travel along the Dragon River, and the Inspire section has space for guests to participate in healthy activities for the environment and for themselves. The paper goes through the steps taken to complete the project and has a deeper dive into a Boat Ride design and details. Details was given to show buoyancy of the boat and track design for the braking system. Finally, future work and recommendations for future participations is presented in the paper.

2 Table of Contents

2.1 Disney Competition 10 2.1.1 Judging process 10 2.1.2 Submission Requirements 12 2.1.3 Past Competition Submissions 14

2.2 History of Themed entertainment 15

2.3 Components of themed entertainment 17 2.3.1 Lighting 17

2.4 The Beijing Olympics 18 2.4.1 Mascots 18 2.4.2 Locations 18 2.4.2.1 Bird’s Nest Stadium 18 2.4.2.2 Dragon River 19 2.4.2.3 Olympic Forest Park 20 2.4.3 Beijing Air quality 20

4.1 Location for the project 25

4.2 Areas for project- Bird’s Nest Stadium, Dragon River, Forest Park 30 4.2.1 Birds Nest Stadium 32 4.2.2 Dragon River 34 4.2.3 Olympic Forest Park 36

4.3 Motto for the Project- Relive, Unite, Inspire 36

4.4 Story for the project- Fuwa 38

4.5 Attractions for each area 41 4.5.1 Driving factors for the design of the attractions 41 4.5.2 Relive 43 4.5.3 Unite 47 4.5.4 Inspire 53

5.1 Boat Details 56

5.2 Brake System 59

5.3 Boat Design Specifications 62

6.1 Project Submission Modifications 66 6.1.1 Slide Modifications: Video 68

3 6.1.2 Slide Modifications: Current Condition 71

6.2 Future Research 72 6.2.1 Advice for Future Competition Project Teams 72 6.2.1.1 Gathering a Team 72 6.2.1.2 Determining Deadlines 73 6.2.1.3 Story! 75 6.2.2 Continued Technical Component Research 76 6.2.2.1 Boat Track/Braking System 76

6.3 Conclusion 77

Figures 79 References 81

Appendix A: Final project submission 83

Appendix B: Table of Fuwa 91

4 Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Professor Pradeep Radhakrishnan for his support, and guidance on this project. I would also like to thank Casper Cox and Mitchell Stevens for being great competition team members and the IGMD faculty. I would like to acknowledge Worcester Polytechnic Institute for providing us the opportunity to pursue this project.

5 Chapter 1 Introduction Themed entertainment is a field of study that focuses on using engineering and creativity together to create attractions for guests to enjoy. Creativity in design is an important aspect as ideas are rarely repeated in the field of entertainment. Still, the fundamental engineering principles and techniques have to be applied, such that conformance to performance and safety can be ensured. Engineers in the field of themed entertainment try and stretch what has been done and break outside the norm- examples of this include building massive dragons that can fold out of a cliff, transporting guests undersea in an omnimover ride, or using fire and water together to create a magnificent show that runs twice a day every day of the year. These are difficult engineering feats because they have never been done before and push engineers outside of their normal box to try and make something stable, sturdy, while also look good and operate the way it should.

The Disney Imaginations Competition is a challenge given to students to design a project in the field of themed entertainment. A prompt is released each year that encourages students

7 to use their field of study to create some type of experience within the prompt guidelines. This year the prompt is as follows:

“Choose an actual abandoned or “ghost town” from anywhere in the world and re-vitalize it!

It might be as a working town, a historical landmark, a living museum, a themed experience, or whatever else you can dream up. Consider historical value and respect for the traditions and communities of the original and surrounding areas.

You can integrate the entire town, or carefully selected sections that best serve your idea and the location. Be mindful of any environmental impact that your proposal may have. What technological advancements will be necessary to not only develop your idea, but to engage guests to your new creation both in person, and before, during and after a visit?

How will your idea appeal to families? In what ways will it be accessible to as diverse an audience as possible? Is there a social service component to your creation that will be of value to the local community or beyond?

Please do not use Disney IP (Intellectual Property) in any part of your proposal.”

This project delves into the history of themed entertainment and the methodology taken to create a project submission to the 2018 Disney Imaginations competition. The paper discusses the process that I , as well as my competition team members, went through to design and put together a final submission to the competition.

Chapter three discusses the location chosen for this project. The location was the Beijing Olympic Stadium. This project revitalizes the Olympic Stadium, river, and forest adjacent to the stadium. The chapter also discusses many attractions that are involved in the design including an interactive activity in the Bird’s Nest Stadium, a boat ride along the river, and a recycled forest for guests to add recycled paper flowers to. Along with the attractions, the motto of Relive, Unite, and Inspire was given to each section of the project area. The Fuwa, or Olympic Mascots, are the driving characters for the story behind the design.

Chapter six explains the driving factors that influenced decisions during the project creation. There are many factors such as the motto and story that was used during the whole

8 project and evident throughout the whole experience. The first section includes the background research conducted to create the project, followed by how decisions were made and in what order. The next section is the ducission of the final project and how I would change some things and what advice I would give future participants.

9 Chapter 2 Literature Review

2.1 Disney Competition

The Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) Imaginations competition (a) is an opportunity for students from a wide range of disciplines to showcase their creativity and innovation in a design competition based on a prompt provided by WDI. Each year a prompt is released that will challenge the students to create an experience for a specified audience to enjoy. In the past, prompts have asked students to create an outdoor environment that fits their university or a travelling experience that brings Disney to towns across the country. This year, the prompt is to revitalize an abandoned or “ghost town” for anywhere around the world. While each year the prompt is different, the applicants are always encouraged and judged on many topics including creating a story, being innovative, and showing mastery of skill and talents. Once the applicants have submitted and had their designs reviewed, six of the top teams will be flown out to WDI headquarters in California where they will present their ideas to a panel of Imagineer judges. The series of events that happens with the competition include the following deadlines: Team Registration: Opens 9/15/2017, closes 10/29/2017 Project Submission deadline: 11/27/2017

2.1.1 Judging process

The official prompt posted on the Disney Imaginations Competition website states:

“Choose an actual abandoned or “ghost town” from anywhere in the world and re-vitalize it!

10 It might be as a working town, a historical landmark, a living museum, a themed experience, or whatever else you can dream up. Consider historical value and respect for the traditions and communities of the original and surrounding areas.

Please do not use Disney IP (Intellectual Property) in any part of your proposal.”

According to the WDI Imaginations Competition website, the judging process can be based upon the following criteria: ■ Mastery of skills and talents ■ Guest experience ■ Diversity/market perspective ■ Uniqueness ■ Adherence to project challenge ■ Team collaboration ■ Fun, original, and innovative ■ Recognizes cultural nuance of selected location ■ Pushes the boundaries of what currently exists ■ Evaluates its business implications and impact of the community ■ Can tell a compelling story (may be intent design and not necessarily “fairy tale”) ■ Demonstrates knowledge and passion for Walt Disney Imagineering

11 2.1.2 Submission Requirements

Submission into the competition entails eight powerpoint slides submitted as a PDF, out of which two slides have to be in a specific format and the remaining six slides can be used to explain the concepts or experiences better. The first slide includes the title, description and outline of team members. When reviewing the submission, WDI will not know what school the submission is from or the names of the students, but they will see what each member is studying in school and what they each contributed to the project. The description of the project should be about three paragraphs long and the first glimpse of what the project will be about. The description should help the reader visualize the concept and want to learn more about what this project is. The description should explain the

location of where this is located as well as what will happen in the experience with highlights and shoutouts to special features of the design.

12 The second slide must include the story behind the design and user/guest experience. Each topic has room for a couple of paragraphs, but the content must be able to convey the topic concisely and accurately. In the story behind the design, the teams need to tell a story that explains the purpose of the project and compels the reader to keep reading and believe the story. While the story can be a “fairy tale”, it could also be explaining the intent and reasons why the experience was designed. In user/guest experience teams need to explain what the guests will experience. Overall, these slides do not include any pictures or diagrams of what the experience will look like, so the content of the writing needs to create an accurate image for the

reader and pull them into the story.

Following the first two slides, the project team has six slides to convey their project through writing, pictures, videos, and any other way they can in a slide.

13 2.1.3 Past Competition Submissions

For the 2017 Imaginations teams were tasked with designing an outdoor space in at the University the students went to. The follow are the first and second place teams for this year. First Place: Hourglass (Iowa State University) This design was created by students that study architecture, mechanical engineering and interior design. The concept behind the design is an hourglass and how when you turn an hourglass on its side, you are stopping the sands from falling which signifies pausing time. The space that these students designed is meant for their peers to have somewhere to pause their day and relax for as long as they need in order to rejuvenate themselves. While there isn’t a “fairy tale” story for this project, there is a solid concept of “pause, rejuvenate, resume” tied into the hourglass figure. Most of the slides in the submission are explaining the technical side of the project; orientation of the structure, heatings elements, energy harvesting, structure etc. The design of the slides is simple and fits with the theme well. Overall this project conveys that the team thought out the realisticness of this experience and created a solid structure that could realistically be built and used by students today.

Second Place: Spirit of the Isles (University of Notre Dame) This design was created by students that study graphic and industrial design, mechanical engineering, and technology, engineering and math entrepreneurship. The story behind this project was one that is a fantasy type story that is narrated by a “spirit” that comes together with its spirit orb friends to create an oasis for students. The space includes a waterfall, places for students to relax, and an amphitheater. There is an essence of magic that is included in this project but there are also explanations of technical elements such as heating, augmented reality, and show-based experiences.

14 2.2 History of Themed entertainment

Themed entertainment is an industry where entertainment is mixed with storytelling and creating immersive experiences for guests to enjoy. Products of themed entertainment range from theme parks to museums, and haunted houses to zoos. Some of the leading companies in themed entertainment involving theme parks include Walt Disney Company, Universal Studios, Six Flags and SeaWorld. Themed entertainment has grown from providing a guest with a place where they can explore and be transported into another world to having Virtual Reality (VR) experiences that fully immerse guests into the experience. Theater is an example of an industry that may have been one of the first examples of themed entertainment. Theater productions have been around for the past 2500 years, originating in Greece. Theater was known for captivating an audience and immersing them into a story that was unfolding on the stage in front of them. Besides a handful of cases, the performances didn’t tend to include the audience in the story, but still resonated with people so they connected with the story. In a play, lighting, music, and acting all come together to provide the audience with a story and experience. In 1893 Chicago hosted the World’s Columbian Exposition, or better known as the Chicago World’s Fair. While this World’s Fair was held to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s arrival, the expo was the first one with an area for amusements or what was called the “Midway.” The Midway was home to attractions that could be described as the first carnival games, which included games of chance, freakshows, and the first Ferris wheel. Each of these attractions can be included in themed entertainment as they were a place to get away and be entertained. The exhibits that were in the World’s Fair were a catalyst for the new movement of travelling carnivals and entertainment. Unfortunately, due to some corrupt business practices, the midway was often looked down upon and carnivals were considered unprofessional entertainment. Even with this reputation, travelling carnivals have been around since the World’s Fair and in 1902 there were seventeen travelling carnivals in the United States. While it may not seem like an obvious part to the evolution of themed entertainment, children's play areas and parks played a vital role in the development of the industry. Play

