At IAAPA this week Legoland California and Triotech, the company behind Wonder Mountain’s Guardian at Canada’s Wonderland and Voyage to the Iron Reef at Knott’s Berry Farm, revealed details about the new Ninjago dark ride coming in 2016, including the awesome new technology that does away with the weapons found on most interactive dark rides.
Triotech/Legoland announcement (courtesy of Triotech)
As anyone who’s ridden a ride like Voyage to the Iron Reef or, say, Toy Story Midway Mania at Disney’s California Adventure and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, knows, generally in an interactive dark ride you’ve got some kind of little device (like a little laser gun) that is used to interact with , like a shooting range on steroids. Well, Ninjago – The Ride at Legoland California is doing away with that. The new Triotech technology, called Maestro hand-gesture technology, will allow riders to use, well, their hands to interact with the ride.
Now guests can use their hands to interact with the ride, instead of some device! (courtesy of Triotech)
The flexibility of what can be done with the technology sounds like one of the most amazing features, as the gestures can be tuned to make almost anything. As Ernest Yale, president of Triotech said the during the press conference, “the projectile can be customized with practically no limit except our own imagination. It can be color, paint, fire, anything.”
So yeah, I’ll finally be able to shoot fireballs from my hands. Awesome.
Blasting fireballs! (Courtesy of Legoland)
You can imagine rides that could be easily changed for different settings,or different seasons. The possibilities seem huge. Inside the Magic was at IAAPA and reported that Maestro was intuitive, responsive, and accurate, which basically answers the biggest questions I would have technology positively.
In the case of Ninjago specifically, the ride will feature cars with four riders who, through their hand motions, will create a totally unique experience, with guests collecting points on the way (as is often the case in interactive dark rides). Describing the ride, Hans Aksel Pedersen, managing director of Legoland Parks, said “Riders can blast animated fireballs, lightning, shockwaves, or even ice…before heading into the final battle.” The ride will also incorporate “4D” effects like wind, heat, and smoke along with the interactive screens. I’m really hoping that means if you shoot a fireball you’ll feel a wave of heat, while if you launch a burst of ice you’ll feel a cold wind. How fantastic would that be?
Check out a video of the full press conference from Inside the Magic below, and you can read some more details about using the technology over at Theme Park Insider.
The Ninjago area in Legoland California, along with Ninjago-The Ride, will be opening in Spring, 2016. Versions of the ride and area will also be coming to two other Legoland parks, Legoland Billun in Denmark and Legoland Malaysia in November of 2016.
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