The Advanced Technology Leisure Application Simulator, or ATLAS, is a large
hydraulic
Hydraulics (from Greek: Υδραυλική) is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counter ...
motion simulator
A motion simulator or motion platform is a mechanism that creates the feelings of being in a real motion environment. In a simulator, the movement is synchronised with a visual display of the outside world (OTW) scene. Motion platforms can provi ...
. It was designed, as the name implies, for the theme park industry. The ATLAS is a product of Rediffusion Simulation
in
Sussex,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
, now owned by
Thales Group
Thales Group () is a French multinational company that designs, develops and manufactures electrical systems as well as devices and equipment for the aerospace, defence, transportation and security sectors. The company is headquartered in Paris ...
and known as
Thales Training & Simulation
Thales Training & Simulation Ltd. is a multinational company which manufactures simulators, including full flight simulators and military simulators, and provides related training and support services. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Th ...
. Disney filed multiple patents on their variant of the device, including US Utility Patent #516110
The ATLAS was derived from military flight simulation technology. It uses six hydraulic actuators to provide a broad range of movement.
In the later half of the 1980s,
Walt Disney Imagineering
Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development, Inc., commonly referred to as Imagineering, is the research and development arm of The Walt Disney Company, responsible for the creation, design, and construction of Disney theme parks and attr ...
bought and refined this technology for two theme park attractions;
Star Tours
Star Tours was a motion simulator attraction at several Disney theme parks, based on the successful ''Star Wars'' film series created by George Lucas. Set in the ''Star Wars'' universe, the attraction sent guests on an excursion trip to End ...
at
Legoland
Legoland (, trademark in uppercase as LEGOLAND) is a chain of family theme parks focusing on the construction toy system Lego. They are not fully owned by The Lego Group itself; rather, they are owned and operated by the British theme park c ...
&
Disneyland
Disneyland is a theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney initially envisi ...
(and later
Disney's Hollywood Studios
Disney's Hollywood Studios is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division. Based on a concept by Ma ...
,
Tokyo Disneyland
(local nickname ''TDL'') is a theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, near Tokyo. Its main gate is directly adjacent to both Maihama Station and Tokyo Disneyland Station. It was the first Disney park to be ...
, and
Disneyland Park
Disneyland is a theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney initially envision ...
) The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part Experience at
Anaheim GardenWalk and
Body Wars
Body Wars was a motion simulator attraction inside the Wonders of Life pavilion at the Walt Disney World Resort's Epcot. Riders would be taken on a mission by the fictional Miniaturized Exploration Technologies corporation (Stylized as MET) to st ...
at
Epcot
Epcot, stylized in all uppercase as EPCOT, is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division. Inspired by an unr ...
. The technology was also used in 2016 for the
Iron Man Experience at
SeaWorld San Diego
SeaWorld San Diego is an animal theme park, oceanarium, outside aquarium and marine mammal park, in San Diego, California, United States, inside Mission Bay Park. It is owned and operated by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment.
SeaWorld San Dieg ...
. The LEGO Movie & Disney attractions feature large, 40-person cabins (45-person in San Diego & Hong Kong) hidden from outside view, arranged lengthwise with four or six simulators per installation. There are four simulators at LEGOLAND Discovery Center Arizona’s Guardians of the Galaxy Experience & The LEGO Movie 2 Experience, Sea Life Arizona Aquarium’s Star Tours: The Adventures Continue. Legoland Arizona & Others’s The Lego Movie 4D Experience. Anaheim GardenWalk’s The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part Experience, Legoland & Disneyland's Star Tours and EPCOT's Body Wars, while the remaining Star Tours installations have six. At SeaWorld San Diego & Hong Kong Disneyland's Iron Man Experience, there are five simulators. Body Wars is now defunct and the simulators have been removed from the building in the years since the closure of the
Wonders of Life
The Wonders of Life pavilion was an attraction at Epcot at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. It was devoted to health care, focusing on the human body, physical fitness, medicine and nutrition. Attractions included Body Wars and ...
pavilion. . Now Hosted by
Peter Quill .
Walter Beckett Walter Beckett may refer to:
* Walter Beckett (composer) (1914–1996), Irish composer
* W. N. T. Beckett
Captain Walter Napier Thomason Beckett, MVO, DSC (1893 – 1941) was a noted Royal Navy officer in both the First World War and the ...
.
C-3PO
C-3PO () or See-Threepio is a humanoid robot character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise who appears in the original trilogy, the prequel trilogy and the sequel trilogy. Built by Anakin Skywalker, was designed as a protocol droid intended to a ...
RX-24
Star Tours was a motion simulator attraction at several Disney theme parks, based on the successful ''Star Wars'' film series created by George Lucas. Set in the ''Star Wars'' universe, the attraction sent guests on an excursion trip to Endo ...
&
J.A.R.V.I.S
References
Simulator rides
Disney technology
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