15 structures and parks were a specific places that children knew they could have fun, create imaginary scenarios, and be taken away into another world. Play structures have many forms and features; there are interactive parts where children can move and operate gadgets and play-machinery as well as features that don’t change but pose their own purpose such as slides and monkey bars. Themed entertainment was not just for children, but for all ages. As the industry grew, the demographic of the audience grew and adults and elders started getting included in themed entertainment experiences. Museums are a popular place for this older demographic to go to and while it may not seem like it would fall under themed entertainment, the way a museum can be designed can classify it as themed entertainment. Immersive and interactive exhibits in museums are sometimes the best way to convey a topic in a museum. Some exhibits transport you to another time era or place you in an environment where the exhibit takes place. As themed entertainment became more popular in many avenues that many people may not have thought would be called themed entertainment, the turning point of the industry can when one man decided to join the business: Walt Disney. Starting with his work creating Disneyland, most people would consider Walt Disney the greatest example of someone within the themed entertainment industry. Coining the term “theme park,” Disneyland opened in 1955 and was created because Disney wanted to find a place where parents and children could both enjoy their time together. At the time, there had been nothing of its kind where a person could enter a wholly immersive world that was completely themed. Disneyland took stories and made them reality through rides and shows. Sporting themed lands such as Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, and Frontierland, Disneyland transported guests into another world where they could meet characters from books and movies of their childhood. As the park became more popular, the Walt Disney Company built more parks around the world with the newest park opening in 2016 located in Shanghai, China. With all successful companies, there is always a competitor that pushes that company to do better and challenges them with advances in the same field. For the Walt Disney Company, this competitor is Universal Studios. Universal Orlando Resort is located just down the main highway in Orlando from Disney World, Disney’s largest park coming in at 40 square miles (an equivalent size to San Francisco). Universal Orlando Resort is home to many attractions and themed areas based off the movies that the company own franchises to such as Jurassic Park, Transformers, and the most recent a popular lands based off the Harry Potter universe. Universal is known for its thrill rides that follow a story from popular movies. One thing Universal

16 has over Disney is a halloween haunted house series called Halloween Horror Nights (HHN). HHN combines some of the most famous scary movie themes and brings them to life with haunted houses and “scare zones” where guests can interact and walk around with the spooky characters. The development of themed entertainment has many paths and branches off every path. The industry has evolved in many ways and there could be many arguments made for the steps and contributions to themed entertainment. Overall, anything that tells a story and creates an immersive experience for its guests is something that can fall into themed entertainment.

2.3 Components of themed entertainment

2.3.1 Lighting

Lighting plays a huge role in themed entertainment from creating emotions and moods to directing attention to a certain area to enhance an effect. Theater has used lighting for many years to create effects that fit in with the production being watched by the audience. Depending on the wavelength of the light, colors are rendered differently and can appear not as their true color to the human eye. Sunlight is a source that encompases all wavelengths which in turn will render colors to their true appearance. Lights that give off any type of light with a tint will render colors to look not as they naturally look. Knowing this about lighting, designers can change lights to make props or scenery look they way they want it to look and change the appearance by changing the light on them without changing the actual color of the item. Light can also create effects by directing attention away from where the mechanics behind an effect are happening. This can be done by working with how eyes adjust to light or by directing people to look in a certain place by making it brighter or more distracting to the eye. Just like stepping outside on a bright sunny day, eyes need time to adjust to different levels of light and if the transition is not slow enough, vision is impaired momentarily until eyes adjust fully. Using this, a designer can flash a bright light at guests to momentarily impair vision and at the same time, change scenery or do something that will leave the viewer wondering how it happened. Another technique is when light is used to suggest to the viewer where to look and leave them oblivious to anything else in the area. This is very common with theme park rides;

17 while riding an attraction most of the light is directed away from the mechanics of the ride and if the guest looked around while riding the attraction, they would see many backstage elements.

2.4 The Beijing Olympics

2.4.1 Mascots

Fuwa (good luck dolls) are the five dolls created for the beijing olympic mascots. Their names are Beibei, jingjing, huanhuan, yingying and nini. Taking the first part of each other their names, it creates the phrase “Beijing huanying ni” which translates into “Beijing welcomes you.” Each of the dolls has its own personality and meaning behind the design and name. Appendix B is a table of the characteristics of each doll. There is some controversy regarding the olympic mascots and could potentially leave the Chinese with a negative connotation towards the five characters. After the mascots were introduced 1000 days before the opening day of the Olympic games, there were natural disasters or horrific events that happened that could potentially be tied to a mascot and what that mascots represents. Some of the events include an earthquake in Sichuan which they believe is tied to Jingjing which is a panda that is native to sichuan. Another event was the flood that forced 1.6 million people to evacuate Southern China which has been tied to the mascot Beibei, the fish mascot. While there are some people that may believe that the mascots brought along a curse to China in 2008, the Chinese government has done it’s best to dispel these thoughts and rid the internet of Chinese news stories that suggest anything negative towards the Fuwa.

2.4.2 Locations

2.4.2.1 Bird’s Nest Stadium

The Beijing National is more commonly known as the Birds Nest and was home to the 2008 Olympic Games’ opening and closing ceremonies as well as track and field events (1). The Summer Paralympics and Race of Champions were also held here in September 2008 and

18 2009, respectively. The stadium was designed by Herzog & De Meuron Architekten, Arup Sport and the China Architecture Design and Research Group. The stadium cost an equivalent of $400 million and has a gross volume of three million cubic meters. There are 91,000 seats within the stadium that extends 333m from North to South and 294m from east to west, the height is 69.2m. The stadium is comprised of two independent structures; one is the seating bowl that is made of red concrete, the other structure sits about 15.25m away from the bowl and is a steel frame which contributes to the “birds nest” aesthetic. The stadium was built over a high seismic zone therefore all the structures have been designed as to withstand a sizeable earthquake. Due to the purpose of the stadium being used for Olympic competitions, the stadium complies with the requirements laid forth by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF). While the intent initial of the stadium was for the games, the designers tried to create a space that could be used in the future. The whole space includes an underground area that has mixed-use retail, restaurants, cinemas, and parking. The current state of the stadium is dismal compared to what it was like when the Olympic games started (2). The stadium is rarely used for any events besides the odd concert, sporting event or small gathering and costs $11 million a year to maintain. While tourists visit to see the stadium, it is not embodying what it was like when it was first revealed nor is it being used for its original purpose. Graffiti and trash litter the once spotless image of the stadium and surrounding areas (3).

2.4.2.2 Dragon River

The river that runs adjacent to the Bird’s Nest Stadium is commonly known as the Dragon River because of its similarities to a dragon head. The Dragon River was built for the Olympic Games to help with the promotion of a more environmentally friendly Games with the hopes that the river could continue to improve the environment in Beijing after the Olympics. Beijing is a large city that has a high level of pollution in the air that worsens with lack of wind or rain. The pollution comes from the neighboring cities with large plants that emit a lot pollution into the air. The river runs 2.7km in length and ranges from 20-125m in width. The depth varies from 0.6-1.2m. Through cleaning the river channel of algal biomass, planting submerged plants, and operating, monitoring, and managing the water system, the river had the potential to

19 continue to be a beacon for taking care of the environment in Beijing. After the Olympics, the river fell into disarray and became very polluted and clogged with garbage that can lend the project the potential to create an outlet for making Beijing for environmentally conscience (6).

2.4.2.3 Olympic Forest Park

The Olympic Forest was initially created as a space that athletes would use to get away from the games and find a peace of mind and some fresh air. The forest covers about 2.6 square miles. While the park is accessible to the public, not many people take advantage of the area and there are few permanent uses for the park. The forest park is home to a few locations that hosted events during the Olympics. Those events included tennis and archery as well as a house that athletes could escape from the media and fans.

2.4.3 Beijing Air quality

Air quality is based off of the amount of Coarse particulate matter (PM) that is in the air. PM10 are particles in the air with average diameter less than or equal to 10 micrometer. When there are more particles in the air, the air quality is worse and if there are less particles in the air, the air quality is better. According to the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), the PM annual standard is 50mgm-3 PM10 while the daily standard is 150mgm-3 for PM10. China has an air quality standard which is based of three grades. For daily air quality, grade 1 is PM10 at 50mgm-3, grade 2 is PM10 at 150mgm-3, and grade 3 is PM10 at 250mgm-3. Each location in China has a grade assigned to it which will dictate which air quality standard it must uphold. For Beijing, the annual grade is grade 2, which means it must have an average daily PM10 of 150 which, coincidentally, is the same annual PM10 standard for the US. It has been observed that the air quality in Beijing can change dramatically from day to day. Below is a picture (Air quality PDF) of an area in Beijing on October 29, 2005 with a PM10 value of 50, while the right picture is the same area in Beijing on October 26, 2005 with a PM10

20 value of 300. When air quality is poor, visibility is disrupted, sunlight is blocked, and serious health hazards are present for all people breathing in the air. The serious causes of the air pollution within Beijing is from the surrounding cities and factories within those cities. Weather can affect the air quality as well; rain and wind are two things that can help reduce the amount of particle in the air. The pictures shown above were taken three days apart in which during those three days, it has rained and the wind had picked up. Electrostatic precipitation uses discharge wires and collecting plates to collect dust with electrostatic forces. When a voltage is applied to the wires, an electric field is created that ionizes the gas which supplies ions. If any of the gas that passes in this field contains dust or other particles, the ions will charge the particles (4). There are collecting plates in this electric field that will then attract the now-charged particles. This effect happens due to Coulomb's law (5). One driving factor of the efficiency of this method of collecting dust how the collection plate is and how strong the attraction is between the particle and the plate. Another factor is that when more dust is collected, the collection surface will become less resistive and dust will fall off. One way to control this is by knowing what the resistivity is of the particles being collected. Resistivity is stronger for particles that are larger so knowing particle size will suggest how resistive the particle will be. The last factor for effectiveness of the electrostatic precipitation is the concentration of the particles. For higher concentrations, the effectiveness will be lower.

21 Chapter 3 Objectives

The main objective for this MQP is to create a project submission that fit within the following prompt requirements, as assigned by the Walt Disney Imaginations Design Competition:

Choose an actual abandoned or “ghost town” from anywhere in the world and re-vitalize it!

Please do not use Disney IP (Intellectual Property) in any part of your proposal.

Within the requirements to create the overall submission to the competition, the following are the objectives that must be completed in order to be successful competition submission and fulfill the judging criteria provided by the competition:

1. Identify a city that is has an abandoned feature and can be revitalized in a way that the new experience in the host city will help the city economically, support and respect its culture, and be a desirable place for guests to visit. 2. Within the city selected, identify an abandoned location to revitalize that has a backstory, is unique and original, and can be revitalized into an experience that guests would want to visit.

22 3. Create an immersive experience within the abandoned location that pushes the boundaries of what is currently there, tells a story that fits with the existing location, and is a fun and innovative experience that can be accessible to all demographics and abilities.

In order for the submission to be successful and portray that intent of the experience created the by the team, the submission materials have the following objectives as well:

1. Slideshow following competition requirements while providing a visual and written understanding of the project. The slides should be a mix of pictures explaining the experience and concept art showing guests interacting with the elements. The written elements should provide meaningful information about the story and simple explanations of the technical components.There should be a clear understanding of what the current condition of the location is and what will be done to enhance and revitalize the area. Story must be present throughout the whole slideshow and carry the theme in a consistent and clear way. 2. The video within the submission should display an overhead and first person view of most of the elements in the experience. The video will enhance the submission and provide a distinct visual component to the project that is consistent with all other art that is used to show the experience.

