World of Color

Last night we got a phone call from my Jen’s friend Christie telling us that she got fastpasses to see World of Color at Disney’s California Adventure for her whole family but they got tired and didn’t want to use them. She invited Jen to go with her and I asked Jen that if they had an extra that I’d be interested in going  too. You see,  Jen broke her ankle 8 weeks ago so she’s stuck using crutches or a wheelchair to get around I’m use to pushing Jen around Disneyland so I had no problem with going and helping out with getting Jen to the event.. that and I REALLY WANTED TO SEE WORLD OF COLOR!  When Christie and her oldest son arrived at our house we had about 30 minutes to get to Disneyland from our house in Whittier so we had to haul butt make it on time. With Jen and her wheelchair we piled in the car and did the 12 mile drive to catch the 11:30 showing. Due to our lack of planning and lateness we opted to be sneaky and park in the Downtown Disney parking lot, our thinking behind this was that by doing so we’d have more control over how fast we get to DCA, people power vs waiting for a tram and riding it in. By the time we parked we had roughly 10 minutes to get in DCA and find the area needed to be at. While attempting my best to recreate Mr Toads Wild Ride for Jen by zig-zagging around late night visitors at Downtown Disney we made it to the gate in record time. With our hearts racing we showed our passes at the gate and hauled even more butt to the our Blue Line which was located next to the Sour Dough factory. Zig-zagging yet again with Jen this time with the opposing traffic of the exiting guests we arrived and spoke to a CM who stated that if you had a fast pass you line up here (end of the line was now at the entrance to the sour dough factory) and if not you lined up elsewhere. Jessi, the nice CM we ran into noticed Jen in the wheelchair and asked for us to follow her to the wheelchair viewing area. Accompanying us is was another group with a wheelchair as well. As structured as this lining up system was it was quite a mob of people to navigate through to get to the wheelchair viewing area. We departed ways with Jessi once we arrived at the viewing area and were told that with the wheelchair we should move to a special area that was quite a bit back from where all the action happens.

Also we noticed in our viewing area was one of the sphere shaped lights that we thought would be in the way of our viewing. Christie noticed some other wheelchairs have moved down to a level lower and closer to the action and said she was going to go down there. We thought the same thing and moved down to the center area too.

The “center area” was a few feet lower than our previous location which put Jen with her wheelchair at a disadvantage. So we moved back a bit to near the right side of the big circle on the ground and gave that a try. A few manual adjustment by Jen and she got the best view she could at the area we were at. There were lots of people in front of us and their heads were blocking lower fountains for Christie and I. Jen on the other hand was able to most likely missed the majority of the lower parts of the fountains including some of the smaller ones and the pop up round screens. Luckly the majority of the show occurs quite a bit high in the air so all of us could see that. The people blocking the lower  field of view for us were at least 30 feet in front of us. Without having been at the location we started with I’m unsure of how well the viewing would have been. I’d imagine that Jen most likely would have seen a bit more lower into the field of view but I’m not sure if she would have been able to see the base of the water jets on the platform in the water. We’ll have to give it another try soon and see.

I’d have to say my favorite part of the show would have to be:

• Up – the water screens in your whole field of view light up in color as the balloons from the movie UP fly past you in an upward motion.
• Little Mermaid – The whales moving about the water screens were just amazing.
• Toy Story – The only true “3D” looking vector graphics generated from what I can tell to be lasers use the mist from the water to create Zirg in an awesome 3D looking animation. I think I mentioned to my party “I love living in the future” while that was playing.
• Trees – There is this jaw dropping scene where the water screens fill up with trees and the scene moves through an opening in the forest as the trees move past you. It’s amazing how water and a HD projected image can make such a great scene come to life.

If I had to pick one cool technique they used it would have to be the way in which they play with light and the mist from the water jets. Disney has figured out how to trick your eyes into thinking that 3D orbs and globs are floating in thin air. Also using this same trick they can make rays of light shine out from an object or scene. The light beams are so thin you cant tell if they are lasers or pin point accurate lights.

As a techie this stuff gives me the chills watching this show, it’s awesome what can be done with water, lights, lasers and a crap load of money. As a Dad to a 4 year old it makes me want to take her and see this time and time again. You bet our family will be seeing this show many time this year and for years to come.