WDI Flying Dragon : Here is how the illusion will work at its best

I'd like to take a minute or two to come back to this amazing animated flying dragon which was seen recently above the Shafter-Minter Field airport in California, during one of its top-secret flight. Everybody did immediately the link with the WDI patent below, and there is no doubt that both are linked.



But many also thought instantly to the upcoming Avatar land at Animal Kingdom and it's indeed reasonable to think that this flying dragon has been created for a use in the Avatar land. Except that the dragon will probably need to be slightly rethemed to have the perfect look of Avatar creatures as, as you can see below, the dragon with its design is not totally identical to Avatar “Ikrans”...



Then John frost of the Disney Blog in one of his recent posts said that the dragon could very well be used during Shanghaî Disneyland grand opening celebrations, and i think John got a good point here. He's definitely right, specially considering how important the dragon is in chinese mythology.

But there is still something bothering me in this flying dragon. Don't get me wrong, i think WDI latest invention is great. If they succeed to have an animated flying dragon, and one who is breathing fire every guest will be amazed. But, still, there is something which will avoid the illusion to "work" totally. What, you ask? Have a look at the picture below. You got it, it's the kite over it . The huge fan behind the pilot can eventually become invisible from a distance, and the sound of it be covered by the sound of the show, but seeing this huge kite over the dragon obviously destroy the illusion.



So, how could they do it? My guess is that the illusion will work well with a use during night shows only. The kite could have a black color instead of white which will help to have it "disappearing" in the night background and they could eventually use one of these giant lights to illuminate and "follow" only the dragon during its flight over the audience. There is one other point, though, which could be a problem. These ultralight aircrafts are notoriously dangerous, and a night flight with these doesn't help to feel it'll be more safe. Except that in this case it will probably never be a "long" flight. The dragon could "lift-of" from a backstage road or parking lot, do a turn at 90 degrees to come over the Avatar land or SDL castle and then after two or three minutes go back and land again backstage. In this case the flying distance will be very short and the risk limited - except during bad weather with strong winds, of course.

So, my bets - just for the pleasure to bet! - are going on a use of this flying dragon during night shows or opening celebrations whether it will be for SDL or Avatar, and in any case, during night shows only. It's definitely there where the illusion will work the best.

Pictures: copyright Disney, Fox

Here is why WDI will not disclose any details about Shanghaî Disneyland rides before 2015

Disney fans were a bit disappointed at D23 Expo last year by the Shanghaî Disneyland model and i have to admit that SDL Imagineers have been pretty smart in what looked like a brilliant "We're-happy-to show-you the-SDL-model-but-without-revealing-anything" demonstration. But you know what? They were right to do it this way. Sure, for Disney fans it was quite frustrating but when you watch the video below filmed one year ago at the Suzhou Amusement Land in China you'll get why the less concept details of Shanghaî Disneyland WDI reveal, the best it will be.

As you will see in a few seconds Suzhou Amusement Land did a perfect copy of It's a Small World. Well, perfect is not really the right word as almost none of the figures are audio-animatronics, but they didn't care about copying the ideas, design, etc...almost everything! And when i mean "everything" its really everything as they even took the It's a Small World song! No kidding. And in complete impunity. That said, let's be fair: all chinese don't spend their time to copy occidental concepts, but for those who do it, nothing is stopping them! As Shanghaî Disneyland is a joint venture between Disney and chinese officials the plagiarists may think twice before stealing SDL designs - may be they're not afraid of occidental corporations but they're probably more of their own officials...

So, i'm sure that after you've watched this video you will accept to wait two or three more years to discover the SDL concepts in details, that's the price to pay to have unique rides that won't be seen anywhere else before SDL opening day. And that's also the reason why i don't post any SDL renderings that were not disclosed officially - but i don't have any secret one anyway...

Go ahead and discover this infamous copy of IASW, just to be aware of how big the copycat problem can be.




Video: copyright Theme Park Review