23 Chapter 4 Methodology and Design

In this section the process of designing the project submission for the 2018 Disney Imaginations Competition is described. The series of decisions that dictated the final project submission involved many steps from the initial prompt released by the Walt Disney Imagineering department.

The prompt for the competition is as follows:

“Choose an actual abandoned or “ghost town” from anywhere in the world and re-vitalize it!

Please do not use Disney IP (Intellectual Property) in any part of your proposal.”

Each decision was made according to Figure 4.1 which mirrors the order of each section.

4.1 Location for the project

Disney is known for storytelling and knowing how to convey a compelling story with any medium whether it be a movie, ride, or even music. The moment guests walk into a Disney park, they are transported to a world where their favorite princess or character is located and they recognize these places because Disney does such a good job of storytelling. In a ranking down by HubSpot, Walt Disney was placed as number 1 is the top 10 of the World’s Best Storytellers. The article states that “Disney knew how to create an experience by focusing on the minute details, and understanding how all those details contributed to the full picture and audience took in” (7). These details are what children remember and want to go visit when they come to the theme parks.

25 The art of storytelling is something that Disney has mastered over many years especially in the theme park industry. Disney is able to make a movie or book come to life by knowing what people want to see and experience when they are immersed in that story. For example, Disney knows that children come to the theme parks to visit characters. One popular pair of characters are Aladdin and Jasmine. Guests will not want to see them in the middle of Tomorrowland surrounded by robots and futuristic contraptions. Disney knew that placing the two characters in the Moroccan Pavilion at Epcot would make more sense and continue the story of the two characters that live in a Moroccan inspired city. We knew that with this project, we would need to choose a story and a location for the story that made sense and would be a place that guests want to visit. There are many ghost towns or abandoned places around the world each with their own story or myth about them. In the state of Oregon alone, there are over 300 documented abandoned towns (8), each with their own story and reason behind being abandoned. From gold rush locations, pitstop towns that became irrelevant because of new railroads, to towns being destroyed by fires, the amount of ghost towns and stories that go along with them are vast. Each story appeals to a certain audience and our target audience was as big as we could make it and covering as many places around the world as we could. Our team wanted to avoid the random ghost towns all over the United States because those stories are too unknown for people around the world to care about them enough to come visit. Being able to use a place that already has a well known story that is relevant around the world would persuade guests to want to come and experience the revitalized place. According to the 2018 Disney Imaginations Competition prompt, the location for the project must be an abandoned area or “ghost town.” One question that was brought up by the team was what classified a location as abandoned or a ghost town. There are locations around the world that range from completely forgotten and never used all the way to being used for a reason that it was not build for and abandoned of the purpose that it was created for. This question was something we wanted to directly ask the Imagineers about because it could sway our choice of location greatly. After correspondence with the Imaginations point of contact, it was decided to define ‘abandoned area’ as an area that is not being used frequently and when it is used, it is not for used for the purpose that it was designed for. To start looking into different options for the project, I looked up a general search on haunted places and most popular abandoned places. Haunted places have a story behind them

26 and a reason why people claim an area is haunted. The search gace back many places that were haunted because of tragedies or people that died while inside the building. Penitentiaries, asylums, and hospitals are very common haunted places, one very famous being the Moundsville Penitentiary where criminals were tortured and killed. (9) I realized that carrying on a haunted story may not be the best approach to this project because it is supposed to appeal to many people and the demographic of people that would love to go to a haunted place would be smaller than one wanting to go somewhere that is not haunted, mainly due to children wanting to relive a story. But while my intention was not to create a haunted house or revitalize somewhere that had a gruesome backstory, I used this baseline search to see what kind of places out there were abandoned. Besides the scarier ones mentioned above, some of the top abandoned and haunted places include malls, hotels, random cities or villages in small international countries; many places that didn’t really have a backstory that people would be invested in or interested in coming to visit. One place that came up in the search was a small city in Kolmanskop, Namibia. This place is covered in sand and very hard to get to, which would serve as an inconvenience for many guests (10). There was an option to be able to create a story and characters that followed along with the story, but in order to create a successful experience, I needed to find a place that was well known, possible for people to visit and a place that was desirable for people to go to. Making sure there was a story involved with the location we chose was a huge deciding factor for the Beijing Olympic areas we chose. We chose the Olympics because that concept has a type of “story” already, or something that people get invested in and will know about. For this project the story didn’t necessarily need to be a “Fairytale” where there are characters and a plot line or good vs. evil; the concept of the countries around the world coming together to celebrate sports and compete among each other is the “story”. One of the judging points for the project was to create an experience that could appeal to a diverse group of people; so I started thinking about what kind of place would attract people from all over the world to come visit. One search on abandoned places brought up old Olympic stadiums all around the world. I found that many Olympic venues are in disarray even though billions of dollars were spent on the buildings and competition locations. Upon further research into Olympic stadiums and locations with abandonment, money spent on the construction, and popularity in mind, the following locations were the stadiums that stood out:

27 ● Athens Olympic Stadium (1896, 2004)- $4.5 Billion investment

● Beijing Olympic Stadium (2008) - $40 billion investment

● Rio Olympic Stadium (2016)- $4.6 Billion investment

● London Olympic Stadium (2012) - $11.8 Billion investment

The Athens Olympic stadium stood out by being the birthplace of Olympics and definitely a place that is in need of financial support from a new popular tourist hotspot. While China is not in the same need for financial support, in one report the Beijing stadium was titled the most popular and memorable stadium/ceremonies in all Olympic history (11) and provides a base popularity among guests that drew a large crowd during the events. While Rio is a popular tourist destination, during the actual Olympic Games, Rio struggled having high attendance and viewing numbers. The Games also brought along controversies around housing and the quality of the facilities provided for the athletes. Other factors that affected the attendance of the games is fear of the Zika virus and unavailability of affordable tickets to the events.

29 Among all the criteria that the project will judging by, the story is one aspect that will stand out the most with the project and could make or break the submission. The Beijing Olympics was chosen for the Imaginations Competition based on a few reasons. The first being that the Beijing Olympics was highly ranked for its popularity and was visually amazing with its opening ceremonies and architecture of the Olympic buildings. The Beijing location resembled a thematic experience from its opening day and bringing that back to life would look just as amazing as it did in 2008. Another reason is that Beijing is a popular city for tourists to visit and would not be hard to get to for guests that are unfamiliar with the city. The location is known by everyone from around the world and has the story of the Olympics already within the concept of the location. Considering the Olympics only lasts for 16 days and has billions of dollars spent on the areas used for it, being able to revitalize the area in a permanent tribute to the memories from the games would be appeal to the country as well as athletes that competed in the games from around the world. In terms of a strong background story that can be tied into the project submission, the team decided to use the Olympic Mascots from the 2008 Olympics. These five mascots provided a basis for characters that can be used in the story component of the competition. More details around these mascots can be found in sections that follow. Unlike Beijing, the other locations did not have a strong story line or mascots that made an impact on the host country. Beijing mascots brought in excitement for the Games and had strong roots to their creation and Chinese history. Other mascots are forgettable and have been questioned as to what they are and why they were the mascots for the host country. With talking to other students, the Beijing Olympics stood out to most people and were almost always what people connect Olympic images to- the most prominent image being the wooden blocks during the opening ceremony. We wanted to bring back the awe of these ceremonies and help people relive that experience whether they saw it in person or on a screen.

4.2 Areas for project- Bird’s Nest Stadium, Dragon River, Forest Park

Within the area that housed the Beijing Olympic Games there are many venues that could be used for the Imaginations Competition. Some of the maine types of venues include the

30 Bird’s Nest Stadium, WaterCube, Dragon River, National Indoor Stadium, and the Forest Park. While looking into the current state of the venues, it was found that the WaterCube is now home to an indoor water park and the National Indoor Stadium is a practice area for basketball, kickball, and handball practices and games. The Dragon River is a river that is directly next to the Bird’s Nest stadium that flows into the Forest Park. Because the Bird’s Nest, Dragon River, and Forest Park are all either not being used at all or not being used for their original purpose and they are all connected, these were the places chosen to focus on for the project. Image B shows all the components of the Olympic Green and how the Bird’s Nest Stadium, River, and Forest are connected to each other.

4.2.1 Birds Nest Stadium

Figure 4.8 The Bird’s Nest Stadium, Beijing, China 2008

The Bird’s Nest Stadium has the following key features that are beneficial for this project: ● Prominent structure that is recognizable for the Olympic Games ● A large sum of money of spent on the structure and is now rarely used ● Housed a memorable show that can be utilized for the experience (12)

The Bird’s Nest Stadium is also known as the National Stadium. It was nicknamed the Bird’s Nest because of its arches that engulf the stadium and give it an appearance of being a birds nest. The stadium was designed by Herzog & De Meuron Architekten, Arup Sport and the China Architecture Design and Research Group (13). It cost about $400 million and has a capacity of 91,000 for the events that will be help in the arena. While the design was focused on being a landmark for China and including nods to the Chinese culture such as inspiration from Chinese pottery for the shape and design, the stadium had to satisfy the requirements set forth by the International Olympic Committee as well as the International Amateur Athletics Federation that have requirements for sports and Olympic stadiums (14). Some of the requirements include the width of the track and the size and locations for the long and high hump pits. During the Olympic Games, the stadium was home to the famous opening and closing ceremonies. The opening ceremonies is something that kick starts the Games and involves an

32 opening show and then processional of all the athletes competing in the games from around the world. Besides being architecturally extraordinary, the Bird’s Nest was built to provide a massive stage for these ceremonies with the Olympic torch looming overhead and stadium seating surrounding the arena floor. Having this rich history of the opening ceremonies is something that influenced the decision to use this space for the competition. The opening ceremonies have a theatrical aspect to them that can be easily translated to a reappearing show or some type of interactive experience where guests can be part of the ceremony.

4.2.2 Dragon River

FIgure 4.11 The Dragon River Lining the Bird’s Nest Stadium, 2016

The Dragon River has the following key features that are beneficial for this project: ● Full of trash and needs revitalization that will make the area more environmentally friendly ● Adjacent to the Bird’s Nest Stadium and flows into Forest Park

34 ● Poses a good path for a water-based ride that transports guests along the river The Dragon River was built for the Olympic Games to help with the promotion of a more environmentally friendly Games with the hopes that the river could continue to improve the environment in Beijing after the Olympics. Beijing is a large city that has a high level of pollution in the air that worsens with lack of wind or rain. The pollution comes from the neighboring cities with large plants that emit a lot pollution into the air. The river runs 2.7km in length and ranges from 20-125m in width. The depth varies from 0.6-1.2m. Through cleaning the river channel of algal biomass, planting submerged plants, and operating, monitoring, and managing the water system, the river had the potential to continue to be a beacon for taking care of the environment in Beijing. After the Olympics, the river fell into disarray and became very polluted and clogged with garbage that can lend the project the potential to create an outlet for making Beijing for environmentally conscience. There is a competition restriction that does not allow rearranging the buildings or huge features. The challenge prompt encourages minimal changes to the area so that it keeps its original appearance. Having the Dragon River so close to the Bird’s Nest stadium was beneficial as the team could utilize it as a mode for transportation or potentially an attraction. Water based attraction pose their own set of challenges and incentives in all theme park settings. Water based rides could be boat-like or submarine-like, but also need to take into consideration wear and corrosion of the body of the vessel or any mechanisms used to motor or move the vessel. Having people submerged or afloat on water poses another layer of water quality and the need for filtering many types of bacteria in the event that the water will have the chance to be in contact with guests. In a place with seasons, primarily winter season, the water temperature needs to be monitored as well so that it does not freeze and cause damage or disruption of the operation of the attraction. The average temperature in Beijing, China during December and January is about 26F, which will freeze the Dragon River (15). If the water freezes, the ride will not be able to operate and parts would be susceptible to becoming weak and breaking under the ice. Some of the incentives for using the river as a water-based attraction include the pre-existing path (the river) that could house an attraction without major modification to the course of the river. More reasons why the water attraction was chosen are in section 3.5.3.

35 4.2.3 Olympic Forest Park

The Olympic Forest was initially created as a space that athletes would use to get away from the games and find a peace of mind and some fresh air. The forest covers about 2.6 square miles. The Olympic Forest has the following key features that are beneficial for this project: ● Open areas that can be used for many types of activities to promote a healthy lifestyle and making environmentally friendly choices ● Connects to the Dragon River While the park is accessible to the public, not many people take advantage of the area and there are few permanent uses for the park. Being able to tie in the concept of the experience with this park will enable the park to have a purpose and known place for activities. One point of the project submission is to help the environment that the experience is located in and help the community in long-lasting ways. Being able to maintain a public outdoor space by placing activities in the space will initiate an incentive to encourage the city to maintain this area. The project will take over the entire park but rather a portion of it that is right off the river, enabling the guests to easily travel from stadium to river to forest park.

4.3 Motto for the Project- Relive, Unite, Inspire

Looking at the project submission from the past, most of them have a motto or tagline with the project submission to help explain the project or experience and provide more

36 information as to what the project is about. One example of this is from a past project done for the competition called Vartem, the title of the project does not prove to be effective in explaining what the project is about, so the tagline “Sustainable Eatery & Entertainment Disc.” is added to add more context (Figure 3.13). Due to the fact that we chose to use three areas that are separate but connected to each other, we wanted to put one word that describes the purpose of each area. Which would in turn be our tagline for the project. The first word would have to coincide with the Bird’s Nest Stadium. The Bird’s Nest Stadium is iconic for the Olympics and was home to the opening ceremonies for the Olympic Games. Thinking about the prompt for the competition and how the stadium is the image of the Games, we thought the word for this section would need to be about seeing the Games like it was before and experiencing it again. We chose “relive” because it is the main purpose of the competition submission and the stadium section. For the second and third sections of the project, we wanted to tie in themes for the Olympics like including people of all backgrounds and demographics and encouraging people to become athletes or Olympians. Considering the project is revitalizing the Beijing Olympic area and the Olympics have the main purpose of bringing peace and unity within countries through the medium of sports, having a section that recognizes and glorifies each country was something we wanted to make sure to highlight in our project. “Unity” is one word used in the purpose of the Olympics so we chose “unite” as the word for the river section because the river section connects the stadium to the forest. This section can also be used to unite countries by including some sort of activity or tribute to countries. The details of the section and attractions included in it are described below. The last section is the forest park and this section was chosen to be used for the the part of the project that allows the community to benefit from the project. It is very common for people

37 that live in major cities with big landmarks to never go to those landmarks or only go when they are taking someone from out of town that wants to visit the landmark or tourist attraction. We wanted to design some part of this experience to be something that locals would want to go to and could utilize all the time. Beijing is a large city that is home to many people that should benefit from this project as to not see the project as only a draw for tourists and Olympic enthusiasts and an open are with space the is flexible for events is beneficial to locals. One major issue that is prominent in all projects within Beijing is the pollution in the city. The pollution is so bad that sometimes the air is hard to see through if there has not been rain or much wind for a few days. We want part of this project to help the city and improve some of the air quality by either incorporating air filters or educating guests on ways to reduce air pollution. Because the forest park has trees and green space, we want to use this component to inspire people to be conscience of the environment and also live a healthy life. This is how the word “inspire” became the word for this component for the experience. `One thing the competition is judging the projects on is being able to have people bring home an aspect of the experience. By inspiring guests to live a healthy lifestyle and help the environment, the experience is providing a meaningful “take home” that isn’t material, but is very impactful.

4.4 Story for the project- Fuwa

The Walt Disney Company is known for its stories. In everything they do, a story is told and prominent throughout the whole experience, ride, or event. For example, the movie Frozen came out in 2013 and told a story of two sisters- one of which is trying to save the kingdom from the unintended doom her sister put on it with her ice making powers. After the movie came out, children and older viewers went wild over it and Disney responded with meet and greets with the characters, Frozen merchandise, and eventually a ride that tells their story. All the merchandise and experiences at the parks tie in with the movie and guests come from around the world to experience the story again and again. Many books have been written explaining how Disney is able to be such a big hit all over the world and one theme that stays true in all books is that Disney is able to get their guests/readers/clients invested in a story. In One Little Spark, Marty Sklar writes about the 10 commandments for getting guests to a theme park. Among all the commandments, story is a huge aspect that Sklar talks a lot about. You need a

38 strong story because once someone is invested in the story, they want to buy products involving the story, go experience a theme park based around the story, or watch a movie about it. While researching components of the Olympics, we came across Olympic mascots and the concept behind these characters. Every Olympic Games has a mascot that is created and designed by each host country. We decided to use the mascots as the characters to tell the story for this project. Mascots from previous games can be very popular and well known, or they can be easily forgotten after the Games. In the case of the Beijing Olympic mascots, there were five mascots that represented characteristics and values that are popular in the Chinese culture. With research about each character, we decided to have these five “Fuwa” (names for the group of the mascots) represent our project and be the characters behind the story. When we researched most notable/best mascots for the Olympics, the Fuwa are almost always within the top five for best mascots. Other mascots that were considered for other locations were the London mascots, Wenlock and Madeville. These mascots were said to be formed from the steel of the stadium and reflect the images of the people they meet. Other mascots include the hare, polar bear, and leopard of the Sochi 2014 Olympics and Syd, Olly, and Millie of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. All in all, the Fuwa were chosen for their solid background and appealing appearance.

There was one major downside we had to discuss and decide if we wanted to go further with using these mascots. With further research into the Fuwa, we found that some articles have claimed that the Fuwa cursed China (16). After the mascots were revealed on November 11 2005, many disasters happened to China leading up to the actual Olympic Games. Each Fuwa embodies a cultural inspiration and earth element. Table 4.1 lists the events that were blamed for each character of the Fuwa (16). Table 4.1 Description and details of each Fuwa

39 Fuwa Elements embodied by the Disaster said to have been caused Fuwa by character

Nini Swallow, Kite Weifang (“Kite City”) T195 train accident

Yingying Tibetan antelope Tibetan unrest

Huanhuan Olympic flame Olympic torch relay protests

Jingjing Panda Sichuan earthquake, near a panda reserve

Beibei Chinese sturgeon, water South China floods

The main concern with this finding is that we do not want to bring back something that has been said to be cursed. The host city needs to want the experience and if there is a stigma of the Fuwa being cursed, we wouldn’t want the locals to fear for another year of cursed events because of the Fuwa. We had to decide between finding different characters to base the story of the area off of, or sticking with these characters and either address the curse or dismiss it. Considering the characters are the face of the 2008 Olympics, we decided that sticking with using them was our best option and the probability that judges would ask why we didn’t use these characters would be higher than the probability a judge will know about the curse of the Fuwa. We also found that the curse was talked about in a couple articles, but there wasn’t an abundance of them and most of them were from English or American news sources. Most of the articles from a Chinese source had been deleted due to the government not wanting to blame the disasters on the characters that a famous Chinese artist, Han Meilin, had created. While we could have contributed some of the story to the Fuwa trying to redeem themselves and acknowledge the curse, we thought it would add too much story and with the three elements of the project (relive, unite, inspire) and the five character, we didn’t want to add another layer. It was decided that we would prepare an answer to any questions that might be asked about the curse if it was to be brought up during the in-person final round, if we proceed to that level of the competition.

40 Now that we had decided that we would use the Fuwa as the characters of the story, we needed to figure out how to incorporate each character into the project in a cohesive way. Knowing that each character had its own personality and features, we wanted to have each Fuwa be responsible for a component of the experience. Having already decided the location for the project as well as key words that were for each section, it was relatively simple to place each Fuwa in a section. Once each Fuwa was placed in the section, we would base the activities that happen in each section based off the character. This enabled the story to be fluid across the whole project. Huanhuan, being the character that embodies the Olympic flame, would be assigned the “relive” component that is located in the Bird’s Nest Stadium. Beibei, the Fuwa that represents water, would be located along the “Unite” section due to the section being the a river. The Fuwa that represents the forest, Jingjing, was placed in the “Inspire” section that is also the forest. The two remaining Fuwa were Yingying and Nini, the Fuwa that embody the sky and earth respectively. We decided to place Yingying in the forest/”inspire” section because we wanted to inspire guests to be healthy and Yingying also represents health. This left Nini to either go in the “Relive” section or the “Unite” section. We decided that it would be easier to incorporate the sky/swallow/kite elements of Nini in the river section. After the Fuwa have been assigned their section, it gave us an idea of what we needed to include in each section of the project by using their attributes to influence the design of attractions.

4.5 Attractions for each area

The general concept of the competition is to create an experience that revitalizes an abandoned area while also having attractions and experiences that guests can enjoy.

4.5.1 Driving factors for the design of the attractions

When deciding what would go into each section, there were four main factors that drove the decision for designing the attractions. Those factors were: ● The physical features of the section (stadium, river, forest) ● The Fuwa that was placed in each section to continue the story component of the project ● The motto chosen for each section (Relive, Unite, Inspire) ● The requirements and space provided for the final submission to Disney

The prompt for the project was to revitalize the area, not to totally redesign it, so we wanted to make sure the project stayed true to what already exists. Since we chose buildings and features that were built for the Beijing Olympic Games, we wanted to continue to use those features in the project submission. As for the Fuwa component, each section was assigned one or two Fuwa that would influence the story in the section so we needed to base the attractions for each section off the Fuwa. We wanted the Fuwa to be as if they were adding a part of them to the project so some type of feature of the Fuwa needed to be present in that attraction. The motto for the sections needs to be recognized as well; this is almost like a story within the story of the Fuwa. We wanted guests to leave with something and be able to benefit from each section, so having the motto would be the idea behind what each guest would get out of the section. Finally, one of the most concrete factors driving our decisions was the limitations of the project submission. The final submission for Disney is limited to eight slides on a slideshow.

42 Two of the slides have to 1. explain the general idea, similar to an abstract for the project (limited to the space provided using 14pt font), and 2. Explain the “story behind the design” and “user/guest experience” (each limited to 200 words). The remaining six slides are free to do whatever we wanted. There was not a limit on amount of text or pictures included on those slides but there was a limit to one video no longer than one minute. The overall size of the submission could not exceed 10MB. After deciding that we would have three sections to the project (relive, unite, inspire), we looked into what else the projects would be judged on. There needed to be a clear description of what the current condition of the location is as well as a clear story throughout the whole project. With this in mind, we decided to have the layout of each slide be the following: 1. Disney template: Abstract of project 2. Disney template: Story behind the design, user/guest experience 3. Establish the story of the Fuwa 4. Current condition of the location 5. Video showing our vision for the project 6. Relive section description 7. Unite section description 8. Inspire section description These slides would dictate how much room we had for each section and the detail that would be appropriate for the attractions within the sections. Now that we had the driving factors for each attraction within the sections as well as the limitations given by the requirements for the submission to Disney, we could start designing the attractions for each section.

4.5.2 Relive

The Fuwa chosen for this section is Huanhuan which is the Fuwa that represents the Olympic flame and Olympic spirit. Knowing that this section embodies the Olympics and is the component that guests can relive the Olympics, we wanted to incorporate elements from the Games. Another factor of choosing what went into this section was the fact that it was revitalizing the Bird’s Nest Stadium which was home to the Opening and Closing ceremonies.

43 The Opening ceremonies from 2008 was an event that most people correlate with any of the Olympics from past years; the image of the blocks dancing across the stadium floor and torch bearer flying across the sky will be forever remembered by people. Other aspects of the ceremonies include multiple costumes that represent different areas of China as well as the development of famous Chinese inventions. The follow is a list of ideas we initially came up with: ● Use the area around the edge of the stadium as vendor space for people to sell merchandise from the Olympics and food from around the world ● Have guests walk into the stands of the arena and be able to watch a full show that recreates the Opening ceremonies so guests can relive them ● Provide a virtual reality (VR) experience for people to explore actual events from the games as they sit in the stands ● Have a full scale show that is recreating what the opening ceremonies were with actors, puppeteers, and musicians ● Make a bunch of stations that have elements from the opening ceremonies (moving blocks, painting along the floor like the painting dancers, puppets you can design/control) ● Immersive hallway that shows you moments from the Games so you’re put into that mindset ● Torch in the middle of the stadium that would be the “castle” effect for guests Looking at the ideas we came up with, we wanted to make sure that the experiences within the “relive” section are true to reliving the Olympics, specifically the 2008 Beijing ones that were located in the project site. We also wanted to make sure that the experiences are unique to the Olympics and something that couldn’t be done at another revitalized ghost town. Since this is a competition, we always want to be unique and provide an angle on the project that other teams wouldn't be able to provide. Another trap that we didn’t want to fall into was making the project too much like a theme park which means going overboard with food and merchandise options. One common complaint of theme park goers is the “gift shop at the exit of a ride” syndrom. While practical and efficient for selling merchandise, having a gift shop at the exit of every attraction gets old very fast with guests. Even though our project does not have many attractions with exits, the same effect could happen if there are too many shops everywhere. It gave us an uneasy feeling to picture guests walking into the amazing Bird’s Nest Stadium and seeing the floor where Olympians

44 competed and the ceremonies were performed filled with gift shops and places for people to buy food. We had two ideas for using the stadium: one was to allow guests to sit in the stands and watch a full show that recreates the opening ceremonies with live actors. The other idea was to use the stadium floor for stations that would let guests participate in interactive activities that are inspired by the opening ceremonies. One option only uses the space in the stadium for one activity while the other idea uses the space for many activities. While we want to use the space efficiently and provide many experiences for all guests, we don’t want to over-program a space and clutter the area with too many options for people. The last cut we made from the list at the beginning of the design stages was using too much virtual reality (VR); we didn’t want to rule this out completely because it is a tool we can and should use but we didn’t want to overuse it. Knowing that virtual reality can put anything in a space that is created on a computer, we thought that many teams would use this for their project and therefore didn’t want to overuse VR. VR is also something that not all guests can handle and can cause nausea and headaches which will ruin a guests’ experience (17). We decided that we want to provide the opportunity for guests to use VR, but not base our whole project around it. After eliminating or limiting the scope of some of the ideas from the list, we chose three of the ideas to include in the experience for this section. The three choices are: ● Moving walkway that would combine augmented reality and screens/projections and move people along a hallway that empties out into the stadium floor. ● Interactive blocks in the middle of the stadium floor that are based off of the blocks from the opening ceremonies. The blocks will be controlled by guests and can move up and down by their control. ● Virtual reality experience for guests to sit and enjoy the opening ceremonies as if they were watching it live. Each of these experience that we chose for this section are experiences that can be seen or operated by almost anyone. One huge factor for this project is being able to allow guests from all walks of life, physical abilities, languages, cultures, etc. to enjoy the experiences. Guests will come from all over the world and by using visual components instead of written components that need to be translated, more people can enjoy them. We also need to make things accessible for all physical abilities by using wheelchair ramps and making everything ADA approved. By using the shows and video footage from the Olympics that do not need to be

45 translated such as the opening ceremonies and moments from the competitions, anyone can watch what is happening with little translation and get the same feeling no matter what language they speak or what country they are from. We decided to create the blocks so that they are very similar to the ones that were used in the show, but instead of people inside them to operate it, we will have people operating the

controls that make them go up and down. The original purpose of the blocks in the show was to highlight the innovation of the printing press and so by adding mechanical controls to the blocks, it shows further innovation with technology and society. The blocks will also light up brighter as they get taller, which will stand out in the nighttime and create a very pretty effect in the stadium. We chose them to light up an amber/gold color so as to compliment the reds used around the stadium and give it a gold appearance. The virtual reality experience would be for guests that want to sit down for a while or you could skip around the video and play only certain parts of the ceremony. The VR experience

46 would not cover all 4 hours of the opening ceremonies but instead have options to see certain components (18). Those components include the following: 1. Lighting of the torch 2. Scroll Painting 3. Written Character 4. Silk Road 5. Starlight 6. Nature 7. Dream 8. Theme Song 9. Parade of nations Other parts of the “relive” section will allow guests to get the full experience of reliving the Olympics, so if a guest was unable to watch the VR it would not ruin their experience. The VR experience would be located in stands that are built on the edge of the stadium so guests can look over the stadium floor and see the events as if they were sitting in the stands in 2008.

4.5.3 Unite

The “unite” section is carrying the story of Nini and Beibei, the water and sky Fuwa. Knowing that this section is a river that flows from the Bird’s Nest Stadium to the Olympic forest, we wanted to use this part as a place to include a ride the guests can enjoy. This competition is put on by a theme park company and while we don’t want to build a whole new Disneyland, we wanted to add some type of ride to the project. This ride will serve a dual purpose of an attraction as well as transportation for guests to get from the stadium to the forest and from the forest back to the stadium. There are two factors that drive the concepts for this section: the Fuwa characters for this part and the “unite” name. We wanted this section to unite the countries together and bring together people from all over the world in remembrance and celebration of the athletes in the Games. Including all the countries that participated in the Games is really important because leaving out one country could lead to very unhappy people and this goes the same for even

47 tributes to each country. For example, even if a country only had two athletes and another country had 100 athletes, the tribute to both countries needs to be similar.

The follow is a list of ideas we initially came up with: ● Have a ride that carries guests along the river and projects images and stories on the windows. This concept is either a gondola, submarine, or boat ride. ● Have a pathway that is along the river that has spots along the river for a tribute or statue for each country. ● Adding an interactive component for guests to purchase toy Olympic torches that will glow brighter when close to a tribute for a country or do some effect when it touches the tribute. ● Design a water show that is in the river. ● Fly kites overhead that give shade to the area and also can be combined to filter the pollution out of the air.

We wanted to use this section for a ride that guests can go on and our initial thoughts were a gondola ride over the river. This gondola would be able to show guests an overhead view of the river. One major downside of the gondola was the limitation for the amount of guests that could be inside a gondola as well as the fact that many theme parks have recently started building gondolas and we want to be original with our ideas for the competition. Disney has just announced that they are building gondolas to carry guests between parks at Walt Disney World (19) and our team did not want to copy any of the new announcements that Disney has just made because we wanted to be original and unique. In thinking about being unique, we switched the idea for the attraction to be a submarine instead of a gondola because there aren’t many rides like that. We started to think of how we can add a story to this ride and tie it into the Fuwa that are the overarching story for this project. The Fuwa for this section was the water Fuwa, Beibei. Beibei is created to look like a carp that is based off a famous Chinese proverb. The proverb talks about a journey that a carp takes to jump over the dragon’s gate. In this proverb, there is a waterfall coming from a

48 legendary mountain in which a carp is trying to reach the dragon’s gate at the top of the mountain. Many carp try to get to the gate but most are not strong or brave enough to make the final jump over the waterfall. The few that are able to make the jump are transformed into a dragon. This proverb embodies courage, perseverance, and accomplishment. Beibei was based off this story and after reading about it, we saw very similar themes to being an Olympian and working hard to be the best that one can be. At first, we thought that this would be perfect for the submarine ride because we could have the vessel be a carp and slowly transform into a dragon as it goes from the stadium to the forest. At the same time, we wanted to have walls underwater that would show lights and images of carps and dragons, but this became a roadblock in the process of designing this submarine because it was unlikely for the guests to be able to see through the water. Another downside of submarines was that many people have a fear of drowning and would not like to go in a submarine. We want this ride to be able to be enjoyed by many people. The next iteration of this ride was to put part of it under the water and the other part above the water. It would be similar to a boat with a whole floor under the water. The good things about this design was that guests could sit up top and be above the water while people that want to see the show and be underwater could go below. The negative about this idea was the same as before where we did not know if guests could see through the water to the walls illuminating the story. Adding another component of filtering the water and with the pollution already in the air and water, we decided to make the ride completely above the water. Now that we were settled on a boat ride, we needed to find a way to incorporate the story of the carp jumping over the dragon’s gate. There were two options that we thought were the most practical; using augmented reality with the windows or sending the boat under a long bridge that we could put designs on the walls of the bridge. Using augmented reality in this way is something that another group did a few years ago, as shown in FIgure 4.18, for the competition when the submissions were based off transportation within a major city. The team had designed a double rail train that had two levels and allowed guests to see out into the city through windows that projected stories and character for the guests. We thought our idea was too similar to this project submission so we decided to go with the tunnel idea. Using this tunnel would allow us to provide an immersive experience for all guests when they are riding the boat.

For the project submission, we didn’t want to go into full detail of what this whole ride would be like because we were limited on the space we had to explain our project. While we know that the ride would be a boat ride that carried guests from the stadium to the forest and then back to the stadium, we didn’t know exactly what the progress of images would be during the ride. The first submission for this project only had a slideshow to explain the whole project so we decided to only have the general idea and story of the ride. If we were chosen to go to the final round where we would present the project to a panel of judges, we would elaborate on this ride and really go into detail about what guests would see and feel. For the time being, we only included a short description on the slide and a picture that showed general ideas of what guests would see. We also decided to call the ride “Dragon’s Gate” after the Chinese proverb the ride was inspired by. Now that we knew what the ride would be for this section, we needed to really drive home the “unite” concept but also include the second Fuwa that was placed in this section. The Fuwa for this section, Nini, is designed after a kite so that lead us to the kites idea listed above.

50 We wanted the kites to be functional in all weather and also serve as another purpose, so we designed them to shade the walkway by the river as well as filter the air. The pollution in Beijing is so bad that sometimes it is hard to see outside because of the air quality. Knowing that the main solution to reducing air pollution is limiting the use of cars in the city and factories right outside the city, there weren’t many obvious options that we could implement for the kites to reduce the air pollution. One option we thought about was to use the kites as fans to mix up the air and prevent particles from settling, but upon further research we decided that it wouldn’t make a difference and be way too much energy. A second option we looked at was treating it similar to a Swiffer and having it attract particles that float in the air through the kite and have the particles stick to the filters within the kite. While this may not be the best immediate solution, it could be beneficial over time and help reduce pollution within the immediate area. Since the two Fuwa have been covered in this area with the boat ride as well as the kites, the only thing left to design in this section was something pertaining to the “Unite” motto. As mentioned above, we knew we needed to include all countries that had athletes in the Games. By using the walkway to honor each country, it would allow each guest to see all the tributes to the countries without having one look like it is highlighted more than another. We decided to put statues along the path that would list the country as well as the athletes that were from there and any medals won by the athlete. As with the story and description of the boat ride, we didn’t have a lot of space in the project submission to explain everything about the path, so we didn’t design what each of the statues would look like. This decision was made because we would only have one slide to explain the “Unite” section which included the boat ride as well as the walkway and we felt that the boat ride would be more interesting to the judges so this slide was primarily highlighting the boat ride. Once again, if the project moved on to the final stages, we would put together an example of the statues and show the judges exactly what we envisioned for this walkway. We also named this walkway “The Uniting Road” to drive home the fact that everyone will feel united by paying tribute to their own country as well as other countries. Two ideas that we had originally come up with that we ended up not going with was designing a water show that would be in the river and having interactive components that guests could buy and use along the pathway. The water show idea was quickly taken away after we decided to scratch the gondola ride; the gondola would have allowed the river to have fountains and water effects that could give a water show during the day and night. After switching to the

51 submarine and finally the boat ride, we got rid of the water show idea because the boat ride would get in the way of the show.

The second idea of creating an interactive activity for guests was something we had planned on including for a good portion of the design stages. The concept behind this idea was that we could have Olympic torches that guests could buy that would glow brighter as guests got closer to an interactive area. When we put the tributes to the countries along the walkway, we thought we could have each tribute have an interactive part to it and the torches would trigger this effect. The idea was taken from the interactive wands that Universal Studios has in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. In this land, the wands can be bought by guests and used at certain points in the land to cause something to happen. The effect could be to turn on a light, make water leak from somewhere, or make something move. The Olympic torches would be very similar to this and also a way for the park to make money from selling the torches.

52 The two driving factors for this concept to be taken out of the final design were that there was no room in the final submission to fully explain this experience as well as the boat ride and Uniting Road, and that the torches were more fitting for the “Relive” section and took away from the “uniting” theme of this section. The torches also didn’t fit in with the Fuwa that had been chosen for this section.

4.5.4 Inspire

The “Inspire” section of the project is the final component of the experience and is designed to host the Fuwa Jingjing and Yingying. Jingjing represents the forest and Yingying supports being healthy. The section is located in the Olympic Forest where there is open space and trees for us to design the attractions around. We didn’t want to over design this section of the experience because the sections before are complicated and hard to explain in the project submission. The final lineup of ideas that we decided on is: ● Outdoor gym equipment and open spaces for locals and guests to be able to workout alone or with other people ● Artificial trees that hold paper made from recycled material that guests form into Chinese flowers

53 One of the components of the judging criteria was being able to give people something to take home and since we didn’t follow through with the torch idea from the “Unite” section, we wanted to use this section to provide something for guests to take home. We wanted to focus this area of being healthy and active which can translate into being inspired to be an Olympic athlete. This carries the themes of Olympics, the motto of the section, and the concept of Yingying supporting a healthy lifestyle. Outdoor gyms are very popular in Beijing and are spaces that are open to the public and have basic equipment that people can perform different workouts on. We wanted to include an outdoor gym in this section because it promotes a healthy lifestyle and also doesn’t require a lot of maintenance and is beneficial to locals. In terms of including an attraction that promotes environmentalism and ties with Jingjing the Fuwa, our concept artist was the person that came up with the idea for what we ended up designing. Our concept artist was looking at reference drawings to base the design of the outdoor gym for this section and ran across some information about paper flowers and items made out of recycled paper. At first we thought to use the paper flower design in the gym components, but then we decided to make a separate attraction with the flowers. Using the paper made from trash in Beijing, guests could learn how to fold paper flowers and create beautiful pieces of art that can either be taken home or placed in the forest. This would be an interactive art piece that anyone around the world or of any age could create and place among the forest. Trees made of recycled paper would be the base of the art piece and have places that the flowers could be placed to show off what guests have created. The trees would also provide a whimsical component of the forest so that it doesn’t change with seasons or pollution levels.

55 Chapter 5 Boat Details and Design

5.1 Boat Details

The boat for the attraction in the “Unite” section of the revitalization of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Stadium area is the area of focus for the mechanical engineering systems section of this MQP. The boat will not be a free-floating boat, rather it will be similar to the boat system in the Disney attraction, Jungle Cruise located in Magic Kingdom. In this attraction, the boat appears to be sailing down a river while visiting different countries and observing animatronic wildlife and listening to a “punny” skipper that is guiding the tour. While the attraction appears to be a free-floating boat in the river, it is actually on a track and is only controlled in the forward and reverse direction by the skipper. The boat does not have a stop control and must be managed by handling the acceleration in the forward and backward directions to keep it steady in one place. There are many risks associated with this control system in the Jungle Cruise boat. The first risk is the loading and unload guests with different disabilities. While getting into the boat, there is no way to ensure that the boat will remain steady and allow guests to access the boat. Most attractions in Walt Disney World boast the ability to load any guests with ranging abilities and while there is a specific boat in the Jungle Cruise attraction that can load and unload a wheelchair, this boat does not have a stop feature that can ensure stability while the wheelchair is loading. In this specific boat, there is a ramp that comes onto the dock and allows the boat to be relatively steady while the wheelchair loads and unloads, but the skipper is still responsible for managing forward and backward motion to keep the boat in one place. Another risk with this lack of stop feature on the boats is how to handle a situation involving emergency stops and unpredicted loading and unloading of the boats. Many situations can cause an attraction to trigger an emergency stop which can lead to an evacuation of the said attraction. When this happens at any attraction, there is a specific way that cast members are trained to evacuate the attraction and can vary from attraction to attraction. In the case of the Jungle Cruise, when a boat cannot continue down the track a boat must come up and tow the broken boat down the track with guests inside of it. This could take a long time due to taking boats off the track and having to slowly tow the boat back to the dock. If there were an

56 emergency situation that deemed the boat itself unsafe to be on and required guests to quickly evacuate the boat, there is not an easy way to guests to transfer between boats or to load onto the ground without having to go into the water. Having any wheelchair bound guests poses a whole new set of risks as well with transferring boats or evacuating boats.

This project is going to investigate the ability to allow a dock to be able to: ● Stabilize the boat when guests are loading and unloading but enable the feel of the boat to be authentic to free-floating boats ● Allow any guests of any ability to easily get on and off the boat ● Deploy at any point along the ride path and onto any surface without need of a dock or load.unload point ● Be contained entirely within the boat without ruining the theming or design of the vessel

There are two separate mechanical systems that work together in this attraction and that I will look into closely. These two systems are: 1. The track system the boat follows along that is at the bottom of the river 2. The boat itself that is attached to the track and houses the ramp

In order for the boat to stabilize when allowing people on and off, there needs to be some type of brake system that will work underwater and move along with the boat. The brake system must also not interrupted the other boats that could be moving along the track at the same time and be able to be initiated at any time the boat is in motion. To allow the boat to remain floating in the water and cause natural “floating” movement without seeming like a train that is in the water, the design was chosen to guide the boat along a track but not restrict the motions caused by the water movement. Taking this into consideration, the yaw, pitch, and roll of the boat need to remain relatively unaffected.

Considering the track and boat system are going to be working together to confirm the boat motion to remain along the track, any other restrictions to the yaw, pitch, and roll of the boat will be caused by these same systems. The first approach I took for the track system and boat system was based off a slot track that would hold airbags connected to the bottom of the boat that would deploy in order to hold the boat in a static position while also having a second track on top to guide wheels that came down from the boat to allow for the boat to remain on the track. The airbags were not used to keep the boat within the track because there would risk of ripping the airbags if they were used as a guide along the track. The wheels would be similar to train wheel and train tracks because they will stay submerged and allow for low maintenance. Since the boat will be propelled by an engine at the tail of the boat, the wheels do not need any power component to spin them. In the first rendition, I designed the wheel to be locked into the shaft that came down from the boat and there were wheels that lined the track all the way under the boat. After further inspection of this design, I determined that there doesn’t need to be wheels lining the boat because the water will be supporting the boat, not the wheels and that the restriction of the wheel on the shaft does not allow for any yaw, pitch, or roll motion.

The next design took these changes into consideration and I only put three sets of wheels under the boat and made the center hole in the wheel large enough to allow yaw, roll and pitch but within a specific motion envelope. Since the wheels are on the track and do not allow for any other motion besides forward and backward movement, the connection from the boat to the wheel needs to allow this movement. Expanding the size of the hole will allow roll and pitch and lengthening the shaft will allow for yaw. When the airbags expand and stop the boat, the boat will still have the yaw, pitch and roll motion but it will not move along the track at all which will be allowable for easy unload and load of the boat.

5.2 Brake System

The next step for the design of the boat system was to find a way to get the boat to stop and be stable when people are loading and unloading. There were a few directions to go with this system such as having the track house the braking system or having the boat itself house

59 the braking system. An example of using the track as a brake system is having parts of the track squeeze the tires on the boat, causing it to stop and hold its position. The downside of having the track be the braking system include: ● Large scale maintenance would require draining the river ● The place where the boat would stop was dependant on the location of the brakes on the track ● In order to have the boat stop anywhere along the track, the brakes would need to be across all the parts of the track and would require a lot of brake system materials Due to these downsides, I decided to go with a brake system that would be connected to the boats. These downsides can be solved by using a brake system connected to the boat instead: ● The boat could be taken out of the river to perform large scale or routine maintenance instead of draining the river ● The boat would stop itself so it wouldn’t be dependant on where along the track it is ● Only need one brake system per boat instead of along the whole track

The first thought for a brake system connected to the boat was to use a balloon that would expand inside the track to stop and stabilize the boat. This idea seemed like a good path to go down so I took this and looked into air bladders used in dams and water systems. The air bladders in dams are larger than I would be using because those are used to stop the flow of water by blocking the flow of water which could span across a river or stream. The purpose of this air bladder would be to expand within the track and stop the boat from moving so the size of the bladder would be contained within the track. The air would come from the boat and could be easily replaced inside the boat so routine maintenance could be done without going into the water or taking the boat out of the water. Another part of using the air bladders would be making sure they didn’t drag in the track and rupture. The Figure 4.3 shows the initial design in section view. In the figure below, the air bladder from the boat would not rub against the track as the boat moves, but would expand and stop the boat from moving when filled with air. The tracks for the wheels from the boat guide the boat along the track.

ATL is a company that creates air bladders that can be applied to many situations and can be formed in any shape or size. ATL’s products “are constructed of high-tenacity woven fabrics which are coated and impregnated with specialty synthetic rubber compounds. tHese tanks are manufactured with heat and pressure seams, heavy duty flange connections and reinforcements at all corners and openings. the y exhibit excellent resistance to… abrasion, corrosion… and long term storage.” These bladders would be beneficial for the purpose of expanding to stop the boat because it can be sized to our needs and can withstand being deployed to stop the boat in the water. A model was created to demonstrate the track and braking system in the water, but unfortunately when the track was placed in the water, it disintegrated and therefore I was unable to test the track.

61 5.3 Boat Design Specifications

The Boat specifications were based off a boat that was found on a website that was selling boats. There is not an easy way to dimension boats or know how heavy one can be, so I went onto a website and found a boat that is similar to what we would use and used those specifications. Figure 5.4 shows the Thalassa Star- 170 PAX, the boat that was for sale and the following measurements were taken from.

Boat Specifications: Length of Boat: 20 meters Width of boat: 6 meters Capacity of boat: 170 people Draft: 1.5 meters Loaded weight: 47 tons Engine Power: 2 x 750 CV

In order for a boat to be able to float, the Force of Buoyancy (F(b) needs to be greater than the Force of Gravity F(g) on that object. F (b) > F (g)

F (b) = V * D * g V: Volume of boat under water (draft) D: Density of water (1000 Kg/m^3) F(g): Gravity (9.8m/s)

For the purpose of this calculation, I am assuming the draft of the boat is under the whole boat and is constantly the same height. In the normal boat, the draft would be varying heights. The volume of the draft is found by multiplying the height of the draft by the width and length of the boat. V = H * L * W V = 1.5m * 20m * 6m V = 180m3

F (b) = V * D * g F (b) = 180m3 * 1000kg/m3 * 9.8N/kg F (b) = 1765800N

F (g on boat) = (47 tons(907.2kg/ton)) * 9.81N/kg) F (g on boat) = 418275N

F (b) > F (g on boat) therefore the boat will float

To find the Thrust to weight ratio of the boat, the following calculations must be completed: Ratio = F /W = T hrust/W eight = (m * a)/(m * g) = (a/g)

a: acceleration

63 g: gravitational acceleration m: boat mass It is stated in the boat description that the boat can reach a top speed of 24.5 knots which is equal to 12.6m/s. It is assumed the boat takes 60 seconds to reach top speed. a: 0.21m/s^2 g: 9.8m/s^2

Ratio = a/g = 0.21/9.8 = 0.0214

Therefore the Thrust to Weight ratio for this boat is 0.0214. Taking into consideration the weight of the boat, the thrust needed would be the following: T hrust/W eight = 0.0214

T hrust = 0.0214 * W eight W eight = 42637.7kg

T hrust = 42637.7 * 0.0214 = 912.45kg T hrust force = 912.45kg * 9.8m/s2 = 8942 N

Drag is the force the is working against the thrust of the boat. The equation for drag is: 2 Drag = Cd * ρ * S(V /s) Cd: drag coefficient ρ : density of water S: front surface area V: relative velocity of fluid

The drag coefficient is a measured value that is extremely difficult to find. Figure 5.5 lists common coefficients depending on the shape of the object. For the purpose of this study, the streamlined body coefficient of 0.4 will be used. This is because it is the most accurate to a shape of the boat and is very similar to the other values of similar boat-shapes (cone, half sphere, sphere).

64 Since only part of the boat is in the water, the front surface area is the front of the draft, so width of the boat times draft.

Cd: 0.4

ρ : 1000kg/m3

S : W idth * Draft = 6m * 1.5m = 9m2 V: 12.6m/s

2 Drag = Cd * ρ * S * (V /2) 2 Drag = (0.4) * (1000) * (9) * ((12.6 )/2) = 285769N

Chapter 6 Discussion and Future Work

6.1 Project Submission Modifications

Overall, I am proud of the work that our group did and I think that everything came together very nicely in the end. I think that our idea was translated into the project and everything that we wanted to include was included and explained in the submission. While I am happy with how everything came together, there are some modifications that I would make to the submission. One of the components of the project that I think we fell short on was over complicating everything. In my opinions, the project had three different story lines involved and I believe that it caused our focus in the submission to be all over the place. The three storylines were:

1. The Olympics and bringing that back to life 2. The Fuwa and story of them 3. The motto- Relive, Unite, and Inspire

As explained in the Methodology section, these were also some of the biggest driving factors for how the experience was designed and why decisions were made. I think that while we were making these decisions, many of the discussions were had for us to justify why we chose to include or not include certain components of the project. These discussions were vital in us understanding why we designed the project the way we did, but in the end there was not enough space in the final presentation to explain this to the judges. For example, the relive/unite/inspire components were brought into the project because of the judging criteria and could each support a bullet or two in the judging process. Specifically. being able to bring something home with the guests was something that the competition was judged on. In the Inspire section, guests could take away the paper flowers which was a physical component, but they could have taken home inspiration to be healthy and treat the land right as well. If we were able to draw a map about where each judging criteria was covered, that would lead us to proceed further in the competition. Unfortunately, the only way for us to

66 communicate the project and reasons behind everything was through the 8 slides we submitted. We could have been able to explain it to many people in person if given the chance, but I think we over complicated everything to be able to fit it within 8 slides. If I were to be able to do this project over again, I would want to simplify everything and not have so many components of the project. I think the multiple story lines were too much and I would focus on one building within the Olympic area and only have the Fuwa be the story around it and take away the motto. We should have started out with developing the story of the Fuwa and how they fit into the revitalization of the project. We got caught up in the way they were already connected to the Olympics and thought they would easily fit in to the project, but we forgot that most people don’t know who the Fuwa are. The mascots of the Olympics are always overlooked and while using them was a good angle that I wouldn’t change, I would want to spend more time introducing them and developing their story. I like how we created parts of the project based off each Fuwa, but I don’t think that was translated well in the final submission. For example, the kites were a good addition to the project because they filtered the air and were based from the Fuwa, but we didn’t get to really explain this completely. We didn’t spend any time really explaining this component because that slide was primarily about the boat ride so the idea was lost and not clear to the reader. One thing that was evident in the project was the under-development of big ideas. As mentioned above, there were many moving parts of this project but those moving parts were not fully developed. Due to the over-complicating of everything, we weren’t able to focus on a component and take it all the way through the design phases to end with a fully understood and developed experience. For example, the boat ride is something that had changed concepts many times during the project life span. It went from being a gondola ride, to a submarine, to finally a boat ride. Even when finally deciding to be a boat ride, it went through changes from being half underwater to all over the water, from two different experiences depending on the level you were on to being one story no matter which direction you were going, and also using augmented reality inside the boat to using a bridge that the boat went under that had the show in the walls of the boat. In the end, our overall lack of full concept design translated into not being able to portray the whole idea to the judges. Besides the story and only sticking to the Fuwa, if done over, I would only use the stadium for the project. The Bird’s Nest Stadium is such a huge staple for the Beijing Olympics that I think it would hold the Olympics theme well by itself and we wouldn’t need to have the river or forest. Just the size of the stadium is a reason as to why we could only have the project

67 within that building; it’s so big that there would be many places we could add experiences and components to the project. Sticking to one location would allow for more room to explain the other concepts and makes the location very specialized to that Olympic location; there are rivers and forests everywhere and guests from around the world wouldn’t determine that river and forest as a “must see” compared to the Bird’s Nest. In terms of the slides that we submitted for the competition, there were some parts that I would have done differently but also envisioned them differently than they actually turned out. The two biggest changes I would make to the content of the slides are the video and current condition slide.

6.1.1 Slide Modifications: Video

The video had the purpose of supplying something to the project that our written and art pieces would not be able to convey. It was the first look that the reader would have to the experience and it was supposed to make someone want to come visit. Adding audio to the video also added another layer of information that we could give the reader that we felt lacked in the other slides. In my opinion, the video was confusing and gave an inaccurate representation of the purpose of the project. The video was created by filming parts of the Unreal world that was created by one of the team members. The team member created the whole experience in the 3D modeling software and essentially made it possible for someone to explore the world, very similar to a video game. While the Bird’s Nest Stadium and orientation with the river and forest came out well, nothing was really added to progress our project or show how we would change the area. The “Inspire” section had grey blocks that represented the play structure and the trees that were supposed to be made of paper and paper flowers were missing. The area created was essentially what the location looks like before we revitalized it, aside from the boxes within the Bird’s Nest. Having the video show this would cause confusion to the judges because it doesn’t look like a brand new revitalized area. To improve the video and avoid this issue, the new concepts of the project should have been added; Trees that looks like the concept art and sport the paper flowers need to be placed in the forest, the path next to the river needs to be dotted with the tributes to the countries in the Games, and the boat ride needs to be shown and explained. The boat ride and trees in the

68 forest are the two big experiences in the inspire and unite section and it only caused confusion when they weren’t shown in the video. I believe that the boat ride could have been portrayed much better if the video had shown more aspects of it so the reader could see exactly what is

entails.

69 Another component of the video was the audio that accompanied the boat ride; we decided to add audio to the video a week before the submission was due which was also the week that the video was being completed. The team had not seen the completed video and therefore couldn’t help assign a script the video. We knew that we wanted to have the video show each section of the project but not what it would say while showing the sections. The script that was used is:

“From every direction, guests can gaze upon the wooden blocks, and their unique shapes it can form into.

Guest from below can view kites flying high in the sky, fitted with air filtration systems, to cleanse the air around them.

To complete the guests journey, is a glimpse of a greener future; a renewable energy way of life.”

The end audio ended up being a lot about the environmental impacts of the project and mentioned things in the video that weren’t even shown in the video. I think that the audio is a way to explain parts of the project that we weren’t able to write in the slides and also needed to

70 show what was being talked about in the audio. In the future, the script should be written first and then the video content should match the script and the script should supplement our main ideas for the project.

6.1.2 Slide Modifications: Current Condition

The current condition slide is the slide in the project submission that explains what the site we chose looks like right now and why it is abandoned. We reached out to DIsney during the first few weeks of working on this project to make sure that the Beijing Olympic areas were abandoned enough for the competition. The response we received was that as long as the place is not being used for what it was designed for and that it is not used very often currently, it would work for the competition. The team still had reservations on if it would be allowed to use the Beijing Olympic area for the project so we knew that the place where we explain the current condition really needs to drive home the “abandoned-ness” of the place. As a team, we had discussed many ways to show this in the slide and one way that was

inspired from a past presentation shown in Figure 5.3. We liked the way it showed one large picture divided into sections that represented, in this example, the different seasons. Taking this

71 idea, we had originally thought to have the slide be a large picture of an overhead view of the project site and have “slices” of the picture showing the current condition/project design for each of the three sections. It was important to show the whole site in one large picture because we didn’t have that shown in any other place in the submission. In the end, the concept artist went with a different approach and we had a general shape of the site and call-outs that talked about each section.

6.2 Future Research

Continued research on this project is based on what direction someone wants to take the project. There are two different components of this project that can be continued, one being the process of competing in the Disney Imaginations Competition and the other being the technical parts associated with the track/braking system and the ramp.

6.2.1 Advice for Future Competition Project Teams There are many lessons that were learned during this whole process and in this section, I hope to convey some of the lessons I learned and ways a team could improve in the future. While there are some changes that I would make to our project that was specific to the prompt and details that we chose, there are many lessons that can be translated to any project in future years.

6.2.1.1 Gathering a Team

Your team for this competition is a group of people that will be working together to design something from scratch which can mean many strong opinions that may not all agree with each other. The purpose of the prompts given for the competition is to give direction for the project but also allow freedom to design virtually anything. Having a team that works together is key to having a successful project and knowing everyone’s skills is vital. Each member of the team should have a talent or role that is their specialty and that allows them to own something in the project. The team members should work together to design the project but also be aware of the components of the project that they are responsible for. In our project, the concept artist and the Unreal designer worked with me to come up with all the

72 designs. While there were times when the concept artist would make creative decisions, for the most part we all worked together to decide on something but wouldn’t so a direct “no” to most ideas. I believe that this lead us to so many components of the submission and leading to many story lines and experiences. We also had the concept artist join our group after we had decided on the location was chosen for our project. For a team to work really well, I think it would be best for the concept artist to be one of the first people to join the team and be the leader of the group. They play a key role in bringing to life what everyone wants in the project and if they are not on board with an idea, it won't be translated well in the art. In our case, the concept artist didn’t have much of an opinion on the project and when it came down to getting the artwork completed, the artist didn’t know what to do because they were basing art off of everyone’s ideas and wasn’t invested in some ideas. If the concept artist is the leader and knows what is happening and makes final decisions on this, then the artist will be able to design everything easily. In term of other valuable team members, I really liked having the Unreal component and person responsible for it on our team. Having that dimension to our project would be very helpful if it were used in the right way. The slides were hard to show the work the Unreal teammate did and we really only used it for the video, but if we were to go into the final round we could have been able to “walk” the judges around this world and show them what we created. It would be a great way to showcase what we did that other teams may not be able to do. Other members of the team that could be helpful depend on the prompt and type of project that the group wants to do. Past projects have gone into detail about a technical component of the project and this would be good for an engineering major to work on. If the project is heavy with marketing and reaching different demographics, a marketing major would be a good asset. Overall, I think the team members need to be dedicated to the project, understand all the deadlines and be one board with them, work together as a team but take ownership over their roles, and be passionate about Disney and understand the importance of Story.

6.2.1.2 Determining Deadlines There are two hard deadlines during the Disney competition that need to be met. The two deadline are the project team registration and the final project submission. The project team registration is when you need to figure out who is on your team and fill out all the required paperwork for each member. The final submission is when you turn in the final 8 slides for the

73 project submission. Each of the deadlines are hard deadlines but can be turned in prior to the deadline. One of the situations that can up with our team was waiting until the last day to submit each part of the project. We had sent in our paperwork early for the registration, but the proof of enrollment wasn’t approved so we had to scramble to get the accurate proof of enrollments sent in on time. The issues with our paperwork was that they were missing the information that the competition requires so to get the correct paperwork, we sent the registrar exactly what we needed from the competition website. Then we had to rush mail the paperwork which turns into a large expense. A way to avoid this would be to get everything prepared before the prompt even comes out, this would mainly be the proof of enrollment, so that when the registration opens you can send everything in right away. It is important to note that once the team registration has been sent in, the team members need to be committed and no one can be added nor taken away from the team. As for the project submission dead, our team also waited until the day it was due to turn everything in. We had originally talked about having everything turned in two weeks before the project was due so that we didn’t have to rush or sacrifice anything to get the project turned in on time. In the end, the artwork and video were not complete so we had to wait until after Thanksgiving break which pushed us back into turning everything in the day it was due. I would highly recommend sticking to a week or two before the deadline because it is stressful to have to turn everything in the day it is due. Over the course of the project we never set any hard deadlines for work and I think this hurt us in the long run. We started to frame our meetings around a certain component of the project such as the untie, inspire or relive section so that we knew what we were going to be focusing on that meeting. We also split up meetings in to art based and slideshow based so the concept artist knew when they had to present or finish up art pieces. In the end, we did focus on those subjects during the meeting, but the art was not done based on the meetings as we had originally planned. I would suggest having the concept artist come up with a deadline that they will stick to for creating images of the project. As mentioned before, the concept art is the driving factor to a lot of decisions and aspects of the project. Having the art done early is extremely helpful in deciding how the slides will look and what to write in them. Being able to split up the art into stages such as reference images, ideas for images of the components, outlines of the art, and

74 then full final art and then having separate deadlines for each stage of picture would be good to track progress and keep to a deadline. The last item I would add to a schedule of tasks to get done before submitting would be to show your project to people a week or so before you submit it to get feedback. Since the team is working so much on the project and should really understand the project, having someone read it that has never heard of what you’re doing would be very helpful. You may think that certain parts of the submission make sense but in reality, someone who did not create the project may have no idea what you mean in a slide of the submission. Understanding the story is key and being able to get feedback from peers is very helpful especially if the peers don’t fully understand the story and can tell you where there are holes.

6.2.1.3 Story! As I have mentioned before, Story is a huge component of the Walt Disney Company as well as this Imaginations Competition. Everything Disney creates has a story or involves characters or IP from a story that people around the world love and would pay money to see/experience. That being said, the Imaginations competition should be treated the same way because you are creating something that in theory would be designed by Disney for guests to enjoy. Our project prompt explicitly said that Disney IP cannot be used so it was our job to either create a story ourselves or use existing stories from the location that we chose. When we chose the Beijing Olympic area, we also decided to use the Beijing Olympic Mascots, the Fuwa, as our story. While we knew that these characters were going to be involved with our project and needed to play a role in the submission, we never really sat down and discussed what the story was going to be. We centered the design of certain experiences off of the Fuwa, but when we started to write the slide about story, we didn’t know where to start. We ended up saying that the Fuwa came back to revitalize their home and each played a part in the design of the project. This is a good way to incorporate the Fuwa, be we should have decided this story a long time ago and been able to tie in more obvious components of the Fuwa in each section. For instance, having each Fuwa present in the sections and interacting with guests instead of suggesting the the kites were designed from one of the Fuwa. A huge aspect of a story is also the stages that a reader or guest goest through- introducing the characters, showing conflict, drama, and then resolution and then telling the

75 guests how they fit into the story. Our project didn’t have the guest interaction that pushed the story further which is what I believe Disney would be looking for. My suggestion for a team in the future that is working on this project is to come up with the story first and form your project around the story. You need to explain each character and be able to say what is happening and how the project you create is involved with the story. Even if the whole story does not get explicitly written in the final submission, it is important for everyone to agree upon the story and then use that make decision on the project. Holes in the story will be evident in the project submission.

6.2.2 Continued Technical Component Research

The two technical components of this project were the boat track/braking system. Future research can be done to create more feasible and practical options for each component.

6.2.2.1 Boat Track/Braking System The boat track/braking system that I discussed in this report involved using air bladders to expand and stop the boat along a track. I tried to stay away from any braking system that was operated through the track instead of the boat but there is room for research in this area as well. Using a track to decide where and when the stop a boat could be beneficial and work well. Another option could be using a more mechanical approach to stop the boat instead of friction and resistance of the air bladders in the track. Further research on the air bladders and testing out the feasibility on a large-scale model would be beneficial to decide if it is something that can actually be done. Another aspect of the track/braking system was making sure the boat still felt like a floating boat. This can be researched further by designing the actual wheels that have the different hole for the shaft to see if it would hold the boat within the tracks but still allow for the yaw, pitch, and roll of the boat.

76 6.3 Conclusion

This project was an experimental project looking into the process that our team went through to design a submission to the Disney Imaginations Competition as well as further analysis of two technical components of the submission. While the submission to the DIsney Imaginations Competition did not advance to the semi final round, many lessons were learned as well as conclusions made about the project submission and technical components. The final submission to the competition was a Olympics-inspire revitalization project called Aolinpike. Aolinpike brought back the memories and spirit of the 2008 Beijing Olympics by letting guest relieve Olympic moments, be united with countries around the world, and be inspired to be Olympians and live a healthy lifestyle both personally and also environmentally. The concept includes bringing guests into the Bird’s Nest Stadium to be able to control blocks from the original Opening Ceremony, take pictures on the floor of the giant stadium, and watch the show once again through virtual reality headsets. Leaving the stadium, guests can choose to either take the Dragon's Gate boat ride or walk along the Uniting Road. The Uniting Road is a tribute to all the countries that competed in the games and houses tokens to each country showing the athletes that competed and the contributions and awards they won. The Dragon's Gate boat ride is a ride that tells the story form the Chinese Proverb of the carp leaping over the dragon's gate. This proverb explain the journey a carp takes to leap over the dragon's gate and become a dragon, a story about perseverance and achieving your goals. FInally, the guest will enter the Olympic Forest where they are surrounded by space used for group work out classes as well as permanent outdoor gym equipment. Around the space will be trees made from recycled material that house flowers also made from recycled materials but formed by guests and locals. This part of the experience inspires guests to be kind to the earth and themselves and live a healthy lifestyle. Story is something that is a huge driving factor with the project submission. When the project was being created, the experiences designed within the project submission were being driven by too many stories within the concept. The story of the location, the mascots, and the motto were all adding too much to the overall ideas and concepts of the final submission and the final product was over complicated. Using the Beijing Olympic area gave an edge to the project submission that would be unique among other project submissions due to its already

77 well-known story and history all over the world. The Olympics already have a mascot tied to each location and it was relevant and appropriate to use the Fuwa, or Beijing Olympics mascots, to narrate the story of our project. By adding another factor of the motto- Relive, Unite, Inspire- the concepts for the experience became lost and confusing. Among other lessons learned through this project, the design stages involving picking a story for this competition are the most important stages. The team needs to be invested in the story and fully understand the concepts and characters involved. Thoroughly understanding the story will lead to a successful project that is detailed and easy to follow. By understanding this process of storytelling the team will be able to create a successful experience based off a story.

78 Citations

Figures

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80 References

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82 Appendix

Appendix A: Final project submission

90 Appendix B: Table of Fuwa

Name Beibei Jingjing Huanhuan Yingying Nini Gender Female Male Male Male Female Representing Europe Africa America Asia Oceania Country Cultural Inspiration Traditional chinese Giant panda; Olympic flame; Tibetan Swift; Beijing's sand new year Song Dynasty Fire design antelope, martin kite. decorative picture lotus-shaped from the Tibetan and of lotus and fish; porcelain. Mogao Xinjiang ethnic fish design from Grottoes. costumes.Yello neolithic artifacts w Olympic ring Blue Black Red Yellow Green Represented Sea Forest Fire Earth Sky element Actual fengshui Water Wood Fire Earth Metal element Personality Friendly, leader Honest, Extrovert, Lively, Just, kind optimistic enthusiastic independent Represented Ideal Prosperity Happiness Passion Health Good fortune Represented Sport aquatic Sports weightlifting, ball Track and field gymnastics judo sport/racquet sport Notes In traditional As an Huanhuan The Tibetan The swallow is a Chinese culture, endangered represents the antelope is an messenger of spring the fish species, the passion of endangered and happiness in represents panda is both a sports, the species native Chinese culture, and is prosperity, as the national Olympic spirit to the Tibetan seen as a symbol of character for fish symbol of of "faster, Plateau, known good fortune. The (鱼 / 魚) sounds China and an higher, for its swiftness. Chinese character for the same as that international stronger", and Yingying's swallow (燕) is also for surplus (余 / symbol of the passion of headgear used in Yanjing (燕京), 餘). The "carp environmentali the Beijing incorporates an old name for Beijing; leaping over the sm. Jingjing's Olympics. elements of thus the swallow dragon gate" is a forest origins Huanhuan's Tibetan and alludes to Beijing. Nini's traditional also symbolize headgear Xinjiang ethnic headgear uses the allegory of the comes from a costumes. design of Beijing's sand following one's harmonious fire design in martin kites, which are

91 dreams and coexistence of the Mogao colourful cross-shaped achieving them. humankind and Caves, the kites modeled after The pattern from nature. best known of swallows. Beibei's the Chinese headgear comes Buddhist from artifacts grottoes. unearthed at Banpo, site of a Neolithic village of the Yangshao culture.